Volume X - Issue II - February 2008
Regional Reports
 The PMP Certification
The Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is without doubt one of the most wanted credentials for Project Managers around the world. Each year thousands of professionals take the PMP test, expecting to become certified and therefore impel their careers. For most of them, this credential has opened doors and offered great job opportunities, which largely compensates for the effort involved in obtaining it. In Argentina, and in most of the Latin American countries, the scenario is quite different. The certification is not well known outside the multinational companies, and the benefits of obtaining it are yet limited. Last December I obtained the PMP certificate. And due to the great amount of suggestions, comments and questions I received from my colleagues in Argentina regarding this event, I learned there is an important interest in the certification, although not many decide to take the test. And I also found there is a tremendous lack of information about it. Therefore, in this regional report I would like to share the information I gathered and also my experience with the PMP certification. Read complete report in English | Spanish
The Tata 'Nano" By Raju Rao
Never before has a single project in India generated so much of interest at the global level. The recent launch of the Rs 1 lakh (about $2500) car from the house of Tatas has indeed received rave reviews both in India and around the world. Unveiled by Mr. Ratan N. Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group and Tata Motors, ‘NANO’, the People’s Car signifies a first for the global automobile industry. Read complete report in English
 Project Management News By A Matt Piazza North Texas is buzzing with major projects!
Read complete report in English
Project Management News By Jaycee Krüger
News from PM Professional Organizations PMSA (Project Management South Africa) News The just passed time of the year it is not called silly season for nothing, so fresh news from PMSA is on the scarce side. Add to that the sudden demand on leaders’ time early in the year, and we hope to have more news next month! PMSA publishes regular news around project management at http://www.pmisa.co.za. PMI (Project Management Institute) - SA Chapter News Valerie Van Der Klis, the recently elected president, says the South Africa Chapter embraced PMI’s new PMF (Performance Measurement Framework) pilot and is exited to work with PMI in successfully delivering the pilot. She says the Chapter has a number of exciting events planned for 2008 ranging from networking initiatives to forums with Business leaders in South Africa, some of the events also include PMP events where PMP's are given the opportunity to network with their peers. Read complete report in English
The future of Project Management Profession By Florin Gheorghiu, PMP
In January the acting President of Romania Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI®) – PMI Romania Chapter - celebrated one year since the instate ceremony of her capacity as chapter leader in Bucharest. A new poll is to take place by the end of the month and PMI members are called to give their vote for a new Board. It is now high time to look back one year and diagnose what Mrs. Bonghez’ tenure has represented during this period for the sake of the Chapter. Ideally placed at the crossroad of Consulting Services and Training tailored for PM and academic life, with strong insights into IT companies, the acting President has an uneasy and rocky road ahead in the current mandate. There have been a wide range of expectations displayed by local PMI members, with a heterogeneous array of IT, telecom, Banking and other industries which form the Chapter’s audience. Since her nomination and awarding as Chapter’s President, Mrs.’ Bonghez tried to play the role of strong link between several separated orientations which existed prior to her appointment among members: a unitary approach of Chapter’s role, opening to those to embrace the profession, and giving a fresh breeze to an apparently worn out atmosphere inside the Chapter. To what degree she succeeded in bringing the awaited changes, let’s find out in the following interview. I had the pleasure of speaking with her in the beginning of January. PMWT – What have you changed in the Chapter’s life since becoming chapter president and what are the major disappointments after failing to attain some targets? Simona Bonghez (SB): I believe that changes are now visible, even though one year is not enough to expect clear results. Nevertheless, in our case, I think that the number of meetings and events we had, the involvement of the PMI HQ representatives and the International Conference we have had in October proved that there is a difference. I cannot say that I have a major disappointment. I knew from the very beginning that it would not be easy, that I would need to fight and spend a lot of my time in order to make this difference. I had the support of the board and of some of the enthusiastic members, for which I thank them once again. Read complete report in English
Project Management By Miles Shepherd
‘Faulty Project’ Brings New Year Rail Chaos Poor risk analysis and inaccurate estimation have been blamed for an overrunning rail project that has brought major disruption to the UK rail system. Tens of thousands of workers were unable to return to work after the Holiday season because of an overrunning maintenance project. The project involved replacement of overhead electrical cabling for high speed lines running through Rugby in England’s Midlands. East and West Coast main line trains route through Rugby and closure of the lines at this point cuts major routes into London from the North West, North East and from the Midlands. A second project delay delayed the re-opening of London’s Liverpool Street Station by 24 hours, to the consternation of Network Rail who said they were unaware of any difficulties at the showpiece station until 1 a.m. on Wednesday 3 Jan – just 4 hours before the scheduled re-opening. The lack of stakeholder communication has clearly exacerbated an already tense situation as it appeared key engineering staff were switched from one project to another in what critics have claimed was a money chase. David Franks, rail director of National Express is reported to have said that ‘contractors seem to have gone where they were going to get the most cash’. This is against a background of another project at Stevenage where work was abandoned to transfer staff to Rugby. Read complete report in English
Project Management News from Perú By José Carlos Machicao
What happened with project management in Peru during 2007? A time to refocus. The improvement of the condition of the economy in Peru challenged both the private and public sector to unknown levels of imagination. If at the beginning of the year (2007) the agro-business boosted the central coast economy and labor coverage, a terrible earthquake at the middle of the year and at the end of the year several successful Peruvian companies being acquired by bigger foreign companies allowed to see that producing is not the end of the road of the development. “How to learn to be a slightly richer country still with amazing levels of poverty and lack of minimum citizenship conditions of certain percentage of the population” appears to be the question for Peru. This context hosted the raising of project management in Peru. New leaders in PMI© activities in Lima, more PMP certificates approved, more requirements for PMP certification in the newspapers, more curiosity for project management and obviously more risks (both positive and negative).
Project Management
I was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador 32 years ago and I have seen how the city has been transformed in all its aspects. Especially during the past 10 years, my city has developed a number of projects under a strategic plan to improve its image, infrastructure, communications and services to citizens. Beyond evaluating the utility that provides each project to the citizen, these initiatives have returned one of the most important intangible: The love for the city. Guayaquil is located on the coast of Ecuador, 500 km from the capital, Quito. Guayaquil was founded in 1534 and became the largest shipyard in South America. Guayaquil with about 2 million inhabitants is considered the country's economic capital and one of the main ports in the world due to its commercial activity, location and infrastructure. Read complete report in English | Spanish
 Project Management News By Manfred Rieck PMI Chapter News The PMI Frankfurt Chapter has held its regular chapter meeting in Frankfurt at the Frankfurt Business School. The meeting became a large event of more than 90 guests who were interested in the speaker Thomas Koehler from ILL covering the topic “Project Management – Strategic Option or Tactical Alternative.” The second presentation was given from Joseph Philipps, PMP, who introduced a model on using project management for personal life planning. The PMI Munich Chapter holds its Member Meeting on February 25th at Sofitel Hotel Munich to elect the VP Finance and give an update on their activities to the members. The chapter implemented the regulation to obtain 30 EURO from guests to cover their costs. The PMI Berlin Chapter has held its Profession Circle in January, which was fully booked. The coming chapter meeting is on February 21st. The presentation of the Profession Circle on Agile Software Development can be downloaded under http://www.pmi-berlin.org/. The good news is that the growing interest of the community to exchange their experience underlines the importance of independent organizations like PMI. The bad news is that it becomes more and more difficult to find adequate and convenient locations for more than 100 guests…so the charging model of the Munich Chapter could become reality in the other chapters, too. Read complete report in English
Project Management Reported by Alfonso Bucero, PMP
XII International Project Engineering Congress in Zaragoza The area of Project Engineering of the University of Zaragoza together with the Spanish Association of Project Engineering is pleased to inform you that the 12th International Conference on Project Engineering will be held in Zaragoza over three days: 9-11 July 2008. This Conference meeting coincides with the celebration of the EXPO Zaragoza 2008 International Exhibition and offers the opportunity to come and visit Zaragoza and to exchange and share experiences which revolve around the world of projects. Read complete report in English | Spanish
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