Impact of the economy on project management
Josh Nankivel of PMStudent.com is running a survey on the impact of the currect economic situation on project management. If you have an anecdote to share, complete the survey.
He’s had responses from all over the world so far: Costa Rica, India, Mexico, Holland, Germany, France, Canada, the US, China, Australia, but no one from the UK so I’m about to fill the survey in so we have some representation!
Josh has let me see the interim results and the feedback so far is mixed. While generally people report that there is less hiring going on, which means resources are short on projects, the upheaval in project management as a discipline seems to be less than in other areas. If anything there is more of a desire to do ‘proper’ project management to ensure that the right projects are being worked on and completed to time and on budget. However, some respondents report the opposite: projects that have become stuck due to lack of capital investment. The impact of the falling price of commodities is also an issue. As you’d expect, the public sector is less affected than the private sector.
One respondent points out that project managers who are keeping their jobs and doing well are those that bring that little bit extra to the job – the ability to motivate, remove barriers and get things done. But s/he also points out that these are the kind of people who would also do well when the economy is strong!
What’s it like for you?
