Interesting PM Reads

Worldwide Project and Portfolio Management 2013-2017 Forecast
A recent report from IDC (International Data Corporation) provides a 2013-2017 forecast and analysis for the worldwide project and portfolio management (PPM) market, which experienced growth of 5.4% during 2012, which was significant in a difficult market. In these difficult financial environments there was some revenue growth from major and key innovative smaller PPM vendors. More generally, the increasing role and complexity of sourcing for projects, programs, and portfolios in the enterprise and the need to align with business needs, corporate governance, and a plethora of regulatory requirements have combined to retain growth for PPM as the economy shifts. IDC has seen increased alignment of PPM with ERP, the evolution and rapid uptake of SaaS PPM, and increased coordination with application life-cycle management (ALM). Agile and service management vendors have been leveraging PPM through alliances, integration, and/or acquisitions. This continued to have an impact in 2012 and will play a role in market growth until 2015.
The report reveals that organisations continue to struggle with the complexity of project, program, and product delivery while seeking to manage economic and political volatility as operational and business needs change. Agile management of human, financial, and other resources is key. Demand is expected to remain good for PPM tools throughout the next 5 years.
 
2013 Project Management Salary Survey
According to a recent survey from the Project Management Institute (PMI), the project management profession has continued to grow throughout 2013 and remains a good career choice. This is the eighth edition of the survey, and is based on salary information from more than 36,000 project managers in various countries including the United Kingdom, USA, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan and South Africa. The survey reflects global trends and indicates a rise in salaries for project management practitioners.
 
How To Plan Your Project Management Career
Lindsay Scott, Director at Arras People, has written about How to Plan Your Project Management Career. She suggests using simple tools such as SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) to pinpoint what experience, competencies and skills you already possess as a project manager. The tool helps to get down on paper these thoughts before pulling together a development plan.
But for project managers in particular, there’s also the Butterfly Model, a tool that can be used alongside SWOT Analysis, which expands your thinking, and takes into account the fact that your career is not something that is done in isolation. It’s an extension of a risk management tool that uses Assumptions, Stakeholders, SWOT and the ability to see both positive and negative outcomes and can help to develop a wider perspective than SWOT alone can.