Max Wideman

Robert Max Wideman
Born	(1927-01-19) January 19, 1927 Penarth, United Kingdom
Nationality	British and Canadian
Education	B.Sc Honours Civil Engineering, 1947, City & Guilds College, London University, England
Occupation(s)	Civil engineer, project management consultant, author, professional speaker
Known for	Development of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK)
Spouse	Audrey Eva Wideman
Website	maxwideman.com

Robert Max Wideman (born January 19th, 1927 in Penarth, UK), widely referred to as simply Max Wideman, is known for his contributions to the profession of Project Management. He is considered the father of the "Project Management Body of Knowledge," the Project Management Institute's foundational book on the process of project management, and is credited for inventing the term. Wideman is also well known for his free comprehensive project management knowledge web site that contains over 12,500 pages, 550 "Issacons" ("Issues and Considerations") and 280,000 links (as of September 2010).

Early life, education, and career

Wideman was born at home in Penarth on January 19th, 1927. He attended Alpha School in Harrow and later the Bedford Modern School due to the outbreak of World War II. In 1944 Wideman obtained entrance to the City and Guilds section of the Imperial College in Kensington and was close to the center of London during the V-1 and V-2 rockets attacks.

In 1947 Wideman graduated with a Bachelors of Science with Honours in civil engineering. He then spent two years performing the mandatory National Service for the British government that was required of every male at that time. After initial training Wideman was sent to Luneberg, Germany as a Lance Bombardier in the Royal Artillery. He also spent time during this period teaching.

Upon completion of his service in 1949, Wideman then worked for the Demolition and Construction Company. His first job was a contract for modernizing and expanding a steel mill in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire. Wideman was registered as a pupil engineer under agreement for two years qualifying for his membership in the Institution of Civil Engineers. To complete the qualifying requirements prior to taking the final exam for the Institution of Civil Engineers, Wideman moved to the British colony of Northern Rhodesia in 1951 to work for the Colonial Service in the Department of Water and Irrigation.

From 1955 to 1966, Wideman resided in England working for Sir Murdoch MacDonald & Partners, London, UK, and John Mowlem & Co. Ltd, London, UK. In 1961 he was promoted to the position of Construction Agent (Site Construction Manager).

From 1966 to the present Wideman has resided in Canada, living in the cities of Toronto, Ontario, Victoria, British Columbia, and Vancouver, British Columbia. He has held a number of professional titles including Project Manager, Project Director, Vice President, and Principal. Since 1990, Wideman has provided project management consulting through his own company, AEW Services.

Project Management

Wideman has been active in the US-based Project Management Institute ("PMI") since 1974. In the mid-1980s, he led a team of 80 PMI volunteers across North America to document the institute’s project management body of knowledge, known as "The PMBoK". It was approved and published by PMI in 1987. This document has since been upgraded three times by the distribution of "A Guide to the PMBoK". Subsequent to this original PMBoK work, he was elected President and then Chairman of the PMI Board. He has been honored with Fellow, Project Management Institute.

Wideman is author of several books on project management. These include: A Framework for Project and Program Management Integration (1991) and Project and Program Risk Management, A Guide to Managing Project Risks and Opportunities (1992) as PMI's handbooks; Cost Control of Capital Projects (Second Edition 1995) and his latest book A Management Framework for Project, Program and Portfolio Integration, Trafford, BC, 2004.

Over the last five years he has dedicated his spare time to researching "best" and even better practices in project management across the entire PMBoK spectrum. This includes the new and emerging discipline of project portfolio management. More importantly, he has made this entire information freely available to the public on his web site at http://www.maxwideman.com

Awards

• Professional Service Award, Association of Professional Engineers of BC
• Fellow, Institution of Civil Engineers, UK, 1969
• Fellow, Engineering Institute of Canada (?)
• Project Management Institute Distinguished Contribution, 1985
• Project Management Institute Person of the Year, 1986
• Fellow Project Management Institute, 1989
• Fellow, Canadian Society of Civil Engineers, 1994

Offices

• Engineering Institute of Canada Vice President Ontario Region, 1973-1974
• Project Management Institute Vice President Member Services, 1984-1986
• Project Management Institute President, 1987
• Project Management Institute Chairman of the Board, 1988
• Founding Sponsor & Secretary, The Wideman Education Foundation, 2007

Bibliography

• A Framework for Project and Program Management Integration (1991)
• Project and Program Risk Management, A Guide to Managing Project Risks and Opportunities (1992)
• Cost Control of Capital Projects (Second Edition 1995)
• A Management Framework for Project, Program and Portfolio Integration (2004)

External links

• example.com