The Need for Strategic Project Managers

Over the past few months I noticed a trend in the project management profession; the need to include strategy as part of the role of the project manager. During the recent the PMXPO conference, PMI meetings, and journal articles (like this one), there has been a theme of increased focus on the strategic outcomes of projects. Organizations and project managers are realizing that managing the time, budget, and scope variables of a project is not enough; we also need to look at how our deliverables benefit the organization.

As we develop project managers and look for ways to improve our project management practices we need to integrate strategy and business value. If we continue to focus on the operational perspective of project management we will be able to increase our ability to deliver projects closer to budget, schedule, and scope goals. However, this does not mean the projects accomplish what they are intended to accomplish. There is a strategic purpose behind the investments associated with the project and we need to make this intended benefit our real target.

If we deliver the scope of the project on time and within budget but fail to allow the organization to achieve increased performance, the project investment does not pay off. Inability to achieve desired benefits should be the real definition of project failure. My guess is that most organizations would rather have a project go $10k over budget but provide opportunities for $50k annual benefits than a project stay within budget and allow only $5k in annual benefits.

As project managers, we need to keep the real goal in mind. Let's improve our project manager competencies and project management practices but be sure to include strategy and business value considerations. Doing so will elevate the importance of our field and increase our contribution to our organization's performance.