PMFORUM Breaking News

Reported by Jaycee Kruger in South Africa

Bruce Rodriques, a person South African project managers are particularly proud of after he was elected to PMI's board of directors 4 years ago, kicked off the day's proceedings with a very informative talk on PMI and PMI's strategies and projects at present, emphasizing that Project management is a strategic competency for any company. He demonstrated how projects are becoming increasingly complex as time goes by, and stressed the importance and business sense of certified project managers running projects. In the short time available to him Bruce elaborated about the various activities of PMI and their initiatives around standards, credentials, degree programs and career pathing.

The title of the second plenary speaker on day 3 of the conference was Using Knowledge Management to move forward in Project Management. As so many times before, Ginger Levin, one of four international speakers who were invited to PMSA’s conference, mesmerized the audience with her easy and entertaining presentation style, and presentation packed with useful information and tips. She talked about how many successful organizations fail to realize the value of the investments in projects by not learning from experiences during such projects.

One of the very visible projects in South Africa right now, and certainly the one with the biggest budget at present, is the Gautrain Project, installing a dedicated rail link between Johannesburg, Pretoria and the OR Thambo international airport. The CEO of Gautrain Management Agency, a special vehicle created by the provincial government to manage this gigantic infrastructure project, Jack Van Der Merwe, gave the audience an update on the status of this project. He also went further and pointed out some of the substantial hurdles the project needs to still overcome, and gave some valuable suggestions for project managers on similar projects. An indication of the thoroughness of their planning is the international award they won for their kiddie’s website – an early education and communication medium with their future clients.

After morning tea one of the most exiting and well-known international speakers around, Frank Saladis, took the stage and delivered a most entertaining and informative talk titled “Your Future as a Project Manager”. Quoting many acclaimed (and less-known) authors and suggesting further reading on the myriad of topics and key competencies of able project managers which Frank covered, he managed to glue the audience to their seats up to the last second of the session. In his usual fashion Mr. Saladis provided the audience with a wealth of resources and references to take home besides inspiring each and every member of the audience to follow the advice of Tom Peters: “If you want to be excellent, start now”.

Jeff Shaw concluded the morning plenary sessions with his sharing of the results of surveys KPMG regularly conducts amongst major projects on global risk and governance trends. He shared the major trends which contribute to project failures and project successes, and explained how shortages of resources, rising cost, poor risk management, restrained growth and not meeting stakeholder expectations contribute to the success of major projects world-wide.

As per the example set during the first two days of the conference, the audience broke into three streams of particular interest and a workshop conducted by Ginger Levin on the role of the PMO in Knowledge Management after lunch.

A generally perceived successful and informative conference was concluded by a word of farewell and appreciation by the outgoing President of PMSA, Elmar Roberg. Amongst others he extended a special word of appreciation to Taryn Van Olden who went far beyond her call of duty to make this conference the success it was, and officially gave her permission to go and relax until the next conference in 2010. Somehow few believed that it was at all possible for this energetic lady to relax as suggested.

About Project Management South Africa (PMSA)

Project Management South Africa (PMSA) is a not-for-profit professional association serving more than 1 000 project management practitioners in South Africa. PMSA hosts a conference every second year that features invited international and local speakers, and a broad range of reviewed presentations. The conference enjoys the support of numerous industry training and service providers who sign up as sponsors. In 2008, for the third time running, The X-Pert Group is the Conference’s Platinum Sponsor. The PMSA President for 2008 is Elmar Roberg; and the Chairman of the PMSA Board is Robert Best. For more information about PMSA, visit http://www.pmisa.org.za.

Jaycee Kruger International Correspondent South Africa Jaycee Krüger, PMP, PrTechEng, is an International Correspondent for PMForum and PM World Today in South Africa. He is also the Managing Director of the CMSS, trading as Construction Management Support Services. He has over 29 years of experience in project environments with increasing responsibility, on power, industrial and mining projects, including shutdowns and projects in remote locations. A Civil Engineer by training, Jaycee is active in the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International (AACE), Project Management Institute (PMI), Project Management South Africa (PMSA), and the South African Institute of Civil Engineering (SAICE). Jaycee is based in Heidelberg, Gauteng, Johannesburg region, and can be reached at jckruger@greybeards.co.za. For additional information about Jaycee Krüger, visit http://www.pmforum.org/pm%20forum%20team/index.htm#Kruger.