asapm logoWelcome to the asapm July, 2011 Newsletter!

This edition of our opt-in Newsletter is from asapm, the American Society for the Advancement of Project Management. We are IPMA-USA, the USA member association of the International Project Management Association. Enjoy!

In This Issue
1. Project Managers Are Change Agents: President's Message, by Stacy Goff
2. Register Now For the September 8 IPMA Focus Event, In Ann Arbor, MI
3. Reminder: asapm Get-together at UTD Dallas Symposium, August 11-12
4. Project Team Dynamics: Enhancing Performance... by Lisa DiTullio. Review by James Brady
5. asapm Board Nominations and Elections, by VP Trevor Nelson
6. Two More Articles, On the Way to 100, by Byatt, Hamilton, & Hodgkinson
7. Introducing Terry Schmidt: Take it from Terry
8. IPMA World Congress Update: Brisbane October 8-12

1. Project Managers Are Change Agents: President's Blog, 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 a teaser from this month's blog posting; click the bold linked heading to see the posting.

The Wonders of Emperor Qin's Project Portfolio
This article continues impressions from our recent trip to China, to honor PMRC, the Project Management Research Committee, and to celebrate their 20th Anniversary. And while we earlier mentioned the TerraCotta Warriors, a must-see adventure for any visitor to this part of China, there is much more to know about the founder of Xi’an, the heart of China’s governance for 2000 years.

We did our research before our visit, not wanting to be ignorant about this important part of China. Books in English about the area are not as common as those covering Beijing, Shanghai, and other parts of this fascinating nation. Among the books we read, we found a very useful book, Xi’an, Shaanxi and the Terracotta Army, by Mooney, Maudsley and Hatherly, published by Odyssey Books and Guides, 2009. We liked this book because of its great blend of geology, geography, art, history, politics, intrigue, and its description of the culture, tourist attractions, foods, and other facets unique to the area.

But the most interesting part was the story of Ying Zheng’s ascendence to his father’s throne as King Qin Shi Huangdi (Qin is pronounced Chin) in the year 246 BCE, and creation of a portfolio of projects that set the stage for unifying China as a nation. He began this at the age of 13—he would not yet even qualify for IPMA Young Crew. Over the next 25 years, he brought together (in battle) the Seven Warring States, and became China’s first Emperor.

Before proceeding, let’s clear up a bit about Emperor Qin’s name. Ling was his family name. Qin was the name of the state. Huang came from legends of three saintly sovereigns; Di came from legends of five saintly emperors. Shi? That means, the first. Such branding! Emperor Qin’s lasting impact was only partly based on his strong military power—his Dynasty was relatively short in duration—it expired quickly after he did. It is his wonderous portfolio of project results that has endured–such that still today, over 2000 years later, China benefits from his peoples’ achievements.

Emperor Qin’s Project Portfolio
The projects in Qin’s portfolio are numerous. We will highlight just a few: ... More

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2. Register Now For the September 8 IPMA Focus Event, In Ann Arbor, MIIPMA Focus
We announced this event several months ago, it is the first time we have offered an IPMA event in the USA. We now have an agenda, more information, and registration is open on the asapm website for this important event! Please note that members of asapm or other IPMA associations get a $100 discount on the $495 fee!

The Event: IPMA Focus USA, September 8 IPMA Focus Event, In Ann Arbor, MI

Audience: Automobile Industry Managers, Engineers, and Project Managers, from the USA and other countries. We especially invite those who are part of our massive supply chain, whose effectiveness is a key to the industry's success.

Purpose: To discuss PM 2025—Trends and Expectations--For the Automobile Industry. This differs from listening to others, this is an opportunity to engage in the subject with your peer industry experts.

Background:
IPMA – The International Project Management Association (asapm is IPMA-USA), has initiated a series of "Festivals of Knowledge" to discuss tomorrow's role of PM in industries around the world, and to come up with actionable results – gleaned from experts in their fields. 2011 event are in China (Xi'an, June) USA (Ann Arbor, MI, September) Austrailia, in conjunction with the IPMA World Congress (Brisbane, October) and Denmark (November). These are the 2011 anchor points for this IPMA series of events.

Naming of the Event
One of IPMA's differentiations is our practice of embracing PM Knowledge, and them moving beyond, to Skill, Competence and Performance. While the right Knowledge builds a strong foundation, it is Performance Competence that Executives, Stakeholders and Project Teams aspire to demonstrate--together with the business benefits that result. In our early dialogue for this event, we suggested that Festival of Competence was a more representative title than Festival of Knowledge. Then, because this event is in the US, we suggested the name: Festival of Competence, US... or, FOCUS. For IPMA's Research Management Board, the name IPMA FOCUS will gradually replace the original and great concept, Festival of Knowledge. And you can be the first to see IPMA FOCUS.

The Theme and Venue
The theme for this September 8 event is "PM 2025—Trends and Expectations." The event will discuss results from current PM research presented (from US and foreign organizations, enterprises and universities), by those who are heavily involved in Project Management in the automobile industry, and who have clear expectations from PM in 2025. The event is sponsored by IPMA's Research Management Board and supported by asapm, IPMA-USA. This event will be especially convenient to the automobile industry, because of its venue: It is hosted by the Stephen M. Ross School of Business.

For more details, and current information, see the asapm website; or, if this is your audience, sign up now!

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3. Reminder: asapm Get-together at UTD Dallas Symposium, August 11-12
We posted this last month, but had incorrect dates: Sorry--that's the penalty for rushing the newsletter and late-night editing. We have a number of asapm and IPMA members who are speaking at this great PM Symposium, jointly hosted by Univeristy of Texas at Dallas, PMForum, and the Dallas Project Management Institute chapter. It is consistently one of the best regional conferences in the USA. This year, IPMA President Roberto Mori also make a Keynote Presentation. Roberto is from Italy, and he works and travels all around the World; he will offer a true International perspective to the event. See the program and register for this great event here. asapm has participated in and supported this program for three years now, as has IPMA. We encourage you to attend!

For those of us participating, and for those who live in the area, and may not be attending, who is interested in an asapm get-together? During last year's event I had a nice visit with Thomas Keenan, keeper of asapm's LinkedIn site. This year we should try to get together, ideally on Thursday, August 11. If you are interested in face-to-face interaction, and meeting our IPMA President Roberto Mori, and PMForum editor David Pells, plase Contact Stacy.

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4. Project Team Dynamics: Enhancing Performance... by Lisa DiTullio. Reviewed by James Brady
Target Audience: The author’s Introduction suggests that all types of project team members can benefit from her book. She is dedicated to “simple” approaches to the complexities of being a Project Manager: “When things get too complicated, change your assumptions and try again. Keep it simple to be successful.” (page xii). As implied by the book’s title, the author primarily focuses on team and group dynamics and harmony. She tells us: “This book is a compilation of best practices, tips, and techniques identified during my association with clients, colleagues, and project management professionals---all in support of healthy team dynamics.“ (page xiii). She stresses that the material applies to all types of teams and then modestly suggests to readers: “So feel free to share the book with other teams. They will thank you.” (page xiii)

Organization of the Book: In Chapter 1, “Defining the Team,” Project Managers are told not to focus on recruiting specific individuals that they know and think can perform particular project jobs: “Identifying what is needed on the team rather than who you want on the team is a great way to approach functional managers when requesting resources. When you are able to describe the skills, expertise, and assets of what you need on the team, you are effectively informing managers how to develop other staff members who might not quite have what it takes to make the team today. This has long term value for both you as the requesting manager and the functional manager.”(page 19) ... More

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5. asapm Board Nominations and Elections, by VP Trevor Nelson
Editor's Note: This is a reminder; this notice was also in last month's newsletter. As you are aware, asapm is a professional organization dedicated to and run by volunteers from the project management community. These members and volunteers drive the strategy and direction of our organization based on what the community and our members see as the most pressing problems facing the practice of project management.

Each year roughly one-third of our Directors and Officers come to the end of their terms and those with vision and who are willing to serve must be called upon to take their place. The Board is currently accepting nominations for the positions listed below. Each position serves a three-year term.

Secretary/Treasurer: http://www.asapm.org/PD/secretarytreasurer.asp
Director of Marketing: http://www.asapm.org/PD/marketing.asp
Director of Member Services: http://www.asapm.org/PD/memberservices.asp

If you wish to nominate someone (or yourself) please review the Responsibilities and Duties (follow the links provided) and submit a short bio and candidate statement. These will be included in asapm website and with the election ballot.

Thank you!
Trevor K. Nelson, Vice-President -- asapm (IPMA-USA)
Reply to Trevor: www.asapm.org/zvp.asp

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6. Two More Articles, On the Way to 100, by Byatt, Hamilton, & Hodgkinson
Team Sports and Project Management
If you spend a reasonable amount of time working on projects, you are likely to hear team members use sports metaphors. This is a positive trait. Sports metaphors can be great motivators and examples of “how to do things.” Beyond the metaphors, can methodologies in team sports suggest core practices for project management? We think the answer to this question is yes.

There are many similarities between project management and team sports. For the purpose of this article, we focus on eight areas that we feel are particularly relevant.

Individual talent does not guarantee a successful team or outcome. Individual talent does not guarantee team success in any situation. It is the way the team performs as a unit that matters the most. Team selection and how team members “gel together” are key to ensuring that individual skills brought to the team merge to produce a successful outcome. To realize the best result, this might include inciting some deliberate “creative tension” amongst team members.

Sports teams have opportunities to play and learn together over a season or longer. Project teams are usually one-off in nature, so members must quickly learn to work together. In project management, we typically create a Resource Plan that details the skills required for the project, and at what point they will be required. It is crucial to consider the impact of the way in which each individual who is selected will mesh with the whole team. This is as true in sports teams (e.g., when a new player joins) as it is for project teams ... More

Project Communications: To Blog or Not to Blog
We have all been told that communication with all stakeholders, particularly the core project team, is one of the central responsibilities of the Project Manager. We support this idea and have mentioned it in several of our previous articles. You may have seen a well-known communications formula of 'N(N-1)/2' used as proof that the addition of new members to any program or project team increases the number of communication channels exponentially. For example, if your team increases from 15 to 17, the number of possible communication channels goes up by 31; try the calculations and you'll see what we mean.

Applying this theory, a small team may have ten to fifty communication channels, while a large team may have thousands. A Project Manager should understand that the time required to manage communications grows with the number of channels, and begin to look for ways to effectively and efficiently communicate with their project stakeholders – keeping in mind that different stakeholders require different information at different times in the project. (Our article on Project Success Planning covers this topic.) With the ease and availability of blogs in today's corporate setting, you may be asking yourself, "Is blogging a good communication option for my project?" ... More

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7. Introducing Terry Schmidt: Take it from Terry
Editor's Note: Terry Schmidt's most-recent newsletter came across our desk, and as we often do, we tucked it into our asapm newsletter folder, certain that July was going to be a slow-news month. First, our condolences go to Terry for the loss of his Dad. And now, we'll share his newsletter with you. You can click now to skip the background below, and go to his newsletter; if you decide you like it, you can also enter your email address on his website's home page.

Who is Terry Schmidt, and why might you care? We first encountered Terry last September; he was one of the best of the great speakers at Dick Rutledge's Resource Management Summit. Terry did a session on LogFrame, the Logical Framework, which is a great tool for dealing with the Fuzzy Front End of almost any project. We'd seen it earlier, in Bob Youker's World Bank PM curriculum (which is still free for asapm members in our Members Only Site). Terry has nearly single-handedly kept this process in use, all over the World.

In our opinion, he is the Project Manager's Project Manager, such that even us old hands can learn new tricks from him. His focus is the project beginning, which we believe to be 90% of project success. As part of that focus, he is a key participant in The Association for Strategic Planning, part of the International Business Development Council, of which asapm is also a participant. Working with his organization, they have recently completed a competence-based certification for Strategic Planning.

Terry also has a great book, Strategic Project Management Made Simple, that we have read (we will write a review when we get a spare moment), and heartily recommend to anyone who is involved with the first 25% of any project.No, this is not a paid advertisement--just an acknowledgement of the type of competent, performing project manager, manager, consultant, trainer and person we want on our team. Thank you Terry!

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8. IPMA World Congress Update: Brisbane October 8-12
Hey, all those delegates already registered for the 25th IPMA World Congress in Brisbane, Australia,

GREAT NEWS!!! YOUR BEACH IS WAITING FOR YOU!!. 

Beach PartyManagers of the Streets Beach at Southbank announced last Saturday that your beach has been fully refurbished and is definitely open for business, just waiting for you to arrive.  

So most smart project managers already have RESERVED signs for their place at the Congress Beach Party.  We have places for delegates from all states of Australia, and about fifty countries around the world.   You can get your personal RESERVED sign at a keystroke on www.ipma2011.com.au

Take advantage of the early bird congress registration and book your seat at a ‘mate’s rate’ before 15th July.  The Welcome Party at Streets Beach is a must.  Meet Aussie animals, surf rescue guards, and your international colleagues at the most relaxed party you will attend this year. We’ll even throw a prawn on the barbeque just for you. We have had our flood, now we just want to party.

Come on down, and come on in!

David Hudson
Organising Chairman

Visa Required: Most of us will need a Visa for Australia. The website www.eta.immi.gov.au/ETAAus4En.html eases the process. With an administrative fee of $20AUD per person, and electronic application, it is easy and fast. Don't forget this important step in your travel planning!

Attendance Update: We'd like to know how many asapm members and friends plan to attend the IPMA World Congress in Brisbane, this October. Please Contact Stacy if you plan to attend; we can organize a get-together onsite. We've already begun researching the wonders of the region, so we don't miss any!

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asapm, IPMA-USA, 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 Competence in Project and Program Management. asapm is a registered trademark of the American Society for the Advancement of Project Management. See our past newsletters at our website.

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