Lessons Learned in Project Management: They Only Matter If You Use Them
“When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don’t blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well.” —Thich Nhat Hanh. Spiritual leader, poet, and peace activist. ——————— Lessons Learned in Project Management Start Early We have always been a big fan of lessons learned in project management. We […]
Building a Smarter Approach to High-Stakes Risk
“I know of no such unquestionable badge and ensign of a sovereign mind as that of tenacity of purpose…” — Ralph Waldo Emerson Project Overview This project involved the development of an interagency process for high-stakes risk management in aviation security, aligned with Homeland Security Presidential Directive 16 (HSPD-16), the federal policy framework in […]
From a Whiteboard to a System of Systems: Executing Across a Network of Moving Parts
“We can’t impose our will on a system. We can listen to what the system tells us, and discover how its properties and our values can work together to bring forth something much better than could ever be produced by our will alone.” — Donella Meadows, Project Overview A former boss entrusted me […]
The Plan That Keeps Paying Back
“The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings.” — Kakuzo Okakura, ——————— The Baseline When Alejandra and I developed the baseline for our annual backpacking trip back in 2019, we did so with a deliberate project management mindset. We were conscious that this wasn’t a one-off event; it was a […]
Strategic Roadmap for Complex Modernization
“The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.” — Michael Porter Project Overview A major federal entity needed a long-range strategy to modernize critical aircraft systems through a phased investment approach. The project produced a six-year roadmap covering five aircraft systems, defining future enhancements, outlining funding needs, and sequencing upgrade options […]
Planning the Future: How Young Students Are Applying Project Management to City Design
“Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.“ A. Einstein City of Wenatchi Project On behalf of the Project Management Institute Educational Foundation (PMIEF), I had the pleasure of serving as judge for the Washington State region of Future City 2025–2026, the ultimate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics […]
40 Years In: Project Management Fundamentals
My PM Beginnings: A Foundation Built To Last Just two years out of college I was fortunate to land a job in Marshall y Asociados (MYA), a new company, uniquely specialized in Project Management. I started as a scheduler when MYA was only a year old. My first project? “El Menito”, the development of a […]