APM News

In March 2010the PMO SIG held their17th conference at the Open University in Milton Keynes and looked at competence and competencies for the PMO professional.

In last months APM Project magazine the Critical Path column caused quite a stir within the PMO community.

The role of the project director is critical to project success.

A good contract can make or break a project but, as Dr Jon Broome of Leading Edge Projects Consulting reveals, many project managers neglect this aspect of the delivery process.

A lack of roads and transport, land conflicts, regional political violence, not to mention an acute tuberculosis problem, just a few of the challenges facing the 2009 APM International Relief and Development Project of the Year Award winner.

Development organisations face a stark choice, says John Cropper, programme director at Oxfam: continue with poorly-run projects and risk a loss of resources and reputation, or learn what other sectors have already learned that project management is a vital skill for effective delivery.

International engineering and construction group, Costain, has a reputation for technical excellence.

What does professionalism mean? How is it applied in today's complex and ever-changing world? And how will it affect tomorrow's project professionals? Lead by Mike Nichols, chairman of APM, a panel of leading professional bodies, public bodies and major corporate organisations debated the role and future of professionalism.

The Project Management Office (PMO), or the department that defines and maintains standards relating to project management, is an established part of the organisational make-up.

Geoff Barlex, project manager at Clifford Devlin, describes how the burgeoning use of environmental targets is placing ever greater demands on contractors in the construction industry to produce data and documentation to demonstrate compliance.