Managing Projects as Investments

Stephen A. Devaux, PMP, MSPM, is president of Analytic Project Management (APM), a training and consulting company he founded in 1992. APM is a Global R.E.P. of the Project Management Institute (PMI). Their clients include BAE Systems, Siemens, Wells Fargo, Texas Instruments, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, iRobot, L-3 Communications, American Power Conversion, Irving Oil, and Respironics. Devaux is the author of the book, Total Project Control: A Manager’s Guide to Integrated Project Planning, Measuring, and Tracking (1999, Wiley). He has worked to develop and use new approaches and metrics in project management with clients in a wide range of industries. “When the DIPP Dips” was published in the Project Management Journal in 1992 (an article that was reprinted in PMI’s Essentials of Project Control in 1999). He has contributed chapters on his new scheduling metric, critical path drag, in two 2013 books: Project Management in the Oil and Gas Industries and Handbook of Emergency Response. He has authored numerous articles and PMI webinars, and is a frequent speaker at PMI chapter meetings throughout the United States. He began his career at Fidelity Investments, Citicorp, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and then taught and consulted in project management at Project Software and Development, Inc. (PSDI). He has taught graduate project management courses at Suffolk University, Brandeis University, and The University of the West Indies/Barbados and in executive education programs at Bentley University and University of Massachusetts/Lowell. Born in Barbados, he has been living in the United States since 1964. He is a Vietnam veteran and a naturalized US citizen. He lives with his wife, Deborah, in Swampscott, Massachusetts.

Introduction: "A Disgrace to the Human Race!" Earned Value: What It Is and What It Isn’t. The Project as Investment. Planning the Project as Investment. Contracting and Controlling the Project as Investment. Projects within a Program. Managing the Investment at the Project Level. Managing Resources on the Critical Path. Postmortems and Lessons Learned. Selling the Investment Approach Internally. Conclusion.