Interview with Paul C. Dinsmore

Editor’s Note: Paul Dinsmore is one of the world’s most entertaining and popular authors and speakers on the subject of modern project management. A Fellow of the Project Management Institute (PMI^®), he is also a Global Advisor to PMForum, a PM Ambassador^™ and an Advisor to major corporations and government organizations in North and South America. This interview was conducted in March 2009. Part I of the Interview with Paul Dinsmore entitled “The Early Years of a Project Life: How Projects & Project Management led me to Brazil”, was published in the March edition of PM World Today, which can be found at http://www.pmworldtoday.net/interviews/2009/mar/Interview-with-Paul-Dinsmore-Part-1.htm

PM World Today (PMWT):  Paul, thank you for sharing some of your early project experiences in answering previous questions. Now we would like to change directions a little, and inquire about your writing, consulting and teaching – or coaching – career. I think you have now authored a dozen books on various project management topics. Can you just mention their titles and when they were published?

Paul Dinsmore:  Books published originally in English include the following:

• Human Factors in Project Management, 1984, Revised Version 1990, Amacom, NY

• Winning in Business With Enterprise Project Management, 1999, Amacom, NY

• Creating The Project Office, (co-author), 2003, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco

• AMA Handbook of Project Management, Second Edition (co-editor and co-author),
  2006, Amacom, NY (Third Edition scheduled for 2009)

• Right Projects Done Right, 2006 (co-author), Jossey-Bass, San Francisco

Books originally published in Portuguese were these:

• PMP Preparation: Como se Tornar um Profissional em Gerenciamento (co-editor and co-author), 2003, Qualitymark Rio de Janeiro (Revised edition scheduled for 2009)

• TEAL - Uma Revolução em Educação Empresarial, A revolution in Education (editor and co-author), 2004, Senac, Rio de Janeiro

• Basic Project Management, Gerenciamento de Projetos , (co-author), 2004, Qualitymark, Rio de Janeiro

• Project-Based Coaching, Coaching Pratico (co-author), 2008, Qualitymark, Rio de Janeiro

• VIPs -- Value Improving Practices, Práticas de
  Melhoria de Valor em Grandes Empreendimentos
  (co-editor), 2008, Brasport, Rio de Janeiro

• Prosolve, Tecniques in Problem Solving, Resolucao de Probelmas (co-author), 1990, COP Editora, Rio de Janeiro

• Influence Management, Administracao por Influencia, 1990, COP Editora, Rio de Janeiro

PMWT:  With the publication of Human Factors in Project Management in 1984, it seems that you were in the forefront in recognizing the importance of people in the whole project management process. What are some of the reasons you wrote your first book on that topic?

Dinsmore:  The first reason jumped out at me through simple observation. As infrastructure project manager of a major iron ore processing project, I spent much of my time dealing with the subtleties of human affliction. Later in seminars, I posed the question "What are the problems you face in managing your projects?” Invariably, over 60% of the answers were behavioral in nature.

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