After seeing a mismatch between the needs of modern projects and the traditional techniques being used to manage them, I have committed my career to update mainstream project management thinking with more modern approaches. In addition to local PMI Chapter volunteer and mentor roles, I have been involved in the following global initiatives.
- 2000 Co-authored the first white paper about using agile with structured project management “Using DSDM with PRINCE2”
- 2001-2003 Submitted multiple presentation proposals to PMI Global Congress on using agile instead of predictive approaches for high change, high uncertainty projects – all rejected, likely because they seemed dismissive of predictive approaches.
- 2004 Submitted “Using Agile Alongside the PMBOK Guide” proposal PMI Global Congress – Accepted. Presented PMI’s first agile project management paper at a Global Congress.
- 2007 Created PMI’s first “Agile Project Management” training course for their SeminarsWorld traveling training program. I taught this class at multiple venues each year for the next 6 years.
- 2009 Volunteer contributor and reviewer to the PMBOK Guide 5th Edition introducing first agile content
- 2008 Co-founded PMI Agile Special Interest Group (SIG) which later became the PMI Agile Community of Practice (CoP)
- 2009 Steering Committee member and contributor for the creation of the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) certification
- 2012 Co-author of the “Software Extension to the PMBOK Guide” PMI standard that mapped adaptive and agile lifecycles to the PMBOK Guide 5th Edition
- 2014 Volunteered for the PMI-ACP certification refresh and update the PMI-ACP Exam Content Outline
- 2016 Co-authored the new Agile Appendix and Knowledge Area Considerations for the PMBOK Guide 6th Edition
- 2016-2017 Chair of the PMI Agile Practice Guide author team
- 2018 Reviewer of the "Practice Standard for WBS" 3rd edition - adding information about backlogs as a form of WBS
- 2019 Member of the PMBOK Guide 7th Edition research team
- 2020 PMBOK Guide 7th Edition Co-Lead
- 2021 Recruited as DA Agile Subject Matter Expert
When I see it listed out it seems a little OCD, but I think agile approaches have a message worth spreading. Many organizations are struggling to motivate and empower their teams. Many also struggle to deal with complexity and high rates of change. Lean, Kanban and agile approaches offer great partial solutions to weave into an improved project framework. Having been lucky enough to work with some great teams that showed me how they use these approaches, I am encouraged to help spread these ideas.
- 2000-Present Trained over 2,000 project managers in how to incorporate agile methods into traditional project management approaches
- 1996-Present authored over 400 articles and blog posts on agile project management
- 1998-Present spoken at over 150 conferences and PMI Chapter events
- 1996-Present volunteered over 5,000 hours towards PMI agile promotion
There are many great ideas for project improvements, I hope I can continue to share them with anyone willing to listen and try them.