Rich Maltzman

Rich Maltzman is the co-author of the Cleland Award-winning "Green Project Management" and "The Sustainability Wheel".

Take a long term view and deliver business benefits that add sustained value

Project leaders bring the long-term, enterprise view of the organization to the project team and help them make sustainably good decisions. This long-term-thinking means that project leaders envision the project’s deliverables beyond the handoff and well into the future, considering the use of the product in its steady state, i.e. when the product is fully operational. They take into consideration how the product performs and behaves over time with respect to market impact, competitive impact, investor impact, industry impact, as well as lasting ecological, societal, and economic effects.

If, for example, your project involves the introduction of a new single-serve coffeemaker, are you merely planning for the handoff of the machine to the manufacturing process? Or, are you applying sustainability thinking by considering the fact that the coffeemakers will continuously use over tens of billions of non-recyclable coffee pods which are (A) filling up landfills and (B) contrary to your company’s or client’s stated sustainability goals? Project leaders consider and apply this long term holistic mindset including the use (consumption of power and material), waste (items such as the coffee pods), and reuse (recyclability) aspects of the project’s product.

For project managers and their teams to make sustainably good decisions they must first and foremost consider the steady-state of the products, what they consume in that state and what the Social, Economic, and Ecological impacts are. They should be empowered to implement the company’s stated Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) goals and apply this power and authority when initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing the project.  – Rich Maltzman - co-author of the Cleland Award Winning Green Project Management, and The Sustainability Wheel.

Up-scoping is not necessarily a bad thing

Up-scoping is the process of including more products, services, and features into the project at the request of your client. This is not necessarily a bad thing if it’s done under change control and if the customer allows extra time and budget for it. As disciplined project managers, we can tend to think of scope growth as a bad thing, when in fact it’s ok if the customer wants it – as long as the project is properly re-baselined. When running a project, you are often the front person, not just of the project, but also of your organization. That means you need to have your ‘antennae’ up for possible increases to the project’s scope – and increased revenue for the organization. The advantages aren’t just more sales and more value to your customer, but also that you hone your sales skills which are useful in so many project situations. So the work you do as you up-scope your project is also earning you valuable weaponry for your own personal project management arsenal. – Rich Maltzman - co-author of Green Project Management and The Sustainability Wheel.