“Project Management 2.0 will bring subversive innovation to the industry.” In respect of the management concept proposed by Dr. Harold Kerzner, a project management master that Project Management 2.0 takes the delivery value as the orientation, Ding Shizhao, the founder of the Research Institute of Project Administration and Management of Tongji University, believes that Project Management 2.0 provides us with a new set of project management methodologies that are more contextualized for the current engineering construction development, and it is also the best guide indispensable for project managers to cope with the complex and changing project environment.

From the initiation of project management in China in April 1987 to the introduction of international and modern project management concept, management mode and management technology into the country for dissemination and practices, Ding has been devoted to the theoretical research of project management for over three decades, leading the progress of project management. The proposal of Project Management 2.0 also endowed him with more profound and original thinking on industry development.

Goal-oriented: value-driven project management

“The core task of conventional project management is to control investment, progress and quality as targets, but these targets are at present not in line with the law of social development.” Ding said that if the benefit after use of a project meeting the standards in terms of investment, progress and quality is poor, it could not be deemed as a successful project.

The success of a project does not depend on whether the results are delivered or accepted by the relevant parties, but on the value perception and value identification of the deliverables by relevant parties upon project delivery, as well as the value created by the deliverables for the organization and society after the project is put into operation.

Ding told reporters that, more often than not, a project is a strategic effort, and the significance and value of a project are not limited to the deliverables upon project conclusion, but also exist in the future value that may be created within the whole life cycle after delivery. He said that Project Management 2.0 is value-driven rather than target-controlled project management, and value creation is the sole criterion for project success, which will have a profound impact on a country’s economic growth and construction industry reform.

Taking a large building as an example, he said that the initial investment in the project was large, and although there was no quality or safety accident in the construction process, the project was delivered on time and all indicators met the standard, it was idle after several years of operation. Massive investment but long-time idleness raise the question of whether adequate feasibility studies had been done before the project initiation. How can idle resources be rectified and utilized?

Ding believes that a project should be carefully demonstrated and scientifically judged before construction. Huge investment in an attractive but useless construction may win temporary praise, but will not bring real help to the governments at national and local levels. On the contrary, it may become a development “burden”. It should be noted that whether there is sufficient market demand, how to implement supporting funds, and whether the operation can be sustainable are all factors that need to be comprehensively considered before the construction of a project. This is where the essence of Project Management 2.0 concept lies.

Abide by justice and win victory through unexpected moves: realizing the sustainable value

Scientific and technological progress is always accompanied by a major transformation in management theory and practice while leading to industrial transformation. To build a powerful country, China is bound to carry out the project management mode which adapts to transformation in the new era. The development from Project Management 1.0 to Project Management 2.0 is not only a breakthrough in the concept of leading the future development of project management, but also transformation in terms of abiding by justice and winning victory through unexpected moves.

Project Management 1.0 believes that a project must have clear objectives, such as time objectives, cost objectives and duration objectives. All projects are carried out under certain constraints, including resource constraints (human, financial and material resources, etc.) and human constraints. Among them, quality, progress and cost objectives are the three main general constraints. Project Management 2.0 puts forward a set of concepts with delivery value as the orientation, that is, a project is the carrier of a set of sustainable business values to be realized, and project success lies in the realization of expected business value under the competitive constraints.

Ding further explained that in the past, the key metrics included high-quality delivery on schedule, on time, and within planned costs, which were just the intrinsic characteristics of value. Value metrics should be established in a business case or project initiation, achieved in stages during project delivery, and continuously reflected in the operation of products or services.

Through a variety of metrics, Project Management 2.0 specifically reflects whether the value is achieved, including the time to realize value, the proportion of changes in key assumptions, the number of key constraints, and net operating profit. Therefore, in any case, the ultimate goal is to achieve sustainable value.

Without “justice”, “unexpected moves” will not go far; and without “unexpected moves”, “justice” cannot be fully displayed. Obviously, as a task, an engineering project is bound to have a clear goal. The ultimate goal of Project Management 2.0 is the benefit goal, while such three control goals as time limit, cost and quality mentioned in Project 1.0 are goals at the next level, which complement and transform each other.

Way of transformation: thinking outside the box

Project Management 2.0 has fundamentally subverted the definition of project in the conventional sense as well as the definition of project success under the triple constraints. This is not only reflected from a breakthrough in thinking, but more importantly, the responsibilities of project manager will be redefined, which requires thinking outside the box.

For decades, the conventional view of project management has been that a project is successful if it is completed and complies with such triple constraints as time, cost and scope. Project Management 2.0, however, requires project managers to be more business-oriented. Project manager, as the general commander of project construction, is the key to project success. In the process of engineering construction, the project manager should not only manage human, financial and material resources, as well as the coordination and progress of the project well, but also enable the project to create certain economic and social benefits after completion.

Ding said frankly that the role of project manager should be changed from “the person who organizes experts to do things” to “the person who coordinates the value co-creation activities of the relevant parties” in a broader sense. How to build consensus among different related parties and make the related parties integrate into the value co-creation activities of the project is a challenge for the project manager.

He believes that project management is not just a project management process. It’s a business process as well. Project manager should not only produce and manage the deliverables, but also assume greater responsibility for business management.

“We should always keep the theory of project management up to date.” As an advocator and facilitator of Project Management 2.0, Ding hopes to promote the high-quality development of China’s engineering project management by spreading the most advanced theories of international project management and utilizing these theories to lead practices. This is both the career that he is committed to and the key to promoting the reform and development of China’s construction industry.