IPMA Young Crew Workshop in Rome brings tomorrow's project managers from around the world together

The IPMA 22nd World Congress on Project Management being held in Rome, Italy during 9-11 November 2008 was preceded by a pre-congress Young Crew Workshop during November 6-8 at the Hotel die Congressi.   Young Crew is a key component of IPMA’s strategy for the growth and nurturing of project management leaders of tomorrow.  The main goals of the IPMA Young Crew initiative are to provide opportunities for project management knowledge and experimental learning, identifying the needs of the young, interaction and information exchange.  For many years, IPMA has organized workshops for young professionals and students of project management.

The 2008 Young Crew workshop had the special title “Project Management Improvement by Human Skills, Risk Management and Control.”  The workshop in Rome, as with previous meetings, was structured for young professionals, students, post-graduates, faculty members, directors of companies and others between the ages of 24 and 35.  This year, approximately 40 young project management students and practitioners participated from various IPMA member countries.  During the workshop, the emphasis was on group discussions, interactive learning, networking and having fun.  The IPMA Young Crew workshop in Rome was chaired by Antonio Calabrese (pictured) Associate Professor at Politecnico di Milano in Milan, Italy.

Each year, the IPMA also gives an International Young Project Manager of the Year Award to one of the participants.  This year’s winner was Edward Logan, Deputy Program Manager for ManTech, a US government contractor in Virginia, USA.  Mr. Logan’s winning project was an interesting and challenging project for the US Patents and Trademarks Office of the US government.  Edward presented details about his project to the Young Crew Workshop participants on Saturday afternoon, 8 November 2008.

The local host organizations for the ROMA 2008 World Congress – Project Management to Run - are the Italian Project Management Academy and the Italian National Association of Industrial Plant Engineering (ANIMP).  The President of ANIMP is Mr. Fabrizio Di Amato; the President of the Italian PM Academy is Mr. Roberto Mori; the Congress Chairman is Mr. Luigi Iperti; and the Project Manager for IPMA 2008 is Mr. PierMarco Romagnoli. For registration, schedule and other information, visit the conference website at www.ipmaroma2008.it.

Founded in 1967 and registered in Switzerland, the International Project Management Association (IPMA) is the world’s oldest project management professional organization. IPMA is an international federation of more than 45 national PM societies in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. IPMA’s Annual World Congress is one of the largest and most important gatherings of project management authorities and leaders each year.  The president of IPMA for 2008 is Veikko Valila; president-elect for 2009/10 is Brigette Schaden.  Additional information about IPMA is available at www.ipma.ch.  Reported live from Rome by David Pells and Nelson Soucek who were covering the IPMA world congress for PMForum, along with a number of PMForum advisors and correspondents.

IPMA Assessor Workshops precede World Congress in Rome

Reported live from the IPMA World Congress in Rome

The IPMA 22nd World Congress on Project Management being held in Rome, Italy during 9-11 November 2008 was preceded by two assessors’ workshops on Saturday, 8 November. An IPMA Certification Assessor Workshop was moderated by former IPMA Chair Gilles Caupin from 14:00 until 17:00 on Saturday afternoon. An IPMA Award Assessors Workshop was moderated by Erik Mansson and Agoston Nagy during 2 – 6:00 p.m. These workshops at IPMA’s annual world congress provide an opportunity for training new assessors and ensuring consistent practices across IPMA member societies and countries.

The IPMA Certification System is based on a network of approximately 35 active national certification bodies that operate local PM certification schemes consistent with IPMA’s Competence Baseline (ICB) and common certification regulations. These are also in line with ISO standard 17024. Through this system, IPMA certification assessors evaluate individual competencies according to IPMA’s 4-level scale. The Certification Assessors Workshop was open to active IPMA certification assessors and directors of IPMA certification bodies.

According to Gilles Caupin, the 2008 Certification Assessors Workshop went well, with around 40 participants, “IPMA’s certification program continues to grow, so we need more assessors. This year’s workshop included participants from several new member countries, and others from around Europe. I think it was a good session.”

(photo: Joseph Alba, Morten Fangen & Gilles Caupin in Rome)

The 2008 IPMA Award Assessors Workshop was open to IPMA Project Excellence award assessors only and was primarily intended to allow exchanges of experiences and ideas on how to improve the awards program. In addition, this year’s session included discussion of a possible new IPMA training program for executives on what Project Excellence could mean for their corporations. Some new ideas were tabled in this interesting exchange.

The local host organizations for the ROMA 2008 World Congress – Project Management to Run - are the Italian Project Management Academy and the Italian National Association of Industrial Plant Engineering (ANIMP). The President of ANIMP is Mr. Fabrizio Di Amato; the President of the Italian PM Academy is Mr. Roberto Mori; the Congress Chairman is Mr. Luigi Iperti; and the Project Manager for IPMA 2008 is Mr. PierMarco Romagnoli. For registration, schedule and other information, visit the conference website at www.ipmaroma2008.it.

Founded in 1967 and registered in Switzerland, the International Project Management Association (IPMA) is the world’s oldest project management professional organization. IPMA is an international federation of more than 45 national PM societies in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. IPMA’s Annual World Congress is one of the largest and most important gatherings of project management authorities and leaders each year. The president of IPMA for 2008 is Veikko Valila; president-elect for 2009/10 is Brigette Schaden. Additional information about IPMA is available at www.ipma.ch.

Reported live from Rome by David Pells and Nelson Soucek who were covering the IPMA world congress for PMForum, along with a number of PMForum global advisors and international correspondents.

IPMA Member Association leaders meet in Rome Workshop

Reported live from the IPMA World Congress in Rome

Leaders from various Member Associations (MA) of the International Project Management Association (IPMA) met for a workshop on Sunday, 9 November, immediately preceding the IPMA 22nd World Congress on Project Management in Rome, Italy. IPMA consists of 48 member associations from around the world; presidents, vice presidents and representatives of the MAs who were in Rome had an opportunity to meet in this workshop on Sunday.

The workshop for IPMA member associations was facilitated by Mr. Morten Fangel, former IPMA chair (who is also a Global Advisor for PMForum and PM World Today) from Denmark. According to Morten after the workshop, “we had around 50 IPMA leaders in the workshop, which was very good. We shared experiences, lessons learned and success secrets. This is an important opportunity for IPMA leaders to come together, especially those from new and younger associations.”

(photo: Morten Fangel & Alexander Tovb of SOVNET in Rome)

This IPMA workshop was designed to inspire member association board members and officers, and to provide them with ideas and tools for improving services to members. In addition to sharing experiences, such topics as strategic planning, marketing, web services, and event management are discussed at length. The use of personal networks has also become a key topic for MA leaders within IPMA.

(Photos: Member Association leaders from around the world meeting in Rome)

The local host organizations for the ROMA 2008 World Congress – Project Management to Run – are the Italian Project Management Academy and the Italian National Association of Industrial Plant Engineering (ANIMP). The President of ANIMP is Mr. Fabrizio Di Amato; the President of the Italian PM Academy is Mr. Roberto Mori; the Congress Chairman is Mr. Luigi Iperti; and the Project Manager for IPMA 2008 is Mr. PierMarco Romagnoli. For registration, schedule and other information, visit the conference website at www.ipmaroma2008.it.

Founded in 1967 and registered in Switzerland, the International Project Management Association (IPMA) is the world’s oldest project management professional organization. IPMA is an international federation of more than 45 national PM societies in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. IPMA’s Annual World Congress is one of the largest and most important gatherings of project management authorities and leaders each year. The president of IPMA for 2008 is Veikko ValilaM; president-elect for 2009/10 is Brigette Schaden. Additional information about IPMA is available at www.ipma.ch.

Reported live from Rome by David Pells and Nelson Soucek who were covering the IPMA world congress for PMForum, along with a number of PMForum global advisors and international correspondents.

IPMA signs Cooperation Agreement with PMI in Rome

Reported live from the IPMA World Congress in Rome

The International Project Management Association (IPMA) and the Project Management Institute (PMI) have signed a new cooperation agreement in Rome. The new agreement was signed on Sunday, 9 November, immediately preceding the start of the 22nd IPMA World Congress on Project Management held in Rome, Italy during 9-11 November 2008 .

The new agreement, signed by IPMA President Veikko Valila and Phillip Diab, chair of the PMI Board of Directors, specifically establishes the basis for cooperation between IPMA and PMI in the areas of research and accreditation. Linda Vella, immediate past chair of the PMI Board of Directors was also in Rome to witness the signing ceremony and to represent PMI.

(Photo: Phillip Diab of PMI and Veikko Valila of IPMA, signing new cooperation agreement in Rome.)

According to IPMA President Valila, “this is an important agreement, reestablishing positive cooperation between IPMA and PMI. We think it is better to cooperation than to compete, so we should find ways to support each others organizations, both of which are important for the bigger world of professional project management.”

(photos: PMI former Chair Linda Vella, IPMA Chair Adesh Jain,PMI Chair Phillip Diab, IPMA President-elect Brigitte Schaden, IPMA President Veikko Valila, IPMA Vice President Mladen Vaducovic, IPMA Vice President Mary McKinlay, IPMA Vice President Dr. Nino Grau)

The local host organizations for the ROMA 2008 World Congress – Project Management to Run – are the Italian Project Management Academy and the Italian National Association of Industrial Plant Engineering (ANIMP). The President of ANIMP is Mr. Fabrizio Di Amato; the President of the Italian PM Academy is Mr. Roberto Mori; the Congress Chairman is Mr. Luigi Iperti; and the Project Manager for IPMA 2008 is Mr. PierMarco Romagnoli. For registration, schedule and other information, visit the conference website at www.ipmaroma2008.it.

Founded in 1967 and registered in Switzerland, the International Project Management Association (IPMA) is the world’s oldest project management professional organization. IPMA is an international federation of more than 45 national PM societies in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. IPMA’s Annual World Congress is one of the largest and most important gatherings of project management authorities and leaders each year. The president of IPMA for 2008 is Veikko ValilaM; president-elect for 2009/10 is Brigette Schaden. Additional information about IPMA is available at www.ipma.ch.

Reported live from Rome by David Pells and Nelson Soucek who were covering the IPMA world congress for PMForum, along with a number of PMForum global advisors and international correspondents.

Material de PMday Disponible Gratis en el sitio Web de IAAP

Reported by Ana Maria Rodriguez in Argentina

IAAP ha anunciado la disponibilidad del material presentado por los conferencistas en PMDay en su pagina web http://www.iaapglobal.com/pmday/ediciones_anteriores.htm El material está disponible en español.

PMDay fue organizado por IAAP el 1 de octubre del 2008 con un alto nivel de asistencia. El evento
incluyo conferencias sobre la tendencia de Direccion de Proyectos: Cambios culturales en proyectos
multiculturales, inicio de una PMP, analisis probabilisticio de riesgos de proyectos, ejemplos de
Gestión del Riesgo, Mejores practicas en Gestión de Portafolios, y una síntesis de las tendencias,
logros y desafíos de PM en Latinoamérica

IAAP es un Registered Education Provider (REP) del Project Management Institute (PMI)

Para más información sobre IAAP visite www.iaapglobal.com

PMDay Material Available at IAAP's Web Site

Reported by Ana Maria Rodriguez in Argentina

IAAP has announced that the material presented at PMDay is now available for free at its web site http://www.iaapglobal.com/pmday/ediciones_anteriores.htm El material is available only in spanish.

PMDay was organized on October 1^st by IAAP with a great level of assistance. The event includes conferences on actual trends on Project Management: Cultural change on multi-cultural projects, starting a PMO, Probabilistic analysis of project risks, Risk management: a practical example, Best practices on Portafolio management, and a synthesis of PM trends, achievements and challenges for PM on Latin America.

IAAP is a Registered Education Provider (REP) of PMI.

For more information on IAAP visit www.iaapglobal.com

M11 Streams of paper presentations fill Afternoons
of Roma 2008 World Congress in Rome

Reported live from the IPMA World Congress in Rome

The 22^nd IPMA World Congress on Project Management - Project Management to Run, was held during 9-11 November at the Palazzo dei Congressi in Rome, Italy. The afternoons were full of paper presentations, meetings and discussions. Following keynote presentations, speeches by executives and fascinating panel discussions on Monday and Tuesday mornings, the afternoons included 11 streams professional paper presentations. In total, over 200 papers were presented in Rome.

The general themes of the streams were:

S1 – Time dimension in project management (Adesh Jain, stream chair)
S2 – Complexity in project management
(David Dombkins, stream chair)
S3 – Project management for large infrastructure and industrial plants
(Nello Uccelletti, stream chair)
S4 – PM in public sectors & projects financed by international institutions (Maurizio Gatti, stream chair)
S5 – Project management in main public events (Maurizio Alessandro, chair)
S6 – Project management in new fields
(Mary McKinlay, stream chair)
S7 – New trends in project management (Veikko Valila, stream chair)
S8 – Management by projects in industry (Gilles Caupin, stream chair)
S9 – Project portfolio and business process management (Roland Gareis, chair)
S10 – Project management in history (Miles Shepherd, stream chair)
S11 – Soft skills: education and certification benefits (Brigitte Schaden, chair)

Altogether, approximately 80 papers were presented on Monday afternoon and another 100 on Tuesday. To see the final list of speakers and topics, visit the congress website at www.ipmaroma2008.it.

(Photos: Miles Shepherd & David Pells making presentations in Rome)

The local hosts for the ROMA 2008 World Congress – Project Management to Run - were the Italian Project Management Academy and the Italian National Association of Industrial Plant Engineering (ANIMP). The President of ANIMP is Mr. Fabrizio Di Amato; the President of the Italian PM Academy is Mr. Roberto Mori; the Congress Chairman is Mr. Luigi Iperti; and the Project Manager for IPMA 2008 is Mr. PierMarco Romagnoli. For registration, schedule and other information, visit the conference website at www.ipmaroma2008.it.

Founded in 1967 and registered in Switzerland, the International Project Management Association (IPMA) is the world’s oldest project management professional organization. IPMA is an international federation of more than 45 national PM societies in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. IPMA’s Annual World Congress is one of the largest and most important gatherings of project management authorities and leaders each year. The president of IPMA for 2008 is Veikko Valila; president-elect for 2009/10 is Brigette Schaden. Additional information about IPMA is available at www.ipma.ch.

Reported live from Rome by David Pells and Nelson Soucek who were covering the IPMA world congress for PMForum, along with a number of PMForum global advisors and international correspondents.

22nd IPMA World Congress on Project Management opens in Rome with Keynote Speeches, Music & Roman History

Reported live from the IPMA World Congress in Rome

The IPMA 22^nd World Congress on Project Management opened in Rome, Italy on Sunday 9 November 2008 with three memorable keynote speeches, a wonderful Italian music show and an entertaining presentation on Rome Inc., Projects of the Roman Empire. The past and future of projects and project managers came together in Italy, as approximately 1,000 people attended the opening session at the Palazzo dei Congressi in Rome’s business district.

The ROMA 2008 World Congress - Project Management to Run - was opened at 15:00 on Sunday afternoon by Luigi Iperti, (in photo) congress Chairman, Fabrizio Di Amato, President of the Italian PM Academy, and Veikko Valila, IPMA President. After warm welcomes to delegates and introductory speeches by these three leaders, the first of three keynote speakers was introduced, Mary McKinlay.

Mary McKinlay, IPMA vice president and Adjunct Professor at ESC Lille in France, spoke on the topic of “Where is Project Management Running to…?” According to Mary, “Project management is out of the starting gate and running throughout the world. Its techniques are being used in wider context than ever before. But tools and techniques form just part of the skills required to manage projects successfully. We must continue to get smarter with how we manage people.”

Mary was followed by Mr. Fabio Gallia, CEO and general manager of BNL and executive committee member for BNP Paribas Group. Mr. Galia addressed “Financial markets turmoil and its impact on the real economy – looking beyond the crisis.” This was a timely and very interesting speech. According to Mr. Galia, “the past few weeks have been marked by global efforts by policy makers to redress the global financial crisis and to avert a worldwide economic meltdown. The macro rescue plans face many challenges to successful implementation.

But a foundation must now be laid for coping with a more integrated and complex global financial system.”

The third opening keynote speaker was Mr. Toni Ruttiman, a project manager of modern times who is sometimes considered a saint. Toni gave an inspirational presentation on “How to build 400 bridges without money. With team building and project management – the bridges of the poor also have their supply chain and bridge spirit!” Toni’s life work is to help destitute people build or re-build bridges after hurricanes, earthquakes, wars and other disasters.

The speeches were followed by fantastic entertainment, including an Italian musical show and stories about the Roman Empire, its projects and its rise and fall. The music show featured Gilda Buttà, who performed music of E. Morricone, and the musical group KanTango performing traditional Neapolitan songs.

The local host organizations for the ROMA 2008 World Congress are the Italian Project Management Academy and the Italian National Association of Industrial Plant Engineering (ANIMP). The President of ANIMP is Mr. Fabrizio Di Amato; the President of the Italian PM Academy is Mr. Roberto Mori; the Congress Chairman is Mr. Luigi Iperti; and the Project Manager for IPMA 2008 is Mr. PierMarco Romagnoli. For registration, schedule and other information, visit the conference website at www.ipmaroma2008.it.

Founded in 1967 and registered in Switzerland, the International Project Management Association (IPMA) is the world’s oldest project management professional organization. IPMA is an international federation of more than 45 national PM societies in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. IPMA’s Annual World Congress is one of the largest and most important gatherings of project management authorities and leaders each year. The president of IPMA for 2008 is Veikko Valila; president-elect for 2009/10 is Brigette Schaden. Additional information about IPMA is available at www.ipma.ch.

Reported live from Rome by David Pells and Nelson Soucek who were covering the IPMA world congress for PMForum, along with a number of PMForum global advisors and international correspondents.

150 Participants Celebrate International Project Management day in event Organized by PMI GREECE!

Reported byTheofanis Giotis in Athens

The PMI Athens, Greece Chapter celebrated the International Project Management Day on 6^th of Nov. 2008. More than 150 people participated in this event that took place in the auditorium of JP-AVAX, the biggest Greek Construction company.

Welcome speeches at the event were delivered by:

• Mr. Ioannis Koumenos, HR Director of JP-AVAX and

• Dr. George Diakonikolaou, VP Events, PMI-GREECE

The guest speaker at the event was Mr. Joe Brannon MBA, PMP^®, CSM (VP of Professional Development, PMI Puget Sound Chapter - Seattle, Washington) who presented the topic:«Lean Thinking Concepts for Project Management!». The presentation introduced the concept of creating and responding to change in a fluid environment using Lean project management that delivers customer value quickly with quality results.

After the networking break, Mr. Theofanis Giotis MSc, PMP^®, Ph.D. Cand. (President of PMI Greece Chapter), presented the topic: «Leading Through Conflict Management!». The presentation focused on conflict in project teams and how it must be managed effectively for successful project delivery noting the conflict is one of the most difficult soft skills that someone can master and develop, but it is considered as a core leadership competence

In photo, from left to right: Mr. Theofanis Giotis, President, PMI-GREECE; Dr. George Diakonikolaou, VP Events, PMI-GREECE; Mrs Maria Paliouri, VP Communications, PMI-GREECE; Mr. Joe Brannon, VP Professional Development, PMI Puget Sound Chapter (Seattle, Washington); Dr. Panos Chatzipanos, Secretary General, PMI-GREECE

Joe Brannon (pictured at right) currently serves on the PMI Puget Sound Chapter (Seattle, Washington) PMI Board as a Vice President of Professional Development. Previously he held the position of Vice President Programs. He is a project management and technology professional currently employed as a Project Manager – IT with Starbucks Coffee Company. Mr. Brannon is an Adjunct facility member at CityU of Seattle and University of Phoenix teaching project management and information technology courses.

In 2003, Mr. Brannon earned the prestigious PMP^® certification from PMI. He earned a BSc degree in Business Systems from the University of North Carolina, possess’ an MBA with a technology emphasis, and is a Certified Scrum Master.

Mr. Theofanis Giotis is Co-Founder and CEO of ITEC and Co-Founder and President of PMI Greece Chapter. Theofanis has over 20 years of professional experience in Project, Information Technology and Management and has worked in different cultural environments mainly in EMEA region. Since 1987 he has managed hundreds of IT/TELCO projects. Since 1992, he was heavily involved in Project Management as part of a team that setup the first PMO in Greece for managing a €200 million project. He has given more 100 presentations in ICT & Project Management and has published more than 120 articles for Project Management.

Theofanis holds a BA in Economics (University of Athens), and a MSc in Management (O.R.) (Lancaster University, UK). Also Theofanis holds a Computer Programming/Systems Analysis degree from ACE College, Athens. Since 1993 he has passed more than 80 professional certifications, he was certified as PMP^® in 2004 and he has graduated from PMI^® Leadership Institute Masters Class (LIMC) in 2007.

He is a visiting professor at University of Piraeus, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and BCA College teaching Management Information Systems (MIS), Project/Portfolio Management and Enterprise Project Management at MBA level. Since 2001 he has taught more than 75 Project Management and PMP^® preparations courses. Finally, he serves as the International corresponded of PMFORUM.org in Greece and he is a PM Ambassador^TM.

The PMI Athens, Greece Chapter was founded in 2004, is a non-for profit professional association and it is operating as the Greek PMI Chapter of Project Management Institute. PMI Greece has 390 members from 230 companies that represent all financial sectors in Greece (information technology, telecommunications, construction, banking, public sector etc.) For more information please contact: PMI Athens, GREECE Chapter, Mr. Theofanis Giotis Theofanis.Giotis@PMI-GREECE.org, President and Co-Founder, Grammou Str & 45 Agias Kiriakis Str., 175 64 Athens, GREECE, Tel: +30 693-22.13.502

PM Forum Achieves 5th Anniversary Milestone in Bucharest

Reported by Florin Gheorghiu PMP in Romania

CODECS-OPEN UNIVERSITY along with PMI Romania Chapter and backed up by a group of sponsors hosted, as in every year at the beginning of November, the PM Forum Project Management day, an event addressed to those in or having relations with Project Management in Romania.

The SAS Radisson Hotel in Bucharest welcomed the invitees, over a hundred practitioners, members of training institutes and academia, and representatives from various industries on the morning of 4^th of November 2008. With them, distinguished keynote speakers from across Europe and US took a seat at the conference center, some of them for the first time at the event while others turning into regular guests at PM events.

This year the two-day PM Forum benefited from the participation and high quality presentation delivered by Mr. Wayne Abba (pictured at right) from ABBA Consulting in the United States. Mr. Abba is a reputed consultant with long professional history with the US DoD on Governmental military and defense projects, mainly centered on Earned Value Management and Project Cost and Schedule performance management. For those in project management the workshop in which Mr. Abba was the presenter was more than about Earned Value Management’s concise application tailored for defense projects; he reviewed the main understanding of CPI, SPI and schedule and costs variances and how they should be used in Project Communication Management.

He also touched a very sensitive string of Code of Conduct when public monies are spent. Again, the presentation was more for those who could read between the lines to understand what was apparent but also for those familiar with more then simple Earned Value Methodology. This was the front displayed caption indeed, but Mr. Abba wanted to convey a subtler message for the audience and especially for those in touch with public funds: the obligation of disclosing the real facts and figures concerning the way the money is spent on governmental projects, ethics involved on each side, the contractors and the Government either if called DoD, DoE or other similar organisms in Europe or particularly in Romania. This is quite a hard issue to perceive even for those with some years in Project Management! That’s why with the next editions some invitees might get easily bored if not at the minimum acquaintance with the topics.

Jim de Piante parallelized the act of being a soccer coach for a kid’s team with the Project Management point of view on leadership skills. It was a vivid, humoristic yet serious speech that entertained the entire plenum audience for almost one hour, quite a time in tight schedule constraints. Behind the apparent frivolity of the topics one uninitiated could have thought it was, the cognizant in the Conference Hall easily recognized that some simple things in the life can prove themselves as sources of education and teaching. Again, Mr. De Piante’s presentation had had two facets: one for profanes who could have found the speech below the grade of event but with a lot of knowledge and symbols that professionals in project management could easily understand: the key words of Mr. De Piante’s moment was leadership and how this can work with project teams within the project management environment, applied for a team with specific skills.

The two giants on the software battlefield, Microsoft with its " Benefits of Microsoft EPM" presented by Mr. Claus Nielsen, and Primavera with a speech tailored on how its scheduling tool could put the PM at works and presented excellently by Mr. Giovanni di Folco from Techno Engineering & Associates, completed the first day of the Romanian PM Forum.

Other particular workshops on the first day included those in which Mr. Hans Aaaroe from Grontmij, a Danish based consulting company with present activities in the field of energy and consulting services, or Mr. Iustin Iavlev from ACTA Consulting &Audit who tackled the issue of deontology and ethics within EU financed projects. Mr. Chris Kindermanns the President of PMI Belgium, now a common figure in the Romanian PMI’s sessions, spoke to the audience about “ Competitiveness through Excellence,” while the Romanian PMI Chapter Mrs. Simona Bonghez advocated for the profession through her 20-minute, well-articulated, “ Selling Project Management” presentation.

Mr. Alex Rodrigues (pictured at left) from PMO Consulting International based in Lisbon, Portugal and PMI mentor for the 8^th Region was the main attraction of the second day with his Risk Management Workshop. Since it is risky to ignore the risk so Mr. Rodrigues did in his speech: conveying the message that risk analysis is necessary in any project environment throughout the project lifecycle, it never stops until project completion. Mr. Rodrigues was for the second time in Romania at this level of representation, his first appearance being noted a year ago with the occasion of the fourth Romanian PM Forum.

Tracking back to the first PM Forum event, it is with no risk of mistake an abrupt upturn of the event’s overall quality from the first to the current 5^th edition. More than that, the danger of not finding the minimum number of attendees with a minimum level of Project Management understanding concepts is really considerable for the next year event since with every year lapsed the topics and matters debated become more and more refined and highly inaccessible unless trained and educated properly in the field. Sophisticated mechanism of Earned Value methodology, scheduling techniques under any kind of software environment and by using CPM or PERT techniques, the Project Manager on the battlefield and how he/she could enlivens the project team by leadership skills are no longer for any audience.

With this last edition and from this point onward the public should become more refined when playing with concepts and notions. Even though a few of the same old figures were seen among the audience, along with them newcomers found their way to the event this year. Notwithstanding all the above, there is a bit of incompleteness while IPMA was not at all represented or present at this major event of the year. Not knowing exactly the affairs of the PM Forum sponsorship, it would have been great to have IPMA along side the PMI logo on the banners and presentation materials. Until now we all know that IPMA exists but it prefers to remain low profile with every major event focused on Project Management involving PMI.

Coming back to the event itself, it was surely an increase in overall quality. With the next event the target audience should be well selected among connoisseurs to make sure the public will rise to the level of high quality and specialized presentation.

But what was the most important lesson learned at the end of event is the general understanding of all speakers that Project Manager is a real profession and not a function any longer. The old times in traditional organizations in which one was pulled out from the crowd to play an accidental and temporary role of Project Manager are gone.

Today the Project Manager must be viewed as a stand-alone profession with key qualification and knowledge just like any other occupational job. If we have a globally accepted Standard for the Project Management, what if the PMI, IPMA, Australians and Japanese as well other entities would embrace the idea of a globally-recognized Project Manager profession - recognition among national occupational lists?

Welcome to Rome - 1st day of 22nd IPMA World Congress on Project Management Concludes with Welcome Party, Reunions & Fun

Reported live from the IPMA World Congress in Rome

The IPMA 22nd World Congress on Project Management opened in Rome, Italy on Sunday 9 November 2008 with keynote speeches, an Italian music show and stories about Projects of the Roman Empire. The first day of the Congress at the Palazzo dei Congressi in Rome concluded with a Welcome Party for delegates, guests and IPMA leaders.

The Congress was opened in the Palazzo dei Congress auditorium at 15:00 by Luigi Iperti, Congress Chairman; Fabrizio Di Amato, president of the ANIMP (co-host of the congress); and Veikko Valila, President of IPMA. (Photo: Luigi Iperti opening 22nd IPMA World Congress in Rome)

These executives were followed by keynote speeches by Mary McKinlay, Vice President of IPMA; Fabio Gallia, CEO and General Manager of BNL; and Toni Ruttimann, international builder of bridges for poor people worldwide. (Please see previous PMForum breaking news articles about those keynote presentations.)

Following the opening session and a coffee break, delegates were rewarded by two fantastic concerts and entertaining presentations on Rome Incorporated. The first concert featured Ms. Linda Buttà, concert pianist, who performed beautiful music by E. Morricone. Ms. Buttà was accompanied by a concert performers on viola and flute. The music was absolutely beautiful!

The audience was then entertained by Stanley Bing, contributing editor for Fortune Magazine, who provided a slide presentation on the topic of Rome, Inc., the World’s First Multinational Corporation. Mr. Bing argued that the early Roman Empire was created through a series of strategies and projects very similar to those of current large corporations – acquisitions (mostly unfriendly), reorganizations, forced alliances, etc. The presentation was based on Mr. Bing’s recently published book on the same topic.

The Italian music group KanTango then came on stage and performed some of the most beautiful and stunning music we have ever hear. Combining jazz, traditional Neapolitan songs and one of the most amazing voices imaginable, KanTango performed for 45 minutes. It was absolutely fantastic. Their music was followed by a champagne, wine and and deserts reception in the foyer of the congress auditorium. Here are a few photos.

(Photos: Alan Harpham, Martina Huemann, David Pells & Gilles Caupin; Jackie Ryan & Carla Pells; Prof. Rajat Basya, Prof. Qian Fupei & David Pells)

The local host organizations for the ROMA 2008 World Congress are the Italian Project Management Academy and the Italian National Association of Industrial Plant Engineering (ANIMP). The President of ANIMP is Mr. Fabrizio Di Amato; the President of the Italian PM Academy is Mr. Roberto Mori; the Congress Chairman is Mr. Luigi Iperti; and the Project Manager for IPMA 2008 is Mr. PierMarco Romagnoli. For registration, schedule and other information, visit the conference website at www.ipmaroma2008.it.

Founded in 1967 and registered in Switzerland, the International Project Management Association (IPMA) is the world’s oldest project management professional organization. IPMA is an international federation of more than 45 national PM societies in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. IPMA’s Annual World Congress is one of the largest and most important gatherings of project management authorities and leaders each year. The president of IPMA for 2008 is Veikko Valila; president-elect for 2009/10 is Brigette Schaden. Additional information about IPMA is available at www.ipma.ch.

Reported live from Rome by David Pells and Nelson Soucek who were covering the IPMA world congress for PMForum, along with a number of PMForum global advisors and international correspondents.

PM Days Symposium Opens in Finland with Record Attendance
and 30th Anniversary Celebration

The 2008 PM Days Project Management Symposium opened in Espoo, Finland on Tuesday,18 November with 850 registered participants and an exhibition of partner organizations. The 2008 PM Days symposium in Finland scheduled for 18-19 November 2008 is the annual conference of the Project Management Association of Finland - Projektiyhdistys.

The first day of the symposium was officially opened at 9:00 a.m. by Veikko Välilä, chair of Projektiyhdistys and current president of the International Project Management Association (IPMA). Veikko began with a welcome and congratulatory toast to the association on the occasion of its 30^th anniversary. Membership has now climbed past 2,500, having grown by more than 900% over the last decade. Mr. Välilä’s introduction was followed by a short video presentation about next year’s 23^rd IPMA World Congress on Project Management, which will also be held in Helsinki during June 2009.

The keynote speaker on Tuesday morning to open the conference was David L. Pells, Managing Editor of PMForum, the world's first and oldest project management website. David is also the Management Editor of the monthly eJournal PM World Today. His keynote speech was entitled “The Future of Project Management is... not a straight line!" (for more on David’s speech, see separate PMForum news story) In a unique setting, the opening ceremony and keynote presentation were made from a stage in the exhibition area where participants stood during the speeches among exhibitors and conference partners.

(Photo: David Pells and Veikko Välilä in Finland)

Day one of the two-day conference, held at Teknillinen korkeakoulu Koulutuskeskus (TKK) Dipoli university, included two keynote presentations, 30 professional presentations over six tracks, 13 short presentations by project management companies; an exhibition of sponsors and partners, a networking reception from 17:00 to 19:00, and a dinner at the end of the day. Some noted presentations during the day included “Turning Project Management into a Profession” by Professor Kim Weström and Osmo Härkönen (Finland); “The Future of PM and What Makes a Project Manager,” by Mark McKinlay (UK); “Front end Governance of Major Investment Projects” by Professor Knut Samset (Norway); and many others.

The day also included a press conference and meeting of international speakers with a representative of the Construction Daily, a Finnish publication serving the engineering and construction industries. According to Veikko Välilä, “we have actually had very good coverage in the local press. Last week I was interviewed by the leading Helsinki newspaper; the week before by a major television news reporter. Visibility of our conference this year has been excellent.”

A closing keynote speech on 18 November was provided by Dr. Thomas Grisham of IIL on the subject of “Cross-cultural Leadership.” During the closing reception at the end of the day, various project excellence, leadership and performance awards were presented to members of Projektiyhdistys, and Matti Ahvenharju, former president and member no. 2, was recognized for his 30 years of leadership and contributions to the PM Association of Finland.

The setting for the symposium was perfect, although rooms were full to capacity. The networking opportunities during coffee breaks, lunch and the closing reception provided participants many opportunities to meet and discuss PM. Everyone seemed satisfied. Here are a few photos from the day.

(Photos: Partner exhibition area/main hall; Dr. Thomas Grisham during closing keynote; Paula Välilä, Helen Cooke and Mary McKinlay during reception)

The local host of the 2008 PM Days in Helsinki was the Projektiyhdistys, Project Management Association Finland, based in Espoo, Finland. Projektiyhdistys is the national membership body for Finland in the International Project Management Association (IPMA) and is the oldest and largest national PM Association in Northern Europe. The general manager of Projekiyhdistys is Jyry Louhisto, who is also the project director for the 23^rd IPMA World Congress in Finland. For further information, visit www.pry.fi.

PM Days Symposium in Finland Concludes with Promotion for next year's
23rd IPMA Worlde Congress in Helsinki

The 2008 PM Days Project Management Symposium in Espoo, Finland concluded on Wednesday afternoon,19 November with a promotion and drawing for two free admissions for next year's IPMA congress in Helsinki. The 2008 PM Days symposium, held during 18-19 November 2008 is the annual conference of the Project Management Association of Finland - Projektiyhdistys.

The second day of the symposium began with a keynote address by Dr. Harold Kerzner, widely recognized as one of the world’s foremost authorities on modern project management, who spoke in the topic of "Increased Corporate Performance through Best Practices." Dr. Kerzner addressed a crowd of approximately 400 participants standing in the open exhibition area, where all keynote speeches and announcements were made from a main stage.

According to Dr. Kerzner, "We have been practicing project management all wrong for decades. Instead of worrying so about the triple constraints of cost, schedule and quality, the focus should be on value. Project Management must deliver value when the job is done." He added, "I’ve seen a draft of the 4^th edition of the PMBOK Guide, and it is much better."

(Photo: Dr. Harold Kerzner speaking in Finland)

Day two of the two-day conference, held at Teknillinen korkeakoulu Koulutuskeskus (TKK) Dipoli university, also included 29 professional presentations over four tracks, 12 short presentations by project management companies; a continuation of the exhibition of sponsors and partners, a networking lunch in the exhibition area, and a closing plenary at the end of the day during which drawings were held for two free admissions to next year’s IPMA congress.

Some noted presentations during the day included "The Power of Personal Character" by Helen Cooke (USA); "Managing mission-critical national program in Russia’s energy sector: success story and lessons learned,” by Alexander Kutuzov (Russia); "Perspectives to Complex Project Management challenges in the Systems-of-Systems Engineering Context" by Professor Brian Sauser (USA); "Requirements Development and Architectural Trades using Scenarios and Multiple Lines of Development in System of System Procurement" by Professor Paul Davis (UK); and many others.

(Photos: Helen Cooke presentationl; Alexander Kutuzov presentation; Jyry Louhisto during closing session drawing winners of free IPMA 2009 world congress tickets)

The local host of the 2008 PM Days symposium in Helsinki was Projektiyhdistys, Project Management Association Finland, based in Espoo. Projektiyhdistys is the national membership body for Finland in the International Project Management Association (IPMA) and is the oldest and largest national PM Association in Northern Europe. The general manager of Projekiyhdistys is Jyry Louhisto, who is also the project director for the 23^rd IPMA World Congress in Finland. For further information, visit www.pry.fi.

PMI Austria Chapter Celebrates 10 Years

Reported by Renate Prantner in Vienna

After 10 years of actively supporting the project management community in Austria, the PMI Chapter Vienna under its Chapter president Mark Engelhardt has used the past year to regain strength, gather new ideas and establish a new core team for PMI Agendas.

In the past the PMI Chapter Austria has seen a significant rise in the importance of project management methods and innovation in order to add competitive advantages to project-oriented companies. With bi-monthly PMI Forum Events, a widely successful PMI Symposia (more than 900 participants in 2007) and various other activities, the Chapter has always supported and fostered this process.

For the beginning of 2009 the PMI Chapter Austria will presen a new focus to create a community of practice. Although a major focus will stay on project management methodology, a new method for fostering and developing innovation in project management, called Think Tank, has been launched.

This initiative can be described as a moderated development process to exchange experience and ideas in specific fields of project management practice by high potentials. A first think tank, dealing with creating added value in a project context, will start with five development streams. In each stream a number of experienced project management high potentials will jointly further develop a certain aspect of the topic. The final result of these 5 development streams will be the first „fast book“ of the PMI Chapter Austria.

For more information about the new focus and agenda of PMI Austria, please visit: http://www.pmi-austria.org/Content.Node/

Brazil Launches its 8th International Project Management Seminar
exploring the Human side of the Project Management

Reported by Alcides Santopietro in Sao Paulo

The PMI São Paulo, Brazil chapter (PMI-SP), the biggest Project Management Institute chapter in South America and ranked as the third one outside the United States, counts with 2,300 members. Since 2000 this chapter has been organizing annual seminars to promote the project management profession to the community. This year, the eighth edition of the event was opened by a presentation that emphasized the human side of the project managers.

Mr. Luis Augusto dos Santos, PMI-SP president, has opened the event. After a few words, the national anthem was played, a tradition in these annual events, and then he invited everyone to exchange business cards with some other participant, highlighting the importance of networking in the profession. After a quick survey, everyone could notice the massive presence of PMPs (PMP stands for "Project Management Professional", an internationally recognized certification provided by PMI) in the attendance.

Before the first formal presentation, a video presented Mr. Ricardo Vargas, current director of PMI and recently elected PMI chair of the board, who is–by the way–Brazilian, passing some important optimistic messages out to the audience. He could not attend the seminar but took the opportunity to make a reference to the global crisis, mentioning that "in every crisis, there is opportunity" and that this is one moment where the project management profession gains even more importance in the corporative world.

The first speech was delivered by Mr. Keiji Sakai, (pictured at left), Director of Technology for J.P. Morgan bank in Brazil. Its presentation, entitled "Life and Death of a Project Manager" told a story about a character that was given the mission to manage a project and had to fight for resources. During his path, he has encountered difficulties and challenges and - as expected - the project didn't work out as planned. Dealing with stressed sponsors and functional managers who were mad about the whole situation, some of the members of this story didn't have a happy end, like the project manager himself, who passed away because of the whole stressful situation.

The lack of a happy ending was followed by some vital messages from the speaker: he highlighted the importance of balancing the personal and professional life and proved that the most important project for each of us is our own life and the life we have with our family. Filled with some personal experiences, the audience interacted with Mr. Sakai, providing a great human start for this eighth seminar.

With more than 275,000 members in 170 plus countries, the Project Management Institute, Inc. (PMI) is the leading membership association for the project management profession and the largest association dedicated to the advancement of project management in the world. As a leading advocate for the profession, PMI is actively engaged in setting professional standards, providing a professional career path for project managers and creating a family of professional credentials. Additionally, PMI provides access to the knowledge, skills, educational support and networking opportunities needed to drive business results through project management, program management and portfolio management. PMI also has a highly regarded research program and publishes research reports and studies. PMI was founded in 1969. For further information, visit http://www.pmi.org. PMI São Paulo, Brazil Chapter (PMI-SP): http://www.pmisp.org.br

8^th PMI-SP Project Management International Seminar - November 24^th and 25^th, Centro de Convenções Frei Caneca, São Paulo, Brazil; www.pmisp.org.br/viiiseminario

Successful Energy Plant Project and New Approach to Balanced Scorecard
covered at 8th International Project Management Seminar in Brazil

Reported by Alcides Santopietro in Sao Paulo

The VIII Project Management International Seminar, held in São Paulo on November 24th and 25th, covered various themes related to the profession of project management. Historically this annual event brings speakers from different regions of the world to share with the Brazilian audience their experience involving the profession of project management. In the past, representatives from Belgium, Germany, the United States, South Africa, among others, had the chance to participate. This year the seminar's organization team brought Portugal and Canada to the scene.

Mr. José Ângelo Pinto (pictured at left), director for the Project Management Institute Specific Interest Group (PMI SIG) in the Europe Middle East Africa region, came from Portugal to share his approach on how the already well-known Balanced Scorecard (BSC) technique can be applied to monitor and control projects.

Originally developed to measure an organization's performance by the use of indicators, the BSC has been applied to many companies as a means of establishing goals and keeping the business under control. However, according to Mr. Pinto, the indicators contemplated by the technique normally reflect the past and don't take into account the new aspects of today’s challenges, where information and intangible assets have a high importance and whose management are crucial for the continuity and success of the business.

On the second day of the event, a rich case was presented by Mr. Don Alarie (pictured at right), who worked as Director of Engineering for the Great Toronto Airport in Canada and participated actively in a successful project whose scope was to implement a 117 Megawatts energy plant for the Pearson International Airport, in Canada. Mr. Alarie mentioned that after an important energy breakdown in 2003 in the Northeast region of the North America, the project gained priority. He then presented the various challenges involved in the endeavor and highlighted how the risks were managed by asking the right “what-if” questions. The project accumulates successful marks: it was delivered on time, under budget and had a record human safety index.

This presentation was particularly interesting to the Brazilians because the country has also been facing energy production challenges due to the increasing demand of energy and already had similar breakdown episodes in the past.

The VIII Project Management International Seminar is an annual event promoted by the Project Management Institute São Paulo, Brazil Chapter. This year the seminar, considered one of the most important event in the field in Brazil and South America, counted with over 550 attendees, ten academic papers, ten keynote speakers, a networking session, three case presentations and a closing spectacle.

With more than 275,000 members in 170 plus countries, the Project Management Institute, Inc. (PMI) is the leading membership association for the project management profession and the largest association dedicated to the advancement of project management in the world. As a leading advocate for the profession, PMI is actively engaged in setting professional standards, providing a professional career path for project managers and creating a family of professional credentials. Additionally, PMI provides access to the knowledge, skills, educational support and networking opportunities needed to drive business results through project management, program management and portfolio management. PMI also has a highly regarded research program and publishes research reports and studies. PMI was founded in 1969. For further information, visit http://www.pmi.org. PMI São Paulo, Brazil Chapter (PMI-SP): http://www.pmisp.org.br
The 8th PMI-SP Project Management International Seminar - November 24th and 25th, Centro de Convenções Frei Caneca, São Paulo, Brazil; www.pmisp.org.br/viiiseminario.