Alan Stretton
Sydney, Australia


Life Fellow, AIPM (Australia)
Alan Stretton is one of the pioneers of modern project management. He is currently a member of the Faculty Corps for the University of Management & Technology (UMT), USA. In 2006 he retired from a position as Adjunct Professor of Project Management in the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Australia, which he joined in 1988 to develop and deliver a Master of Project Management program. Prior to joining UTS, Mr. Stretton worked in the building and construction industries in Australia, New Zealand and the USA for some 38 years, which included the project management of construction, R&D, introduction of information and control systems, internal management education programs and organizational change projects.
He has degrees in Civil Engineering (BE, Tasmania) and Mathematics (MA, Oxford), and an honorary PhD in strategy, programme and project management (ESC, Lille, France). Alan was Chairman of the Standards (PMBOK) Committee of the Project Management Institute (PMI®) from late 1989 to early 1992. He held a similar position with the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM), and was elected a Life Fellow of AIPM in 1996. He was a member of the Core Working Group in the development of the Australian National Competency Standards for Project Management.
Alan has now published 250 professional articles and papers. Alan is a global advisor for PM World and the PM World Journal, in which he has published many of his papers.
Alan can be contacted at alanailene@bigpond.com.au.
Articles and Papers
- Exploring differences for project management in Supplier vs. Owner Organisations in outcomes and benefits contexts - Featured Paper - Stretton - April 2025
- Commentary on project management partnering with external bodies - Commentary - Stretton - December 2024
- Commentary on contested views of the scope of the project management (PM) discipline in relation to PM involvement in earlier stages of organisational strategic management - Commentary - Stretton - November 2024
- Pluralism in project management: Some dualisms that need specific identification and descriptors to facilitate mutual understanding - Featured Paper - Stretton - September 2024
- Commentary on the extent to which general management topics are being covered in recent PMBOK Guides - Featured Paper - Stretton - August 2024
- Expanding construction project Supplier Organisations’ services to deliver progressively increasing value to customers: A case-study-based exemplar - Featured Paper - Stretton - July 2024
- Managing Customer Projects vs. Managing Internal Projects (2) - Featured Paper - Stretton - June 2024
- Managing Customer Projects vs. Internal Projects: Some under-acknowledged differences, and their relevance - Featured Paper - Stretton - May 2024
- Organisational working efficiency projects: Commentary on cases where project managers also represent multiple internal users, and some proposed procedural guidelines - Featured Paper - Stretton - April 2024
- Classifying project management customers: Representing their interests/needs in relevant project processes - Featured Paper - Stretton - March 2024
- Customer-oriented project management: Adding a genuine customer focus to the dominant project-product focus - Commentary - Stretton - February 2024
- Increasing project management (PM) contributions to “front ends”: Possibilities for PM to add early value to strategic outcomes - Featured Paper - Stretton - January 2024
- Questioning “project success” as a realistic descriptor for outcomes - Featured Paper - Stretton - December 2023
- Commentary on the need to focus as much attention on other strategic work as on projects in managing organisational strategic initiatives - Commentary - Stretton - November 2023
- Some potential current and future-related topics for project management to consider addressing in more detail - Commentary - Stretton - October 2023
- 2. Some contradictory entries in PMI 2021 re post-delivery outcomes, and comments on user roles, and project management involvement - Commentary - Stretton - September 2023
- 1. Some inconsistencies in the usage of “outcomes” in PMI 2021, and some suggested amendments - Commentary - Stretton - August 2023
- A Short History of Modern Project Management - Second Edition - Stretton - July 2023
- A commentary on extending project management integration services into new domains - Commentary - Stretton - June 2023
- The nature of ‘systems’, and some early systems contributions to modern project management - Featured Paper - Stretton - May 2023
- An aggregation of some general management and associated antecedents of modern project management - Featured Paper - Stretton - April 2023
- Classifying program/project customers/clients - Second Edition - Stretton - March 2023
- Some notes on roles of internal and external project management customers in the “back end” of projects - Featured Paper - Stretton - March 2023
- Some expanded perspectives on project management involvement in the “fuzzy front ends” of projects - Commentary - Stretton - February 2023
- Helping people find career positions which maximise their innate personal strengths - Commentary - Stretton - January 2023
- Aspects of People Management in a Projectised Organisation - Second Edition - Stretton - January 2023
- An autumnal personal commentary on some questions about individuals’ career contributions and legacies - Commentary - Stretton - December 2022
- From Customer Needs to Project Requirements: Helping customers/users clarify and confirm their basic business or equivalent needs - Featured Paper - Stretton - November 2022
- Re-affirming the importance of users in all project contexts - Featured Paper - Stretton - October 2022
- Revisiting models of organisational and project contexts - Featured Paper - Stretton - September 2022
- Further thoughts on Pells’ 2021 suggestion for broader, more comprehensive life cycle models - Commentary - Stretton - August 2022
- Further thoughts on Pells’ May 2022 editorial: Representing environmental and global influences relevant to projects and their organisations - Commentary - Stretton - July 2022
- Commentary on “higher purposes” for project management, via partnering to tackle broad societal / environmental issues - Commentary - Stretton - June 2022
- Revisiting project successes/failures: From behavioural biases to project pork-barrelling by politicians - Featured Paper - Stretton - May 2022
- Program/project management, and responsibilities for achieving outcomes and/or realising benefits - Featured Paper - Stretton - April 2022
- 3. From project outputs to organisational outcomes and benefits, and the roles of user groups, and of program/project management (PPM) - Series Article - Stretton - March 2022
- 2. What’s in a name? Portfolios, programs and projects in owner-organisations’ strategic and operations management contexts - Series Article - Stretton - February 2022
- 1. Some existing project-related supplier-organisation services in owner-organisations’ strategic and operations management contexts - Series Article - Stretton - January 2022
- Revisiting classifications of types of projects and programs and their application sectors - Featured Paper - Stretton - December 2021
- Representing users converting project outputs into assets and organisational benefits; relevant organisational contexts; and a three-zone representation of an organisational strategic/operational model - Featured Paper - Stretton - November 2021
- An exploration of assets and projects: Types of assets, and project deliverables as assets, in an organisational context - Featured Paper - Stretton - October 2021
- Representative examples of operational users converting project-related outputs to outcomes and benefits within an organisational strategic-and-operations framework - Featured Paper - Stretton - September 2021
- An organisational strategic-and-operational framework with provision for operations users to convert three key types of project outputs into operational outcomes/benefits - Featured Paper - Stretton - August 2021
- A commentary on project portfolio and program management terminologies, and relationships with organisational strategy - Commentary - Stretton - July 2021
- Potential for project management representative bodies to extend their influence in helping solve global problems - Featured Paper - Stretton - June 2021
- Towards a “higher purpose” for project management representative bodies? - Commentary - Stretton - May 2021
- An addendum on organisational strategic preparedness for significant disruptive events (Revisiting Organizational Strategic Management – Part 6) - Series Article - Stretton - May 2021
- Accelerating global and local VUCA-related disruptors as drivers for organisational strategic responses - Series Article - Stretton - April 2021
- A commentary on Pells’ “higher purpose” editorial, Part 2: Organisational vision, mission, and strategic drivers - Commentary - Stretton - April 2021
- On Pells’ “higher purpose” editorial, Part 2: Organisational social responsibilities - Commentary - Stretton - March 2021
- Incorporating strategic drivers into the recursive strategic management model, and discussing differences between industries - Series Article - Stretton - March 2021
- Towards extending the scope of project-related management to help address climate change and other global problems - Featured Paper - Stretton - February 2021
- Deliberate and emergent strategies, and a classification of strategic drivers (Revisiting organisational strategic management, Part 3) - Series Article - Stretton - January 2021
- Augmenting a recursive strategic management model to accommodate changes impacting outcomes and benefits - Series Article - Stretton - December 2020
- Revisiting organisational strategic management: A recursive organisational strategic management model, and responsibilities for managing various stages - Series Article - Stretton - November 2020
- Towards more context-specific representations of the role of project management - Featured Paper - Stretton - October 2020
- Relating three prominent program-related benefits management/ realisation processes with a basic organisational strategic management sequence - Featured Paper - Stretton - September 2020
- Notes on project-related outputs, outcomes, and benefits realization in an organisational strategic management context - Featured Paper - Stretton - August 2020
- Expanding from conventional project management into broader types of services in an organisational strategic management context - Featured Paper - Stretton - July 2020
- On the Subject of Black Elephants - Letter to the Editor - Stretton - July 2020
- Further notes on project/program management involvement in helping choose the “right” project(s) - Featured Paper - Stretton - June 2020
- Strategic initiatives, project/program management, and responsibilities for benefits realization - Featured Paper - Stretton - May 2020
- Increasing project management involvement in the initial choice of projects - Featured Paper - Stretton - April 2020
- Causes of failure to effectively implement organizational strategy, and “project” failure contributions - Featured Paper - Stretton - March 2020
- Extending specialist PM services to a more generalist role in an organisational strategic context - Featured Paper - Stretton - February 2020
- Specialist PM and more generalist project-related contributors to organisational strategic management - Featured Paper - Stretton - January 2020
- 7. Comments on major contexts, and further discussions (Project Contexts) - Series Article - Stretton - December 2019
- 6. Contexts of external influencers, and of project application areas - Series Article - Stretton - November 2019
- 5. Contexts of project types (Series on Project Contexts) - Series Article - Stretton - October 2019
- 4. Context of project dimensions - Series Article - Stretton - September 2019
- 3. Contexts of projects undertaken by supplier organisations (SOs) and by owner organisations (OOs) - Series Article - Stretton - August 2019
- 2. Contexts of organisational strategic management - Series Article - Stretton - July 2019
- 1. Representations of a variety of contexts which impact on the management of projects - Series Article - Stretton - June 2019
- A commentary on managing the front-end of projects - Commentary - Stretton - May 2019
- Expanding the scope of project management services in the construction industry, to add value and reduce costs - Featured Paper - Stretton - April 2019
- A perspective on project success levels in an organisational strategic management context - Featured Paper - Stretton - February 2019
- Representing “other strategic work” in addition to projects in an organisational strategic management context - Featured Paper - Stretton - January 2019
- A commentary on strategy formulation-related causes of “project” failures in an organisational strategic context - Commentary - Stretton - December 2018
- Responsibilities for “project” successes/failures? - Featured Paper - Stretton - November 2018
- A commentary on program/project stakeholders - Commentary - Stretton - October 2018
- A commentary on “commercial management” in the program/project context - Commentary - Stretton - September 2018
- Stage 5: Achieve strategic outcomes and realise benefits - Series Article - Stretton - August 2018
- Stage 4: Execute other strategic work, along with projects (Organizational Strategic Planning and Implementation) - Series Articles - Stretton - July 2018
- Stage 3: Augment and consolidate strategic initiatives (Organizational Strategic Planning & Implementation) - Series Articles - Stretton - June 2018
- Stage 2: Develop strategic options, evaluate and choose the best (Series on Organizational Strategic Planning and Implementation) - Series Articles - Stretton - May 2018
- Stage 1: Establish organisational strategic objectives (Series on Organisational Strategic Planning and Execution) - Series Articles - Stretton - April 2018
- Notes on increasing project management involvement in senior management activities in production-based organizations - Featured Papers - Stretton - March 2018
- Increasing project management involvement in pre-execution phases of projects - Featured Papers - Stretton - February 2018
- Relating causes of project failure to an organizational strategic business framework - Featured Papers - Stretton - January 2018
- An organizational strategic framework, and project and other contributions to achieving strategic objectives - Featured Papers - Stretton - December 2017
- Deliberate and emergent strategies and origins of projects - Featured Papers - Stretton - November 2017
- A Commentary on Project Classifications - Commentaries - Stretton - October 2017
- Some conflict-related situations between parties to projects - Commentaries - Stretton - September 2017
- Some commonalities and differences between managing in production-based and project-based organizations - Featured Papers - Stretton - August 2017
- Some existing guidelines for managing “non-traditional” projects - Featured Papers - Stretton - July 2017
- Some representations of how projects and/or their management related to a variety of contexts - Featured Papers - Stretton - June 2017
- Some differences for project managers working in supplier organizations and in owner organizations - Featured Papers - Stretton - May 2017
- A viewpoint towards guidelines for non-traditional projects - Commentaries - Stretton - April 2017
- Complication, complexity and uncertainty in the program/project context - Featured Papers - Stretton - March 2017
- Some sources of complexity in programs/projects - Featured Papers - Stretton - February 2017
- Is “program” an appropriate universal descriptor in the project-related context? - Featured Papers - Stretton - January 2017
- Adding value to project clients - Featured Papers - Stretton - December 2016
- Types of project management services provided by supplier organizations to owner organizations - Featured Papers - Stretton - November 2016
- Notes on project management academic scholarship, teaching and research, and its relevance to practice - Featured Papers - Stretton - October 2016
- Managing Project Contexts - Series Articles - Stretton - September 2016
- Project Interfaces and their management - Series Articles - Stretton - August 2016
- Project Integration - Series Articles - Stretton - July 2016
- Some consequences of having two co-existing paradigms of project management - Featured Papers - Stretton - June 2016
- Scoping the project management discipline - Series Articles - Stretton - May 2016
- Organizational strategic plans, projects, and strategic outcomes - Series Articles - Stretton - April 2016
- Customers’ needs and project requirements - Series Articles - Stretton - March 2016
- Project outputs and customers’ outcomes (Article 1 in series on increasing project management contributions to helping achieve broader ends) - Series Articles - Stretton - February 2016
- Some ‘Technical’ Management Functions and Activities; Summary of Series (article 7 of 7) - Series Articles - Stretton - January 2016
- Management Implementing/Controlling Functions and Activities (Article 6 in series on general management functions and activities, and their relevance to the management of projects) - Series Articles - Stretton - December 2015
- Management Staffing Function and Activities (Article 5 of 7) - Series Articles - Stretton - November 2015
- Management Leading Function and Activities (Article 4 in series on general management functions and activities, and their relevance to the management of projects) - Series Articles - Stretton - October 2015
- Some “unexpected” differences between Australians and Americans, and their relevance to project management - Commentaries - Stretton - September 2015
- Management Organizing Function and Activities - Series Articles - Stretton - September 2015
- Management Planning Function and Activities (Series on general management functions and activities, and their relevance to the management of projects) - Series Articles - Stretton - August 2015
- A general management framework, and its relevance to managing the project life cycle - Series Articles - Stretton - July 2015
- Further thoughts on the nature of, and futures for, project management - Featured Papers - Stretton - June 2015
- Summaries and post-scripts (Series on Project Successes and Failures, article 6/6) - Series Articles - Stretton - May 2015
- Approaches to Increasing Level 3: “Business” success (Series on Project Success and Failure, article 5 of 6) - Series Articles - Stretton - April 2015
- Approaches to improving Level 2: “Project” success - Series Articles - Stretton - March 2015
- Factors affecting Level 1: “Project Management” success (Series on Project Successes and Failures) - Series Articles - Stretton - February 2015
- Some deficiencies in published causes of project failure (Series on Project Successes and Failures) - Series Articles - Stretton - January 2015
- Some deficiencies in data on project successes and failures (Article 1 in new Series on Project Success and Failure) - Series Articles - Stretton - December 2014
- Other categories, and combinations of categorization matrices - Series Articles - Stretton - November 2014
- Program/Project Types (Series on Project & Program Categories) - Series Articles - Stretton - October 2014
- Categorizing Programs (Series on Project & Program Categories) - Series Articles - Stretton - September 2014
- Project Categories (Series on Project & Program Categories) - Series Articles - Stretton - August 2014
- A note on accessing and utilizing collective experience in project-based organizations - Commentaries - Stretton - May 2014
- Some differences between project management and accounting perspectives on project cost control - Commentaries - Stretton - March 2014
- Notes on General Management, Project Management and Professionalism - Commentaries - Stretton - February 2014
- Identifying and Classifying Program/Project Stakeholders - Second Editions - Stretton - January 2014
- Notes on organisational stakeholders - Featured Papers - Stretton - January 2014
- Managing inter-project coordination within programs - Featured Papers - Stretton - December 2013
- A note on management integration in project contexts - Commentaries - Stretton - November 2013
- A further note on involving program/project managers in organizational strategic planning - Commentaries - Stretton - October 2013
- Involving program/project managers in organizational strategic planning - Second Editions - Stretton - October 2013
- A Specialist Generalist Perspective on Project Management - Featured Papers - Stretton - September 2013
- Some externally-focused aspects of project management - Commentaries - Stretton - August 2013
- Some implications of a changing world for the management of projects - Second Editions - Stretton - August 2013
- Some externally – focused aspects of project management - Commentaries - Stretton - August 2013
- Some implications of a changing world for the management - Second Editions - Stretton - August 2013
- A note on project management, and different understandings of the nature of professions and professionals - Commentaries - Stretton - July 2013
- Needs identification processes to establish program/project benefits targets - Second Editions - Stretton - June 2013
- IDENTIFYING/VERIFYING CUSTOMERS’ NEEDS BEFORE SPECIFYING PRODUCT/SERVICE REQUIREMENTS IN THE PROGRAM/PROJECT CONTEXT - Second Editions - Stretton - May 2013
- Revisiting types of relationships between a program’s component projects - Featured Papers - Stretton - April 2013
- A note on identifying needs of multiple internal customers within a client organisation - Featured Papers - Stretton - March 2013
- A case for re – focusing on basic processes/procedures underlyin g effective project management - Featured Papers - Stretton - February 2013
- Two broad dimensions of program management - Featured Papers - Stretton - January 2013
- Alternative scenarios for the future of the project management industry - Featured Papers - Blythman, Stretton - December 2012
- Notes on programs vs. standalone projects - Featured Papers - Stretton - November 2012
- ‘Portfolios’ and the project management literature - Featured Papers - Stretton - October 2012
- Notes on the relevance of contexts for program/project management - Featured Papers - Stretton - September 2012
- Programs, ‘standalone’ & ‘component’ projects, and perceptions of scope of project management applicability - Featured Papers - Stretton - August 2012
- Identifying and Classifying Program/Project Stakeholders - Featured Paper - Stretton - May 2010