David L. Pells
Addison, Texas, USA


President, PM World Inc.
Managing Editor, PM World Journal
Managing Director, PM World Library
Fellow, PMI; Fellow (Hon), APM, ISIPM, PMA, SOVNET.
David L. Pells is Managing Editor of PM World Journal, a global eJournal for program and project management, and Executive Librarian for the PM World Library. He is also the president and CEO of PM World Inc. and president of PM World Services, a U.S. firm providing high level management advisory services for major government programs. David is an internationally recognized leader in the field of professional project management, with over 40 years’ experience in project management. His professional experience includes a wide variety of programs and projects, including engineering, construction, defense, transit and high technology, and project sizes ranging from several thousand to ten billion dollars. He continues to act in advisory roles for several global programs and organizations. He served on the board of directors of the Project Management Institute (PMI®) twice, and was awarded PMI’s Person of the Year award in 1998 and Fellow Award in 1999. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Association for Project Management (APM) in the UK, Project Management Associates (PMA – the national PM society of India), and Istituto Italiano di Project management (ISIPM).
Selected career highlights include: Program management advisor for major NNSA programs, USDOE; Senior advisor to Sandia National Lab, Los Alamos National Lab, Savannah River National Lab and Oak Ridge National Lab on nuclear security and other programs; Executive advisor on multi-billion $ transit programs in Dallas and Seattle; Member of mobilization team & manager of project management reporting system for Superconducting Super Collider (10-year, $10B+ project for US DOE); Program manager, project management process improvements, and advisor on several of DOE’s largest projects at Idaho National Laboratory (INL); Project controls engineer on large international construction projects (for Kaiser Engineers in early 1980s); Program controls analyst on two major projects for US Department of Defense; Project controls & project management support for design/construction of nuclear reactor, environmental restoration program, Space Nuclear Reactor Project, New Production Reactor Program, low-level radioactive waste storage program at INL; executive advisor for multi-billion $ nuclear power plant project in Finland; and currently a program management advisor for the NNSA (National Nuclear Security Administration).
Updated: November 2018
PERSONAL PAPERS
Open Letter to the PMI Board - May 2003
Articles and Papers
- Stop the Press! The Project at the End of the Line - Second Edition - Pells -
- Welcome to the August 2022 PMWJ, The 10th Anniversary Edition - Welcome Article - Pells -
- This War Changes Everything, some Old Themes revisited, Black Elephants (again, bigger) and a New View of Risk - Editorial - Pells -
- Welcome to the February 2022 Edition and What Should We Publish in the PMWJ? - Editorial - Pells -
- Anti-Leadership revisited, the War on Ethics and Welcome to the December 2021 PMWJ - Editorial - Pells -
- Project Management needs a Higher Purpose – Part 4: - Editorial - Pells -
- Project Management Needs a Higher Purpose! Part 3 - Editorial - Pells -
- Project Management Needs a Higher Purpose! Part 2: Mission Statements, Social Responsibility and The Rogue Black Elephant - Editorial - Pells -
- Project Management needs a Higher Purpose! Part 1: Introduction, the Perfect Storm, Crises & PM (maybe) - Editorial - Pells -
- Project Management Needs a Higher Purpose – The Long Version - Editorial - Pells -
- Whatever Happened to Organizational Project Management Maturity? - Editorial - Pells -
- Welcome to the August 2020 PMWJ - Welcome Article - Pells -
- Welcome to the July 2020 PMWJ - Welcome Article - Pells -
- Tribute to Russell Archibald, Project Management Icon - Tribute - Pells, Archibald -
- Black Elephants and… maybe Project Management - Editorial - Pells -
- Six Fresh Eggs: A half dozen new ideas for managing projects in a rapidly changing VUCA world - Second Edition - Pells -
- The Crash, March Madness, Recovery, Lessons Learned and… - Editorial - Pells -
- Program Benefits Management: An International Best Practice the U.S. Government Could Use - Second Editions - Abba, Pells, Shepherd -
- Interview with David L. Pells, PMWJ Managing Editor - Interviews - Pells, -
- From a Different Angle: Competitive Projects, Success, Not Failing and… - Editorials - Pells -
- Gone and Back Again, the Rise of Regional Project Management Conferences, and… - Editorials - Pells -
- Global Citizens, Project Earth Revisited (again), Solving Global Problems and… - Editorials - Pells -
- The First Annual PMWJ Editor’s Choice Awards, and… - Editorials - Pells -
- Complexities, Size Matters, the Death of Simple Project Management - Editorials - Pells -
- The Proverbial 8 Ball, Unmet Deadlines, De-scoping - Editorials - Pells -
- Hurricane Harvey, Disaster Relief for Project Managers, and… - Editorials - Pells -
- The Missing Link, Benefits Realization Management and… - Editorials - Pells -
- Five Years, Vision and Value Revisited - Editorials - Pells -
- The Enterprise Program Management Office - Second Editions - Kunkle, Contreras, Abba, Haase, Pells -
- Five Disruptive Trends affecting Projects and Project Management - Editorials - Pells -
- Death of the Country Manager - Editorials - Pells -
- A Devil’s Advocate: Agile from a Distance, the Big Waterfall World of Projects - Editorials - Pells -
- What Exactly Is Your Project? The Growing Importance of Categorization, Context and Typology in Project Management - Editorials - Pells -
- The Big Reverse: Politics, Anti-leadership and the Looming Threat to Professionalism - Editorials - Pells -
- Farms, Food and Project Management and the Trend that Isn’t - Editorials - Pells -
- The Potential Impact of Disruptive Political Events - Editorials - Pells -
- New Frontiers for Project Management: Earth Science, Monitoring the Planet & Climate Control , - Editorials - Pells -
- Project Management as a National Competence! - Editorials - Pells -
- Leapfrogging in Project Management - Editorials - Pells -
- AI, Thinking Machines and Project Management - Editorials - Pells -
- Buy your team a Lunch - Editorials - Pells -
- Welcome to the August 2016 Edition of the PMWJ and the Resurgence of Experience & Wisdom - Editorials - Pells -
- Managing and Working in Project Society: Institutional Challenges of Temporary Organizations - Book Reviews - Pells -
- Program Management Improvement Team: A Best Practice Based Approach to Process Improvement and Program Governance at the National Nuclear Security Administration - Second Editions - Abba, Archibald, Pells, Haase, Zocher, Shepherd -
- Disruptive Events: Are you, your project or your organization prepared? - Second Editions - Pells -
- Vladimir Voropajev: 1936-2015 - News Articles - Pells -
- Two Birds! A Simple Approach to Improving Program/Project Management Practice and Governance - Second Editions - Abba, Pells, Shepherd -
- PMI Turkey Interview with David Pells - Interviews - Pells -
- Interview with David L. Pells - Interviews - Kabakci, Pells -
- Guiding Principles: Commitment to ethics and values can empower leaders of teams, projects, programs and organizations - Second Editions - Pells -
- Beware of Giants and Trolls! Why legal counsel may now be a critical resource for technology projects in North America - Second Editions - Pells -
- Project Management in the Ring of Fire - Second Editions - Pells -
- A Team-Based Approach to Continuous Improvement in Program, Project and Portfolio Management: The U.S. Government’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative - Second Editions - Abba, Pells, Archibald, Shepherd, Zocher -
- Global Business Intelligence for Managers of Programs, Projects and Project-oriented Organizations - Second Editions - Pells -
- Global Population Megatrends and their Potential Impact on the World of Project Management - Second Editions - Pells -
- The Changing Nature of Project Management: Introduction to new series on Enterprise Project Governance by Dinsmore & Rocha - Series Articles - Pells -
- Stop the Press! The Project at the End of the Line - Editorial - Pells -
- Lessons Learned but Knowledge Lost - Editorial - Pells -
- State of the World of Project Management – Practice and Experience - Editorial - Pells -
- Travel Advisories – Intelligence Resources for Global Program and Project Management - Editorials - Pells -
- The Royal Wedding – What a Project! Project Management for Weddings and a Tribute to my Wife the Project Manager - Editorials - Pells -
- Clean Water as a Human Right: Implications for Project Management - Editorials - Pells -
- Project Journalism! How Project Management Knowledge Can Help Journalists & Traditional News Media! - Editorials - Pells -
- Project Stories – the Largely Untapped World of Personal Experiences & Lessons Learned in Project Management - Editorials - Pells -
- Disruptive Events: Are you, your project or your organization prepared? - Editorial - Pells -
- Global Business Intelligence for Managers of Programs, Projects and Project-oriented Organizations - Editorials - Pells -
- The Power of Independent PM Reviews for Global Programs: The GTRI Example - Conference Papers - Abba, Archibald, Pells, Shepherd -
- Back to the Future: Project Earth Revisited - Editorials - Pells -
- How many project managers do you see – on your project? - Editorials - Pells -
- The Value of Project Management Conferences Revisited: My recent experience in Tokyo - Editorials - Pells -
- Project Management for Emergency Response & Disaster Recovery – A Call to Arms! - Editorials - Pells -
- Networks & Teams of Teams! - Editorials - Pells -
- The Value of Project Management Conferences - Editorials - Pells -
- Project Management Advisory Panels: An idea whose time has come! - Editorials - Pells -
- The Importance of Projects in Outer Space & Why the World of PM needs to care! - Editorials - Pells -
- The Future of Project Management is ….. YOU! - Editorials - Pells -
- Aftershocks: How Significant Global Events Can Affect the Project Management Profession - Conference Paper - Pells -
- Global Tides of Change: Significant Recent Events and Trends Affecting Globalization of the Project Management Profession - Conference Papers - Pells -
- Take the PMBOK to the Bank: How Project Management Expertise Can Help Finance Projects - Conference Papers - Pells -
- American Project Management Forum Launched - Magazine Article - Pells -
- Report to PMI Membership - Report - Pells -
- How to Finance any Project in Russia - Conference Paper - Pells -
- Global PM Forum to be Held at PMI’95 - News Article - Pells -
- The PM Horizon at 33,000 feet - Editorials - Pells -
- Sustainable Development of Oil & Gas Projects in Eastern Siberia (Yakutia) - Conference Paper - Pells -
- Project Earth: Responsibilities and Opportunities for Project Managers - Presentation - Pells -
- Project Earth: Opportunity and Responsibility for Project Management Leadership in a Changing World - Conference Paper - Pells -
- Project Management in Russia: Strategies & Opportunities for the Adventurous - Presentation - Pells -
- Sustainable Development of Oil & Gas Projects in Eastern Russia - Conference Paper - Pells -
- Project Management Success Strategies for Siberia: The Yakutia Story - Conference Paper - Pells -
- Mega-Project Management by Projects - Conference Paper - Pells -
- Adventures in Siberia - White Paper - Pells -
- How to make life easier: A simple approach to introducing project management in any organization - Conference Paper - Pells, Dinsmore -
- Project Management Plans: A Simple Approach to Comprehensive Project Planning - White Paper - Pells -
- Project Management Lessons from the Superconducting Super Collider - Magazine Article - Pells -
- Planning and Management of the Superconducting Super Collider - Magazine Article - Pells -
- PM on the SSC: Meeting the Challenges for Cultural and Systems Integration - White Paper - Pells -
- Project Management Standards at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory - Conference Paper - Pells -