Sir Edmund Hillary, of Auckland , New Zealand, died on January 11,2008. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay were the first humans to climb Mount Everest. This hit me especially because I have always had a great interest and enthusiasm for the outdoors, and I just finished reading a great book about the climbing of Mount Everest. What makes his death even more interesting for PMcrunch is that Edmund Hillary was in practice actually a great project manager!
Consider the fact that climbing Mount Everest is truly a project! It has a beginning and end, and many challenges and milestones in between, as it takes a good 4 months in execution, not to mention the advance preparation of planning and physical conditioning. It has a very definite scope, requires a clear schedule, requires very detailed planning, and requires that the work be broken down into digestible chunks. It is full of resourcing decisions, and above all has an over-abundance of risks to be managed!
In the book I recently read - “Into Thin Air
“[O]ur wreck is certainly due to this sudden advent of severe weather, which does not seem to have any satisfactory cause…We took risks, we knew we took them; things have come out against us, and therefore we have no cause for complaint, but bow to the will of Providence, determined still to do our best to the last…. Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman.”
Surely, succeeding in the face of big risks can produce big rewards. But, back down to earth and into the present, in the field of project management, the idea is less to be a hero, and more to be a risk manager, reducing the amount of risk undertaken to make higher than average returns.
What else is to be learned from all of this, and from Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay? First, EVERYTHING is a project, at some point and at some level, and hence can benefit from a professional project management approach. Another thing is that there is simply an abundance of challenges around us. Perhaps the greatest is that virtually any challenge can be undertaken - even climbing Mount Everest - with proper planning, risk management, and the plethora of project management best practices!
Hats off to Sir Edmund Hillary, an exemplary Project Manager!
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John Reiling, PMP
Project Management Training Online
Lean Six Sigma Training Online
3 responses so far ↓
1 Anonymous // Mar 25, 2008 at 5:36 am
A Tribute to Sir Edmund Hillary - A Stellar Project Manager…
Edmund Hillary, of Auckland , New Zealand, died on January 11,2008. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay were the first humans to climb Mount Everest. This hit me especially because I have always had a great interes…
2 PlugIM.com // Mar 26, 2008 at 4:53 am
A Tribute to Sir Edmund Hillary - A Stellar Project Manager…
Edmund Hillary, of Auckland , New Zealand, died on January 11,2008. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay were the first humans to climb Mount Everest. This hit me especially because I have always had a great interes…
3 shoppersbase.com // Mar 26, 2008 at 4:56 am
A Tribute to Sir Edmund Hillary - A Stellar Project Manager! | Project Management Insights, Ideas, a…
Edmund Hillary, of Auckland , New Zealand, died on January 11,2008. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay were the first humans to climb Mount Everest. This hit me especially because I have always had a great interes…
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