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Saturday, August 23, 2008
SRO for Personal Angles on Project Management at 2nd UT Dallas Project Management Symposium in Texas
Demonstrating that project managers want to hear about personal aspects of project management (PM), three such paper presentations were full to standing-room-only (SRO) audiences on Day Two of the 2nd UT Dallas Project Management Symposium on 19 August. The conference was held at the School of Management on the University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) campus in Richardson, Texas, USA during 18-19 August 2008. Day two of the conference began with a welcome by James Joiner, Symposium Chair and Director of the Graduate Program in Project Management at UT Dallas. He was followed by a keynote speech by Michael Kennedy, CEO of Targeted Convergence, on "Managing to Achieve Toyota Excellence in Product Development."
From 9:45 a.m. until 2:00 p.m., attendees had opportunities to attend presentations by 15 speakers over four tracks of subject areas. This is when participants voted with their feet, with three presentations filled to capacity, as follows:
"When Academic Theory Collides with Applied Reality - Time to Stop Talking About IT and Doing IT", by Lee R. Lambert. Mr. Lambert (pictured at right), a popular speaker at PM events throughout North America, discussed "how it actually is in today’s fast paced, under resources, need it yesterday, project world." Lee focused on "real world" applications or concepts, tools and methodologies. According to Lee, the presentation was intended to "penetrate through the fog of academic theory."
"How Project Management will Fill the Baby Boomer Vacuum," by Andrea Nicholas (pictured left). According to Andrea, "With SAP projecting that the baby boomer generation comprises nearly 46% of the worldwide workforce, companies irrespective of size, industry or location are looking ahead to the next 3-5 years and hearing the same sucking sound: the sound of the baby boomer leadership vacuum… the result of significant numbers of executives entering retirement beginning in 2010… What are companies doing to reduce the risk this problem presents..?" During her presentation, Ms. Nicholas explored the project and program manager development "pipeline" as a path to both career development and organizational continuity and stability.
"Finding Humor in Project Management," by Zelda Jones and Gary Travelstead (in photo at right). According to the authors, "Studies have shown that encouraging humor in the workplace can increase worker retention and workplace satisfaction. Other studies have shown that humor stimulates the right side of the brain, the side that supports thinking outside the box which facilitates problems solving..." The authors demonstrated the concept by relating some humorous project management incidents based on real life experiences. As you might expect, it was all funny but also enlightening.
The success of these sessions suggest that symposium organizers should include more papers and presentations with personal angles and aspects of project management.
In addition to the above, other presentations on day two included those by Adam Paul ("Bridging Engineering and Information Technology to Address Regional Mobility"); Jim Miller ("Catapulting Productivity with IT Project Management and Corporate Governance"); Ram Garg & Eric Harris ("Changing the Software Outsourcing Game. Multisourcing: The New Global Trend"); Jamin Eberhart & Surajit Kar ("The Gold Standard in New Product Development"); Pete Harpum ("Best Practice PM in Drug Development"); Curt Raschke ("Leading Your Customer in Successful Product Co-Development Programs"); Greg Indelico ("Project Management in the Adaptive Development Environment"); Niel Nicholaisen ("Breaking the Project Management Triangle - The Purpose Alignment"); and Samir Ray & Dipesh Patel ("Managing Chaos in an Agile World").
The 2 Day Project Management Symposium included an Opening Ceremony, two Keynote Speakers on day one, 40 presentations over five tracks of topics, networking lunches, a Monday evening reception, an opening keynote speech on day two, three panel discussions and closing keynote addresses by Ricardo Viana Vargas, Director-at-Large for the Project Management Institute (PMI), and Veikko Valila, President of the International Project Management Association (IPMA).
The symposium was sponsored by the Graduate Program in Project Management at The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas), in cooperation with the Dallas Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI®) and PMForum, Inc. Papers and presentations featured at this year’s symposium will be available for download at http://pmsymposium.utdallas.edu, where additional information about the conference can be found. This annual event was intended to contribute to the productivity and success of organizations and industries in North Texas, and to local economic development. Individuals or organizations interested in participating in next year’s symposium should contact Debbie@utdallas.edu.
For more information about the Graduate Program in Project Management at UT Dallas, visit http://som.utdallas.edu/project/. For information about the PMI Dallas Chapter, visit www.pmidallas.org. For information about PMForum, visit www.pmforum.org.
From 9:45 a.m. until 2:00 p.m., attendees had opportunities to attend presentations by 15 speakers over four tracks of subject areas. This is when participants voted with their feet, with three presentations filled to capacity, as follows:
The success of these sessions suggest that symposium organizers should include more papers and presentations with personal angles and aspects of project management.
In addition to the above, other presentations on day two included those by Adam Paul ("Bridging Engineering and Information Technology to Address Regional Mobility"); Jim Miller ("Catapulting Productivity with IT Project Management and Corporate Governance"); Ram Garg & Eric Harris ("Changing the Software Outsourcing Game. Multisourcing: The New Global Trend"); Jamin Eberhart & Surajit Kar ("The Gold Standard in New Product Development"); Pete Harpum ("Best Practice PM in Drug Development"); Curt Raschke ("Leading Your Customer in Successful Product Co-Development Programs"); Greg Indelico ("Project Management in the Adaptive Development Environment"); Niel Nicholaisen ("Breaking the Project Management Triangle - The Purpose Alignment"); and Samir Ray & Dipesh Patel ("Managing Chaos in an Agile World").
The 2 Day Project Management Symposium included an Opening Ceremony, two Keynote Speakers on day one, 40 presentations over five tracks of topics, networking lunches, a Monday evening reception, an opening keynote speech on day two, three panel discussions and closing keynote addresses by Ricardo Viana Vargas, Director-at-Large for the Project Management Institute (PMI), and Veikko Valila, President of the International Project Management Association (IPMA).
The symposium was sponsored by the Graduate Program in Project Management at The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas), in cooperation with the Dallas Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI®) and PMForum, Inc. Papers and presentations featured at this year’s symposium will be available for download at http://pmsymposium.utdallas.edu, where additional information about the conference can be found. This annual event was intended to contribute to the productivity and success of organizations and industries in North Texas, and to local economic development. Individuals or organizations interested in participating in next year’s symposium should contact Debbie@utdallas.edu.
For more information about the Graduate Program in Project Management at UT Dallas, visit http://som.utdallas.edu/project/. For information about the PMI Dallas Chapter, visit www.pmidallas.org. For information about PMForum, visit www.pmforum.org.
