APM Blogs

In today's rapidly changing business environment, the importance of effective project management has never been greater.

Picture a leader, and what do you see? A Winston Churchill figure, taking centre stage to give a rousing speech, steer a crisis, or make a bold decision? Perhaps a decisive strategist, acting with speed and confidence under pressure, such as Horatio Nelson? Or a visionary motivator like Nelson Mandela, winning people’s hearts and minds and inspiring passion? These kinds of leadership are hugely compelling: they rally people, they offer clarity and they shape direction.

In an ever evolving and changing climate VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity) is especially important for international projects where a change in policy or legislation, issues with shipping terms and traffic or the crash of a country’s financial system can impact the viability or requirement for a project overnight.

Every project leader has faced the same uneasy moment: presenting to the board their project update report, with its on-time deliverables, glossy graphics and impressive metrics, but with a nagging concern that something critical has been missed.

We need to agree on something: automation in projects is inevitable, necessary and in many cases, vital.

At the APM Women in Project Management Conference in September, three experts gave their advice on how to make transformation projects a success: Rachel Baldwin, Head of Programme and Project Delivery at the BBC; Rachel Watts, Programme Director for NHS South, Central and West; and Sachia Thompson, Deputy Director at HM Prison and Probation Service.

“Glass, china, and reputation are easily crack'd, and never well mended.

Karen Blackett CBE knows a thing or two about being successful in business.

The construction industry is witnessing a revolutionary change driven by the integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

I recently attended the Women in Project Management (WIPM) Conference, themed Transform Tomorrow.