The three projects that were shortlisted for the Deutsche Zukunftspreis all have one thing in common – they are all highly complex. Ultimately, though, there could only be one winner, and the winning project is an impressive example of what can be achieved with good project management. Federal President Joachim Gauck presented the award The Deutsche Zukunftspreis 2016 award ceremony took place in November, attended by Federal President Joachim Gauck who had been invited to present the award to the winning team and congratulate the two runner-up teams for their no less innovative projects. The Deutsche Zukunftspreis 2016 once again demonstrated that

Demand for project assistants is growing. There are many areas where the work of a project manager and a project assistant overlap. The job of project manager demands a wide range of competencies. Management competence is just as important as sector know-how, negotiating skills and the ability to think along strategic lines. So the project manager needs a universal skill set. Specifically, the project manager has to ensure that time schedules, budgets and quality standards are complied with. That’s no easy task. The management of the project as a whole is also the project manager’s responsibility, and this is where the project assistant comes in.

There are many situations in project management when the project team needs specialist input from an expert. Architects and engineers are examples of people working in projects who sometimes have to consult other experts because they simply don’t know the answers to all the questions they encounter. For example, they might need specialist information about the composition of a material, or the advice of a fire safety expert, or someone who can use a thermographic camera or a sonic measurement device. These are all obviously construction project-related examples, but specialists are often consulted in all kinds of projects. It’s the project manager’s job to coordinate and support these experts, as well as their feedback or input, because it is that feedback and input that will help the project team to bring the project to a successful conclusion and ensure that the customer is satisfied with the deliverable.

What makes a construction project prestigious? Is it the investment or the design? Germany is a country where a lot of construction projects fail. There are many famous examples of such failures every year, one of the most notorious being BER Airport, the mega project to construct another airport in Berlin-Brandenburg. Although it’s not yet completed, it has already swallowed up almost 5 billion euros and is costing the tax payers just over a million euros a day, on average. Massive costs, ineffective budgeting and planning mistakes are the main reasons why the airport project that was originally scheduled to close out in 2011 has been such a failure. The current and rather optimistic opening date is scheduled as 2017. The BER Airport project definitely deserves ...

US-President Barack Obama signed ‘The Program Management Improvement and Accountability Act of 2015 (PMIAA)’ into law on Wednesday 14th of December 2016. This new law shall improve federal government project management of the United States of America by: Creating a career path for project managers, developing a standards-based model for project management, designating a senior executive responsible for project and program management policy and strategy and leveraging an interagency council on program management to share best practices.

The success of a project depends to a great extent on good planning. In project management, the saying ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ doesn’t apply. On the contrary, it’s easier to effectively manage a project if there are several players on board. This ensures that the milestones are reached on time and that the project schedule is adhered to. If you take the lone wolf approach, it only takes one thing to go wrong and the project is in jeopardy. Team work is therefore a must, and the success of the project doesn’t necessarily depend on whether the team members like each other or not. The timely close-out of the project is in the interest of everyone involved. It leads to the rewards of praise, recognition and personal...

Project management experience is a professional competence that employers appreciate because they need people who can take the initiative, are well-organised and who are objective-oriented team players. Projects are a central aspect of many jobs these days, so we’ve put together ten pieces of useful advice that will help project managers to do their jobs efficiently and successfully.

Benjamin Hübler’s project management career began in Berlin at ‘familie redlich – Agentur für Marken und Kommunikation GmbH’ in 2010. The agency’s client base included various government ministries which engaged it to implement diverse communication campaigns and events. Between September 2011 and March 2015 Benjamin managed brand communication projects for clients in banking and telecommunications at arsmedium eins GmbH. At the same time he attended a part-time degree course at FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie & Management, graduating in 2014 with an MBA. Benjamin has been a Business Engineer ...

The IAPM’s Project Manager of the Year 2016 Award was presented on 10 November, attended by a very friendly, welcoming and sincere group of Consorsbank employees. We were met at reception by award winner Benjamin Hübler, who has been part of the project management team at the BNP Paribas subsidiary’s Nuremberg branch since last April. Benjamin was really happy to see us, partly because his nomination for the award came as a complete surprise to him. “Before I joined Consorsbank I had been a project manager at various advertising and communication agencies, so my first thoughts when I started out here were: What kind of personal changes do I have to make so I can adapt to the day to day operations of a company like this? How does the banking sector expect me to conduct myself?"

The IAPM International Association of Project Managers is delighted to present the IAPM Project Manager of the Year award to Benjamin Hübler, Project Manager and Deputy Programme Manager at Conosorsbank in Nuremberg. The IAPM selects its Project Manager of the Year on the basis of a comparison of the best Certified Senior Project Manager profiles over the last twelve months. It has chosen Benjamin Hübler for several reasons. Firstly, he gained a distinction in the comprehensive examination for Certified Senior Project Manager (IAPM) certification. He also received an extremely high score compared with all other certificate holders for his experience as project manager.

The ‘Deutscher Zukunftspreis’ awards are presented annually to progressive companies with innovative technologies. This year, car manufacturer BMW and lighting solutions provider OSRAM are jointly nominated for the award. They’ve united light and technology to improve road traffic safety. Excellent project management is the reason why their idea went from vision to reality.

Project managers have a wide array of tools to choose from. Some people would say they have too many, because newcomers to project management find it very difficult to decide which tools, forms, software etc. they should use in their projects. Here’s what often happens: “Tom, we’d like to put you in charge of the XY project. With your energy and experience, you’ll have no problem running the project alongside your regular work activities!“ How many of you would be able to refuse that request? Unfortunately, most people who are asked to take on a project have no idea about what a project is or how to go about managing it. In some cases, the more senior employee who is assigning the project doesn’t have any idea either.