Adeline Teoh

Professional project management—where are we now?

Project management has come a long way, but there’s still a distance to go before the public identifies the discipline as a discrete profession.

Project: Oxfam disaster kits

People in the disaster-prone areas of the Pacific now have a lifeline in the form of Oxfam’s survival kits that can be distributed within hours of an incident.

Project: Qantas A380

Delivery delays gave the Qantas A380 program three false starts but the team’s dedication eventually gave the project wings, says group general manager Vince Paolella.

Lavinia Buckley, the travelling project manager

First she went to the UK, then she worked in transport. Now Lavinia Buckley is back in Australia and already had a hand in an award-winning hospital project.

Maria Skillern, Tasmania’s project manager

For a self-confessed ‘accidental’ project manager, Maria Skillern has more than what it takes to handle big projects. In the beginning she worked in a large organisation on an IT and change project, and since then has shown her skills in the Tasmanian Government in a variety of roles.

Managing stakeholders in infrastructure projects

Not so long ago, stakeholder management was merely about dealing with various parties’ issues as they arose. There was a vague understanding of the people involved and if a problem occurred, the project manager would cross that bridge when the time came.

Lately, stakeholder management has become more sophisticated, taking up a greater amount of time and effort up front. Recognising that people are the project is the first step towards stakeholder engagement. Beyond that, it’s a way to ensure that issues are heard at the beginning so that they can be addressed in the project plan and realised as a benefit upon closure.

Project management education today

A vox pop of educators on the gaps between education and professional project management. What are the gaps between the project management profession and education? What can industry do to close the gaps? What can educators do to close the gaps? What are some of the key challenges? What is the desired outcome of closing the gaps?

Project: Building the Education Revolution

When the school bell rang on the first day of the first term in 2011, construction company Hansen Yuncken had the majority of its school projects—halls, classrooms, libraries, offices—ready for students’ use.

The projects in question are all part of the Federal Government’s Building the Education Revolution (BER) program, implemented as part of the government’s response to economic downturn.