THE ZEN APPROACH™ TO PROJECT MANAGEMENT: WORKING FROM YOUR CENTER TO BALANCE EXPECTATIONS AND PERFORMANCE is a new book by George Pitagorsky, PMP available from IIL Publishing in New York, USA.

According to the book’s announcement, it will show readers how to remove unnecessary stress and complexity from projects. It links the essential principles and techniques of managing projects to a “wisdom” approach for working with complex, people-based activities. Project management will then become a metaphor for how we can live our lives and, if we follow the wisdom traditions in the book, the way we live our lives becomes a metaphor for how to manage projects.

• Projects are often more complex and stressful than they need to be.

• Far too many of them fail to meet expectations;

• There is an abundance of conflicts, and there are too few moments of joy and too much anxi¬ety in managing and completing projects.

These and many other issues are addressed in THE ZEN APPROACH™ TO PROJECT MANAGEMENT.

“In my 29 years of reading project management books this one stands out. THE ZEN APPROACH™ provides excellent pause – a moment of thought before an action, and understanding that we must live with the consequences of those actions as a conscious and competent ‘Zen’ project manager.” Christian A. Jensen, PMP, Director, Execution Excellence Practice, Microsoft®.

Mr. Pitagorsky successfully presents

• How mindfulness and open mindedness enhance performance in business and make life in general more pleasant and effective;

• How holding on to unrealistic expectations and unfounded beliefs cause suffering in the ones holding on and to others around them;

• The value of moment to moment meditation practice in daily life, in business, family and social settings;

• How to blend loving kindness, compassion and a service orientation into the bottom line focused world of business to create competitive advantage while cultivating a livable work environment;

• What the Zen Approach is and how it applies to projects and business management in general.

THE ZEN APPROACH™ TO PROJECT MANAGEMENT demonstrates how to advance beyond the limited view caused by relying solely on intellect in meeting the challenges of a chaotic world. For positive results, discover the importance of balancing of action and sitting-out; not only in a corporate environment, but also in other aspects of maintaining a healthy lifestyle in the real world. For more information about the book, visit http://www.iil.com/bookstore.

George Pitagorsky is a senior enterprise solutions advisor for International Institute for Learning, Inc. (IIL). He has extensive experience managing projects in complex organizations, creating methodologies and consulting with organizations to assess process performance maturity and implement process improvement. He has blended thirty years of meditation and Yoga into his dynamic work and family life. For more information, visit http://www.iil.com/about/faculty.asp.

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SOVNET Project Management Journal Continues Growth - Announces Contents of Latest Edition
(in English and Russian)

Read artcile in Russian



The Russian Project Management Association (SOVNET) has announced that its International Project Management Journal “Управление проектами и программами” continues to grow in distribution, and has sent PMForum abstracts of the contents to latest edition. The SOVNET PM Journal is a refereed professional journal, published in Russian language in Moscow and distributed worldwide. Abstracts are available in English, with English language translations or original papers available in some cases.

The latest edition №3 2007 contains the following featured papers:

• Using Project Management Opportunities for Solving the Country’s Social Problems – by Alexandra Ochirova (Russia)

• Optimization of Holding Company Development with Fuzzy Logic - By Yan Gelrud (Russia) - The article addresses an actual issue of the developing Russian economics – the choice of the optimal location for a new branch of a big company. This problem appears on the initial project stage, and the project future realization depends on its qualitative solution. The author offers a mathematical task model (and the solution algorithm) that describes the source information in the terms of fuzzy sets and fuzzy relations. Key words: Fuzzy Sets Theory, Fuzzy Logic, Linguistic Variable, Regression Model, Fuzzy Algorithm Model

• How to Evaluate the Influence of a Separate Project to the End Results of a Program: Facts and Opinions – By Alexandr Savich & Grigory Tsipes. (Russia) - The serious problem of government expenditure planning is non-transparency of the links between the projects aimed at achieving strategic goals. Mechanically forming of projects into a target program results in non-objective resource allocation. An effective tool for planning is a methodology of Performance Budgeting described in the paper that uses social and economic effectiveness indicators. Key words: Project, Purpose-oriented Program, Sort-term Result, End Result

• Multiple-purpose Project Managers – by David Dombkins (Australia) - Multiple-purpose project managers answer for the realization of projects of great importance for our society. Performing it they assume responsibility for the large resource amount. Governments and corporations regularly lack multiple-purpose project managers; the current deficiency is about up to 90 per cent. The paper objective is to describe the methodology of multiple-purpose projects identification and realization; to define competence and personality characteristics necessary for multiple-purpose project realization: to work out a strategy and methodology for the potential multiple-purpose project managers’ identification early on the start of their carriers and accelerate their professional capacity development. Key words: Complex Projects, Project Management, System Thinking, Competencies, Complex Project Managers

• Project-based Management Application – by Rodney J. Turner (UK) - This is an abstract of a short and adopted variant of the chapter of The Handbook of Project-Based Management by R. J. Turner published by the Publishing House of Grebennikov. Key words: Product Development, Development Phases, Concurrent Engineering, Information Systems, Software Models

• Building a Project Management System at the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation- by Aleksey Soldatov - The paper describes the experience of multiple-purpose state program project management in terms of the Federal Program Electronic Russia (2002-2010) with one of the ordering party represented by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation. It touches arising problems and the main aspects of building a project management system regarded to the procedure regulation based on the quality management system to the standard ISO 9001:2000 and its automation. Key words: Project Management in Public Sector, Project Management System, Quality Management System According to ISO 9001:2000

• Priority Resolution within the Frame of Multiprojects – by Andre Van der Merwe (South Africa) - The paper gives a method of qualitative criterions of the project estimation that allows determining its rate among the similar projects. This method provides decision-making aimed at the most effective use of the current resources. Key words: Project, Multiproject, Prioritising, Rating, Qualitative Parameters

 



The Russian Project Management Association (SOVNET) is the Russian national project management professional society and is the Russian member association of the International Project Management Association (IPMA), based in Switzerland. Established in 1991 and based in Moscow, SOVNET has branches in several cities across Russia, works closely with various Russian universities, industrial entities and government organizations, and is closely aligned with other project management societies throughout the former Soviet Union. SOVNET’s primary goals are to develop professional and competent project management in Russia, and to promote the wide practical application of modern project management. The main activities of SOVNET are research, technology development, education, certification, publishing and organization of conferences and other PM-related events. SOVNET has established a National Competence Baseline for Russia based on IPMA’s International Competence Baseline (ICB), and coordinates PM certifications in the Russian language. SOVNET has close ties to professional societies in China, India, Japan and throughout Europe, and has had a formal cooperative relationship with the Project Management Institute (PMI) in the United States since 1993. The President of SOVNET is Professor Vladimir Voropajev. For more information about SOVNET or the SOVNET International Project Management Journal, visit http://www.sovnet.ru/english/about.htm or contact Tatiana Krutikova at tkru@sovnet.ru.

 

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Wideman PM Website Updates Announced for October

Max Wideman as announced the latest updates to his popular project management website. As a follow up to his announcement of Tom Mochal's TenStep PortfolioStep v. 3.0 in August, Max has launched a series of Papers explaining the changes, providing a more holistic approach and debunking some common mis-perceptions.

In Ten Steps to Comprehensive Project Portfolio Management - Part 2, Max and Tom describe how the Ten Steps equate to the entire Project Portfolio Management Life Cycle.





Max’s Guest Russ Archibald presents the second part of his paper: The Purposes and Methods of Practical Project Categorization in which he describes his schema in detail according to various parameters. Russ concludes that to be useful, the categorization must be hierarchical and directly related to specific needs.

In Musing, Max answers the question: Are Scope Changes Good or Bad?

Have you seen Max’s book A Management Framework for Project, Program and Portfolio Integration? For information or to order a copy, visit http://www.maxwideman.com/papers/framework_book/intro.htm.
Do you have a project management question? Find the answer at: http://www.maxwideman.com.



Max Wideman is one of the world’s best-known project management authorities. An engineer and professional project manager, his experience includes systems, social and environmental projects, as well as design and engineering projects. He is a Fellow of the Project Management Institute, of which he is past president and chairman and for which he led the development of the 1987 version of the Project Management Body of Knowledge. He is also a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK), the Engineering Institute of Canada, and the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering. His personal web site at www.maxwideman.com is a source of superior project management knowledge and information. It is free to the public.  Max Wideman is also a global advisor to PMForum; additional information about Max can be found at http://www.pmforum.org/pm%20forum%20team/advisors.htm

 

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