Forgive us for taking advantage of a little bit of serendipity.

Precisely 24 hours after posting “A balanced view”, in which we implore project managers of the need to gather facts and make a decision based on rational analysis and background, an alumni magazine arrived from the University of Wollongong.  My son attended UOW as part of an international exchange program with the University of Massachusetts.

The cover story was: “Climate Change: What to Believe?”.

The story, written by scientist Dr. Helen McGregor, is a good read not only because it provides a calm, scientific view of climate change, but for project managers, it talks about something which has always fascinated me and that is the way that people (and your team members and customers, by the way, are people) react to uncertainty.  Note the portions highlighted below in green.  You will find a valuable lesson here which has NOTHING to do with climate change, and has much more to do with successfully managing a project, and that is to understand the way folks react to uncertainty and the best way to communicate under those conditions.

I have put the beginning of the story here as a teaser, but we hope and expect that you’ll read the entire story.

“As a climate scientist I am often asked if I believe in human-induced climate change. I find this a curious question: for me the science of human-induced climate change is not something one believes in but an obvious conclusion drawn from the data. But it got me thinking – where has this belief/non-belief idea come from and why is there so much confusion about climate science?

There is no doubt that climate is a complicated beast. There are multiple players – the main ones being the atmosphere, ocean, vegetation, and ice – all of which interact with each other on a variety of timescales from hours to decades to centuries and beyond. Trying to describe all the processes, and to put them in a climate model, is a tough gig. But it can and has been done. Our daily weather forecasts are based on models, and though not perfect, they’re often within a couple of degrees Celsius of the actual temperature. That’s quite an achievement when you think about it.

Importantly, the models reproduce the observed 20th Century warming. This means that at least at the global scale we do have a good handle on the climate complexity. But communicating this complexity to the public is no mean feat and scientists aren’t always the best at communicating their own science in a language that non-scientists can understand.

One of the difficulties in communicating climate science is the concept of “uncertainty”. With the vast number of processes in the climate system there are some that we understand better than others – uncertainty describes how well we know what we know. Climate scientists, having a good understanding of uncertainty, tend to downplay the state of knowledge and this can be taken by some as a reason to do nothing.

But there are many instances where we may not understand a process 100 per cent still act. For example, we know that a healthy diet and exercise reduces the risk of heart disease, yet the details of exactly which food and how much exercise are still the subject of research. Does this mean we should have an unhealthy diet and not exercise? Of course not. The same principle applies to reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. We know that there is a big problem and should get on with the process of dealing with it.”

Please read the remainder of Dr. McGregor’s story here.

As project managers, we often find ourselves at the fulcrum of decisions in which we must take diverse viewpoints into account and make key project decisions, sometimes in the ‘heat of battle’.

For example, does this sound familiar?

Quality Engineer: “We need 5 weeks to do this verification test!”

Product Manager: “They can do that testing in 2 weeks.”

Quality Engineer: “Actually, now it looks like we need 6 weeks!”

Product Manager: “Let’s skip that test altogether, it adds no value!”

So you know this to be true.  We constantly have to make our best judgments based on what we hear, what we benchmark, and we always try to base decisions on facts and not emotion.  That is ‘the way’ for a good PM to work.

A few months ago, the press was pretty bad for climate scientists.  From what you were hearing, it sounded like they made up the whole of climate change.  They were fudging results, sending fake emails, and if you believed some people, were the devil incarnate.

The problem is that now many folks have ‘written off’ the warnings of climate scientists because of that bad press.

Now it turns out that several independent agencies have – with the exceptions of a few minor mistakes of judgment – cleared the findings of the scientists.

In this story, from the BBC, for example, the conclusion of a Dutch government panel was that there were “no errors that would undermine the main conclusions” on probable impacts of climate change.

We urge you to make up your own mind.  One way to do that is to get informed.  And one way to do that is to check out this very well-researched, and heavily hypertexed “discovery of global warming” by physicist turned historian Spencer Weart.

One other resource we’d like you to check out is “The Six Americas”

It’s all about audience.  And whether it’s regarding climate change or scope creep, project managers need to know their audience.  In this case (well, this is EarthPM after all) it is indeed about climate change.

Studies at George Mason University determined that there are really six different audiences – or mindsets – about climate change:

• The Alarmed
• The Concerned
• The Cautious
• The Unconcerned
• The Doubtful
• The Dismissive

The full report is summarized in this compact PDF.

But you can see in the image below that the audience is split along these six mindsets and if you wanted to get your green project message across you should understand each audience.  Again, this could be true for ANY message.

So consider your audience, collect facts, and look at aspects of your project – including green aspects – in a fair and balanced way.

In our book we’ve described how project managers can be change agents in their enterprises – not activists or tree-huggers, but change agents to bring the company more – well – change.  Change in terms different ways of doing things, but also change in the form of quarters, nickels, and dimes.  Lots, and lots of quarters, nickels and dimes, and dollars and Euros and yuan and shekels, so many coins in fact, that we’re talking about trillions of them.

A book we discovered after our manuscript was complete – unfortunately – is a pioneering book (2001) by Pamela Gordon called, “Lean and Green:  Profit for your workplace and the environment“.  You will find a rich source of information at this site, which will not only let you order the book but which also has a great video with Pam describing her motivation for writing the book and some of its background.  Her logic in the video and in the book is impeccable, and it has the following features:

• • • Debunks the myth that businesses must choose between profit and the environment
    • Shows how anyone, at any level of an organization, can help increase revenues by reducing harmful environmental impact
    • More than 100 compelling, real-life examples from 20 prominent and varied organizations, including Intel, Louisiana-Pacific, Horizon Organic Dairy, and Apple Computer
    • Chapter summaries provide easy “you-can-do-it” action steps that will yield immediate results

In any case, we’d like to (with Pamela’s permission, of course, which we indeed have) provide you with some of the highlights of her chapter on Environmental Management Systems.

We assert that PMs should “link” their projects’ charters to the EMS of the enterprise - and if their organization doesn’t have one, be the change agent to be sure that the enterprise adopts one.  So this is important stuff here!

First of all, what is an Environmental Management System?

It’s “environmental policies, how-to-instructions, and accountability measures for continual improvement” that “help your organization minimize harm to the planet and benefit from all the cost savings and revenue opportunities that Lean and Green organizations enjoy”.  It deals with goals, guidelines as to how to achieve them.  So it’s part vision and strategy, and part tactics.

Pamela interviewed many companies, amongst them Agilent, Apple, Celestica, IBM, Intel, Kyocera, British Aerospace, NEC, Philips, Polaroid, Sony, and TI, to find out what common threads their EMS had and singled out some best practices and tips we thought we would share with you.

Ten Suggestions

1. First consider the areas of largest environmental impact

2. Let employees know that the system was created because the organization cares about the environment

3. Embed the EMS’ requirements into the organization’s existing systems

4. Have each site or group form a cross-functional team to identify gaps between current practices and environmental goals, then have the EMS fill those gaps.

5. Use simple language.

6. Check frequently with each of the organization’s sites or groups to offer help in working with the system.

7. Match your employee training style to your organization’s culture.

8. Get outside help in creating your system.

9. Roll out the system in phases.

10. Add to your first time estimate.

The book “colors in” each of these points with details and examples from the companies interviewed by the author – but this should give you the gist of the suggestions.

Three pitfalls to avoid

1. Burdening people with bureaucracy.

2. Creating short-lived systems.

3. Depending on a single employee.

Eerily insightful

With the Deepwater Horizon disaster now heading towards its 100th day, it’s interesting to note Pamela’s highly insightful sidebar about being “prepared for emergencies”.  In fact it’s particularly interesting (and almost spooky) that the example – although about Apple, not BP, and thus the low numbers – was about of 20,000 gallons of spilled oil, and focuses on the regulatory and legal ramifications as well as how it would affect Apple’s image.

An example 10,000-meter view of an EMS

One company’s EMS is summarized (you’ll have to buy the book to find out which one) below :

1. Pollution prevention

2. Hazardous Material Shortage

3. Contingency and Emergency Response Plans

4. Hazardous Waste Management

5. Energy Conservation and Air Management

6. Water Conservation

7. Design for Environment

8. Site Acquisition and Closure

We assert that as a project manager, you could look at that simple high-level outline of an EMS and find many ‘connecting points’ to a project plan.  Projects use materials, during construction (and of course when the product of the project is in steady-state use – a subject for a posting on Life Cycle Analysis).  Projects use water, air, and need contingency plans.  So hopefully you recognize your PM discipline here.  That’s our point.  PMs need to be connected to the way the organization does business and now that includes Environmental Management Systems.

So be the change!

And help your company bring in the change!

One of the most prevalent themes in our soon-to-be-released book, and really what inspired the cover art for the book, is that project managers stand to benefit from the “green wave”, and that although it’s the right thing to do – altruistically – it’s also the right thing to do from a business perspective.
That said, we provide this update from GreenBiz which shows a much rosier picture of the ‘green economy’.

Here’s an extract (note the embedded link directly to the survey data):

“There’s good news this week on the green business front: Budgets and hiring in corporate environmental departments are on the rise. Those are core findings of the twice-annual “Green and the Economy” survey conducted by our GreenBiz Intelligence unit. While the overall economy still seems shaky, corporate environmental and sustainability departments seem to be on much more solid ground.

One big finding of our mid-year 2010 survey is that “the economic downturn is no longer driving most large companies’ environmental strategy,” as my colleague, John Davies, vice president of GreenBiz Intelligence, writes this week. That means environmental initiatives are being driven more on the basis of strategic business decisions, as they should be. Chief among them, Davies found, is that “the economic downturn has taken a backseat to growing customer requirements as the principal driver of corporate environmental strategy.”

Hiring is up, too. Large companies, in particular, are increasing headcounts for environmental and sustainability roles. In early 2009, 27 percent of large companies reported hiring freezes and only 8 percent planned to increase headcount for environmental departments. Today, only 11 percent report hiring freezes and more than 28 percent plan to increase headcount, a major swing.”

You’ll see more from us soon on this topic as we provide some references to Pamela Gordon’s excellent book on this topic, Lean and Green.

We really like this quote from The Washington Post (the editorial copy) last November; “Let’s agree that there is debate about climate change and that we don’t know exactly when oil will run out. But let’s also agree that man has an impact on his environment. I don’t need a fancy degree or any reports to know that; I can see it every day in the litter lining our roads, in the murkiness of the Chesapeake Bay and in the smog hanging over our cities.”

The quote continues, “Yes, the environmental movement includes some elements of extremism, nannyism (the word is probably an outgrowth from Dean Baker’s The Conservative Nanny State, May 2006) and self-righteousness. But environmentalism is simply a desire to protect nature and our health and to preserve resources for future generations (our emphasis).  What’s so bad about that? What’s wrong with trying to invent technologies (projects) that are less polluting than oil? Is it unreasonable to want fewer pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals dumped into waterways (projects)? Are people who recycle newspapers, buy organic foods or carry reusable grocery bags all part of a vast left-wing conspiracy?”

Sometimes, with all that is going on, and plenty of fodder for our posts, we need to revisit the real reason we became involved in our projects, the book and the website.  As a project managers, and founders of the website you are connected to right now, this quote speaks to us.  It says that the founding principles, or “assertions,” of EarthPm are relevant, important, sound, or whatever positive adjective you want to use.

We won’t reiterate our assertions here; you can see them by going to the “Mission” area of this site for full details.  To capture them all in one statement, it is “simply a desire to protect nature and our health and to preserve resources for future generations”. One of the assertions we make during our presentations in that we are not tree huggers, or nannyists.    And, we are not trying to make you that way, either.  However, we do strongly believe that projects are where ideas become real and that by running a project with green intent is the right thing to do, and every project can benefit from green intent.  Project managers are the “resource police”.  To “protect and serve” project resources is in our DNA, so who better to advocate for preserving resources, including environmental resources, than a project manager?  We’ve proposed some changes to the next edition of the PMBOK and are getting lots of support.  Check out our proposal in the “Community” section of this site and we welcome your comments.  Soon we will post an update incorporating comments we’ve received so far.

As is our modus operandi, we provide this tongue-in-cheek look at:

The Nanny Zone