APM Blogs

Arras Peoples Benchmarking Report is always an interesting read, and theyve recently kicked off the 2011 survey.

It is quite a feat to be entertaining and thought provoking at the same time.

Who would have thought that the topic of the current series of the Apprentice would have generated so much activity in the project management blogosphere? Almost as much as the Linkedin discussion on what should be the project managers theme tune - 79 comments and counting! In the Parallel Training blog, Paul Naybour has been talking about Lord Sugars capability as the project sponsor which prompted the question about which project His Lordship  is actually sponsoring? Answer the one that maximises his personal profile and the BBCs ratings.

You have to feel sorry for those poor Apprentices trying their hardest to be project managers under the scrutiny of Lord Sugar and all for the benefit of entertaining the viewing public.

Not so long ago I was involved in a fairly extensive piece of research (the report eventually ran to over 50,000 words) for the Cabinet Office looking at the case for portfolio management.

Its a long-standing joke that the UK and the USA are divided by a common language.

Every few months the soft versus hard skills debate resurrects in the pages of Project magazine.

Well, it has been another record year for GCSE pass rates the 23rd straight year in a row! When the decision was taken to merge O Level and CSE systems in 1986, few could have predicted that such consistently high results would follow.

Few are untouched by the efficiency drives and budget cuts sweeping across the public and private sector.

As each day brings fresh evidence of the pressing need to prioritise government spending and of the inherent difficulties in doing so, the case for effective portfolio management becomes ever stronger.