Has project management come of age?

Being interviewed for Project certainly made me revisit this question.

The need for effective project management has never been greater.

At a time of massive financial pressure, the recent National Audit Office report on Commercial Skills for Complex Government Projects identifies that the top 43 government projects alone account for some 200 billion spend.

It is timely that project management has come to be recognised as a profession in its own right in exactly the same way that marketing, procurement and IT did in previous decades.

All the hallmarks of a modern profession exist. APMs site dedicated to the five dimensions of professionalism illustrate this well.

The increasing number of individuals entering project management as a profession of first choice supports this maturity.

The March interview allows the issue of professional maturity to be explored in more depth. It touches on APMs development of a unifying professional standard for project management.  It also highlights the 50 letters of support a record number received by APM for its campaign for chartered status on behalf of the profession from major government departments, blue-chip corporate organisations and other leading professional bodies.

Victor Hugo once observed that There is nothing stronger than all the armies in the world than an idea whose time has come I am sure that he had project management in mind.