High performing organizations are known for their respect for due process. The capacity to follow due process is guarantee by the exposure of project managers to the knowledge and skill provided by their exposure to project management training. Project is completed on time, on budget and within scope only if project managers are well trained in the skill of project management or they are project management professionals. Failure of project is largely due to lack of project management training, this is why high performing organizations invest so much in the training their project managers. When organizations provide project management training for their project managers, they stand the chance of achieving project success. Project success saves cost by preventing wastage. Investment in project management training guarantee project success as exemplified by the following three case studies based on the Project Management Institute (PMI)’s Pulse of the Profession conducted in 2014.
1. Hewlett-Packard (HP)
The technology giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) standing 9th on US Fortune 500 and ranked 44th among the Fortune Global 500 companies relies heavily on project management. HP success can be traced to these two-fold objectives of her Enterprise Business divisions:
(a) Their alignment with the generally accepted good practice based on the PMI’s Guide to the Project Management Book of Knowledge PMBOK. PMBOK is the world most widely recognized standard for the practice of project management.
(b) HP preparation of her project managers for the Project Management Professional (PMP) credential examination.
2. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) depends on project management and is in partnership with PMI. NASA’s Project Management Education under Dr. Edward Hoffman, the Founding Director of NASA’s Academy of Program/Project and Engineering Leadership (APPEL), once made the following statement:
“NASA lives in a project world. We have an $18 billion budget, and every penny of it is spent on missions, which are accomplished through program and projects”
NASA looks up to Project Management Institute (PMI) for her training programs. NASA look up to PMI is order to:
(i) Know what is happening outside her agency
(ii) Know what other organizations are doing and
(iii) What their need should be at any point in time.
The relationship between NASA and PMI has helped NASA share knowledge with PMI’s global communities of practitioners and academics. This is the secret behind NASA continuous improvement in their project management.
3. Chile’s Hosting of Under 20 Women’s World Cup
In 2008, the World Football Body, FIFA gave Chile the right to host the Under 20- Women World Cup. Chile was confronted with the challenge of how to build four FIFA standard stadiums within nine months since none of Chile’s cities has stadium of FIFA’s required standard, coupled with the lack of capacity of Chile’s project managers to deliver high profile stadium projects.
Chile’s Ministry of Public Infrastructure, having realized the lack the capacity of their project managers to handle the construction of four stadiums in nine months, travelled to as far as Spain and Mexico in search of better project management skill to handle the construction of stadiums that can match FIFA standard. It was during this trip that they came in contact with PMI leaders. The partnership of Chile’s Ministry of Infrastructure and PMI led to the establishment of PMI chapters in Santiago de Chile to develop an integrated project management strategy to focus on extensive training of their project managers, develop standardized project management processes based on PMBOK, establishing new organization based on flexible project teams and the implementation of a new information technology platform for centralized coordination and virtual team collaboration.
With PMI’s state of the art project management standard, Chile’s Ministry of Infrastructure, Chile was able to accomplish what nobody in Chile thought was impossible. “The successful completion of four FIFA Standard stadiums in the late October 2008”
The success of these four stadium projects motivated Chile’s President, Michelle Bachelet to approve the construction of thirteen additional soccer stadiums in Chile.
Making a Case for Nigeria
If HP, NASA and Chile went into relationship with PMI and that was responsible for the success of their project management endevour, Nigeria too should follow develop relationship with PMI chapter in Nigeria and make project management certification a must for all the project managers handing government projects across the nation. This will enhance project success and cut down on wastage in public spending on project