Most of us know it as plain old procrastination.

Linda Schumacher prefers to call it "project paralysis" -- the unwillingness of people to take on something new because they "like to be in their comfort zone.''

Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette Business consultant Linda Schumacher specializes in "Project Paralysis." Her office is in her Shadyside home. Click photo for larger image.

But the Shadyside business consultant believes that hurdles to jumping into a new assignment can be overcome with the right project manager in place and a fine-tuned plan. In a new book, "Ready, Set, Succeed!" Schumacher outlines strategies that can help people and organizations overcome their fears of the unknown.

Workers for the most part feel bogged down by everything they need to accomplish in their daily routine and "would rather go through their day without anything new" added to their workload, the author said. But without new projects in the pipeline, businesses can't grow. So it's up to the project manager, Schumacher said, to establish a plan for what needs to be done and motivate employees to achieve the goal.

Such project managers are in increasing demand. As project turnaround time shrinks and companies rely on fewer workers to get the job done, the field of project management is experiencing a boom, experts in the field say. The Project Management Institute, based in Newtown Square, Delaware County, has about 138,000 members worldwide, up from 112,000 a year ago.

Of the total, 87,147 are certified project manager professionals such as Schumacher, a credential that's becoming more popular in emerging economies such as China and New Zealand, said James McGeehan, spokesman for the institute. Some of the demand for project managers is generated by companies that are outsourcing work offshore but want the job managed from the United States.

The most recent recession also helped boost the demand for the professionals, McGeehan said. "Organizations were looking for ways to improve the execution of projects when the level of resources wasn't what it was before. They were trying to be more efficient and more effective ... and increase productivity." While project management is typically associated with information technology, companies now recruit project managers for a range of industries. "It's been a growing discipline ... and it cuts across every industry," said Walter Bowman, executive director of the Pittsburgh Project Management Center in O'Hara which provides classes and training. Bowman, one of the first people to join the Project Management Institute, was among the original 53 who took its first certification exam in 1984.

Though project management as a specialty had its roots mainly in the engineering and construction fields, it's now common to find more generalized project managers working in other sectors including financial services, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and construction, Bowman said. The federal government in 2002 recognized information technology project management as a "career discipline" so that it could more easily attract, retain and promote experienced people in those jobs.

Schumacher, 43, didn't set out to become a project management guru. As an economics undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania, she wasn't sure what to pursue after college. "Everyone I knew was going to law school or medical school, and I knew I didn't want to do that."

An internship with the Women's Campaign Fund, a political action committee, steered her toward fund raising and she landed a job with Carnegie Mellon University in annual giving.

After earning a master's in information science at the University of Pittsburgh, she relocated to the San Francisco area for several years, then returned here in 1991 and worked at Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield and Mellon Bank.

In 1998, she launched her own business with one consulting contract for an information technology project. When IT projects fell off a few years later as a result of the sluggish economy, Schumacher decided to translate her expertise into managing non-IT projects for a range of industries including law, marketing, sales, manufacturing and document management.

Among the tips she suggests in her book for successful project management is to "set aside a time and place" for employees to tackle new stuff.

It could be a "war room" setting, somewhere in the office that's devoted solely to a big project instead of the daily tasks. She suggests making it a place where employees can brainstorm, post memos and ideas on the walls and where they're not bothered by phone calls and other interruptions. "That works very well to overcome paralysis," she said.

For small businesses such as a start-up in which the owner is trying to write a marketing plan but has to juggle new clients and doesn't want to turn any of them away, Schumacher advises setting aside 20 minutes or so of writing time first thing in the morning or at the end of the workday. "Just chip away at it. Break it down into smaller pieces so it doesn't seem so overwhelming, and you do a little each day."

That's how she juggled managing her own one-person venture with writing a book. She works out of a second-floor office in her century-old home, where she lives with her husband and three cats.

"I'm much better in the morning, so that's when I wrote. I'm not as creative in the afternoon."

For more information on Schumacher's book, go to www.ReadySetSucceedBook.com or www.Amazon.com.