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Status Quo

Ah, it is nice to hear that some people are not feeling any impacts due to economic recession. 8% of the respondents noted that they have not seen any impacts. Half of those were from the North America, other responses came from Australia, India, and Africa.

I noticed 2 similarities from what I could gather in this category:

  • Diversified local economy and/or companies
  • Companies who already have contractual commitments through 2009.

Selected responses

  • North America – In our geographic area, I have not seen PM layoffs, downsizing, etc., in most industries. We are very lucky that we have such a diverse economy–health care, pharmaceuticals, education, construction, IT, engineering, etc. There have been some layoffs in the pharmaceutical industry, but I am told that they are not due to the current economic situation, but to normal business cycles in the pharma industry. So, compared with other areas, I think Philadelphia is in good shape.
  • Africa – I am in a very small town in south Africa and at this stage there seems to be little to no real impact as yet. This may change as the impact gets through to South Africa in the first quarter of 2009. The government projects are still on going and in our case there is such a skills deficiency in project management that projects are canned not due to funds but due to limited skills.
  • North America – The projects that have been in the pipeline for Financial Yr 2009 – we are still committed to completing those projects. For Fiscal 2010 – we will not find out until July 2009. For now I would say nothing much has changed; however, this could change at anytime. Especially if the downturn spiral continues.

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Impact of the Economy on Project Management

by Josh March 20, 2009 Career

I recently conducted a survey asking for anecdotal stories about how the economy is currently impacting project management.  Sorry it’s been awhile!!  I would like to share the results with you. The survey was 100% anonymous, and I even removed any identifying information that a few responders put into the answer. Note that this survey [...]

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A Question of Ethics

by Josh September 1, 2008 Leadership

Craig over at Better Projects posted something interesting. It deals with ethical implications raised by a scenario in which you are a contractor bidding on a government project with ITAR sensitivity. Some of your people are not US persons per the ITAR guidelines. I have some limited experience with this one that I would like to share.

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