Current Job / Title: Head of PMO Industry / Sector Expertise: Banking, Academic
Academic and Professional Credentials: Business Computer Science, PMP, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)
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How do you describe the role of project management to family and friends
Project management is something you see in all aspects of life, and I believe that it should be taught to kids from a young age. I often ask people around me about their understanding of project management and funnily enough, the answer that my 11 year old son Raphael gave me could not resonate more accurately: “A project is something you want to achieve, to enhance, or even an opportunity to create something new - and project management provides you with the tools to make it happen”. I could not provide a better description than this.
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How do you apply and benefit from your project management skills in your life
As a mother, business woman and marathon runner, every day of my life is a project in itself. I inherently have to maintain a balance between these three aspects. There are days where I succeed in achieving this, though, inevitably, some days I fail at this. Albeit, any failure is a lesson learnt for next time.
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How do you define your project management approach in your day to day activities
“Find people who share your values and you’ll conquer the world together” - John Ratzenberger
As per the PMI, managing a project is essentially about applying your knowledge and skills to target the relevant areas of the project, all while up-keeping and ensuring a standard of quality throughout, time managing appropriately, budgeting intelligently, and frequently tracking progress. To succeed in this you have to create a commonality with your team; ensure openness and build trust. Without this, working environments are a lot less fun and motivating. -
How did project management credentials help in advancing your career and knowledge
Project Management credentials (PMP) are like the pillars of a building! Not to mention, PMI is one of the best institutes in providing one with such credentials. Nevertheless, we are living in a rapid agile world and in order to keep up we must react and adapt and you can only do that if your foundations are solid.
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Can you share with us a successful project you have worked on and its lessons learned
One of the best things in life is when you carefully craft a plan and execute a project you believe in. In 2016 we (Three marathon runners and myself) decided to initiate a project to support a cause: RunSawa for Autism. The challenge was to run an ultra marathon (250k in 7 days) for autism, in support of the Lebanese Autism Society. What made this project exceptional was the genuine feel of it, the bond it created among the whole execution team - the joy and love it spread around.
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Any advise and recommendations you can give to other project managers
Project management is a very demanding and at times draining profession. Thus, in order to persevere despite the challenges you will encounter, you must believe in it and use your passion to keep you going.
