About the PM Cowboy

I am a PM professional with over 30 years of real-life project management experience. Although I have earned my formal business title of Senior Project Management Consultant, I never felt it did me, or my profession, justice. I felt it haughty, detached and did not really convey that project management is not only about lofty concepts and methodologies.

Project Management has, and always will be, a hands-on affair. It requires for the practitioner to be able to do what they talk about. In other words, get their hands dirty and figure out how to work around continuous challenges.

The PM Cowboy is my alter ego, my pseudonym. It allows me to say things much more directly, honestly, and humorously. Life in project environments can be a serious and intimidating. They can be fraught with anxiety, danger, and politics. We don't often feel like we can address key issues as we would like to. Which can be excruciating and endangers the success of a project.

That's where the PM Cowboy comes in: Grabbing the bull by its horns.

The double meaning of this sentence is fully intended:

  1. Grabbing the Bull by its Horns means to deal with the issues at hand, no matter big and scary
  2. “Bull” is also short for bullshit, and YES, our business lives are full of unnecessary Bullshit.

If it isn't evident yet, let me say it unequivocally, I love my job and am committed to contribute in any way possible to uplifting our profession. I, Mark Engelhardt, am the PM COWBOY, I am the self-designated spokesperson and influencer for millions of project staff members who all long for someone to speak up for them and talk some sense into those that complicate our lives senselessly.

Mark Engelhardt
The PM Cowboy