What’s So MODERN About PROJECT MANAGEMENT?
Thriving in the Information Age
Project Management is changing. Originally intended to plan, organize and control industrial, assembly line activities (Continuing Efforts), the discipline has evolved to now emphasize Single-Time Efforts. These project types have distinct assumptions and require different management styles and a fresh application of familiar Project Management techniques.
Many organizations are finding that the Project Management skills they developed for one type of work are conflicting with and complicating newer project types. The resulting culture clash frustrates everyone involved and often dooms viable projects.
While both types of projects coexist in most companies, focus is shifting away from traditional, predictable efforts toward fast-moving Single-Time Efforts where the unknowns overwhelm known information.
In What’s So MODERN About PROJECT MANAGEMENT, Chuck Tryon contrasts the assumptions of the Continuing Efforts and Single-Time Efforts. He also identifies some of the most critical issues Information Age organizations must address. This material is based on over three decades of research, consulting and training with some of the largest organizations in the United States. The concepts presented are also applicable to any organization engaged in aggressive product development activities of any size or complexity.
Chuck Tryon is a faculty member at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa in the Medical Informatics department. In his role, he serves as the project manager for multiple grant-based efforts and manages the knowledge repositories that support these project. Additionally, Chuck teaches graduate courses for the Organizational Dynamics Department. He teaches courses in Project Management and Knowledge Management.
Prior to joining OU, Chuck spent 30 years under the Tryon and Associates umbrella as a full-time consultant and seminar leader in Project Management, Knowledge Management and Process Design. He worked extensively with leading organizations in the US, Canada and Europe, including Williams Companies, TD Williamson, American Airlines and UPS. He has trained thousands of senior professionals in a streamlined strategy for managing fast-paced, single-time efforts. More recently, Chuck created the process and templates to guide the construction of an inventory of organizational knowledge to maximize the transfer of intellectual "know how" vital to the sustainability of organization.
Chuck has written two books, both published by Taylor and Francis, one on Project Management and the other on Knowledge Management. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Tulsa and a Master's degree in Knowledge Management from the University of Oklahoma.
Chuck and his wife, Tresa, live in Broken Arrow. They have two daughters and three grandkids.