A Twitter discussion earlier today regarding PMP certification application reviews by PMI highlighted the importance of PMI's Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.  This code includes a combination of mandatory and aspirational standards, with the latter being “an expectation that we have of ourselves as professionals—it is not optional."

I summarize the four primary areas of this code, below:
Responsibility:  We accept only those assignments that are consistent with our background, experience, skills, and qualifications.
Analysis: This is one area that was covered in discussion during my 2016 PMP certification training with Steve Norton. For a stretch assignment, it's essential to be candid and complete in describing your PM experience so that the employer can make an informed judgement on your hire. 
Respect:  Respect is our duty to show a high regard for ourselves, others, and the resources entrusted to us.
Fairness: Fairness is our duty to make decisions and act impartially and objectively. Our conduct must be free from competing self interest, prejudice, and favoritism.
From the Mandatory standard section: "We do not discriminate against others based on, but not limited to, gender, race, age, religion, disability, nationality, or sexual orientation.”
Analysis:  I see this as one of the most challenging areas, given the current US political and cultural climate - Note, nationality. 
Honesty: Honesty is our duty to understand the truth and act in a truthful manner both in our communications and in our conduct.
I don't see the code referenced often on projectmanagement.com, where the focus is often on technical project management and the use of predictive and agile approaches. I'm now inspired to work on a post for that space. 

I'm currently focusing on the Create Work Breakdown Structure process in the PMBOK Guide Scope Management Knowledge Area. 

Louis Alderman (in the audio recordings for Velociteach's PMP examination preparation textbook, Sixth edition) notes the importance of the WBS:  employing a WBS is the number one way for a PM to improve his/her project management practices. 

How to build the WBS? In my job, I currently do a lot of task management work using the Smartsheet tool. Smartsheet has the advantage of being employed as a tool across multiple units in my organization. But I'm skeptical of Smartsheet's support for building graphical presentations, including the WBS chart. There are likewise limits to Microsoft Excel. As a result, I'm using the Cacoo online diagram and flowchart software. 

Cacoo has templates for WBS charts (like the section of a WBS shown below. Note that I added numbering manually - it isn't included on the template. 

In 2011, consultant Marshall Breeding described Library Services Platform products as follows:

The products are library-specific, they enable the library to perform its services, internally and externally though their built-in functionality, as well as exposing a platform of Web services and other APIs for interoperability and custom development.  [source]

With years of implementation and usage experience behind us, I suggest an alternative definition, one that contains important commonality with Breeding's: 

• Cloud-based, SaaS, with frequent scheduled updates (typically, monthly)
• Management of print and electronic content in a unified service, with digital content increasingly managed in the LSP as well
• Ability to extend functionality via published and documented APIs

The ongoing extension of functionality is key to service use and it's why I believe that the implementation and use of LSPs requires effective project prioritization and management in an academic library organization. The Project Management Institute has potential value here - I've been surprised at the lack of interest in PMI in the North American library technology community. After the implementation project for an LSP service, an academic library has the opportunity to launch projects using available APIs to extend functionality for its local user community or for the product users more generally. For the Ex Libris Alma LSP that I have the deepest experience with, Ex Libris hosts a developer network site and performs outreach to developers at user group meetings. Additionally, each month's product release notes describe new API functionality that's being released. I'm not making a value judgment on the quality of these efforts, but noting that the vendor is making efforts to support Alma extension. 

It's important to note that the LSP model is entirely different than integrated library system (ILS) model for library systems that preceded it. Releases were much less frequent (typically annually) and API usage was not a core component of the service. Thus, the migration to an LSP model with local extension supported isn't a trivial matter for an academic library. 

The question is, how can PMI help?

• Having the library's key project leaders join PMI (and the local PMI chapter) to support ongoing resource access and conference participation
• Use the online training resources - including recorded webinars - to increase local knowledge of standardized and effective approaches to project management
• Use the templates (also projectmanagement.com) that work best for the organization to better standardize project processes
• PMI project leaders have the opportunity to participate in in-person and virtual events  to build their knowledge and network of contacts in the project management profession
• Finally, PMI certifications offer an opportunity for library project managers to demonstrate core knowledge of specific areas of project management

One presentation that stood out to me at this year's ELUNA annual meeting was given by Jan Waterhouse  from SUNY Albany, "Project and Change Management for a Successful LSP Migration." Jan's approach, as a Project Management Professional, was to approach the topic with a focus on change management and on Project Management Body of Knowledge Guide principles. I can't recall seeing a PMBOK Guide-focused presentation in library technology prior to this one. Jan and I later worked together on a session for the 2019 American Library Association annual conference that describes the PMI resources and opportunities listed above. I'm hoping that it gets accepted!

But, in summary, the move from the legacy ILS to the LSP is a significant one from a project management perspective. In my view, the potential for academic libraries to employ PMI's tools and approaches remains largely unexplored. 

My experience in project management has been in the domain of academic and research libraries and institutions. On September 27, I had the privilege of attending an Association of Research Libraries/Coalition for Networked Information forum, "Innovation in Research Libraries."  It was a chance to meet with colleagues whom I've worked with in my years in academic libraries, including graduate school at LSU; my NLM stint in the late 90s; and with colleagues from the Pacific Northwest. 

The kickoff speaker, Bernard Banks, referenced this Ronald Jantz article in his remarks.  From Jantz's article on the need for management-led innovation: "The library focus on service quality and adherence to rules and processes is part of the culture that can limit the ability to innovate." And continuing, the author describes attributes of many academic libraries: "Resistance to a new way of doing things and perpetuating established practices. This cultural inertia typically results in incremental innovations and only minor improvements to existing services." 

In the project management context, the use of agile or adaptive approaches offers promise in terms of making service development more externally-focused. The Agile Practice Guide is a good starting point for thinking through the opportunities offered by agile approaches. 

I have a couple of takeaways from this meeting. 

• The reference in Jantz's article to James Neal's view of research libraries as an information-poor profession. Going forward, I'm going to try to be more aggressive in reporting on service successes and failures both in presentations and, more importantly, in journal articles.
• Whenever products, technologies, or services are considered, add this point to the evaluation:  What happens for/to the organization if we do not go forward or if we say no? To me, this is an acceptance of the reality that the status quo may or may not be the best place from the standpoint of users. 
  
  

Looking back, I admire Georgia Tech's approaches towards innovation at the university and the library level, as articulated by Dr. Rafael Bras (Provost) and Catherine Murray-Rust (Dean of Libraries). Bras described the resistance to, and later successes of, Georgia Tech's fully online computer science degree - with 7,700 students currently in the program. Murray-Rust emphasized the importance of drawing from external spaces to innovate (and I see project management / agile approaches as an example). She also described major staffing overhauls at Georgia Tech, a state institution in which human resources options are limited, through rewriting position descriptions; and, letting go and rehiring staff into new jobs that match the library's strategic needs.