The Frontiers of Project Management Research

This first-of-its-kind publication from the Project Management Institute (PMI®) brings together 28 research papers from internationally known and well-established researchers in project management from around the globe. From them you will glean an insightful overview of past and current research findings, and take an eye-opening excursion along frontiers fertile for future investigation. You will also find a wealth of practical information that you can use now in managing your projects, be they organizing meetings, producing new products, or building skyscrapers.

Here are just a few of the many helpful insights awaiting your discovery within The Frontiers of Project Management Research:

• To know the field, read Project Management literature past and present. Over 3500 project management research articles have been published since 1960—the 1990s produced the largest volume, and certainly the most current information.

• Recognize the importance of measuring project success. Many factors contribute to it, but identifying and measuring the key ones for each project remains a critical, and sometimes elusive, achievement.

• Think project management is challenging now — wait ‘til tomorrow. Project management challenges are likely to increase in the future as projects, project environments, technology, and people relationships grow in complexity.

• Tailor your communications to key stakeholders’ levels of interest and power. Devote considerable time and attention to a project’s key players. Specifically define, demonstrate, and communicate the benefits from investments in project management to senior managers and others.

• Take the time to develop trusting relationships. Research confirms it—trust leads to better client relationships, accelerated time to market, and lower project costs.

• Planning is our most important process. Among all the research articles published in project management over the past 40 years, planning led over leading, controlling, executing, and improving.

Whatever your project management interests or informational needs, The Frontiers of Project Management Research offers you stimulating ideas for tomorrow and innovative approaches from today, all at your fingertips.

Dennis P. Slevin is Professor of Business Administration at the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh. David I. Cleland is Professor Emeritus in the School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. He is a PMI Fellow and has published 34 books in the project management field. He is often described as "the father of project management." Jeffrey K. Pinto is the Samuel A. and Elizabeth B. Breene University Endowed Fellow in Management and Professor of Management in the School of Business at Penn State-Erie.