Before the PMDAY is the history of modern PM

 Before the PMDAY is the history of modern PM

Cities like Amsterdam, Washington, Jerusalem or Tangier have population of only 700.000 inhabitants, but when we look back in history (or even nowadays) it’s out of doubt why those spots are  of great importance in social, economic or cultural life not only in their countries but across continents  between Europe, America, Asia and Africa. For many people a city like Washington represents the face of new democracy or the anti-war movement, a birthplace for others, while places like Amsterdam or Tangier are the symbols of overseas international trade and Jerusalem is the spiritual center of 3 of the most important religions worldwide. 

When we look in the area of project management we can identify one certain name having the same number of “inhabitants” and the same big importance on the business and personal life of millions of people around the globe during the last decades, and this is PMI (Project Management Institute). Founded back in 1969, PMI is the world's largest non-profit membership association for the project management profession, with more than 700,000 members, credential holders and volunteers in more than 180 countries. Whilst the 1980's were about quality and the 1990's were all about globalization, the 2000's are about velocity. That is, to keep ahead of their competitors, organizations are continually faced with the development of complex products, services and processes with very short time-to-market windows combined with the need for cross-functional expertise. 

Throughout history, project management played an important role from the pyramids of Egypt to present day. In 21-st Century the Project management provides people with a powerful set of tools that improved their ability to plan, implement, and manage activities to accomplish specific organizational objectives. The start of the modern era is considered to be part of the third industrial revolution while a lot of new things were introduced worldwide like computers, the Internet and new management practices.

The first milestones of the contemporary project management are back in 1955, when the US military invented PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) to determine the time it takes to complete a task and identify the minimum time it takes to complete a project. Later on DuPont Corporation created CPM (Critical Path Method) to handle various tasks and their interactions in a project by incorporating algorithms to set project activities. The US Defense also introduced project tools such as the WBS (work breakdown structure) that organizes the scope of a project by grouping the project’s work elements.

In the 1970s with the global development of construction, engineering and IT industries project management became even more widely used and the Project Management Institute (PMI) was created to focus on project techniques, and the introduction of Time, Cost, and Quality and how they tie together to determine the expected value of the project output. This was from great help to many companies to overcome non-productive activities, as this is one of the main factors influencing the job-site productivity. The non-productive activities associated with a project may or may not be paid by the owner, but they nevertheless take up potential labor resources which can otherwise be directed to the project. Some of the worst non-productive activities include rework for correcting unsatisfactory work, temporary work stoppage due to material shortage or absentee time (including late start and early quits).

In 1980s enterprises started to focus more on the incorporation of risk management to project management, which helped determine the risk associated with the project. Total Quality Management approach also was introduced at this time, as one of the important business management strategies to be incorporated in the leading companies worldwide. Meanwhile PMI published its ‘white paper’ as project management guide, later called the PMBOK (PM Book of Knowledge) and in 1990s the certifications of project management was introduced as well. Following this scenario in the last few decades, project management became a very important and powerful tool in the hands of organizations that understand its use and have the competencies to apply it. This answers the question why PMI members are from all fields of business like: engineering, aerospace, construction, IT, pharmaceutical, and telecommunication.

Nowadays the PMI worldwide Chapter's primary mission is to advance the practice and profession of project management; encourage and facilitate education, certification and professionalism in project management; provide a forum for discussion and examination of problems, solutions, applications and ideas related to the management of project; disseminate information regarding developments in project management.

One of the biggest advantages participating on events like PMDAY organized by PMI local chapters, are the provided opportunities to current and prospective members , who can obtain the expertise that they seek via the networking they make onsite, the professional development they will receive and the new skills they will develop. All that is a result of the efforts of a dedicated group of volunteers, that strives to accomplish this mission and create long term partnerships with the business and other interested institutions or individuals. The mission of those volunteers is to promote best practices & professional advancement, being a worldwide benchmark amongst professional associations regarding project management.