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Volume X - Issue VI - June 2008

Viewpoints

 

Are We Failing the Next Generation and Ourselves?

By Rebecca A. Winston

Not long ago I wrote a thought opinion piece on mentoring and how it was part of what a professional should give back to his or her profession.  I am coming back to this topic because of three experiences recently that have not only reinforced my previous position but also in many respects made the necessity of mentoring in our profession as well as others as a priority.  Yes, I said priority.  It is not something that is the courteous, professional, nice thing to do.  It is a must.

Mentoring for the purposes of this piece is not just the sharing of the occasional piece of wisdom.  It is the active care and feeding of those individuals who will take our positions in the future.  While it is hard to reflect on the fact that each of us can be replaced, the fact is we can if we view ourselves as a package of skill sets.  Yes, we may deploy them uniquely within the framework of personality and that may indeed make us irreplaceable to a certain extent, but replaceable we are. 

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About the Author:


Rebecca Winston Esq., JD , PMI Fellow

Rebecca Winston, Esq., JD, PMI Fellow, is a former Chair of the board of the Project Management Institute (PMI®). An experienced expert on the subject of project management (PM) in the fields of research & development (R&D), energy, environmental restoration and national security, she is well known throughout the United States and globally as a leader in the PM professional world.  Rebecca has over 25 years of experience in program and project management, primarily on programs funded by the US government.  She is a graduate of the University of Nebraska’s College of Law, Juris Doctorate (1980), in Lincoln, Nebraska and has a Bachelor’s of Science (BS) degree in Education from Nebraska Wesleyan University and a Master’s Degree in Biology from Iowa State University in the USA.  Active in PMI since 1993, Rebecca Winston helped pioneer PMI's Specific Interest Groups (SIGs) in the nineties, including the Project Earth and Government SIGs, and was a founder and first co-chair of the Women in Project Management SIG. She served two terms on the PMI board of directors and was elected a PMI Fellow in 2005.  She is a licensed attorney and a member of the American Bar Association and the Association of Female Executives in the USA. She has extensive recent PM experience in the areas of national defense and security, and has worked closely with local, regional and national officials, including federal agencies, the US Congress and the Pentagon.  She also serves as a Global Advisor to PMForum and is a PM AmbassadorTM, available for international speaking engagements.  She lives in Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA.

 


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Infrastructure Project Management;
what can we learn from Chinese???
(Part 2)

By Getachew Teklemariam Alemu

I hope May was a marvelous PM month for all of you, as I have wished for it to be in my last month’s viewpoint article. Here in PM Forum, there is a real respect to promises. Being part of it, I am also indebted to keep my promises. So, here I come.

Last month I tried to put four lessons that we, project professionals, especially project managers, could learn from the Chinese infrastructure sector. Strong emphasis on planning ahead of project works, maintaining effective horizontal and vertical integration, avoiding individualistic approaches and focusing on team work, and celebrating the success of the project together were my points.

Despite the lessons that we can learn from the world-leading infrastructure sector could be as wide ranging as our observations, I will add four more points that I think are, mostly, being given less recognition. Meanwhile, don’t forget to add on the list, comment on my points, or share your own perspectives on our sailing boat-pmworldtoday. Contacting me is also as easy as to drop a line to getdem2006@yahoo.com, or getupfront@gmail.com

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About the Author:

Getachew Teklemariam Alemu

Getachew Teklemariam Alemu

Author
International Correspondent - Ethiopia

Getachew Teklemariam Alemu is an International Correspondent for PMForum and PM World Today based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  Mr. Alemu is also an Infrastructure Projects Expert in the Development Projects Department of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, government of Ethiopia.  Getachew is responsible for monitoring, appraising and reporting on public sector infrastructure projects financed by the Ethiopian government and bilateral/multilateral donor agencies.  He has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Land Resources Management and Environmental Protection from Mekelle University in Ethiopia.  More information about Getachew Teklemariam can be found at http://www.pmforum.org/pm%20forum%20team/index.htm#5.  Getachew can be contacted at getdem2006@yahoo.com.

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The Other Key Question

By Dennis Stauffer

When you launch a new project, are you asking the wrong questions?

“Do we have the necessary experience and expertise?” is an important question to raise early on in any project. Or, to put it more bluntly, “Do we know what we’re doing?” The very discipline of project management itself is an area of personal knowledge and expertise – one that not everyone has.

Another question that is just as important but gets asked relatively rarely is, “What do we not know?” … about the customer, the technology, the target market, the ultimate user, or any of a myriad of other relevant isues…along with, “And how can we find out?”

When we take on new challenges, or encounter obstacles along the way, for most of us the default response is to draw on our knowledge. We all have a tendency to focus on what we already know and understand and assume to be true of a situation. This tendency can cause us to overlook the vast number of things we surely don’t know until that unrecognized gap creates a problem for us.

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About the Author:

Dennis Stauffer

Dennis Stauffer
Author

Dennis Stauffer is a PMI SeminarsWorld leader and President of Insight Fusion, Inc. an idea lab and consultancy that helps individuals, teams and organizations break through their self-imposed barriers to innovation. His work includes research into the behaviors that contribute to innovation. Dennis leads Igniting Innovation, A Clockwise Approach – A Two-Day Seminar on Innovative Thinking and Leadership. Questions and comments can be directed to dstauffer@insightfusion.com.

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