PMFORUM Breaking News

Reported by PMForum from Tokyo

The International Project & Program Management Symposium Tokyo 2008 opened in Tokyo, Japan on Monday, March 10 at Tower Hall, Funabori, Tokyo, Japan. The sponsor of the two-day project management conference was the Project Management Association of Japan (PMAJ). PMForum was represented at the conference by Managing Editor David Pells, Master of Ceremonies for the opening session.

Here are some highlights from Day One:

• Welcoming addresses by Dr. Hiroshi Tanaka, Conference Chair, and Mr. Hiroshi Kunitomo, Director of the International Project Promotion Office of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of the Japanese Government. METI was a major supporter of the Symposium and strongly supports both PM in Japanese industry and PMAJ as the main PM society in Japan.


• Keynote address by Mr. Jitsuro Terashima, leading Japanese strategist, who described current and recent trends in the Japanese economic and trade sectors. He drew attention to recent declines in Japanese trade and travel with the USA, and the rising influence of and trade with China and Russia in the Sea of Japan area of influence.



• Keynote address by Dr. Edward Hoffman (pictured), Director of the NASA Academy of Program, Project and Engineering Leadership in the USA. Dr. Hoffman delivered an inspirational review of NASA missions, programs, projects and project management. According to Dr. Hoffman, all work at NASA is through programs and projects, and PM is changing. Ed emphasized the growing importance of global collaboration on all of their programs.


• Presentations on PMAJ’s Program and Project Management Standard P2M, including “Utilizing P2M for Human Capital Management” by Kumiko Shirai and “Corporate Renaissance via P2M at Zetta Technology” by Yoshihiko Tanaka.


• Presentation by Dr. Lynn Crawford of Bond University (Australia) and ESC Lille (France) on Global Standards for Project and Program Management. Dr. Crawford provided an update on the progress being made by the Global Alliance for Project Performance Standards (GAPPS), for which she serves as Chair.



• Presentations on Project Management Governance by Professor Rodney Turner (pictured) (UK) and David Pells (USA). Rodney provided a great overview of PM governance in his presentation on “Governance in the Project-Oriented Organization: doing the right project right, first time, every time”. David’s presentation was on the subject of “Independent Oversight as a Global Best Practice for PM Governance.”


• Presentation on the subject of “The Project & Program Management as a New Economic Infrastructure of the Strategy of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the Entrance of Kazakhstan into the Number of 50 Mostly Competitive Countries of the World” by Professor Dr. K. A. Sagadiyev and Ms. Svetlana Murzabekova. According to these leaders from the Kazakhstan Project Management Association, the Kazakhstan government is organizing and implementing massive programs and projects across all sectors of the economy in order to diversify and strengthen the economy, raise the standard of living in the country, and raise the country’s competitive position in the global economy.


• Presentations on PRINCE2 and MSP by Richard Pharro, Managing Director of The APM Group, Ltd. (UK); “The End of Project Management as We Know it” by Hugh Woodward (USA); “Roundabout Management in a Flat World” by Jass Stacpoole (France); “Profiles of Successful IT Project Managers” by Dr. Ralf Müller (Germany/Sweden); “Proactive Organizational Development Project Management” by Dr. Sergey Bushuyev; Introducing AACE’s C3PM Competency Based Credential in Integrated Portfolio, Program and Project Management” by Dr. Paul Giammalvo; and a number of others.
  
  
  
  
• The day was capped with a reception in the evening, during which an international singing contest was conducted - representatives from various countries sang songs from their homeland. The contest was won by the Korean Team, who performed a beautiful Korean song entitled “World Peace.”

The “International Project & Program Management Symposium Tokyo 2008 – In pursuit of organizational project management value,” was held in Tokyo, Japan during 10-11 March 2008. The symposium at Tower Hall, Funabori, Tokyo, Japan, was sponsored by the Project Management Association of Japan. The Project Director and Chairman for the IP&PMS Tokyo 2008 was Dr. Hiroshi Tanaka, president of PMAJ.

The national Project Management Association of Japan (PMAJ) was born in 2005 thorough the integration of the Japan Project Management Forum (JPMF – pioneer of Japan’s project management society) and Project Management Professionals Certification Center (PMCC). PMAJ has 3,000 individual and 110 corporate members from all branches of the Japanese industry and governmental agencies. PMAJ offers its own standard “The Guidebook of Project and Program Management for Enterprise Innovation – P2M” and P2M based certification system. For more information, visit http://www.pmaj.or.jp/.