I'm speaking of Project Management - Microsoft's Software. The majority of project managers I've come in contact with all have their PM certifications - and all claim to know PM inside and out and feel that knowing this software makes them project managers. I too have been around since the late 80's - most of my experience until the mid 90's was on a mainframe. I suspect the majority of project failures you mention were within the distributed environments. That's been my experience, as well as most PM's aren't technical, which only adds to the longevity and failure rate to any project. I know work with some PM's who call meetings every week, where the same thing is discussed over and over, and where anything I say is written down in meeting notes. Maybe it's my mainframe background, but I see all of this as a waste of my time - and since I'm the one coordinating and performing the work, and ultimately bringing the project in, on time, and on budget - I see most PM's as meeting note takers and glorified administrative assistants.