Welcome to the asapm October 2009 Newsletter! Welcome to the asapm October 2009 Newsletter!
This is an Opt-in Newsletter from asapm, the American Society for the Advancement of Project Management (IPMA-USA). Normally produced in even-numbered months, we are moving to monthly editions. Enjoy!
In This Issue
1. Change Agents: President's Message, by Stacy Goff
2. Article: The Five Diseases of Project Management; by Allan Elder
3. asapm Promoting PMO Symposium 2009, Nov. 8-10, in Atlanta
4. Articles: Build Your Project Using Agile Methods, by Pavan Kumar Gorakavi
5. Duncan's Certification Update: Program Manager Certification Delayed
6. Article: Communications Is the Key to Project Success; by Jeff Hodgkinson
7. Article: Essential Insights In Meeting the Rising Demand For PM Performance, by Stacy Goff
8. Article: The Top 6 Things to Consider When Choosing a PPM Solution; by Curt Finch
9. asapm Standards Development Continues In October; Update by Tim Jaques
10. Book Review: The Global Consultant: How to Make Seven Figures Across Borders
11. More asapm, IPMA and Young Crew News.
1. Change Agents: President's Message, by Stacy Goff
Managing Change will continue to be society's greatest challenge. Appropriate for us, because PM is the discipline of managing beneficial change. Our Change Agents blog embraces that change, and is part of a series of initiatives to increase the frequency and breadth of asapm's interaction with our members and friends. In this month's posts, we continue with wide-ranging topics. We have posted below teasers from each blog post's introduction; click a post's bolded heading to see the whole entry.
Managing Small Projects
Happy 09/09/09! This blog posting was prompted by an article provided to asapm by Curt Finch, What Mismanaging Small Projects Will Cost You. My “to do” list has had this topic on it for quite some time, so I am glad Curt brought it up. Curt is CEO of Journyx, and his article is great; see it here.
What Is a Small Project?
I have asked this question for over 24 years in kicking off one of my workshops, Small Project Management. The first time I asked the question in a class was at an Aerospace/Defense company, and a grizzled old Engineer said, “Sonny, a Small Project is anything less than a Billion Dollars”.
Clearly, different people have different perceptions about what constitutes a Small Project. I have always used total hours of Work Effort as the basis for project sizing, and have, over time, built a size-ranging approach that covers small, medium, large projects, and initiatives. I separately deal with programs and mega-programs ...
Revving Up the asapm Competence Enablers
asapm’s Competence Enabler program has been a key part of our society since our founding. We originally called it the Most Valued Provider program, and then Donna Fitzgerald, as part of her term as Education Director, coined the more-likeable Competence Enabler name. The Competence Enabler program's purpose is several-fold:
There are major differences between asapm’s Competence Enabler program and other societies’ programs. We view our program not as a revenue-generator, but as a service both for savvy Vendors, and for our members and friends ...
What Is a PMO, and What Flavor Is Yours?
What is a PMO?
A Project Management Office, or Program Management Office, is a formal or informal group that accepts responsibility for one or more Program/Project governance, support and/or mentoring functions, with the explicit purpose (in the best cases) of improving PM Performance. What brings this topic to our blog at this time is asapm’s sponsorship and support for the PMO Symposium 2009, to be held November 8-10 in Atlanta, GA. Presented by the PMI® PMO SIG (Program Management Office Specific Interest Group), the agenda shows this event to be one of your best opportunities remaining this year to tap into the burgeoning world of effective PMOs. See the PMO Symposium site ...
A Rainbow of Different Purposes for Your PMO
In the previous post about PMOs, Program or Project Management Offices, we discussed the different flavors of PMOs, and made an assertion that everyone has one, but some are informal, rather than formal. And, the informal ones can be at least as effective as the formal ones. In this post, we discuss the different purposes of your PMO. Once again, as a reminder: what brings this topic to our blog is the November 8-10 PMO Symposium, in Atlanta Georgia. ...
We want your blog postings and comments on our blogs, too! If you have something to say, and can express it in a relatively even-handed way (no flames here), please Contact Us!
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2. Article: The Five Diseases of Project Management; by Allan Elder
How can you finish more projects, faster, without sacrificing quality or content, when your resources are already over extended? Do your projects suffer from these undesirable effects?
• Late,
• Resources overloaded,
• Excessive changes (due to long project timelines),
• Resources not available when needed (even when promised),
• Changing priorities, rework
This paper defines the five human behavioral reasons your projects are late and if you don't address them, will continue to be late. We have discovered through years of practice and research that projects suffer similar fates. Looking through our library of over one hundred books on project management and leadership we discovered that our oldest and newest book on project management identified the same complaints.
For over 50 years projects have suffered from the same effects. Why? What could be causing such failure, universally, for so long? In case you believe where you work is different we also discovered that it does not matter what kind of projects you manage. Projects from the DOE, DOD, IT, Construction, and dozens of other fields suffer an identical fate.
This is from the introduction to Allan's article, our Lead Article for this month. Click to read Allan's article.
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3. asapm Promoting PMO Symposium 2009, Nov. 8-10, in Atlanta
PMO Symposium 2009 is the premier PMO event of the year, featuring over 25 speakers covering topics important to PMO leaders and project management practitioners alike. In 2008, over 275 attendees representing over 200 companies participated in the PMO Symposium, making it among the largest global PMO-specific events. Whether you lead or work in an existing PMO or are responsible for establishing or maturing a PMO, the PMO Symposium 2009 agenda is designed to give you leading insights and information on how to advance your PMO, including two keynote presentations by internationally recognized PMO experts from Forrester Research and Project Management Solutions, a variety of breakout sessions focusing on practical topics of interest to PMO practitioners, panel discussions, and networking opportunities.
Sessions are available in three track themes, focusing on strategic, managerial, and tactical PMO aspects, allowing you to select from a variety of sessions based on the unique needs of your PMO. Topics are designed to address a variety of industries and levels of PMO maturity, from newly formed PMOs to well established strategic PMOs. All three days will allow you to network with other attendees and seminar speakers to discuss your specific area of interest and to advance your knowledge.
PMO Symposium 2009 is being held at the Intercontinental Hotel Buckhead hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, located in the heart of Atlanta's unique Buckhead neighborhood, featuring world class dining, entertainment, and nightlife. Complete details are available online at www.pmosymposium.org.
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4. Articles: Build Your Project Using Agile Methods, by Pavan Kumar Gorakavi
We have started a series of articles on the asapm website, thanks to Pavan Kumar Gorakavi. Pavan is interested in Agile PM Methods, and while the examples he uses are primarily for Information Technology projects, our reaction is that many of the methods are also relevant for many other types of projects. Begining with a Build Your Project theme, his first article is an overview, Build your Project using Agile Methods. In the second article of the series, Pavan covers Build your Project using Extreme Programming.
The article series will continue this month. Pavan has a number of other useful initiatives under way. He is the Program Director for Young Crew USA, is working on an updated website for Young Crew, and in his spare time, is also developing an Open Source tool for Agile Methods. Thank you Pavan!
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5. Duncan's Certification Update: Program Manager Certification Delayed
For the many inquiring minds, we have an update on the status of our IPMA-A Program Manager certification. Duncan sent us this update as he was preparing the most recent draft of the underlying Standard for the GAPPS meeting in the USA next month. "Bill Duncan informs us that our version of the IPMA Level A certification is still not quite ready for release. He has promised a firm release date for our November newsletter."
In other certification news, Duncan has added a blog posting to his series that covers the What, When, Where, Why, and How of Certification. His How (part 1) begins...
I’ve left this for last since it is the hardest issue to address. In fact, I have several books on my shelves that cover how to assess competence, so trying to answer that question in a few hundred words does seem more than a bit presumptuous. So please think of this entry as an introduction or an overview. If there is interest, I’ll get into more detail later.
First, remember that competence is intangible. You can’t see it, touch it, feel it, or smell it (although I have heard that incompetence has a distinctive aroma). Because competence is intangible, we must infer it from some type of evidence. Thus “how to certify” is fundamentally a question of what kinds of evidence will you require and how will you evaluate it.
See Duncan's latest blog post, How to Certify, at the asapm website.
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6. Article: Communications Is the Key to Project Success; by Jeff Hodgkinson
It seems to be the root cause of the success or failure of a project to deliver the expected results to the stakeholders always comes down to one item – ‘communications’. How well the project team performs is directly proportional to the timeliness and effectiveness off the teams’ ability to communicate status among each other.
Go back and look at project postmortems, or PIR’s (post implementation reviews), or the new politically correct term of ‘project retrospectives’ and you’ll find a reference to ‘lack of’ or ‘mis-communications’ referenced in some manner or form. Research has proven that when projects fail, someone in the team knew it was going to happen beforehand – but because no one asked, the knowledge could not be acted upon. See the rest of Hodge's latest article.
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7. Article: Essential Insights In Meeting the Rising Demand For PM Performance, by Stacy Goff
Below is the Abstract of Goff's paper, presented at the University of Texas at Dallas Symposium (also sponsored by PMI/Dallas and PMForum) in August 2009. Goff presents these insights at more events, including the SouthEast Wisconsin PMI® Chapter's Project Development Days in late October. See the full paper at Goff's ProjectExperts website.
The practice of Project Management has soared in popularity since the landmark publishing of the 1996 PMBOK® Guide. Hundreds of thousands of new practitioners have been trained, equipped with new tools, and many certified. Yet despite these investments, project performance, for many, has not significantly improved. In some cases, it is getting worse. Meanwhile, increasingly impatient Executive Managers await the promised improvements; many are just giving up, deciding that PM is just another fad.
This paper responds to the rising clamor for improved PM Performance, often coming from outside the PM arena. It touches upon current perceived failures, and then identifies a set of essential drivers for improved PM Performance. Some organizations already employ many of the practices we discuss; many are missing a few essential insights. One such insight is that most current PM investments, including training, certifications and tools are merely inputs. Too often, the missing essentials are the insights needed to assure and measure intended results or outputs.
To increase PM Performance, we must improve the way we manage projects. In addition, we must learn how to measure and manage, early and often, the most important outputs. Only then will we make gains in PM Performance. The presentation accompanying this paper (soon to be available as a webinar) illustrates these essential insights with practice examples in improving PM results. All organizations can improve their results by blending the strengths of stakeholder talent, improved processes, re-used project intelligence, and executive support. They add clearer success measures and more responsive communication, to achieve PM Performance.
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8. Article: The Top 6 Things to Consider When Choosing a PPM Solution; by Curt Finch
According to a recent article in a leading technology magazine, the demand for project and portfolio management (PPM) solutions is rising in response to the weakened economy. Many businesses are
choosing to implement PPM solutions in order to “identify which IT projects are mission critical and to help them execute those projects as efficiently as possible.”1 These customers have also found that PPM solutions offered as software-as-a-service (SaaS) are both more affordable and easier to deploy than traditionalones.
One of the problems many businesses face when choosing a PPM solution is wading through all of the functionality of complex solutions. It can be difficult to understand what functionality a business needs, as well as how to strike the right balance without paying for things that are not needed. When it comes to project portfolio management, most companies have two basic needs: to understand costs and profitability on a per-person, per-project basis, and to know who is going to work on which projects for the next few months. This means that resource allocation and project status, cost and time tracking should be at the top of any PPM shopper's list. Project portfolio management solutions are critical to organizations that manage many projects and people. Choosing the right solution, however, can be challenging, but there are some key criteria that businesses should focus on during the selection process.
This is from the introduction to Journyx CEO Curt Finch's latest article; click to read his article.
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9. asapm Standards Development Continues In October; Update by Tim Jaques
The 2009-2010 Standards Committee is a very motivated group! We are looking to take the solid foundation of standards that currently exist and begin building the next generation of standards and services that our members and friends will want to use.
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10. Book Review: The Global Consultant: How to Make Seven Figures Across Borders
The Global Consultant: How to Make Seven Figures Across Borders. By Alan Weiss and Omar Khan. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2009. Hardback, 225 pages, $34.95. Reviewed By: James R. Brady, PhD, MPA, MEd. International Development Consultant (Org. Systems). Click here to see the review.
Target Audience
Strictly speaking, this is not a "project management" book, but I thought it might be of interest to those who want to initiate or expand global operations---and make more money in the process. The authors share many of their own experiences to tempt you to join them in the elite group of consultants, trainers, or general gurus who travel first class (or hire their own jet), stay at the best hotels, eat at the best restaurants, and otherwise enjoy the good life. But they also make it clear that you must already be very good at what you do, if you plan to become a sought-after global player who commands munificent fees. So, if you are interested in initiating your own personal "Millionaire Project", the book provides some wide-ranging personal and professional advice.
Point of View
Alan Weiss and Omar Khan argue that we Americans and our "capitalist way" are widely accepted abroad. Consequently, we are seen as sources of practical knowledge on how to innovate in business. We also benefit because English is widely used in business and educational communities around the globe. They suggest that certain characteristics of capitalism are found even in non-capitalistic states like the People's Republic of China. They note: "Capitalism is based on trust. If the trust is routinely violated, the system collapses. More importantly, those who violate the trust find themselves disenfranchised from the system." (Page 16) I assume their book was written before the current corporate meltdown in America.
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11. More asapm, IPMA and Young Crew News
Young Crew USA completes Board with election of Ms. Melanie Gigante
asapm's Young Crew is pleased to announce that Melanie Gigante has been elected as the Vice President (VP) of Finance and Operations for the 2009-2011 year.
Ms. Gigante will be responsible for overall financial leadership for the chapter in collaboration with other Executive Board of Directors, members. She will work at both the strategic level and at the tactical level, to define processes and operational functions in the Finance and Operations area, including support for the chapter’s overall strategy and long range planning process. Click here to see the rest of this press release.
Last Chance for IPMA Expert Seminar Call For Papers
Your abstract, with your choice of topic streams, is due October 19, 2009, if you wish to participate in the February 18-19, 2010 International Expert Seminar to be held in Zurich, Switzerland. Early Bird Registration (with discounted fees) ends December 7th, 2009. Additional information, the four streams, and registration is on the Expert Seminar website.
The IPMA International Expert Seminar 2010 will be a fruitful combination of plenary sessions and breakout stream workshops. While the plenary sessions aim to lay a common understanding of the subject, the streams aim to exchange experience and to jointly develop new ideas on the subject. In plenary sessions, the main format will be paper presentations while the streams will be more interactive with short presentations and team work.
Hosted by the Swiss Project Management Association, the Swiss Member Affiliate of IPMA, the Expert Seminar Series is the must-attend exchange for all PM practitioners who wish to help forge the future of our practice. Unlike other associations, IPMA does not compete with its own vendors, by holding typical PM classes. Instead, the Expert Seminars and a few limited other offerings are intended to establish and share leading ideas and practices. Thus, Expert Seminars are unique: We encourage your participation!
IPMA 3rd Quarter Newsletter
The latest IPMA Newsletter includes a summary write-up of the IPMA Award Gala Dinner at the Helsinki Congress, where Applied Materials was a finalist for their SunFab (TM) Solar Module Production Lines. It also repeats the press release for the July asapm elections, and reports on Spain, India, and Poland events. See this latest IPMA Newsletter at the asapm website.
IPMA 2009 World Congress Wrap-up
Congress attendees have had access to the procedings, photos, videos and slide shows since the outstanding Helsinki Congress. Now, everyone else has access to the videos (use the YouTube version; the full length version does not work well), and Participant Interviews. The interviewers were Stacy Goff and Mary McKinley. Hear the interviews of 21 attendees at the Refresh Congress website. Note that the Material Bank is only available to attendees; the rest is available to all.
Australia Joins the IPMA Family
Saving the best news for last, AIPM, the Australian Institute of Project Management, joined the IPMA Family at the IPMA Council of Delegates meeting at the end of September in Dublin. Our friend Jouko Vaskimo does a much nicer job of reporting this great event than we could; see his breaking news report at the PMForum website. Australia's joining makes them one of the strongest Member Associations of IPMA, and they will celebrate their IPMA membership by hosting the 2011 IPMA World Congress in October, in Brisbane. G'day, Mates!
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asapm, the USA Member of IPMA, is the American Society for the Advancement of Project Management. We are a not-for-profit organization, staffed with volunteers who are dedicated to improving Performance Competent in Program and Project Management. asapm is a registered trademark of the American Society for the Advancement of Project Management.
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