Welcome to the asapm October 2007 email Newsletter!
This is an Opt-in Newsletter from asapm, the American Society for the Advancement of Project Management. We produce it in the even-numbered months: February, April, June, and so on. 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. PrezSez: Project Complexity: A Brief Exposure to Difficult Situations
2. PMCert Report: USA's First Level C Project Managers Certified in Performance Competency!
3. What Is A PM Methodology? A Search for Efficiency, Consistency and Performance, Stacy Goff
4. ProjectSummit/Business Analyst World in San Francisco, Boston, and Free Ticket for Chicago
5. Project Management: The Supply Chain View (Weltanschauung), by Morgan Henrie
6. Canadian PM Association Formed, Will Apply as IPMA Member Association!
7. IIR ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts, 13-16 November 2007; Anaheim, CA
8. Latest Archibald Survey on Program/Project Manager Progression to Senior Executives
9. Roma November 2008: IPMA 22nd World Congress Call For Papers!
10. Change Management for End-Users: Question Opened to the Public
11. Updates: Jobs Board, Project Inspirations, PMForum, and Project MillStones
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1. PrezSez: Project Complexity: A Brief Exposure to Difficult Situations, by Lew Ireland
What is Complexity? Project complexity is often recognized in a general way, but not completely understood by everyone. Just the term “complexity” causes some degree of difficulty because of the different interpretations given the definition and perhaps a person’s experiences and training. Exploring the fundamental meaning of “complex” is helpful in establishing a foundation from which to build.
For the purposes of this paper, project complexity will be viewed from a planning standpoint and what can be done to influence the results of identified challenges. This future look at complexity provides an opportunity to identify situations to plan for better outcomes.
This is from the introduction to asapm President Lew Ireland's latest PrezSez. To see Lew's article, click here.
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2. PMCert Report: USA's First Level C Project Managers Certified in Performance Competency!
We are pleased to announce the identities of the two individuals who were recently certified as asapm Certified Project Practitioners (aCPP) at Level C, Project Manager. They are Alex S. Brown of Belle Mead, NJ and George Pasieka of Winnipeg. Please join us in congratulating them!
IPMA Relationship Recognized!
We are also pleased to announce that we have reached agreement in principle with IPMA about the structure of our certification program, specifically our use of the performance based competency standards developed by the Global Alliance for Project Performance Standards (GAPPS). The PMCert Board felt that the 100% compliance requirement of the GAPPS standard was a necessary addition to satisfy the USA market, and IPMA officials have agreed. As a result, we can return to promoting our program as part of IPMA’s Four Level Certification program (4-L-C).
IPMA has certified the competence of more project managers than any other organization, so we are pleased and proud to be part of the IPMA community!
This also means that Alex and George will be included on IPMA’s website as having been certified at Level C!
Next Round of Interviews
We had originally planned to hold certification interviews in October, but we ran into some logistical problems and have been forced to reschedule them until Q1 of 2008. What was the problem? See below …
Call for Assessors
We currently have four qualified assessors. Clearly, that is not enough to serve the number of people in the USA interested in our program. In addition, flying the assessors around the country starts to get expensive, and also means that the assessment fees would have to be quite high in order to cover travel costs. One obstacle to expanding our number of assessors is the fact that you must first be assessed as competent before you can assess others.
So we are looking to expand our numbers by offering FREE assessments for a limited time to a limited number of individuals, in exchange for their paid services as qualified assessors. If you have actively managed projects at some point during the past 10 years, please contact Bill Duncan at: PMCert to see if you are eligible.
Going to Project Summit in Boston?
Speaking of Bill Duncan, he will be speaking at the Project Summit conference in Boston October 29-31. Bill will be speaking about performance based competency assessment at 3:15 pm on Monday, October 29. asapm is a sponsor of this event.
Are you a Program Manager?
Some people seem to think that programs are just big projects, but program managers know better. If you are a program manager, you may be interested to know that asapm and GAPPS are currently working on a performance based competency framework for program managers. If you are interested in contributing to or reviewing the draft document, please contact Bill. As with the GAPPS project manager framework, this program manager framework will be integrated with IPMA’s processes to support our Level A assessment offering which we plan for late 2008.
To see more about PMCert and details about our three levels (so far) of IPMA-compliant certification we now offer, click here.
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3. What Is A PM Methodology? A Search for Efficiency, Consistency and Performance, by Stacy Goff
By now, you would think that everyone who needs a Project Management Methodology would have one. They have been in popular use for over 30 years. But as more Enterprises understand the importance of demonstrated PM Competence in projects, programs and portfolios, new requirements exist, that your methods do not support. In this article, we answer the question “What is a PM Methodology” from a perspective of today’s requirements. We list the criteria against which to score your in-house or commercial methods, that you can use to help improve the effectiveness of your PM Methodology.
How does your PM Methodology stack up against our ten criteria? Is it a Dustsucker, or part of your competitive advantage? To find out, read the article; assess your practices; improve your effectiveness!
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4. ProjectSummit/Business Analyst World Events in San Francisco, Boston, and Chicago
Diversified Business Communications is owner and producer of Project Summit & BusinessAnalystWorld, and the events are promoted and supported by asapm. See the Events page on the asapm website for member and friend discounts, or visit the ProjectSummit website www.projectsummit.com for full details. Note especially the due dates for early registrations, offering a significant discount.
San Francisco area – October 15 -18; Sheraton Palo Alto, Palo Alto, CA
If you are in the area, there is still time (barely) to sign up for this, the only West Coast offering of ProjectSummit.
Boston Oct 29 – Nov 1; Boston Marriott Burlington, Burlington, MA
PMCert Chair Bill Duncan will speak at the Boston ProjectSummit; his topic is "Guilty".
One Free Ticket: Chicago Nov 12 – 15; O’Hare Crowne Plaza, Rosemont, IL
For the Chicago event, Diversified Communications and asapm team for a free admission! For the next two weeks (through 23 October) send an email to send email to us, with PSBAW in the subject. On October 24th we'll draw from the entries we receive, and notify you, if you are the winner.
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5. Project Management: The Supply Chain View (Weltanschauung), by Morgan Henrie
Weltanschauung Have you ever considered what your project weltanschauung is? Would you be surprised to find out that your weltanschauung may in fact assist or hinder your ability to manage the project? Additionally, you might discover that your weltanschauung may alter or change as your project maturity or competence level changes. So what is this weltanschauung anyway? Merriam-Webster dictionary defines weltanschauung as “a comprehensive conception or apprehension of the world especially from a specific standpoint.” Weltanschauung is commonly referred to as your view of the world or ‘world view’.
From a project manager’s perspective, it is proposed that your weltanschauung, or your world view, is associated with your approach to managing the project. This paper also suggests that we might, in fact, be able to enhance our ability to be great project managers by expanding our world view. The application of other disciplines, such as supply chain management, may in generally enhance our weltanschauung.
This is from the article abstract; Click here to read Morgan Henrie's latest.
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6. Canadian PM Association Formed, Will Apply as IPMA Member Association
Our friends at PMForum scooped us on this story, but we urge asapm members and friends to join us in welcoming a new Project Management association for Canada. We have been helping them get started. See the announcement as published at PMForum.
Until the end of 2007, membership in PMAC-AMPC is being offered at a reduced rate as part of a special membership drive incentive. Until Dec. 31, 2007 a one year membership is available for only $20. After that time, the membership rate will shoot up to a higher regular rate.
The organization plans to conduct activities and publish documents in dual languages, English and French, as is customary in Canadian industry and society. PMAC-AMPC has established a cooperative relationship with the American Society for the Advancement of Project Management (asapm) in the United States and plans to become the Canadian national member of the International Project Management Association (IPMA), based in Switzerland. For more information visit http://www.pmac-ampc.ca/ or send an email to info@pmac-ampc.ca.
Contact the PMAC-APMC Leadership Team at the email address above to subscribe to their newsletter; a current copy containing a nice welcome from Max Wideman is available on the asapm website.
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7. IIR ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts, 13-16 November 2007; Anaheim, CA
asapm is helping to promote this stellar conference, presented by IIR, Institute for International Research, and to be held at the Disneyland Hotel 13-16 November 2007: Anaheim, CA, website: ProjectWorld. Based on participant requests, the presentations have been extended in length, for more in-depth coverage.
Goff to Speak
Hear asapm co-founder Stacy Goff speak on Tracking Project Performance to Maximize Business Value; and, because asapm is a media sponsor for this event, members and friends can receive a discount: enter SPKRM1920SG to receive your discount; sign up soon!
ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts Europe, 26-28 Nov. 2007; Barcelona, SP
If you can't make it to Anaheim (see above) asapm is also helping to promote ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts Europe, co-located with the Project Risk Symposium Europe. Join us November 26-28, 2007 in Barcelona, Spain.
Over 1,000 people annually attend the US ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts flagship event to achieve more profitable projects. Now it is time to do the same for the European market. All the key companies, the key industry sectors, the Europe community, All in one place. For more information, please visit www.iirusa.com/projectworldeurope.
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8. Latest Archibald Study on Program/Project Manager Progression to Senior Executives
asapm member and favorite Russ Archibald, together with Jean-Pierre Debourse just opened up a survey for a PM-senior-exec study that they are working on. It has the potential to be very important both academically and practically for project managers. Thus, asapm is promoting this: After all, what better way to advance the practice of Project Management than to help Project and Program Managers to move up the Executive ladder?
Subject: Invitation to Program and Project Managers to Participate in an Important PM Research Project
All Program and Project Managers around the world are urged to contribute to an important research project co-sponsored by another professional society and the ESC-Lille Business School (France.) The project is titled "Project Managers as Senior Executives?" and focuses on these questions:
Does experience as a program or project manager lead to senior executive positions? Are there differences in this regard within project-driven versus project dependent organizations in business, industry, and government?
A more complete explanation, with links to additional details, is on the asapm website. We encourage all members and friends to participate in this important survey. The cut-off date for the on-line survey and face-to-face CEO/Senior Executive interviews is December 15, 2007. For further information on this research project please contact Prof. Jean-Pierre Debourse at <jp.debourse@esc-lille.fr> or Russ Archibald at <russell_archibald@yahoo.com>.
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9. Roma November 2008: IPMA 22nd World Congress Call For Papers!
Even before the successful Cracow IPMA 21st World Congress began, work was underway for the November 9-11 2008 Congress in Rome, Italy. asapm co-founder Stacy Goff has already participated in three International Advisory Board meetings, to help make the next Congress even more successful. The theme, Project Management To Run, illustrates the need for speed in a Global economy. See the 2008 Congress web page here (but first, turn down the volume of your speakers).
Plan to Attend: IPMA World Congresses are different than most other events. In addition to great Keynotes and compelling stream presentations, there is a feeling of comradarie within the IPMA Family that cannot be found in other events. What better way to experience the Globalization of Project Management, than to break bread in the all-important evening events with peers from six other continents! Well, maybe five.
Plan to Speak: We have a number of PM luminaries in mind that we plan to ask to speak, so the USA will be well-represented. The stream Stacy is co-chairing, New Trends in Project Management, should be especially interesting to our asapm audience. See the Call for Papers; recently, the session durations have been expanded by 10 minutes, to allow fuller, richer content. If you wish to speak at Roma 2008 and we don't contact you, please contact us! A simple reply to this emailed newsletter will accomplish that.
| Timelines | Dates |
| • Abstracts due | January 31, 2008 |
| • Notification of acceptance | April 30, 2008 |
| • Last date for early bird registration | May 31, 2008 |
| • Submitting final paper | July 31, 2008 |
| • Final announcement with list of accepted papers | September 15, 2008 |
So mark your calendar for November 9-11 2008 in Rome, Italy, and watch the Congress website for some exciting surprise updates for Keynote Speakers and featured Stream Speakers. Finally, click here to download the latest Congress pdf brochure from the asapm website. Speaking of Congresses: The next IPMA World Congress will be in Finland, in June 2009.
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10. Change Management for End-Users: Question Opened to the Public
Rose Johnston is looking for a method that a project team can use to prepare their targeted end-users for change.
Technology Example: A team works on applications projects. Depending on the project, the end users may need to learn a new application; interact with a current application in a new way; change their work processes to obtain the benefits of a new or changed application; etc.
In addition to providing the application, the project team needs to pro-actively help users through their changes (versus throwing the completed project “over the wall” and then waiting for support calls).
Criteria for the Ideal Method
The ideal change management method is one that the team can use to guide them in planning and managing the change across projects. This means the ideal method meets these criteria:
Request for Responses
There are two types of responses that Rose is interested in; namely, resources that:
Do you know of any resource (book, case study, web site, training, personal experience, whatever) to help me out? If so, then please reply to ChgMgmt@gmail.com (a temporary email account set up specifically to collect responses to this inquiry).
Note: When you respond, please state how you found out about this question (asapm newsletter, someone forwarded it to you, etc.). In return for your responses, Rose will provide an update in the next issue of the asapm newsletter.
Thanks!
By the way, asapm is glad to put people wo have PM needs and people who have PM solutions together. That is just another way of advancing the Global Practice of Project Management. Members can use the Wiki in the Members Only section to post and respond to such requests.
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11. Updates: Jobs Board, Project Inspirations, PM Forum, and Project MillStones
asapm Jobs Board
The PM Job market is hot, with more companies posting jobs. See the Jobs Board for the latest, including an opportunity for Program Managers; we're big on Program Management, evidenced by our coming certification for Competent Program Managers:
* Program Manager for a popular consumer goods company in Chicago
* A great list of PM-related jobs, most of them related to Medical Research.
Project Inspirations is a New Topic
Suggested by Rose Johnston, a project inspiration is something that helps us discover motivation, empathy, and other project lessons from the acts of others. For our inaugural inspiration, we encourage you to watch the video of Ben Comen, a young man with cerebral palsy who runs on a track team.
http://www.bluefoot.tv/movies/bencomen.html
The video is about 6 minutes long. There are too many inspirations to list here, so we’ll cite three that we found especially moving: persistence, sponsorship, and teamwork.
After you’ve watched the video, post your thoughts in the asapm Members Only Wiki. What inspirations did you see? Is there a past or current project that you can relate to those inspirations, either as lessons that were applied or should be applied?
Speaking of PMForum
Since 2002, asapm has had a Strategic Partnership with PMForum, the worldwide voice for effective Project Management; those who don't visit our Strategic Links page may not realize that. And yet, we have seen increasing relevance and popularity of this site with each update. It confuses some people at first, because there are actually two parts: The second part is PM World Today, a monthly magazine with highly-statured writers. You are missing the newest news and the savviest commentary if you are not subscribed or don't have the addresses book marked.
New Features in the asapm Project Millstones Area
This humor and entertainment section is consistently one of the most-visited parts of the asapm website. The most-recent post: i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. Go to the Millstones page, and scroll down below the Yeti and Penguin (it is still on top because of its hit rate). If you haven't had a chuckle lately, see the other Millstones posts, too.
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