Project Managing Business Management

Last night I went to a meeting of the Northeast Ohio Chapter of the Project Management Institute. Every year in January, we have the Kerzner Award Dinner Meeting, with a presentation of the Kerzner Award. Dr. Kerzner is the preeminent project manager and we are lucky that he lives, teaches and works in NE Ohio. If your interested in PM, you need to hear him speak or read any of his great texts.

During his presentation of Advanced Project Management: Best Practices on Implementation, my ears perked up a couple of items, but one statement in particular was great to hear.

“Businesses should be run as a project.”

I agree 100%. The trinity of project management–cost, quality and time– is the same concern or goal in business….of any type. It is becoming evident that as businesses and the corporate environment (legal, financial, HR, marketing and the rest) become more complex, business managers are turning to project management to provide a systematic methodology. You do not have to be building a factory or developing an ERP package to be using project management best practices. The methodology works in developing new products, establishing new offices, mergers & acquisitions, process re-engineering and every process needed in managing a business. Perhaps soon we will see a “BMBOK, the Business Management Body of Knowledge,” or just make the PMBOK, the Project Management Body of Knowledge required reading for managers and executives.