After many years of double digit growth in China, due to the economic crisis this has been a year where the Chinese government has introduced plenty of stimulus plans and regulations. One of the areas that the Chinese government with a is trying to improve to sustain the economic growth is in the senior management expertise level in the countryspecific focus onsa is believed to Several policies have been implemented to achieve enough capacity in some key s k i l l s ; one of them i s project management.

China’s Project Leaders

Currently China is the second country in the world with larger number of universities delivering bachelor degrees in project management.This is one of the strategic moves that the Chinese government has established to start getting a good foundation in this fundamental skill to drive the economyThe government has done several evaluations about the different standards and regulations available in the project management area. In one of the most strategic areas for China (Investment), CIPA (China Investment Promotion Agency) selected PMI (Project Management Institute) and their standards as the future path to delivering faster, in controll and economically feasible projects in their development zones. CIPA is responsible for the ultimate performance of close to 3000 special development zones in the country. Besides the most famous National level economic zones, there are multiple State and Provincial level economic zones. Standardizing the way the conduct theirprojects is one of the challenges that CIPA had to tackle, and they found key to start usingmature standards in project management (PMI has been around for more than 40 years creating standards and educational programs in project management) to improve the performance level in general.

“PMI has been around for more than 40 years creating standards and educational program”

CIPA has started the first phase of this project in 2009, which will create, in conjunction with PMI and the leading universities in the development zones, 10 Project Management Research and Development Centers. Several additional phases are planned by CIPA to continuously increase the number of professionals with project management skills. Government investment projects needed substantial performance improvement, but they are not the only ones facing difficulties.If we evaluate different reports conducted by large consulting companies, they show that around 70% of the projects worldwide finish late (basically doubling the original estimated time) and close to 60% of the projects worldwide finish significantly over budget (also more than doubling the original estimated budget). Yes, you are not the only one out there with these problems, but maybe is also time for you to start considering alternatives.

“…around 70% of the projects worldwide finish late…”

Project Management has been a “science” based mostly in experience, but that has not been enough to create efficient, coordinated and standardize processes in the companies generating enormous amounts of losses that (especially during the recent financial crisis) have to be substantially reduced. Most professionals I train even confess they are not aware if their organization has a methodology for project management, and they purely rely on their past experience to try to manage their projects. I like to compare this with first time I had to drive a friend’s car just a couple of months after achieving my driving license We had gone out to our neighbour’s annual city festival and my friend had a few drinks too many. With some help he was placed in the back seat of the car where he immediately passed out. It was a rainy night, and so I had to ensure that the windscreen wipers and headlights accessible. Alas, I had no success, and began driving the car without both. without being able to figure it out how to make the wipers and the head lights work. not very much lighted up so it was a big struggle and took me more than two1 ½ hours to do20 kilometers in second gear! I have since done the same route many times and I still marvel how I was able to do it that first time without the extra help of basic tools like the head lights and the wiper. The same can be said about project management. Many times I marvel to see how some professionals are able to reach the end of the road (their project goal) without having the capability to use some basicfundamental tools that would greatly ease their way through the critical path.

Government knows best

Day by day company projects become more complex, increasing by number, departments, and the amount of stakeholders involved of their projects and the number of departments and stakeholders that participate on them. Project Management has become an essential skill (like driving) for most professionals and the difference in performance many times comesattached to their level of experience, their soft skills in managing the team and navigating through the company’s culture and regulations, the maturity level of the company in the project management area (governance, methodology and tools), and their knowledge of some fundamental tools and techniques.

The government awareness and promotion about project management has also been reflected in the number of professionals that this year tried to achieve the PMP® (Project Management Professional) certification. Close to 60,000 individuals tried to achieve this certification in China this year so far (even though only 36,000 actually achieved it), making the PMP® certification as one of the most popular and sought after certifications in the market right now.

“Close to 60,000 individuals tried to achieve this certification in China this year”

Overall project management recognition and importance in China keeps growing at accelerated rate. This creates aneed of knowing and using some project management skills for most functional department members, and also a need for full time professionals in project management to obtain the latest tools and techniques to be able to achieve the increasing demands in expectations and performance that the increase number and complexity of projects are creating. Chinese government and leading companies have realized that and trying to move along to improve their project management capabilities and capacity.