Featured Events - November 2006
- International PM Day Approaches on November 2 - Events Scheduled Worldwide
(2 November) - Free PM Maturity Seminar in London on 15 November
(15 November) - II Annual Project Management Meeting in Minas Gerais, Brazil Expects an Audience of 400
(27-28 November) - African Regional PM Conference to be Held in Abuja, Nigeria
(4-5 December 2006)
International PM Day Approaches on November 2 - Events Scheduled Worldwide
(2 November)
November 2 has been set this year as International Project Management Day. Launched in 2005 as a personal initiative of Frank Saladis, a member of the New York City PMI chapter, along with the assistance of the International Institute for Learning and several PMI chapters worldwide, IPM Day has again captured the enthusiastic attention and support of individuals and organizations from around the world.
According to the movement's website, The International Project Management Day is intended to encourage project based organizations in every industry and technical discipline, including small businesses, healthcare and not for profit organizations worldwide to schedule some type of recognition event within their enterprise or coordinated locally with others to demonstrate appreciation for the achievements of project managers and their teams.
The stated goals for IPM Day are worldwide recognition of the many project managers and project teams who contribute their time, energy, creativity, innovation and countless hours to deliver products, services, or facilities, and to provide emergency and disaster recovery services locally or across borders and oceans. Project management can be found in every city and community around the world and it's the project managers and project teams that transform plans and dreams into reality.
According to Frank Saladis, "The dream as conceived by PMIŽ over 35 years ago has not yet been achieved. Until project management becomes accepted as a strategic necessity and perceived as the ultimate method to promote collaboration, improve productivity, and increase efficiency, the work is not done."
A few activities, announcements and events now scheduled for 2 November 2006 are mentioned below.
The International Institute for Learning, Inc. (IIL) will celebrate IPM Day by producing and sponsoring a live, interactive, global eConference event moderated by Frank Saladis, PMP. Entitled "Achieving Greatness in Project Management, the event will feature leaders in the Project Management profession and will allow participants to gain insights into project management best practices throughout the world and witness how the profession is bringing companies to new heights. Featured speakers will include the following:
- Dr. Harold Kerzner, Project Management guru and best-selling author
- Greg Balestrero, CEO of the Project Management Institute (PMIŽ)
- Karin Dreger, VP Process Excellence & Global PMO, SAP
- Ron Kempf, Director of Project Management Competency for HP Services, Hewlett Packard
- Dirk Ramhorst, Program Manager & Director of Professional Services, Siemens Business Services
- Peter Hillary son of Sir Edmond Hillary, the first person to climb Mount Everest, will passionately connect his dramatic achievements to the challenges faced by project managers and teams for striving for excellence in their own fields.
View the agenda and find out how you can participate at www.iil.com.
In the state of Arkansas, USA, Governor Mike Huckabee has proclaimed Thursday, 2 November 2006 as Project Management Day in Arkansas.
The proclamation was achieved through the efforts of the Central Arkansas Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMIŽ). In New York City,
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has again proclaimed the day Project Management Day for the city. The same has occurred in San Marcos, with similar
proclamations expected in other US cities, in Australia and in Europe.
The Central Indiana Chapter of PMI will hold a day-long
seminar, featuring Joseph Phillips who will be conducting the next year of his life as a project. The seminar will examine the similarities
between successful projects and successful lives. The New Jersey Chapter of PMI has also scheduled an International Project Management Seminar in
Somerset N.J. on. November 2nd.
More information about International PM Day and events scheduled around the world can be found at www.internationalpmday.org
Free PM Maturity Seminar in London on 15 November
(15 November)
A free seminar on programme and project management maturity will be held on 15 November 2006, sponsored by the APM Group of the UK. Alan Harpham, Chairman of APMG, will introduce the concept of maturity models and will explain how they can help organisations improve their programmes and projects. He will explain how to choose the right model for any organization, and provide information about the PRINCE2 Maturity Model and OGC's new P3M3 model. He will also explain how APMG's assessment process works.
Mr. Harpham will introduce maturity models and explain why it is important to understand where the organization's strengths and weaknesses lie. He will explain to delegates how they can get senior managers to buy into the process, which is often more difficult than the assessment itself! He will also talk about why organizations don't do as well as they could in their assessments, and why it's important to learn from the process and not give up.
Many complex organizations find it frustrating that they don't do better in their maturity assessments. Transforming processes across the whole business, however, is never a quick fix. Alan will explain how maturity assessments can ultimately be liberating and rewarding for the staff involved. The event will then go on to look at examples from two very different organizations: The UK's Pension Protection Fund, which is a young organization that decided to implement PRINCE2T from its conception and achieved a level 3 maturity assessment on the P2 Maturity Model. The programme manager will explain how this was achieved and why the organization underwent a maturity assessment at such an early stage of its development.
Delegates will then hear from Sun Microsystems, a very established organization that was an early adopter of PRINCE2 having implemented it as company standard in the UK in 1998 and globally by 2003. In the UK all Sun project managers and project executives were trained in both PRINCE2 and Sun's version of PRINCE2, called AIM (Architect, Implement, Manage). However, in 2005 Sun underwent a re-structuring to enable a more agile business. Sun decided to assess the impact of the new structures on their project management capability to ensure that existing capability was not lost and to identify possible improvement areas.
One of the most experienced project managers in the UK, Alan Harpham is chairman of APM Group and of P5, a project management consultancy. Alan is a former director of Nichols Associates, former manager of major projects for John Laing, and former Director of Cranfield University's MSc in Project Management. He is a long time active member of the Association of Project Management, the UK's professional body for Programme & Project Management and is well known throughout the UK and Europe as an advocate for better PM.
The Project Management Maturity Seminar on 15 November 2006 will be held from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the London Stock Exchange Media Centre, 10 Paternoster Square, London, EC4M 7LS. The event is free of charge to programme and project managers. For further details, contact kate.winter@apmgroup.co.uk. Telephone 020 8549 5110
II Annual Project Management Meeting in Minas Gerais, Brazil Expects an Audience of 400 (27-28 November)
The second edition of this event will take place on November, 27th and 28th, in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The meeting is being organized by Project Management Institute Minas Gerais Chapter, a Brazilian PMIŽ component founded in 1999.
The meeting will bring to the audience thirty-two presentations and panels during its two days of activities. Mr. Ricardo Vianna Vargas, PMIŽ Mentor will open the event discussing how to develop competences in project management. He will also be present at the panel that will promote a discussion about "challenges and opportunities to promote project management" on the second day, in conjunction with Mr. Paul Dinsmore, author of various management books, and Prof. Darci Prado.
In addition to the panel and the keynote presentations, there will be a set of selected papers being presented and, at the end, the alpinist Rodrigo Raineri will close the event discussing detailed planning, extreme situations management and great learning in expeditions endeavors.
The registration process for the II Annual Project Management Meeting in Minas Gerais is open and the fees vary from BRL 180,00 to BRL 265,00 for advance registrations. The event will take place at the Mercury Hotel BH Lourdes, on Av. do Contorno, 7315 - Lourdes - Belo Horizonte - MG - Brazil.
The event will be sponsored by Petrobrás, Grupo A&C, ESI International, Squadra Tecnologia, Net Project, Consist, Prodemge, Minas Gerais Government and Mano Consulting.
More information about the meeting can be found at:
http://www.pmimg.org.br/geral/encontro_anual/evento.asp
Reported by Alcides Santopietro and David Pells in São Paulo, Brazil.
African Regional PM Conference to be Held in Abuja, Nigeria
(4-5 December 2006)
An important regional meeting on project management (PM) will be held in Abuja, Nigeria on December 4-5, 2006. The meeting will be sponsored by the International Development Specific Interest Group (IDSIG) of the Project Management Institute (PMIŽ) and will be co-hosted by the Lagos and Port Harcourt (Potential) chapters of PMI. This will be the first such regional PM conference sponsored by the IDSIG and represents a significant milestone in the development of the PM profession in Africa
National Mosque in Abuja
The two day session is expected to follow the following agenda:
- Day 1 will open with a discussion of problems currently faced in implementing international development projects in Africa. Attendees will then participate in the recently-published World Bank training on successful implementation techniques in the areas of project initiation, project planning, project performance measurement and management of the external environment of projects, including stakeholder analysis.
- Day 2 will include an interactive workshop to jointly develop strategies to address the concerns and the opportunities raised. These ideas will be captured and used to develop an implementation plan for the IDSIG's 2007 Strategic Plan.
According to Kay Fleischer, PMP, 2006 IDSIG Chair, "The conference in Abuja represents a significant development for both PMI and the IDSIG. It will be the first PM conference sponsored by a PMI component in Western Africa. Given our mission to promote the use of professional PM on international development projects, this will also provide an opportunity to influence local leaders and organizations in Nigeria."
According to the online Wikipedia, Abuja is the capital city of Nigeria with an estimated population of 2.5 million. The decision to move the national capital to Abuja from Lagos was made in 1976, when a capital territory was chosen for its location near the centre of the country. Abuja was a planned city and is located in the center of what is now the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria. The location was designated in the centre of the country as it signified neutrality and national unity.
Nigeria is Africa's most populous country and the 7th largest in the world, with 171 million residents. It has large reserves of minerals, oil & gas, and a developing economy. Nigeria is a democratic republic modelled after the USA, with a President, Senate and House of Representatives. The current President of Nigeria is Olusegan Obasanjo who was elected in 1999 following the restoration of democracy after two decades of military dictatorships.
More information on the regional meeting and on the IDSIG can be found at the IDSIG web site at:
www.pmi-idsig.org/. Registration is limited to 100 participants. The IDSIG Team Lead for
the Africa Regional Conference is Mr. Michael Idoko, who can be
contacted at 234 803 703 8019 or tomikee@hotmail.com.
The World Bank training, Managing the Implementation of Development Projects, is described at:
http://publications.worldbank.org/ecommerce/catalog/product?item_id=5687880
PMI's International Development SIG (IDSIG) was founded to reduce poverty in developing countries by increasing the impact of international development projects and programs through improving project and program management of development projects. The IDSIG comprises professionals from lending organizations (multilateral, bi-laterals), developmental NGOs and independent professionals with experience in project management of development projects and programs in developing countries. The ID SIG focuses on the specific and specialized project management needs and issues of Internationally Funded Projects in the Public Sector in Developing Countries More information can be found at www.pmi-idsig.org.
With more than 200,000 members in over 150 countries, the Project Management Institute (PMI) is the world's largest and best known project management professional society. PMI is actively engaged in advocacy for the PM profession, setting standards, conducting research and providing access to a wide variety of information and resources. PMI also promotes career and professional development and offers certification, networking and community involvement opportunities. PMI was founded in the USA in 1969, but is now a global organization with members, chapters and offices worldwide. For more information, visit www.pmi.org.