Volume IX - Issue XII - December 2007
Editor's Perspective
Welcome to the December Welcome to the December edition of PM World Today. The Editor’s Perspective on the Current Issue provides a short overview of the articles and contributions included in the current edition. This edition of PM World Today again contains articles, news and papers from around the world of project management (PM), including several in the Spanish language. PM World Today is an educational resource for PM professionals as well as a resource for PM experts and leaders who can gain more visibility in the PM world as authors of articles, case studies, and stories. This month’s Editorial is entitled “ Time to Celebrate! 2007 – The year of PMForum’s emergence as a global resource for the world of project management.” This is the time of year to step back and assess the year’s developments and trends. This is also the time many of us celebrate the year’s accomplishments. So what is there to celebrate this year? A lot at PMForum! It’s been an eventful and exciting year, with a number of initiatives and progress to review. So this month’s editorial is about us – what we have accomplished and who we want to thank. Please read the editorial and let us know your reaction in a Letter to the Editor. Two Letters to the Editor are included this month. Professor Viatcheslav (Slava) Poznyakov’s comments on the state of professional project management in Russia may be cause for concern. Russia is awash in hard currency, has an economy dependent on major projects, and is growing rapidly again. So what are they doing about project management? Ted Koval in Omaha, Nebraska writes in “On PMForum, mentoring and “moving up” in PM” that he likes what we are doing at PMForum, would like to contribute and would welcome advice on what to read and what to do to advance his career in project management. Readers are welcome to contact Mr. Koval with suggestions. Three Viewpoint articles are included this month, contributed by Morten Fangel in Copenhagen, Russ Martinelli at Intel in Oregon, and Rebecca Winston in Idaho. In his article, entitled “Is Best Practice always identical with Best project Management?”, Morten Fangel, founder of the Danish PM Association, former IPMA Chair and a Global Advisor to PMForum, responds to serious questions posed by Professor Peter Morris from the UK. During his plenary speech at this year’s IPMA world congress in Crakow, Poland, Peter asked “Is Best Practice always the most suitable? When could it be appropriate to break the rules? And who is it anyhow who defines Best Practice?” Morten provides some useful perspective on this topic and some good advice, in my opinion. Russell Martinelli, Manager of Program Management Methods within the Corporate Platform Office at Intel Corporation, in his article entitled “Why Program Management?” discusses some important distinctions between program and project management. According to Russ, “Why do I focus on program management? That’s a question I get asked on a regular basis and my answer is normally two-fold: Because program management is my profession and because there continues to be confusion about the what, why and how of program management. If implemented correctly, program management can become a powerful element of a company’s product, service or infrastructure delivery system.” Program management is a hot topic right now. When you read Mr. Martinelli’s article, you can see why corporations like Intel are embracing it. Rebecca Winston, PMI Fellow and also a Global Advisor to PMForum, has offered her opinion about the use of checklists in her Viewpoints article on the subject of “Checklist Project Management!” According to Becky, “During several postings with a variety of clients, it has come to my notice that we have a broad contingency of practitioners and those who claim to be professionals who are checklist lazy. Yes, some among us have become checklist only project managers.” To see Becky’s real opinion and for some advice, check out her paper. Featured Papers are serious professional contributions to the PM literature or papers of significant interest. Some are highly entertaining as well. The first is an important paper by Mr. Stanislaw Gasik in Warsaw, Poland, entitled “UPMM – a Full Model for Portfolio Management.” This is serious contribution to the literature on the topic and should be read carefully. This is Mr. Gasik’s first contribution to PM World Today, which we welcome, and is on a topic that is also timely and important in the PM world. Please let us know what you think of his approach. Mark Kozak-Holland, frequent and popular contributor to PM World Today in Canada, provides part 16 in his series on Winston Churchill, the Agile Project Manager. His paper this month is entitled “Churchill’s Team” and discusses how Churchill “switched gears and looks at how Churchill’s organization prepared itself for the air battle to meet his short term objectives of staving off the invasion” in 1940. This is another interesting and entertaining lesson from history. Bas De Baar in the Netherlands is back with an interesting and entertaining essay entitled “Why do developers contribute to Open Source?” Bas suggests that “It is possible that people get involved in open source development for the money, the glory, and eventually, the girls” and “Being the ruler of a computer is like creating your own worlds, defining your own reality and being omnipotent” and “The open source way doesn't interfere with other worldly issues like making profits. It is just all the gods and their universes.” But that’s not all. If you are an IT or software project manager, read and enjoy this article. PM Tips & Techniques papers provide an opportunity for project management consultants, experts, trainers and companies to contribute to the PM World Today eJournal, with helpful and practical suggestions. Six such advisory papers are included in this issue. Cheryl Strait, principal consulting manager at Robbins-Gioia, LLC, in the USA, has provided another serious and important article entitled “Enhance your eDiscovery capabilities!” Ms. Straits article begins with “ You’ve just been assigned as the project manager to oversee your organization’s ability to respond to e-discovery requests. You may or may not be familiar with the term “e-discovery,” but odds are, this is your first time managing a project to improve an organization’s e-discovery capabilities.” She goes on to provide some clarifications and advice. Those project managers who have been involved in litigation of any kind recently will appreciate her suggestions. Curt Finch, CEO of Journyx in Austin, Texas, has contributed another interesting paper entitled “Avoiding Fake Referrals.” According to Mr. Finch, “When you're making a large investment in a project management product or solution, you need to be sure that you're making that purchase from a reputable vendor that will be there to support you in the future.” Curt provides some useful advice on how to more carefully qualify a vendor. Michelle LaBrosse, founder and Chief Cheetah at Cheetah Learning, has contributed an article entitled “10 Ways to Inspire Your Team”, distributed through Cheetah’s “Know How Network”. According to Ms. LaBrosse, “In my experience, inspiration comes from example… we all have the power to inspire others by our actions. As project managers, you’re in a prime position to inspire your team. Here are 10 ways to get you started.” As usual, Ms. LaBrosse provides some very good advice. Tim Bergmann, Director of Education for True Solutions, Inc. in Dallas, Texas, USA has provided an article entitled “The Seven Deadly Project Sins: Part 5 - Personalization.” This is the fifth paper in a series in which he discusses problems we often create for ourselves as project managers. According to Mr. Bergmann, “Project Personalization involves tailoring the project to your personal desires or outcomes. Project personalization can also refer to the project manager feeling an extreme ownership of the project and taking events on the project as a personal affront. Personalization of the project … is usually not a positive event.” This article is both entertaining and thought provoking! We hope you agree. Anders Heie, founder and CEO of KaDonk, a project management technology company based in California, has authored a paper entitled “Sharing and Collaboration – Enable your team while holding them accountable.” According to Anders, “… constant change breeds uncertainty, and that affects how accountable individual participants in projects ultimately feel. This paper will suggest ways to embrace the uncertainty and turn it into strength. It also will provide suggestions on how to improve accountability and information-sharing within your team.” For those dealing with ever changing requirements and Agile PM, Mr. Heie offers some valuable advice. Rudolf Melik, CEO of Tenrox and author of the recently published book “The Rise of the Project Workforce: Managing People and Projects in a Flat World” has provided an interesting and useful article entitled “’Juggling School’ for Project Managers: Seven Reasons to Overhaul your Project Management System.” According to Mr. Melik, “If you work in a project-based environment, you probably feel like one of those juggling clowns at the circus: trying to keep your ball, your baton, and your flaming torch in the air at the same time... Project management can be a lot like this. Neglect to give one project the attention or funding it needs and the consequences of doing so can be much more serious than a dropped ball… Organizations don’t have to manage their projects in such a circus-like manner.” Consider his suggestions, drawn from his best selling book. Four PM Book Reviews are included in this edition. These book reviews are provided through a cooperative program between PMForum and the University of Texas at Dallas. (PMForum provides the books, graduate students receive the books at no cost and provide a review; we publish the book reviews in PM World Today.) This month Donald Gubbins has provided a review of “Head First PMP: A Brain Friendly Guide to Passing the PMP Exam (Head First)”, a 2007 book authored by Jennifer Greene and Andrew Stellman and published by O’Reilly Media in the USA. Kathryn H. Phillips has reviewed “The Zen Approach TM to Project Management: Working from Your Center to Balance Expectations and Performance”, a 2007 book by George Pitagorsky and published by the International Institute for Learning (IIL) in the USA. Annett Brown has provided a review of the 2007 book “Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers”,authored by Anthony Mersino and published by AMACOM publishers in the USA. Hussein Mzee has provided a review of “Seven Steps to Strategy Execution”, a book by J. Kent Crawford, Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin and Jim Pennypacker due for publication in 2008 by the Center for Business Practices (PM Solutions) in theUSA. Gubbins, Phillips, Brown and Mzee are working professionals and are either enrolled in or recent graduates of the Graduate Program in Project Management at the University of Texas at Dallas. Regional Reports is the section of PM World Today where reports from our International Correspondents around the world are collected and published each month. These may be surveys of local PM activities and events, discussions of local conditions that affect projects and PM, or personal reflections based on their own experiences or activities. In this way, we provide a snapshot and multi-cultural flavor of project management around the world. For us at PMForum and PM World Today, this is one of the most interesting aspects of our monthly production process, to learn what is happening and what is reported by these active and motivated PM professionals. We hope you also find this section interesting and educational. 12 reports are included this month from correspondents in Australia, Austria, Ecuador, France, Greece, Ireland, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, the UAE and the UK. Brenda Treasure, our new correspondent in Australia, has provided a report about two interesting events in Melbourne. Brenda provides a full report on the PMI Chapter meeting in Melbourne on November 27 that featured Rachael Robertson, Station Leader for the 58th Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition to Davis Station, who spoke on “Extreme Leadership at the End of the World”. Brenda’s report also includes a brief description of a Project Management EXPO planned for 11 December at the Sunshine Convention Centre, with the theme “Building a Victoria University Project Management Community of Practice.” This is a great and informative first report from Ms. Treasure. Alfonso Bucero’s report from Madrid includes a guest article on “Life is a Project” by Rafael Lostado, based on Mr. Lostado’s presentation at a project management event in Valencia during November. Mr. Lostado suggests a new “systematic methodology” for training all citizens in five areas, based on the project orientation of everyday life now. This is an interesting proposal. Alfonso’s report also contains a brief introduction to the “Clean Technology Center of The Valencia’s Generalitat” a project for "Análisis Prospectivo de las Tecnologías Limpias en la Comunitat Valenciana", supported by the “Biodiversidad Foundation” in support of Spanish industry. Alfonso’s report is also provided in both Spanish and English. Ed Naughton in Ireland reports about a recent conference on “Future Skills Needs - Comparing International Perspectives” that he attended in Dublin. Opening the conference, Irish Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin, T.D. stated “the development of management skills is a key issue for Ireland, as in all countries.” According to Ed’s report, the audience and keynote speakers all reacted when he stood and asked “Projects account for in excess of 25% of the world GDP or ¼ of the world’s value generation. How come not one of the three expert panelists identified project management as a required Future Skill Need even though one in every $4 spent was on projects?” Please see Ed’s interesting and important article. Renate Prantner in Vienna, Austria, has provided a new report based on the model at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration that visualises Austria as a project-oriented Nation. Renate reports on PM Education, PM Research, PM Marketing and PM Events this month, including activities of the Austrian Project Management Association and the PMI Austria Chapter. As usual, the PM profession is very active in Vienna and Renate has provided a good update. Jaycee Krüger, new PMForum correspondent in South Africa, also provides his first regional report. Jaycee reports on two important project management issues in South Africa – PM standards, and cooperation between PMSA (Project Management Association of South Africa) and the PMI South Africa Chapter. On the first matter, Jaycee reports on South Africa’s participation in the ISO standards work group PC236 that is working on a new PM standard. On the subject of cooperation, Jaycee reports that PMSA and PMI (SA Chapter) leaders have been working for more than a year to create an acceptable model to ensure the Project Management fraternity is served best. Results are to be announced soon. (by the way, Jaycee is involved with both organizations, so he is in an excellent position to report on this.) Finally, Jaycee provides details of the Call for Papers for the PMSA International Conference 2008: From Strategy to Reality, to be held at Gallagher Estate in Gauteng, South Africa on 26 and 27 May 2008. Great first report from Gauteng! Florin Gheorghiu in Romania has provided an interesting report subtitled “The Project Manager Profession at a turning point: PM practitioners must face the main public stakeholders.” Florin’s paper is a call for more advocacy for project management among the four main stakeholder groups: government, academia, industry, and individual leaders. As Florin rightly suggests, these are the key stakeholders for better PM in every country, and especially in developing economies. I fully support Florin’s recommendations for more action, and more proactive professional leaders everywhere in this regard. Irwin José Franco in Ecuador, reports about a meeting last month to celebrate International Project Management Day, sponsored by leaders of the Potential PMI Ecuador Chapter in Quito, with participants via video conference in Guayaquil and Cuenca. His report also includes an interview with Ana Maria Pradilla, PMP®, a member of the Steering Team for the new PMI Ecuador Chapter, who provides some insights into current status and plans. The photos in the report are great. Irwin’s report is provided in both English and Spanish languages. Miles Shepherd has provided an update from the UK in which he describes some recent major project completions, including several associated with the new high-speed Channel Tunnel Rail Link. Miles describes the £800 million St Pancras Station project that transformed a semi derelict Victorian station into “not just a railway station but a ‘destination’ in its own right with up-market eateries … Europe’s longest champagne bar…(and) extensive shopping facilities located in the vaults..” Miles describes some main elements of the High Speed 1 (H1 Project), the Channel Tunnel Rail Link to bring high speed trains into London, which has been the largest civil engineering project in the UK in recent years. He mentions the transition this month to the new National Air Traffic Service’s London Area Traffic Centre (LATC) at Swanwick, one of the largest and most advanced air traffic control centres in the world, handling some 6,500 flights a day and more than 90 million a year. Miles also reports on a big project that combined research and the arts and culminated in the launch of a new exhibition at the UK’s National Gallery. These fascinating stories are accompanied by photos. Finally, Miles wraps up with a mention of a new “Teaching and Learning in Project Management” Network being launched by the Higher Education Academy at Bournemouth University and a summary of APM news. Thibaut Goupil in France has provided an interesting update on professional activities and events all around the country in recent weeks. Thibaut reports the news from the PMI France Sud Chapter, AFITEP, SMaP, Nantes Engineering Schools, AFAV and PMI Paris Chapter. Thibaut’s report is presented in both English and French languages. Theofanis Giotis in Athens has provided an informative report from Greece,reporting on the results of the recently completed PM congress sponsored by the PMI Greece Chapter and featuring Alexander Matthey from Switzerland and Harold Kerzner from the USA as keynote speakers. Theofanis also provides a brief overview of a roundtable discussion on a “Greek National Strategy for Project Management” that is an important update on work underway to create a new Greek PM Standard. Alexander Matthey has provided a regional report from Switzerland with an interesting review of the recent big conference in Vienna, Austria, sponsored by the PMI Austria Chapter but supported by PMI leaders and chapters in neighboring countries. With nearly 800 participants, this turned out to be one of the biggest PM events in Europe this year. According to Alexander, eight PMI chapters in the region have now agreed to more formal cooperation. “Learn to sing in order to speak!” Read Mr. Matthey’s report to learn how. Mounir Ajam in Dubai has also provided a report this month from UAE. Mounir describes the active “conference season” in Dubai, with a review of The Dubai Air Show, The Big 5 Show, and the Construction Week Conference in which he participated. Dubai is always busy, with projects everywhere, so this is another example of where PM permeates many aspects of business in the region. We can expect some news soon from Mounir regarding the new PM association being formed there, but not this month. The balance of this month’s PM World Today features calls for papers, announcements of future events, news, information and stories related to people, projects and project management. Please review the articles on Future PM Events and PM Community News where people are featured. We hope these stories are both interesting and informative. We want to extend a warm welcome to three new correspondents who have joined our Global Correspondents Network this month. On November 14, Jaycee Krüger, PMP, PrTechEng, joined the team as an International Correspondent for PMForum and PM World Today in South Africa. Jaycee is also the Managing Director of CMSS (Construction Management Support Services), a consulting company specializing in the improvement of project delivery capability of its clients and based in Gauteng. Jaycee is past president and chair of the board of directors of the South Africa Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI®). He was also a founding member and is a vice president of Project Management Institute South Africa (PMSA), a national association. Mr. Krüger has spent over 29 years working in project environments with increasing responsibility, from technical design and construction supervision through construction management and project management to executive head of various functional departments and director of a major South African project management and engineering company operating globally. We want to welcome Brenda Treasure, PMP, who became an International Correspondent on November 19, representing PMForum and PM World Today in Melbourne, Australia. Brenda is also Professional Services Manager & Director for BHE Services Pty Ltd, currently serving on a contract for Telstra Corporation as Senior Project Manager for a national IT transformation project. Brendahas been actively practicing Project Management for over 15 years in both a permanent role and through consulting. Brenda initially gained qualifications in Business Management, but has worked across various industry groups which provided the crucial experience needed for her to gain project management skills, and ultimately her PMP Certification. Brenda’s industry experience has included contract roles for private organisations, Government agencies, and currently in the IT & Telecommunications arena. She is former president of the PMI Melbourne Chapter, has won several awards for outstanding performance, and remains very active professionally. We also want to welcome Romeo Mitchell, B.Sc., M.Sc., PMP, PQS, who was named an International Correspondent for PMForum and PM World Today on November 28. Based in Ontario, Canada, Romeo is also a Senior Program Manager with HP (Canada) Co., with over 20 years’ experience managing engineering and information technology (IT) projects and programs. During his career, Romeo has held the titles and duties of project manager, program manager, project portfolio manager, project executive, and senior project and program management consultant. Romeo has an extensive background in all aspects of IT Project Management, including the management of single or multiple projects within a program or portfolio and spanning the Telecoms, Manufacturing, Banking and Retail Sectors of industry. As a Senior Program Manager at HP, Romeo has managing multiple projects at multiple customer locations concurrently. He has led project teams ranging from 20 to 100+ team members, with customers including universities, steel plants, large banks and other types of organizations. Romeo is former president of the Southern Ontario chapter of PMI. Finally, we want to welcome Randall (Randy) Englund who has joined the PM AmbassadorsTM Speakers Bureau this month. Randy is the co-author of several project management books and a former senior project manager for Hewlett Packard (HP) Corporation. He is a well known project management consultant and trainer based in California, and one of the world’s leading experts in the field of project management for technology-based organizations. He is currently an executive consultant for the Englund Project Management Consultancy and a Professional Associate for the Stanford Advanced Project Management (SAPM) program, specializing in converting strategy into action and effective project management offices. He is now available to speak globally through the PM AmbassadorsTM program. Please read the articles announcing the participation of these new correspondents and speakers in the PM Community News section of this edition. We want to thank our sponsors this month, which include the IPMA, Journyx, Keller Graduate School of Management, The Graduate Program in Project Management at the University of Texas at Dallas, and Threon Group. Please click on their logos and visit their websites for some leading PM products, publications and services. Sponsors receive visibility and publicity in the PM World Today e-Journal that is emailed to thousands of PM practitioners and professionals worldwide, and on the PM World Today home page at www.pmworldtoday.net. If your organization is interested in sponsoring an issue of PM World Today please contact editor@pmforum.org. Thank you for your subscription, and for reading the articles submitted by our authors and correspondents. We are excited about the future of this online publication and the world of project management. Please send this to a friend or colleague. Free subscriptions are available at http://www.pmworldtoday.net/subscribe/subscribe.htm.
Good luck with your projects!
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