Welcome to the asapm November-December 2006 email Newsletter!
This is an Opt-in Newsletter. Subscribe/unsubscribe information is at the end of this Newsletter. This Newsletter is in html, with links to the asapm website. Enjoy!
In This Issue
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1. December PrezSays: Project or Hobby?
2. Announcement and Call For Papers: asapm Virtual Congress, May 10 2007
3. Congratulations IPMA Level-D Certificants, and Welcome to asapm!
4. Goff Article: Let's Cure "The Dumbing Down of Project Management"
5. IIR Conference: Strategic & Operational Portfolio Management; February 26-28, 2007
6. Shanghai'd: Trip Report for the 2006 IPMA World Congress in Shanghai
7. IPMA Journal 2007 Subscriptions Due, New or Renewal For Members Only
8. Stephen Lynn's PM Methodologies Executive Summary
9. Book Review: Jerry Manas' Napoleon on Project Management
10. Book Review by James R. Brady: Managing Projects: Large and Small
11. Loose Ends and Treats: PM Podcast and More!
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1. December PrezSays: Project or Hobby?
Some 20 plus years ago the question was posed: “Is this a project or is it a hobby?” The work seemed to take on the characteristics of a hobby more than that of a professional effort to convert resources into a future benefit for the customer. The project appeared to have more benefits for the project manager than for a customer. The traditional cost, schedule, and technical performance measures were rather fuzzy – if defined at all.
This is the introduction to asapm President Lew Ireland's latest PrezSays. To see the whole article, click here.
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2. Announcement and Call For Papers: asapm Virtual Congress, May 10 2007
The American Society for the Advancement of Project Management (asapm), together with the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS) and several other universities, has announced its first Virtual Congress, Managing Virtual Team Projects and Processes.
The aim of the Congress is to use the latest virtual meeting technologies to present and discuss concurrent distributed meetings. This will allow academics and professionals to discuss issues and best practices related to virtual teams and their processes. Participants are expected to be universities and enterprises capable of supporting full motion video, and individuals at work stations with high speed connections.
Researchers and practitioners in the area of virtual teams or virtual projects are invited to submit papers on topics including, but not limited to:
Submission of a paper for this conference will involve two steps: 1) Preparation and submission of a paper; and 2) Preparation and submission of a short video clip (5 minutes or so) illustrating the speaker’s style. Because of the virtual nature of this Congress, it is especially important for speakers to be able to make a compelling presentation to remote attendees.
Links: read the Virtual Congress Call For Papers; see the Congress Brochure; go to the Congress 2007 web site. This is your best chance this year to literally network with asapm and leaders in Project Management!
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3. Congratulations IPMA Level-D Certificants, and Welcome to asapm!
In the last several months, asapm has increased our membership and our number of asapm Certified Project Practitioners, with 16 new recipients awarded the IPMA Level-D certificate. All were prepared for the exam by Competence Enabler JC Consultancy, who (independent of asapm's exam process) partners with companies and other project management-related societies to improve project performance.
An additional group sat for the exam last week; the scoring has not yet been completed for that group. Scoring for asapm Certified Project Practitioner is more complex than other certifications, because much of the exam is based on open-ended essay questions, which require more skill and practical experience to answer. Thus, one strength of our certification program is that relevant project experience, plus a quick review of our National Competence Baseline (NCB), are the primary ingredients needed to certify. That being said, JC Consultancy's participants have a strong track record of pass rates.
IPMA Level-D is recognized Worldwide, and is part of the International Project Management Association's 4-Level Competence-Based PM Certification Program. asapm also currently offers IPMA Level-B, asapm Certified Project Manager. For those who wish to learn more about asapm Certified Project Practitioner, see the NCB. The Application Form for asapm Certified Project Practitioner is on the PMCert website. And, watch the PMCert site for the next announced asapm Certified Project Practitioner Exam dates and locations.
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4. Goff's Article: Let's Cure "The Dumbing Down of Project Management"
In too many Enterprises, the last 20 years has seen the practice and prestige of Project Management lose ground, rather than gain ground. We are in an era when the most effective Enterprises leverage the power of Project Management to its maximum in achieving their Visions and Strategies. The others have Executive groups who too-often perceive PM to be just “something those folks down in IT do”.
What are the forces that have caused so many otherwise-successful Enterprises to ignore or fail to reap the benefits of effective Project Management? Perhaps we should look at our record and practices, and the conflicting forces and faces we present to our stakeholders. And then given that review, let us cure the ailments that infest our practice of PM. That is the theme of this article, based on a comment made by an insightful Manager at one of the Conferences we attended this year. Click to read this article.
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5.
Strategic & Operational Portfolio Management, Clearwater Beach, FL; February 26-28, 2007
PDMA & IIR present the 12th annual Strategic & Operational Portfolio Management February 26-28, 2007 Sheraton Sand Key Resort Clearwater Beach, FL This is THE defining event for R&D portfolio management professionals cross-industry, cross-function, at all maturity levels. Featuring top-notch keynote presenters including the grandfathers of portfolio management, Cooper & Edgett, this event will steer you along the path to implementing successful R&D portfolio management systems within YOUR organization. So join us this February and make your mark on what has been deemed the premier industry event for R&D portfolio management professionals in the United States. For more information including the full conference agenda, please visit the event website: www.iirusa.com/portfolio.
asapm members receive a discount when attending this event, in exchange for asapm's assistance in promoting it.
Additional IIR Events in 2007
IT Portfolio Management, April 4-6; www.iirusa.com/itpm
ProjectRisk 16-18 May; San Francisco, CA www.iirusa.com/projectrisk
New Regional event ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts USA, June 2007, Location TBD
ProjectWorld November 2007 www.projectworld.com and www.bawusa.com
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6. Shanghai'd: Trip Report for the 2006 IPMA World Congress in Shanghai; by Stacy Goff
In Shanghai, in the afternoon of the first full day of the IPMA World Congress, I was literally Shanghai'd, stuffed into a black limo, and driven 20 km across town. I was held in a hotel room, and forced to divulge secrets, while a young Chinese woman whispered in my ear.
When I showed up an uncharacteristic half-hour late at the Congress Hotel, Ruth Knopfel, wife of Hans Knopfel, a Swiss IPMA Member, had been keeping Rose occupied, so she was not too worried. But Ruth had a horrified look on her face as I explained my excuse ...
See the rest of Stacy Goff's Trip Report on the 2006 IPMA World Congress in Shanghai.
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7. IPMA Journal 2007 Subscriptions Due, New or Renewal, For Members Only
As you know, your asapm membership automatically includes an IPMA membership. This means you are eligible to subscribe to the International Journal of Project Management (IPMA Journal) at 70% off the regular subscription price ($65 vs $226).
Subscription Period Expires January 27
We are now in the Annual Subscription Period for the 2007 IPMA Journal. The way this works, the publisher, Elsevier, lets us know each December what the new year's subscription rate will be. We enroll the members who wish to subscribe, and on January 27, we send a list of subscribers and your addresses. New members can subscribe when they join, and they receive the whole year's magazines, even if they join in November.
If you are not familiar with it, IPMA Journal is a juried Project Management magazine, published 8 times a year, with some very interesting articles. It is especially useful for those who are involved with Universities, plus those PM Practitioners who wish to stay on the leading edge of the practice. You should review the samples online to see how useful it would be for you.
The asapm website has instructions for the steps you take to see samples of the IPMA Journal. It walks you through several different ways to find it on the Elsevier website. The site also points you to the Journal Order Form, and offers multiple alternative ways to pay. If you have any questions, please contact us.
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8. Stephen Lynn's PM Methodologies and Strategic Execution Survey Results Released
asapm members and friends participated in a survey this Summer on Project Management Methodologies and Strategic Execution that Doctoral candidate Stephen Lynn (at Kennedy Western University) produced. In our last newsletter we announced and linked to the detailed results, and we mentioned that we were interested in his Executive Summary and analysis of those results. We had the pleasure of meeting Stephen at the Shanghai Congress, and he said his analysis was "in the mail". And sure enough, we've received it. Now we share Stephen's analysis with you. Enjoy Stephen Lynn's analysis of the survey results! Thanks Stephen!
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9. Book Review: Jerry Manas' Napoleon on Project Management
Last Winter we reviewed Mark Kozak-Holland's excellent Churchill's Adaptive Enterprise. This Summer, we received and read Jerry Manas' book, Napoleon on Project Management; Timeless Lessons in Planning, Execution and Leadership, but have not had the time to post our review of it. So here goes. Napoleon on Project Management continues the thread of great reads with useful information for Project Managers. Given that most of today's most effective Project and Program Managers are Rennaisance Women and Men, it makes great sense to Learn Lessons from history, literature, and all the other resources available to us beyond just our practice publications. And what better way to add to your Executive point-of-view than to learn from arguably the most effective Executive of the 1800's!
See the review of this book on the asapm website. Reviewer Rating of this book: 4.5 out of 5 — Stacy A. Goff, PMP
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10. Book Review by James R. Brady: Managing Projects: Large and Small
Reviewed By: James R. Brady, PhD, MPA, MEd.;
International Development Consultant (Org. Systems)
Target Audience: This book is one of the HBS “Harvest Business Essentials” series, so it is intended to provide a basic overview of the Project Management field. It is appropriate for (1) familiarizing new project staff with the PM field or (2) providing experienced managers with a review of some current trends and issues. I bought it for the second reason and found it to be an excellent reference on basic approaches and ideas for improving PM practice.
Overview: This general survey of PM is well-organized and easy to read. Each chapter contains both beginning and ending summaries of the main points. There is enough depth to provide a general understanding of the role of techniques (such as Gantt or PERT/CPM charts), but not so much detail that you get bogged down. There are three appendices with short forms for helping to: define the project, prepare a Work Breakdown Structure, and prepare a progress report. There is also a short glossary of PM terms.
See the review of this book on the asapm website. Reviewer Rating of this book: 4 out of 5 — James R. Brady, PhD, MPA, MEd.
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11. Loose Ends and Treats
The PM Podcast: Hear Stacy Goff distinguish between Competence-based or Knowledge-based PM Certifications on Cornelius Fichtner's The Project Management Podcast, episode 55. Also, while you are there, pick up The PM Podcast with our great friend Max Wideman in episode 50.
See Russ Archibald's defense of Ed Fern in an issue over PM Ethics, on PMForum (click at the bottom of Russ' letter to see his 6-page detailed defense). Our opinion is that Ed is a trail blazer for project management and has the interests of all project management practitioners at heart. Our society also has the interests of all project management practitioners in the forefront of our decisions and we rely on such outspoken practitioners as Ed and others to assure that we continue to operate at the highest ethical level.
We saw a surge of interest once again at Project Millstones, our humor page. And some new top scores in Yeti and the Penguin as the IPMA Member Affilliate in Greece has come up to speed.
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asapm: American Society for the Advancement of Project Management. We are a non-profit organization, staffed solely with volunteers who are dedicated to improving the practice of Project Management. asapm is a registered trademark, and PMCert is a service mark of the American Society for the Advancement of Project Management.
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Stacy Goff, PMP
asapm Vice President 2001-2007