IAP2M Spring Conference on "P2M Version 2.0": Summary

Takahiro MIYAO (Advisor, Global Communications Platform, IUJ)

The 2009 Spring Conference of IAP2M (International Association of Project & Program Management) was held at CIC (Campus Innovation Center) in Shibaura, Tokyo, on April 18. The general theme for the conference is "Clarification and Further Development of the Japanese-Based Concept of P2M: To Facilitate Innovation and Contribute to Competitive Resurgence and Human Resource Development."

IAP2M President Kunio Yoshida (Emeritus Professor, University of Tokyo) delivered his opening address, mentioning the necessity of making the Association an NPO corporation and its journal to be published online.

Following the opening address, Professor Hideo Yamamoto (Chuo University) gave a keynote speech entitled "P2M Concept: Value-Creating Program Management in Uncertain Environment" to explain the concept of "P2M Version 2.0" based on extensive discussions at his committee for the last several months. One of the main differences between P2M Version 1.0 and Version 2.0 is that unlike the former, the latter takes explicit account of uncertain conditions outside and inside the organization, and emphasizes the importance of the program manager's feedback to the owner of the organization regarding value creation and evaluation as well as means for risk minimization, in addition to the tasks covered by P2M Version 1.0, that is, those of program management for value setting and evaluation under calculable risks.

Then, a workshop was held on this topic "P2M Concept," where the coordinator was Prof. Kunio Yoshida and the panelists were Prof. Shigenobu Ohara (Tokyo University of Agriculture & Technology), Prof. Hideo Kameyama (same university), Prof. Tametsugu Taketomi (Nippon Institute of Technology) and Prof. Hideo Yamamoto. The panelists tried to answer various questions by participants and useful exchange took place between the panelists and the participants to clarify the concept of P2M Version 2.0,

There were a number of individual sessions in the morning as well as in the afternoon, focusing on the revised concept of P2M. In particular, Prof. Toshihiko Kinoshita (Waseda University) pointed out that not just "concepts" but "missions" should be reconsidered, as a paradigm shift is occurring due to the current financial crisis on the global scale. He proposed to review the Japanese "excellent company" model so as to make it effective in dealing with the current crisis. In the same session, Prof. Akihide Komatsu (Shizuoka University) presented a framework for project & program planning management from the viewpoint of the owner rather than the contractor.

References:
IAP2M :
www.iap2m.jp
IAP2M Fall Conference 2008：
http://glocom.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2008-09-20
IAP2M Spring Conference 2008：
http://glocom.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2008-04-27

This report is adopted from the following blog (with its Japanese translation):
http://glocom.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2009-04-19