I spent many a year working in the field of project and process management in information technologies, software engineering, telecommunications networking, and higher education. I worked in a large company that employed many project managers yet we had no mechanism for cross team communication; it was as if each project management group was an isolated island in a vast corporate sea. Over time it became clear to me that small to mid-sized companies are equally adept at isolating project management groups.

One way to overcome this isolation is to bring project managers together (physically or virtually) to share ideas and discuss problems. Unfortunately, in many corporate settings the value of such cross pollination is not recognized. In today’s fast-paced world, with limited budgets and resources, allowing time away from work to attend a meeting of like-minded individuals is often seen as unproductive.

To help encourage the development of project management communities of practice I created the the PMCommons site/blog. In addition to providing information and commentary, I will provide links to valuable resources and, as time permits, discussion and evaluation of technologies for PMs on the move.

Michael Batty, Ph.D., PMP