Welcome to the asapm January 2010 Newsletter! Welcome to the asapm January 2010 Newsletter!
This is an Opt-in Newsletter from asapm, the American Society for the Advancement of Project Management. We are the USA member association of IPMA, the International Project Management Association. Enjoy!
In This Issue
1. Change Agents: President's Message, by Stacy Goff
2. Events: ExpertSeminar, IPMA Congress, asapm Congress
3. The Breakdown Structure: 90% of how to manage projects safely, by Simon Harris
4. Certification Update; and, Exploring the New Website Design
5. How to Successfully Execute IT Projects, by Curt Finch and Bruce McGraw
6. aPRO Exposure Draft Comments and Update
7. Two More Articles in Pavan Kumar Gorakavi's Agile PM Series
8. Your Participation Requested in Two Key Surveys
1. Change Agents: President's Message, by Stacy Goff
Our Change Agents blog embraces the change that the practice of Project Management brings to the USA, and to Society. We post below teasers from each of this month's blogs; click a bolded heading to see the whole entry.
State of Our asapm Society, January 2010
The Roman god Janus had a distinguishing feature. He had two faces. No, he wasn’t a dishonest politician! Insteat, he was the god of Gates. Of his faces, one looked back, to learn and apply the lessons of the past. The other looked ahead, to understand the portents of what is to come. We have used that allegory and insight in our PM methods, and in many classes, when we discuss the importance of phase-ending reviews looking at accomplishments and lessons, and then re-estimating and re-planning the next stages or phases, based on what we have learned.
So, we will follow that wise practice here. The last year has seen the culmination of many year’s efforts, with significant achievements, based on the efforts of many volunteer members. Of special note are the following: ...
A More aPRO-priate Way to Assess and Improve PM Performance, parts 1 and 2
The December publishing of the Exposure Draft and Press Release for aPRO, asapm Performance Rated Organization, is a key event for asapm, for the USA, and for the cause of improved PM Performance. You can see the background, the link to the Exposure Draft, and the audiences for this tool at the aPRO section of the asapm website. The purpose of this 2-part posting is to share a bit more perspective about aPRO, the factors that drove us to develop and introduce it, and to acknowledge the members of the aPRO team.
Many organizational assessments for project management already exist. We studied the strengths and weaknesses of the best ones as part of our initial research. We found many that were very useful, some that could be useful, but were far too difficult to apply, and some that could produce great insights, but required too much effort, distracting key staff from their priorities. Most were proprietary, few were based on any relevant and accepted standard, and some appeared to be more-oriented to helping consultants find work in your organization.
The majority of today's Organizational PM Assessments are based on a Maturity Model approach, similar to the Capability Maturity Model pioneered by the US Defense Department and Carnegie Mellon University. This approach is useful because it can offer a logical sequence of improvements. Otherwise, an assessed organization could be forced to choose from dozens of expensive initiatives, with no clear way to decide which offered the greatest value ...
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2. Events: ExpertSeminar, IPMA Congress, asapm Congress
IPMA ExpertSeminar, Zurich, Switzerland, February 18-19, 2010
The investors, customers and organisations who survived the last couple of years of financial stress did not limit themselves to the traditional topics, processes and methods of project management. They paid special attention to the results of their projects. They became fit for the future, again and again, by exchanging their experiences in international groups of project, programme and portfolio practitionerss.
The IPMA Expert Seminar 2010 on 18th-19th February 2010 is the unique opportunity to communicate about survival and sustainability, the reasons for respective successes and failures, and the project management actions for contributing to the project goals as expected by stakeholders.
The investment into the human resources of the project, programme and project portfolio managers matters and pays back rapidly. The IPMA Expert Seminar 2010 contributes considerably to a reliable upgrading of the competences in our discipline. Please read more in this information sheet.
Do you want to fulfil your professional development goals early this year? Book a place for the IPMA Expert Seminar in Zurich at www.ipma-expertseminar.com. This will be your next step for keeping in pace with current PM advancement, and ensure your professional competence development.
Zurich: Easy to reach, no strikes, effective and efficient work, small and modern town, good money exchange rate, please book early enough to get the good prices … We appreciate your interest and attention and are looking forward to meeting you soon.
Best regards,
Dr. Hans Knoepfel,
Honorary President of the Swiss Project Management Association
24th IPMA World Congress 2010 in Istanbul, November 1-3, 2010
Dear Participants,
It is our great pleasure to be hosting the 24th IPMA World Congress 2010 in Istanbul. The main theme of the congress is to identify the changes that need to be made to tackle the challenges and seize the opportunities brought about by new realities in the world economy.
Looking to the future and considering whether the business of project management is likely to change, the level of professionalism applied to projects must improve.
Project management is a systemic approach to management of change.
Which raises more questions:
asapm's USA Congress: Dallas, TX, 4th Quarter, 2010
The USA Congress theme, related to Advancing PM, will be a timely topic for a nation that is ready to pull out of fiscal trauma, and to participate with the rest of the global communitity in Moving Forward. Watch the asapm website for details, as the asapm Congress Committee finalizes them.
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3. The Breakdown Structure: 90% of how to manage projects safely, by Simon Harris
Editor's Note: This is part 1 of a several-part analysis by Simon Harris. By the way, we praise Simon's use of the phrase PMBOK® Guide. Too many use the flawed practice of referring to The Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge as PMBOK. Duncan's insistence with the 1st Edition was that it is not the entire body of knowledge, only a guide to it. In fact, this is one of the ways we know whether a PM consultant, writer, or provider has a clue or not: Whether they know the difference between PMBOK and the PMBOK Guide.
It is relatively rare for a practitioner to demonstrate deep knowledge about two diverse standards; we are fortunate to have Simon write for us. Because Simon contributes his insights from the UK, we have left his article in classic British English. To our dear readers who are a bit confused by the British spelling, welcome to the International World of Project Management! Thank you Simon!
Project problems are… not the fault of the customer’s inarticulate expression of needs
Finding a customer who can clearly express what they want is rare. Often the first wobble that sets a project off to an unstable start is poor expression of needs. Any unsure start may be further destabilised by the typical customer who doesn’t actually know (at least completely) what they do want.
The next near fatal-blow may then be that even for those bits that the customer is clear on, the team isn’t sure what steps are required, or how to clearly express the steps to create the solution. Scope capture is problematic and it does not have to be so.
Success is Possible
With powerful approaches to help define scope that are well understood and applied with skill the problems above can be overcome. The tools exist but sound understanding is a rarity and NOT conveyed by the popular standards in circulation.
How It Goes Wrong
Imagine this scope oriented fragment of a customer’s request “… send a man to the moon and bring him back safely …”
The engineer’s thoughts are instantly racing away down the work oriented track “… and we will have to build a rocket and …”.
The Right Start
The project manager is, I hope considering the customer’s view of what is in scope and funds and timescale: E.g.: “… safely by the end of this decade.” Defining the work comes second, not first. See the whole article, part 1.
PMBOK is a registered trademark of Project Management Institute in the USA and other countries.
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4. Certification Update; and, Exploring the New Website Design
In addition to completing our suite of IPMA-based certifications, we are now putting the finishing touches on the updated asapm website, with significant streamlining of our Certification section. Let's take a tour of the site! Start at the Cert home page.
I can see from the home page that there are a number of options, many targeted to the needs of specific audiences. Perhaps I am interested in asapm's approach to certifications, but I'm not familiar with the offerings; I don't know where to begin. Click on Certification Program Details. Right there, at the top of the list, click What Level Is Right for Me?
Aha! On this page I can see asapm's certifications, the target audience, and the prerequisites. One complaint we have heard is, "asapm's certifications are complicated". We will agree, they may be more complicated than taking a cram class and then taking a multiple choice exam. asapm's certifications are not based on short-term knowledge acquistion. They are based on use of practical methods and proven competence in the application of PM practices. This is especially important with our Advanced Certifications, IPMA-C, IPMA-B and IPMA-A. This is why they are useful indicators of your Ability to Perform.
Let's assume that you are interested in (and qualified for) asapm's newest certificaton, Program Manager, IPMA-A. Click on the IPMA-A link. You can see the application process, with links to the Stage 1 Application form. See how easy that was? Of course, some who think our process is complex are more familiar with taking a cram exam, than with demonstrating their performance competence.
Earlier, when we mentioned asapm's approach to certification, that might have raised a question: How does that approach differ? Click the Certification arrow at top left of the current page; then click Duncan's Blog, near the bottom of that page. This brings up Certification Chair William Duncan/s blog on our Certification program, where he explains the differences between our Certifications, and others. Enjoy!
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5. How to Successfully Execute IT Projects, by Curt Finch and Bruce McGraw
According to a 2008 Gartner report, 15% of all IT projects failed that year because of high cost variance, while 18% were unsuccessful because they were substantially late. This means that in 2008, 1 in 3 technology projects failed. Why such a dismal success rate? Such projects primarily involve the management of human resources in order to accomplish the target schedule, cost, and quality, so it is safe to assume that poor resource management played a large role. Unfortunately, without effective resource management processes, such organizations are left asking questions like:
“Who is working on what?”
“How do I get this project back on schedule?”
“How much more work will it take to finish?”
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6. aPRO Exposure Draft Comments and Update
Last month we sent out a special mid-December newsletter and press released announcing that the aPRO Exposure Draft was ready for comments. aPRO is the asapm Performance Rated Organization standard, developed by an asapm team to change the way organizations evaluate and improve PM Performance. See more abot the standard and the team at the blog posts mentioned above.
The comments we have received so far are not only useful and encouraging, they are coming from some of the most-savvy people in PM practice. Such comments as "elegant and useful" to "how do we sign up?" show that the team has a winner. Another observer commented that many available pm models appear to be a view of the organization from just a project managers' perspective.
This comment evoked the image of a child at a party of adults; all he or she can clearly see is legs and bums. We have seen many such "limited views of the organization", in pm writing, standards and tools, and perhaps that explains why executive management does not eagerly jump on board. Our correspondent appreciated that aPRO begins with the view from Executive Management, and works its way down the organization. They went on to observe this strength will help the aPRO model to be more successful in gaining traction in project and program-oriented organizations.
The Exposure Draft period ends soon, so we ask everyone with an interest in assessing and improving PM performance to download the draft and the comments form, review the Exposure Draft, and send us your comments.
You may download the Exposure Draft from its official website at asapm.org/apro. The final Standard will be available on the website April 5, 2010.
Consultancies that are interested in offering aPRO assessments, and organizations that are interested in getting assessed, should contact the aPRO team at: aPRO Interest.======================================
7. Two More Articles in Pavan Kumar Gorakavi's Agile PM Series
We continue 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. Based on a Build Your Project With ... theme, his article series continues this month with article 6, What You Should Know about Crystal Orange Methodology, and article 7, Build your Project using Rational Unified Process. And, watch for the e-book that Pavan is publishing!
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8. Your Participation Requested in Two Key Surveys
Intercultural Communication and International PM Survey: Your Participation Requested
Isabelle Ritz is writing her thesis about "Intercultural communication and International Project Management".
Her referee is Prof. Dr. Nino Grau, Vice President of IPMA, a very special friend of asapm, and of Young Crew-USA.
Ms. Ritz has set up a short online survey. She is seeking survey responses from project managers and project members with international experience. She plans to evaluate the results in a little over one month. It is always difficult to find qualified volunteers, so it would be extremely helpful and contributing if you could sacrifice a little bit of your precious time for the participation and support of the study.
The survey takes around 10 minutes and is simple to complete. Please go: http://onlineforschung.org/ipm?set=English.
Ms. Ritz and asapm thank you for your support.
Program Manager Survey: Your Participation Requested
If you are a Program Manager, please participate in this survey on leadership in program management. There are two parts of the survey. The first part asks questions about the nature of programs the program manager managed. The second part assesses program manager’s leadership style. The research findings will help program managers to adjust their leadership styles to the different program context, and will help top management to choose an appropriate program manager for the particular program. Go: http://survey.usbe.umu.se/research/tomas.blomquist/index.php?sid=5
This is part of the research of ESC Lille, France PhD candidate Jingting Shao. If you qualify as a Program Manager, please complete the survey soon; this is an extension from the December, 2009 newsletter, because she did not receive enough responses. The information obtained from you will be held in strict confidence. No reference will be made to specific individuals or names of organizations. To thank you for your participation, you will have the opportunity to receive the research findings. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the survey author at:sjt1107@gmail.com. Thank you very!
Editors's footnote. We receive many requests for survey participants. Some are relevant and well-designed; others are not. We screen them, and only pass on to our readers those that meet our criteria for relevance and clarity. Please humor us, and, if you meet the demographics of the suggested surveys, spend a bit of time responding to them. Academic Research has always been important to the cause of Advancing Project Management. It will become even more important as asapm steps up our activities with Universities and Researchers to explore the potential of our innovative aPRO offering, and other initiatives. Thank you!
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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.
To subscribe to this newsletter, or even better, to Join asapm, see the links at the bottom of most pages on the asapm.org website.
asapm is a registered trademark in the USA.