Next Meeting
October 17, 2006
Making Large Projects Small
Dave McComb, PMP, Semantic Arts
Introducing the new
Contact Tina Edwards for more information
Current Sponsors
Olympia
Washington ChapterNext Meeting
October 17, 2006
Making Large Projects Small
Dave McComb, PMP, Semantic Arts
Introducing the new
Contact Tina Edwards for more information
Current Sponsors
Book Review - Race Through the Forest - a Project Management Fable
Article of the Month - Project Approval Games: Three Fantasies
[To Top]
Sharon Sikes, PMP, Chapter President
Our first meeting in September, after a two-month recess, was a big success. We introduced several new things to our evening to enhance the experience of our attendees. The first was our new registration process. Our goal was to move away from third party processing into a more direct role. The result is we can track dinner registrations as they happen and respond more quickly to issues. We will also save the chapter more than $1,000 a year in payment processing. Coraxis has been generous in donating their time, services, and web space to help accomplish this. They will continue to implement improvements through the November meeting registration. We appreciate your patience as we all adjust to the new system.
We are also excited to be introducing the new PMI Olympia Library as a reference source for all PMI Olympia. These are materials available for loan. Please contact Tina Edwards to reserve materials and make arrangements for hand off.
On a more fun note, another activity was geared toward enhancing our networking experience at the Chapter by completing a 12 trivia questions puzzle. The challenge was that a different person had to provide the answer and sign in the square. This allowed for at least 11 new or renewed contacts for each attendee. An additional benefit was for those attending the dinner and completing the trivia quiz: they became eligible for the drawing for a copy of PMI's new Portfolio Management Standard just released this year. Come early to next month's meeting to participate in the next trivia fun puzzle and get a chance to win another project management related book. You must be registered for dinner to be eligible to participate.
Another enhancement we added this year was the continuous rolling slide show during our networking time. This provided attendees with information on the night's speaker topic, meeting sponsors, Chapter Board of Directors, Chapter Library, How to Join PMI and other relevant information.
Lastly, we provided an opportunity for attendee input by providing evaluation forms on each dinner table so that feedback could be provided on the facilities, food, speaker, sponsors, new ideas for future presentations and professional development activities.
A special thanks to your Board of Directors for making the evening fun and successful. We hope to see you October.
 |
 |
| Sharon Sikes with the winner of the Portfolio Management Standard | Busy networking & working on Trivia Answers |
[To Top]
Microsoft is the official host sponsor of PMI Global Congress 2006—North America, project management’s biggest gathering of the year. Come to Seattle, Washington, USA, 21–24 October, for an unparalleled immersion in education, discussion, networking, exhibition and awards for your profession. See the newly-launched congress website to find out about the PMI Awards Ceremony and Reception, areas of focus, keynote and breakfast speakers, hall of over 100 exhibitors and more. Online registration is open.
Take advantage of this great opportunity!
http://congresses.pmi.org/NorthAmerica2006/
* items indicate a change from the standard third Tuesday of the month.
[To Top]
I just finished reading the funniest fiction book with a look of truth on project management. The book is Race Through the Forest - a Project Management Fable by Timothy L Johnson, current president of PMI-Central Iowa Chapter. Even though it is fiction it really can serve as a great primer for someone trying to understand the concept and importance of utilizing project management on projects.
It is a story about two competing sixty-year-old twin sisters Flora and Fauna Forest who are co-owners of a 100 year old company called Forest Industries. The company produces a conglomerate of wood by-product lines.
They decide to make a bet with each other on the company's two largest strategic projects, Project Hickory and Project Birch. The success of either or both of the projects was critical in order for their company to stay vital and competitive.
The proposal for the bet was that each would choose a Forest Industries employee to run a project. Fauna would select a thoroughbred and Flora would choose some slow and steady workhorse. The project that did the best would win the competition.
It is important to note here that for the last several years all of "the company projects had come in late, over budget and with fewer features than promised, and with an abundance of excuses". An additional note about the company is the sisters had hired two whiz kids in project management, Ben Theer and Dunn Thaat to help implement project management processes. Unfortunately no one listened to them and Dunn Thaat left the company. Ben Theer remained with the company as a supervisor for the Quality Control department.
Flora Forest chose as her project manager a successful accounting supervisor, named Barry Tortisse who had been with the company for over 15 years. But Barry had never managed a project before. She gave him a project end date, information about the project, identified herself as project sponsor and asked for a budget from him. She had a dollar amount in mind but wanted Barry's take. Flora also assigned Ben Theer, as a permanent resource to Barry's project.
Fauna Forest chose as her project manager a charismatic, successful top salesman for the last five years, named Biff Haire, who had also been with the company for awhile. Biff, also, did not have any project management experience. Fauna told Biff to set the budget and timelines for the project. She informed Biff that she would be the project sponsor. Biff was excited about the presumed idea of an "unlimited budget". Her parting comment was to just get it done.
The rest of the story goes into how each project succeeded or almost did. There is good information on what to have in a project business case, stakeholder management, risk/issue management, good status reports, and project recovery. I can't tell you how many times I laughed out loud reading the book. There was not a single situation that I could not put a name and face to replace the characters in the book. The book is a quick read. It will be available from our Chapter Library. Contact our VP Professional Development, Tina Edwards at development@pmiolympia.org
[To Top]
This month's Article of the Month was discovered on 4pm.com. "Both executives and project managers kid themselves about what really goes on during the project approval proces. Three fantasies are often in the people's minds and decrease the likelihood that the project will produce business value for the organization".
http://www.4pm.com/articles/3fantasy.pdf Please send your suggestions for articles to highlight in future Monthly Milestone editions to the Editor.
[To Top]
This section is dedicated to congratulating and highlighting the achievement of our members who recently passed the Project Management Professional (PMP) exam.
If you have recently achieved your Project Management Professional (PMP) credential or know someone who has, please contact the Editor to be recognized. This recognition helps promote project management as a profession, the Project Management Professional credential as a desirable item for any project manager, and gives the recipient proper recognition for a true achievement.
[To Top]
Send an e-mail with link or original posting to the Editor to include in the next edition. Please keep in mind that publication is targeted for the fourth week of each month. In the meantime, job postings can be made and found in our Online Community.
Book Review - Race Through the Forest - a Project Management Fable
Sharon Sikes, PMP, Chapter President
Article of the Month
Project Approval Games: Three Fantasies
Meet our new Project Management Professionals
Project Management Job Announcements