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 Director for the PM World Library. 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
- The Future of Project Management is … Not a Straight Line! - Second Edition - Pells - January 2024
- Back to the Future: Projects & Project Management to Meet Basic Human & Social Needs or Malthus and Maslow Revisited! - Second Edition - Pells - April 2023
- What Motivates your Project Team? What you think might just be Wrong! - Second Edition - Pells - March 2023
- Teams of Teams: The New Organizational Reality for Program and Project Management - Second Edition - Pells - February 2023
- Stop the Press! The Project at the End of the Line - Second Edition - Pells - January 2023
- Welcome to the August 2022 PMWJ, The 10th Anniversary Edition - Welcome Article - Pells - August 2022
- This War Changes Everything, some Old Themes revisited, Black Elephants (again, bigger) and a New View of Risk - Editorial - Pells - May 2022
- Welcome to the February 2022 Edition and What Should We Publish in the PMWJ? - Editorial - Pells - February 2022
- Anti-Leadership revisited, the War on Ethics and Welcome to the December 2021 PMWJ - Editorial - Pells - December 2021
- Project Management needs a Higher Purpose – Part 4: - Editorial - Pells - April 2021
- Project Management Needs a Higher Purpose! Part 3 - Editorial - Pells - March 2021
- Project Management Needs a Higher Purpose! Part 2: Mission Statements, Social Responsibility and The Rogue Black Elephant - Editorial - Pells - February 2021
- Project Management needs a Higher Purpose! Part 1: Introduction, the Perfect Storm, Crises & PM (maybe) - Editorial - Pells - January 2021
- Project Management Needs a Higher Purpose – The Long Version - Editorial - Pells - January 2021
- Whatever Happened to Organizational Project Management Maturity? - Editorial - Pells - October 2020
- Welcome to the August 2020 PMWJ - Welcome Article - Pells - August 2020
- Welcome to the July 2020 PMWJ - Welcome Article - Pells - July 2020
- Tribute to Russell Archibald, Project Management Icon - Tribute - Pells, Archibald - June 2020
- Black Elephants and… maybe Project Management - Editorial - Pells - June 2020
- Six Fresh Eggs: A half dozen new ideas for managing projects in a rapidly changing VUCA world - Second Edition - Pells - September 2019
- The Crash, March Madness, Recovery, Lessons Learned and… - Editorial - Pells - April 2019
- Program Benefits Management: An International Best Practice the U.S. Government Could Use - Second Editions - Abba, Pells, Shepherd - June 2018
- Interview with David L. Pells, PMWJ Managing Editor - Interviews - Pells, - April 2018
- From a Different Angle: Competitive Projects, Success, Not Failing and… - Editorials - Pells - March 2018
- Gone and Back Again, the Rise of Regional Project Management Conferences, and… - Editorials - Pells - February 2018
- Global Citizens, Project Earth Revisited (again), Solving Global Problems and… - Editorials - Pells - January 2018
- The First Annual PMWJ Editor’s Choice Awards, and… - Editorials - Pells - December 2017
- Complexities, Size Matters, the Death of Simple Project Management - Editorials - Pells - November 2017
- The Proverbial 8 Ball, Unmet Deadlines, De-scoping - Editorials - Pells - October 2017
- Hurricane Harvey, Disaster Relief for Project Managers, and… - Editorials - Pells - September 2017
- The Missing Link, Benefits Realization Management and… - Editorials - Pells - August 2017
- Five Years, Vision and Value Revisited - Editorials - Pells - July 2017
- The Enterprise Program Management Office - Second Editions - Kunkle, Contreras, Abba, Haase, Pells - June 2017
- Five Disruptive Trends affecting Projects and Project Management - Editorials - Pells - June 2017
- Death of the Country Manager - Editorials - Pells - May 2017
- A Devil’s Advocate: Agile from a Distance, the Big Waterfall World of Projects - Editorials - Pells - April 2017
- What Exactly Is Your Project? The Growing Importance of Categorization, Context and Typology in Project Management - Editorials - Pells - March 2017
- The Big Reverse: Politics, Anti-leadership and the Looming Threat to Professionalism - Editorials - Pells - February 2017
- Farms, Food and Project Management and the Trend that Isn’t - Editorials - Pells - January 2017
- The Potential Impact of Disruptive Political Events - Editorials - Pells - December 2016
- New Frontiers for Project Management: Earth Science, Monitoring the Planet & Climate Control , - Editorials - Pells - December 2016
- Project Management as a National Competence! - Editorials - Pells - March 2009