Foreword to the Second Edition

This is an important book; it is a necessary book. It comprehensively addresses the rapidly expanding role of the project manager, a role that is striving to keep up with the corresponding expansion in the definition of project success. Project managers can, by increasing their competence in the skills presented in this book, raise their odds of achieving the ever-more elusive goal of project success.

I am fascinated by project success and by what it takes to achieve it. My interest in project success, beyond the narrow focus on my own projects, began a couple of decades ago when I worked as an engineering project manager at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). At that time, I led the development of a detailed, standardized project life cycle for an especially high-tech portion of that organization, one that, I am proud to say, included formal steps and artifacts, early in the life cycle, to define success criteria for every project. That success focus propelled me to lead the development of CIA’s project management and systems engineering training and certification program to mature practices agency-wide, and to help develop and implement the new U.S. government-wide Federal Acquisition Certification for Program and Project Managers.

At every turn, I noted that the definition associated with project success was a moving target, and it was expanding. I also noted that failure to hit that project success target, more than any other single factor, became the leading contributor to challenged careers. That’s right: project managers are known by the outcome of their projects; it is an outcome-based environment. A couple of successful projects can propel a career to new heights, and a couple of failures can have devastating career effects.

I observed that in the early days of modern project management, the 1960s, project success was largely one-dimensional—technical. It worked, or it didn’t; the audio listening device collected audio, or it didn’t. Along came the 1970s, and the success definition expanded to include cost and schedule—the triple constraints. Now the audio listening device had to be developed on time and on budget. Expansion occurred again in the 1980s when customer acceptance gained importance; the agents using the audio listening device had to like it. In the 1990s and beyond, including today, the dimension of business value was added to the success definition. Now the audio collected by the listening device had to contain useful intelligence.

It is next to impossible to meet this ever-expanding definition of project success without becoming a complete project manager. The Project Management Institute report 2018 Pulse of the Profession: Success in Disruptive Times provides the data: 70 to 80 percent of successful project-based organizations prioritize the development of complete project management skill sets, whereas only 11 to 13 percent of underperforming organizations do so. That is a stark contrast.

Thankfully, Randy Englund and Alfonso Bucero have teamed up again. Together, over the past decade, they have become sought-after thought leaders on the subject of the integration of the people, organizational, and technical skills needed for project success. Their books and seminars continue to delight readers and audiences by providing a systematic and inclusive focus on the set of skills and competencies needed for success when managing today’s projects. Their message is powerful and clearly articulated. It applies to emerging and experienced project managers alike. As you read this book and apply its principles, I believe you will be inspired to broaden and deepen your skills to the point of achieving more project success more of the time.

Michael O’Brochta, PMI-ACP, PMP

Author of How to Get Executives to Act for Project Success

President, Zozer, Inc., Roanoke, Virginia