Greg McMahon

Greg McMahon is the national director of Adair Leadership in Australia, delivering programs and training developed by leadership expert John Adair. McMahon has experience as a project leader, a manager, a senior manager and an executive in a wide variety of fields ranging from civil engineering design and construction, to marketing, training, research and development. He also covers consultancy and regulatory services, industrial relations, defence services, corporate support (policy and planning) and information services.

Project management and modern warfare

Project management as a discipline may have had its origins in war. Certainly, its early development occurred during World War II, fast-tracking General Macarthur’s island hopping advance towards The Philippines.

March 15, 2012

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Project-Space—Greg McMahon

Project-Space: A new doctrine for warfare

Managers have long drawn concepts from the military in meeting business challenges, from marketing to leadership. The aim of this paper is to illustrate how some project management concepts might assist the development of military doctrine for modern war.

Developments to date in military doctrine appear most sophisticated at the conventional warfighting end of the Spectrum of Conflict models used by most defence forces. The doctrine at the ‘peace’ end of the spectrum appears less so.

Project management concepts, a ‘Project-space’ if you like, to accompany the Battle-space concepts in military doctrine, is discussed, using the examples of integration and stakeholder management as leads.

Author: Greg McMahon
Review status: Presented at the 2011 IPMA World Congress

March 1, 2012

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