APM Blogs

You have to feel sorry for those poor Apprentices trying their hardest to be project managers under the scrutiny of Lord Sugar and all for the benefit of entertaining the viewing public.

Not so long ago I was involved in a fairly extensive piece of research (the report eventually ran to over 50,000 words) for the Cabinet Office looking at the case for portfolio management.

Its a long-standing joke that the UK and the USA are divided by a common language.

Every few months the soft versus hard skills debate resurrects in the pages of Project magazine.

Well, it has been another record year for GCSE pass rates the 23rd straight year in a row! When the decision was taken to merge O Level and CSE systems in 1986, few could have predicted that such consistently high results would follow.

Few are untouched by the efficiency drives and budget cuts sweeping across the public and private sector.

As each day brings fresh evidence of the pressing need to prioritise government spending and of the inherent difficulties in doing so, the case for effective portfolio management becomes ever stronger.

Knowledge management is a growing field, with many organisations developing a knowledge management department.

Sounding like something from Victorian times, we are firmly in an Age of Austerity.

At APM, I get the chance to meet people in a wide range of organisations, all with a common interest in project management and how to do it better.