Whats New in Project Management

Project management is involved in most consulting assignments, so what does a thought leader in this area think of the current state of project management, its future, and its impact on consulting? Milton D. ('Mickey') Rosenau founded Rosenau Consulting Company in 1978 following a 21-year career with industrial and consumer products companies. He is the author of dozens of publications and nine books, including Successful Project Management:

What We Can and Cannot Do for Our Clients

Recently, a prospective client asked how we would make sure that changes called for by the installation of a new enterprisewide system were implemented. The word “sure” made me uneasy. If I have no control over all the input, how can I have control over the output? I didn’t hire the prospect’s employees, select their technology, or determine the rules by which they must operate. And I have no control over the myriad unanticipated events that can change circumstances overnight.

You Don’t Have a Strategic Plan-Good

Management consulting is one of the fastest-growing professions world-wide, increasing by well over 20% per year, with the top 50 firms exceeding a growth rate of 27% in 1998. According to Consultants News (“Explosive Growth,” 1999), the management consulting market reached R89 billion in 1998 and was projected to exceed R100 billion in 1999. In 1980, the total market for management consulting was only R2 billion. Staffan Canback (1998) pointed out in a recent C2M article that in 1990 there were only about 18,000 management consultants worldwide. Today there are over 550,000, of which 60% are estimated to be in the United States. This growth rate, along with an increase in service offerings, having outstripped any increase in the number of clients, has led to increased competition for clients.

From English shores to a New South Africa

Having been  in the consulting industry now for over 17 years and having returned to South Africa a year ago from Europe where I completed a 3.5 year re-engineering assignment with a multinational, I find wherever I go now in South Africa there’s talk of a Masiphembe – a “Let Us Create” philosophy (Engineering News circa 1999). I recall the article, back in 1999, claiming that after the walls of apartheid had come crashing down many companies and industries had suffered instead of prospering. New catch phrases like “partnering arrangements”, “down scaling” and “re-engineering” prevailed. A sudden realisation at the time that, to become world class, an organisation had to produce quality products almost came too late for many, e.g. the steel industry.

The value of independence in consulting

Having been  in the consulting industry now for over 17 years and having returned to South Africa a year ago from Europe where I completed a 3.5 year re-engineering assignment with a multinational, I find wherever I go now in South Africa there’s talk of a Masiphembe – a “Let Us Create” philosophy (Engineering News circa 1999). I recall the article, back in 1999, claiming that after the walls of apartheid had come crashing down many companies and industries had suffered instead of prospering. New catch phrases like “partnering arrangements”, “down scaling” and “re-engineering” prevailed. A sudden realisation at the time that, to become world class, an organisation had to produce quality products almost came too late for many, e.g. the steel industry.