The document summarizes the growing importance of the project management profession. It notes that 271 individuals were announced as the first Chartered Project Professionals in October 2018. The Association for Project Management (APM) was awarded the Charter in late 2016. By 2040, the document predicts that project management will be known as the "last profession" as systems replace most other roles, but project managers will still provide crucial human leadership and integration. The APM is working to strengthen the profession through a focus on ethics, diversity, research, and developing career paths.
1. Growing the Power of the
Profession in an Ever
Changing World
Debbie Dore CEO
Manchester November 2018
2.
3. First 271 Chartered Project Professionals
announced on the 31st
October 2018
APM awarded the Charter end of 2016
Standard developed by Autumn 2017
Applications opened May 2018
Almost 300 further applications currently
being processed
#GetChPP #GetChartered
Celebrating Achievement
7. World Economic Forum – Risks in 2018
Source: World Economic Forum Global Risks Perception Survey 2017–2018.
8. UK Autumn budget
£1.6bn investment in UK’s global leadership in science and
technology
£121m Made Smarter transformation of manufacturing
Joint undertaking of the Office for Artificial Intelligence and
GDS to look at AI, automation and data to drive productivity
£120m to support clusters of science and innovation
excellence
Together with significant infrastructure projects such as HS2,
Crossrail and Hinkley Point
12. Project management has become known as ‘the
last profession’. In a world where increasingly
capable systems have gradually replaced
professionals across the world, project managers
still provide an irreplaceably human combination of
leadership, integration of specialists, and ethical
behaviour.
By 2040…
13. How APM is rising to the challenge
Focus on ethical behaviour, diversity
and trust
Influence Research Thought leadership
New products and services Career path
14. Todays programme
Keynote: John Cridland – glimpse of how interconnected future
infrastructure needs to be
Conference themes:
– Smarter thinking
– Smarter working
– Smarter leadership
All themes that play to the future importance of our
profession
15. Success depends on you
Embrace the changes you hear about today
Be an early adopter
Embrace the future not the past
Show the continuing and growing value of the profession
Help those new to the profession to develop a passion for it
knowing they can then build on your legacy to deliver the
future
Good morning and thank you for the opportunity of talking to you about our profession and some of the challenges it faces before you get into the main content of what I am sure will be an inspiring and insightful day.
I feel our profession is at a key point where we can celebrate all that has been achieved but are also challenged by all that is to come and that is what I would like to address in the next 15 minutes. Before I go further I would like you to watch this 2 minute video which tries to capture both what the profession and APM are trying to achieve. When I first played this to an audience of 200 project managers several of them came up to me in the break to say how proud it made them feel about what they do and how easy it is to forget the bigger picture as you focus on your daily work. I hope it does the same for you too.
So lets start with the celebrations
So lets start today by celebrating. On the 31st October we announced our first 271 Chartered Project Professionals and I know some of them are in the room today. So please join me in celebrating their success. It is important as a profession we celebrate all that has been achieved to get us to this point and we would like to thank everyone who played a part in this. Project Management has now taken its rightful place alongside many other chartered professions and we look forward to celebrating many more ChPP’s over the coming years. Charter is also a coming of age for APM as we take on our wider role as a chartered body and help prepare the profession for the future. The transformation APM itself has undergone in the last 18 months is significant as transitioned from a member association to a chartered body, developed and launched the standard and successfully delivered on the first cohort of applicants Everywhere I go it is clear that change will be a constant and for many the vehicle for delivering that change will be projects so we have an important role to play in ensuring there is the capacity and skills to deliver on that demand.
The following just gives a brief snapshot of the effort of many people in this first cohort.
Charter would never have been achieved without the vision, inspiration and tireless work of many people. We need to thank our volunteers who give their own time to further the profession, past and present chairs and Board members, employers who invest and believe in the profession, practitioners, assessors and training providers so whatever part you have played thank you for getting us to this important milestone. We will continue to work to ensure ChPP becomes the benchmark for the profession and delivers its intended benefit of developing project professionals who can improve project outcomes for the benefit of society.
This is either the end of the beginning of just the start of the journey as we continue to build a profession fit for the future. Lets just take a look outside at the changing environment within which we are all working..
So it not just about the volume of projects but also about the approach. All the research on the future workforce shows they will be passionate about many of the things highlighted here and will want to work on those projects that show they have a long term positive impact.
And its not just whether we deliver projects but how and the long term impact. Our profession will be under increasing levels of scrutiny and we need to be able to rise to that challenge.
18 months ago we contributed to apiece of research carried out by UCL, Arup and apm and many of you will have seen this booklet that came out as a result. If you haven’t read it I encourage you to do so as it will become a part of the reality of your work even if it hasnt so far.
We don’t have time to today to go through the whole research but it highlights 7 key factors that will impact on the way in which the project profession operates and is in some cases already operating now.
If we just look at a few examples:
Virtual teams is already a reality for many projects with technology enabling us to work with teams anywhere in the world in a collaborative environment
Open innovation culture you already saw reflected in the funding in the budget for this year and there are examples where 3 car manufacturers worked together on component parts for a car that they then all marketed and sold separately (Puegot, Toyota and Citroen)
Gig economy leading to many freelancers providing services from anywhere in the world and working for multiple organisations. My son who is an engineer has decided he wants to be a photographer and is starting to build a profile for himself. He found a provider on the web to grow his Instagram followers to 1,000 £20 highly effective for a week or 2 and then he noticed they were no longer doing anything but within 2 days the organisation who he purchased the service through acted refunded his money . It is highly likely that no-one in that chain of activity had ever met
Flexible working, increasing desire to contribute to society are strong requirements for our future workforce
All f us are already experiencing how digital construction and automation are impacting the workplace so quite some challenges to face.
APM is highly active on many fronts to help support the profession through this transition and grow the required project capability.
Influence – network with government, training providers, HEI’s, respond to enquiries and promote the importance of the profession wherever and whenever we can. CIC conference chair today has been sitting on the CIC Grenfell enquiry representing project management at the appropriate time
Research – I just talked through the project we did with Arup and we have just completed apiece of research highlighting the lack of women in major project leadership, We are also working with PWC on a new piece of research to show the value, size and scope of the project profession to ensure appropriate investment in its future
We have recently compiled a catalogue of the many thought leadership items we publish which can range in topics from ethics, to automation , Brexit and the industrial strategy.
We are working on the new version of the APM body of knowledge with over 1500 contributions to date from the profession and you will see when it is published how much the world in which we work has changed since the last edition. The core of project management remains the same but the environment in which we operate and the skills of project managers are without date changing.
Key to us is building a profession for the future as we significantly increased our investment in our education outreach programme, encouraging students to consider project management as a career, support employers in developing the level 4 and 6 apprenticeships and build new route to charter be it through qualifications, recognised assessments from other institutions or experience.
We are also working hard to help build a diverse, ethical profession for the future that meets those many challenges identified by the world economic forum and the UN
Todays conference is all about how our profession needs to look to the future and employ smarter ways to deliver projects.
Delighted to have John Cridland as our first keynote speaker – his insights will demonstrate the different, more interconnected ways we need to deliver projects – not just building things but looking at how we can create benefits for the economy and society. He is talking about the north but his lessons are wider appliacable,.
Smarter Thinking – inspiring project professionals to review their approach and mindset to deliver projects that provide broad benefits, including social, environmental and economic impact.
Smarter Working – exploring the tools, including new and innovative technology, that project professionals are starting to use, and will use in the future, to improve delivery outcomes.
Smarter Leadership – this stream will explore different ways to engage stakeholders, discuss the benefits of motivating teams to see projects as social systems and discover ways that project professionals can drive their careers forward.
The conference is all about the requirements for a chartered profession this I believe is essential for delivering and transforming our society and the economy
Some of you will work in organisations ready to adapt and change and other less so but you too can be a catalyst for that change if you …….
Thank you and have an excellent day.