Call for Papers

Below is the call for papers for the upcoming Cutter IT Journal issue Project Management 2.0: Is Project Management Ready for the Emerging Global Organization Environment?, guest edited by Rob Thomsett.

Project Management 2.0: Is Project Management Ready for the Emerging Global Organization Environment?

Project management in business and IT has been slowly evolving in both theory and practice since the early 1960s. Since the 1990s, the world of project management has seen formalization and certification grow through initiatives as the Project Management Institute, the Project Management Body of Knowledge, PRINCE 2 and nationally-based project management bodies such as the Australian and European Institutes of Project Management. In addition, a majority of universities offer formal qualifications in project management through to Master and Doctoral levels. To the casual observer, project management has finally arrived as a formal discipline that ensures well-managed projects.

Placed in the context of the earlier days of project management where uninformed and uneducated "project managers" or "senior programmers" believed that a GANTT chart was sufficient to manage projects, the situation for project managers and their organizations should be significantly better.

However, there is a considerable body of evidence that shows most organizations still struggle to deliver projects within agreed expectations. Further, despite gaining formal certification, many project managers still find the complexity of planning and delivering projects in a constantly changing environment often requires competencies that their formal training has not equipped them with.

There are a number of factors that could explain this seemingly paradoxical situation. These include:

  • Increasing complexity of projects. In effect, all the easy business and IT systems have been delivered. The emergence of what Vince Kellen (Cutter IT Journal, December 2007) termed Enterprise 2.0 has created a demand for complex and highly-integrated business and IT systems;

  • Demand for more agile execution and delivery. A constant complaint from executives in our consulting client base is that prevailing project management and system development models take too long; are bureaucratic and inflexible;

  • Increasing demands for business ownership. This trend has been evident for many years but is becoming increasing significant for project managers. Senior executives and business experts are more prepared to question the "expert" judgment of both project managers and technical experts; and

  • Pressure over the need to deliver and prove added value. The questions around whether IT and, at a broader level, business projects add value to organizations were highlighted by Nicholas Carr in his May 2003 Harvard Business Review article "Does IT Matter?" Carr's controversial views reflected the concern of many executives that the huge investments they have committed to projects have failed to deliver tangible and measurable benefits. Most prevailing project management models have immature approaches to analysing and measuring benefits.

These and other factors have given rise to the Agile Project Management movement and discussions around Agile PRINCE and similar modifications to the dominant project management models. However, the adoption of new approaches to project management models is often hampered by the significant investment many organisations have undertaken in PMI and PRINCE 2. In addition, for many project managers, Agile and similar project management models are sold as "silver bullets" leading to well-founded scepticism.

Cutter IT Journal invites useful, innovative and thoughtful debate on the complex issues around project management in the new global environment.

TOPICS OF INTEREST MAY INCLUDE

(but are not certainly limited to) the following:

  • Has the certification movement typified by the PMI improved project management practice and effectiveness?

  • Are prevailing project management approaches suitable for virtual and globally-distributed projects?

  • Is Agile Project Management an evolution or a new paradigm?

  • Are the predominant models of project management (typified by PMBOK and PRINCE 2) capable of delivering successful projects given the nature of these new projects?

  • How has outsourcing/selective sourcing and offshoring changed project management practice?

  • What is the impact of COBIT, ISO and other governance standards on project governance and project management?

  • Why are so many organizations still struggling to analyse and realise project benefits?

  • What is a professional project manager in the 21st century?

  • Do new types of projects based around new technologies such as Web 2.0 require new project management models?

  • Do Agile development models such as SCRUM negate the need for project managers?

  • Can project management be effective without executive-level project management rather than executive-level sponsorship?

TO SUBMIT AN ARTICLE IDEA:

Please respond by 10 February to Rob Thomsett (robthomsett [at] mac.com) with a copy to itjournal [at] cutter.com and include an extended abstract and a short article outline showing your major discussion points.

ARTICLE DEADLINE:

Articles are due on 16 March 2008.

EDITORIAL GUIDELINES:

Most Cutter IT Journal articles are approximately 2,500-3,500 words long, plus whatever graphics are appropriate. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact CITJ's managing editor Karen Pasley (kpasley@cutter.com) or the guest editor Rob Thomsett (robthomsett@mac.com). Editorial guidelines are available at http://www.cutter.com/content-and-analysis/journals-and-reports/cutter-it-journal/edguide.html

AUDIENCE:

Typical readers of Cutter IT Journal range from CIOs and vice presidents of software organizations to IT managers, directors, project leaders, and very senior technical staff. Most work in fairly large organizations: Fortune 500 IT shops, large computer vendors (IBM, HP, etc.), and government agencies. 48% of our readership is outside of the US (15% from Canada, 14% Europe, 5% Australia/NZ, 14% elsewhere). Please avoid introductory-level, tutorial coverage of a topic. Assume you're writing for someone who has been in the industry for 10 to 20 years, is very busy, and very impatient. Assume he or she will ask, "What's the point? What do I do with this information?" Apply the "So what?" test to everything you write.

PROMOTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES:

We are pleased to offer Journal authors a year's complimentary subscription and 10 copies of the issue in which they are published. In addition, we occasionally pull excerpts, along with the author's bio, to include in our weekly Cutter Edge e-mail bulletin, which reaches another 8,000 readers. We'd also be pleased to quote you, or passages from your article, in Cutter press releases. If you plan to be speaking at industry conferences, we can arrange to make copies of the issue in which you're published downloadable for attendees of those speaking engagements - furthering your own promotional efforts.

ABOUT CUTTER IT JOURNAL:

No other journal brings together so many cutting-edge thinkers, and lets them speak so bluntly and frankly. We strive to maintain the Journal's reputation as the "Harvard Business Review of IT." Our goal is to present well-grounded opinion (based on real, accountable experiences), research, and animated debate about each topic the Journal explores.

Call for Papers: Project Management 2.0: Is Project Management Ready for the Emerging Global Organization Environment?