Today, we are very proud to announce the launch of an effort to provide a credible means to certify expertise and knowledge in the area of sustainability in project management, or “green” project management.  And, we are excited to notify the project management community of our efforts!

Background
As you probably know, EarthPM LLC, which is made up of Rich Maltzman, PMP, and Dave Shirley, PMP, co-authors of Green Project Management, has been researching, publishing, and communicating on the intersection of green and project management for several years.  Recently, we have seen an increased interest in the area and have been working with several higher education institutions to use the book and/or other materials to create a set of courseware in the area of sustainable projects.  In some cases, universities are already using the book as part of a “Green MBA”, in other cases, universities have developed an entire course built around the book.

But this is much bigger than EarthPM or our book.  In fact, a consortium of like-minded people have joined us.  They come from Nigeria, The Netherlands, the US, Israel, China, Latin America, and elsewhere.  They are diverse in their practice areas but have a common belief in an integration of sustainability into PM.   So you can see, this is not about a book or any single organization, this is about getting more certainty and codification around the body of knowledge on sustainability in projects.

Certification
Our conclusion is that there is a market for – and a need for – a valid certification in green project management.

We are focused on certification of knowledge and expertise in an area of study.  We recommend that the certification process is based on completion of courseware and some sort of ‘check’ on the comprehension of that coursework and for certain levels of certification, demonstration of experience.

In our research, however, we have found that there are a new purveyors of certificates which now offer a “Green Project Management” certificate which seems to only require that project ‘examples’ be sent in, along with cash.   This is counter to our intent.  We  hope you’ll agree that this is not the kind of codification that is truly needed.

We want the certificate program to be administered by a well-regarded, global, not-for-profit agency.

To that end, we are establishing a not-for-profit organization which exists to define, promote, and issue these certifications.

A name that works – quite mystically
The organization’s name is the International Society for the Integration of Sustainability in Project Management, or ISIS-PM.  Please note a couple of important attributes of this carefully-selected name.  It really all comes together in our draft mission statement:

The mission of ISIS-PM

We take our cue from Isis -the Ancient Egyptian deity of nature and sustenance.  But there is nothing mystical or mythical about our work.  We focus on sustainability from a human, ecological, and very much from a business and financial perspective.

ISIS-PM is chartered to define, promote, and certify the ability of project managers to consider and act on sustainability (or “triple bottom line”) thinking in their project initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling, and closing of their projects.  It also is focused on helping project managers think beyond the closing and into the steady-state operation of their projects’ outcomes.  This focus, we assert, helps them to not only serve generations to come, but to better imagine and execute their projects for their current stakeholders.

Taking it to action
We have actually already created a pilot website for this organization and have taken on the hosting of this site at our EarthPM site temporarily, while we take the next steps to formally incorporate the not-for-profit organization.  We will update you here, but also keep tuned to our site for progress as we form the NPO (Non Profit Organization).

With this announcement we seek to:

• Remind you of our commitment and passion for this combination of PM andsustainability

• Get your feedback for the next steps

• Seek other partners for the consortium – corporate or individual.  Join us, we know we are on to something!

Please visit the site
http://projectsustainability.org

Thanks for your support and if you would like to comment, or offer
specific support or encouragement, please contact both Dave and Rich at:

dave@earthpm.com
rich@earthpm.com

Announcing: ISIS-PM, 1.0 out of 10 based on 1 rating

« Do Our Green Projects Hurt the World’s Poor? Green comedy »