The IAPM – A promising future

IAPM Officials Meeting Zurich, 8.11.2014

Bad news is good news - sad but true. You can see evidence of it everywhere - on TV, on the internet and in the print media. And it also applies to the project industry. Just think about what’s been said in the news about German projects such as the Berlin Airport, Stuttgart Central Station or the Hamburg Opera House. It all gives the impression that projects swallow up mountains of money and are regularly run aground. Who pays the price? Tax payers, operagoers, train users and air travellers.
 
But that isn’t always the case. One of the biggest projects in the world is making impressive progress, inconspicuously and very much out of the public eye. It’s the railway tunnel underneath Gotthard Mountain. When it’s finished, it will be the longest railway tunnel in the world at 57 km (west tunnel: 56978m, east tunnel: 57091m). Including all the crossways and connecting tunnels, the total tunnel length will be 153.5 km. Both tunnel sections will have a full-length rail track. Construction commenced in 1999 and the tunnel’s scheduled completion date is 2017. When it opens to tilting trains that can travel at speeds of up to 250 km/h, the travelling time from Zurich to Milan will be reduced by a good hour to 2.5 hours. And the railway will be a serious competitor to airlines.
 
At the initiative of the IAPM Zurich Network a tunnel visit was arranged in conjunction with a Network Meeting on 31 January 2014. Detailed information about the construction project was provided to participants before they entered the tunnel to see the impressive technology for themselves. The very positive atmosphere surrounding this project was clearly evident, even though it has suffered a number of setbacks. The IAPM congratulates the entire project team at AlpTransit Gotthard AG on its excellent project work.
 
The Network Meeting received very positive feedback from participants and fully reflects the IAPM’s core mission. The IAPM is an organisation run by project managers for project managers and all of its activities focus on the project manager, project management methods, leadership and communication competence. This nitiative gave them the opportunity to gain a first-hand experience of an extremely interesting project. And there are many other examples of Network Meetings with guided tours and presentations with high practical relevance, plus subsequent discussions. Case studies also highlight what really counts in day-to-day project work.
 
How can a project manager be supported in any situation? What methods and tools are suitable and what are the latest developments? To answer these questions, a global competence network was established which also supports our philosophy of promptly addressing concerns, needs and new developments in project management so that we can take the necessary action[MSOffice1] . Examples include the recent inclusion of agile project management and international project management in the IAPM’s certification repertoire.
 
We’re already in the final quarter of 2014 and this has been another very successful year for the IAPM. Once again, the IAPM’s strategy and concept of reaching out to, motivating and inspiring project managers to take a proactive approach to project management and engage in critical debate in order to take it forward has proven to be extremely effective.
A lively discussion among IAPM board members gave birth to another idea. How are we going to develop over the next ten years? Where will we be and what will our specific objectives be? When we were in the process of setting up the IAPM four years ago and developing our PM Guides we obviously had ideas and hopes about where the IAPM might be in two, three or four years' time. The fact that our hopes have been surpassed by far prompted us to think about the next seven years. These are the objectives that we’ve set in our Agenda 2022 (the year of the IAPM’s 25th anniversary):
 
  • The IAPM will be market leader for online project management certification
  • The IAPM will have the confidence of prominent international sponsors
  • The IAPM will be perceived as an organisation with a feel for trends and a role model for agile organisation management
  • The IAPM team will continue to represent successful association life[MSOffice2] 
  • The IAPM will have a global network of Officials, Senior Officials and independent experts

I’d like to thank the IAPM team, the Officials and the Senior Officials, as well as everyone else working in the background at this unique association for their commitment and hard work on behalf of the IAPM and their contribution to its development. Without you we wouldn’t be where we are today. I’m confident that we’ll be able to achieve all our objectives.
 
Sincerely,
Dr Hans Stromeyer
President of the IAPM

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