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

Look on the right.

You see that man?  That’s Tony Hayward, CEO of BP.

Does he look happy?   No, he’s not happy.

Does he look comfortable?  I don’t think so.

He’s being grilled by the US Congress.

One of the reasons?  He – or his company – or perhaps his whole industry – doesn’t seem to understand a simple equation which most project managers know by heart.

RF = P * I

Risk Factor is the product of Probability and Impact.

In any uncertain situation, you should be able to determine how much effort is required to spend in responding to a risk (a threat in this case) by understanding the Risk Factor (some call it Risk Score).

In this case, the probability may be very, very low.  But the impact is so astronomically high, that the product – the Risk Factor demands a huge risk treatment or response.

The impact in this case is a combination of very tangible things, like a $20B escrow fund, some mildly tangible things, like the health of one of the world’s most delicate ecosystems and the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people, and the intangibles, such as the reputation of a multinational corporation which has just spent oodles (our own very technical financial word) of dollars to make their image a very green and friendly one.  How’s that working out for you, BP?

So – in that equation, I think we can all agree that no matter how low “P” is, “I” is very, very, high.  So the Risk Factor is going to be worth considering.

And yet.

And yet…

Just before the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, BP sent home a crew from Schlumberger who was going to do a cement bond log.  What is that, you ask?  It’s a “representation of the integrity of the cement job, especially whether the cement is adhering solidly to the outside of the casing. The log is typically obtained from one of a variety of sonic-type tools. The newer versions, called cement evaluation logs, along with their processing software, can give detailed, 360-degree representations of the integrity of the cement job.” Seems like a good thing to do – and good assurance that your bond will hold.  Right?  The cost of this would have been $128,000.  This is only one of five decisions being raised at what can only be called the grilling of Tony Hayward.  The questions, coming from Republicans and Democrats, from oil states, and states that grow corn, all seem to be going after the companies acknowledgment of the Risk Factor equation above.

There is one point in the dialogue where Hayward seems to recognize the equation – however fleetingly:

“It gets to that point, though, that you have to question every assumption, especially when your entire company and its solvency are on the line.”

…and that equation leaves out the 11 dead, the ecological damage and the fact that the Gulf provides a livelihood for so many people as well as food for the world.

So what’s our point?

Keep the equation handy.  Keep it in mind.

Don’t be so fast to save $128,000 when on the other side of the equation there is a tangible $20B, and an even greater list of intangible damages to consider.  Your numbers may be lower (hopefully on both sides of the equation) but you will face this same choice.  Think of that picture above.  Do you want to have to wear that expression?

You can track the actual questioning here.

We’ve all heard the buzz about alternative energy; clean coal, wind power, tidal power, solar power, and nuclear power to name a few.  Traveling around Ireland last year, there was a noticeable increase in wind farms.  The talk around the county is to try to get most, if not all, of the power from the wind.  Everyone in Ireland and those who visit know that it is a windy country, surrounded by the North Sea, in an area of constantly changing weather patterns.  Power generation by wind is still in its infancy.  It may work in a small, unique area like Ireland, and generally on a smaller scale, we need to look to other alternatives for larger applications.

In today’s article in the Wall Street Journal On-line it states that, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), “Nuclear energy is one of the key low-carbon energy technologies that can contribute, alongside energy efficiency, renewable energies and carbon capture and storage, to the decarbonization of electricity supply by 2050, said IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka. I could provide as much as 25% of world-wide energy requirements by 2050. ” That would mean that “nuclear generating capacity to more than triple over the next 40 years.”

Nuclear energy is a proven technology, unlike some of the alternatives.  Director General Luis Echavarri of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) , a specialized agency within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental organization of industrialized countries, based in Paris, France, says  “Nuclear is already one of the main sources of low-carbon energy today. If we can address the challenges to its further expansion, nuclear has the potential to play a larger role in cutting CO2 emissions”.

To achieve these numbers, there will be a multitude of projects throughout the world requiring project managers.  Beside the project management jobs in the nuclear power plant construction industry, there will be PM jobs in support of nuclear power like plant design, accident prevention and development of safety features.  Just like the oil industry, there will be risks.  Who better to help manage risks than a project manager?

Because we are all interested in the “next best thing” in terms of what the future job market looks like, EarthPm will continue to identify those areas, whether the projects are green by definition, project impact, product impact, or green in general.  We’re not advocating one source of power generation over another, but we do believe that you must be aware of all the alternatives and where the potential future jobs may be.

Of course we are interested in bloggers blogging about project management.  Even though we are about the “intersection of Green and Project Management,” we are also project managers, teachers of project management methodologies (green included), and consultants in the field.   And, we were very proud and excited to read “the-best-project-management-blogs” from Business Computing World.   Heather Buckley, Director and co-founder of IT and business training providers Silicon Beach Training, writes about earthpm.com, “This blog is a recent discovery of mine and it’s quite distinctive, claiming to be devoted to “the intersection of Green and Project Management”. These two areas are surprisingly compatible, with over-lapping themes of saving money by using less resources and getting things done efficiently and effectively. This blog is a great place to head if you get bored of the same old – and somewhat trite – project management subjects and fancy something more stimulating.”   Thank you Heather, we’re working hard to provide that “stimulating” connection between green and project management and we are very happy to be number one on your list.  EarthPm, our proposal to PMI and  our book are our green projects and as you know, every project needs metrics.  Acknowledgment like this is certainly one of those success measures.  Let us know how you feel about anything on the site, especially our proposal to PMI.  We’re always looking for ways to make our projects better.

This week I spent a very worthwhile 4 hours in the above titled workshop.  It was hosted by Heidi Spinella, a sustainability consultant, and Bert Cohen, an adjunct professor at the University of New Hampshire, teaching Sustainable Living and Systems Thinking for Sustainable Living.  Heidi is also a PMP so naturally, excuse the pun, my interpretation leaned more toward projects and how a project manager can lead sustainability efforts by using the tools we have available, one focus of our new book.  I certainly wasn’t far off, as a matter of fact, I think my interpretation was right-on.

One of the definitions of sustainability used in the workshop is the same Bruntland one we use in the book; “Sustainable Development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (United Nations 1987) The workshop was focused on the Natural Step Framework, the framework I believe “frames” the Green Wave. (For more information on the “green wave, please read our book’s introduction.)  In a nutshell, and quoting from the workshop, we need to ‘Begin to reduce what we TAKE (from the earth); Begin to reduce what we MAKE (stuff that isn’t biodegradable or recyclable); Begin to increase what we PROTECT (biodiversity); Begin to increase what we RESPECT (human rights).”

Further, following a project’s lifecycle, and using this workshop as an example, sustainability is a project and we must plan, organize and control the effort.  And as a final step, make sure that we take into consideration the long term effects of what we are doing, or as McDonough and Braungart say, consider “cradle-to-cradle”.

The workshop’s focus is on using the Natural Step Framework as a “practical approach to strategic planning” for a community’s (any community) efforts to advance sustainability.  The example used in the workshop was Portsmouth, New Hampshire, (an eco-municipality) which has made incredible strides in its sustainability efforts.  For more information go to their website.

Bottom-line, at least one of the things I took out of it, is that one person,  like a small ice ball rolling down a snow cover mountain, can unleash an avalanche of success for a project by getting more and more people involved in the project.  That ice ball, no matter what you call it, is a project manager. Using the immense arsenal of skills that project managers possess, will aid in the success of any project.  And I will say it again, projects are where ideas meet reality, and the project manager has to be and is the champion of change.  Thinking “sustainable” is one of those changes.