From Best to Next Practices
Pulse Report Focuses on Benefits of Disruptive Technologies
INSIDE
Staying Ahead of Technology: Learning and Developing Are More Important Than Ever
Make Sure Your Board Election Material Reaches You
Senator Visits GHQ, Highlights Value of PMI's Work
ANSI Reaccredits PMI as a Standards Developer
PMI China News: Game Simulates Project Management
PMIEF and True Colors Fund Address Youth Homelessness Through Project Management
Events Calendar
Chapters in Brazil Assist Tunisia Chapter in Junior Enterprise Event
Chapter Links
PMI® Global Conference 2018:
Be a Champion of Change
Artificial intelligence. Three-dimensional printing. Self-driving vehicles. These are all things not on our radar a decade or two ago that are now disrupting organizations around the world. These disruptive technologies are forcing organizations to change the way they do business—and do so quickly to keep a competitive edge.
Organizations that want to understand and manage the impact of these disruptive technologies can look to proven project management practices to survive and thrive during times of change. Our newest Pulse of the Profession® in-depth report, Next Practices: Maximizing the Benefits of Disruptive Technologies on Projects, distinguishes between innovators and laggards. Innovators are organizations that have a mature digital transformation strategy, are risk-tolerant, have committed to major transformation or an important new product, service or technology, and consider the adoption of disruptive technologies to be a high organizational priority. Laggards are risk-averse and much slower to embrace and adopt disruptive technologies.
Among innovators, 71 percent of their projects meet their original goals or business intent, compared to 60 percent for laggards. Innovators completed 61 percent of their projects on time, versus 48 percent for laggards, and 67 percent of innovators' projects came in within budget, compared to 55 percent for laggards.
PMI's research shows innovators commit to excellence by using disruptive technologies to their benefit, embracing the value-delivery landscape, and elevating the project professional role.
Leveraging Disruptive Technologies
Our research shows that innovators are leveraging disruptive technologies to their advantage to encourage greater efficiency and automation, increase productivity, promote the development of better products and services, automate mundane tasks, advance innovation and drive better decision making. They are methodical in their assessment of these benefits. These assessments focus on customer satisfaction, product or service quality, associated revenue and productivity improvements.
Organizations with cultures that are able to support agility by embracing frequent change are better able to compete and succeed in a fast-paced and disruptive business environment. We see that innovators move quickly, decisively and effectively to anticipate, initiate and take advantage of change, yet remain robust enough to absorb any setbacks. In fact, 73 percent of innovators indicate they have high levels of organizational agility, compared to only 4 percent of laggards. This is in line with our 2018 Pulse findings, where 65 percent of high-performing organizations, those we call champions, have high organizational agility—compared to 5 percent of low performers. This agility allows for greater effectiveness in creating solutions, as opposed to products or services.
Working in New Ways
Project management is a key to making sure an idea does not simply remain an idea. Simply put, organizations cannot achieve strategic change without successfully implementing projects.
Organizations are working in new ways to successfully implement their projects. This ability to retool and retune has become a greater point of differentiation, and innovators are evolving their business lens. As innovators look to compete in future ways of working, they are taking the opportunity to evolve their best practices to next practices by altering their mindset. They see establishing a supportive culture as the foundation of moving forward, and critical to the successful adoption of disruptive technologies.
Throughout 2018, PMI is taking a yearlong look at managing the impact of disruptive technologies and evolving best practices to next practices. What we expect to see is combinations of approaches and technologies such as DevOps, human/user-centered design, cloud computing, IoT and AI. We have already learned that next practices require the full spectrum of competencies that enable organizations to deliver their projects and programs, including all approaches to project delivery, from predictive to agile.
Visit PMI.org/Pulse today and download this important report.
About the Report
PMI's Pulse of the Profession in-depth research was conducted online in February 2018 among 1,730 project management practitioners globally. In-depth interviews were also conducted with seven PMO directors and seven C-suite executives from major national and multinational corporations to gain deeper insights and examples of their experiences with the impact of disruptive technologies on project management activities within their organizations.
The report includes perspectives from executives of prominent organizations, including Cyient, Alcoa, Ericsson, Telstra, the state of Alaska, Sinar Mas Group, Volvo, IAG and Zurich Insurance Group.
The Most Disruptive
Our survey respondents ranked these disruptive technologies by their impact:
13. Genomics
12. Gene sequencing
11. Large-scale energy storage
10. Autonomous (self-driving) vehicles
9. Blockchain technology
8. 3-D printing
7. Advanced robotics
6. Building information modeling (BIM)
5. Voice-driven software
4. 5G mobile internet
3. Artificial intelligence (AI)
2. Internet of things (IoT)
1. Cloud technology
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PMI GLOBAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
PMI and members of the influential Global Executive Council believe that project, program and portfolio management deliver a strategic advantage that helps organizations do more with less. The elite organizations selected for participation in the Council are well-positioned to have the most direct influence on the direction and future of the project management profession.
To learn more, please visit PMI.org/Business-Solutions/PMI-Global-Executive-Council.aspx.
2018 PMI Board of Directors
Chair
Caterina (Cathy) La Tona, BCS, PMP, PfMP
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Vice Chair
Jennifer Tharp, PMP
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Secretary-Treasurer and Chair, Audit and Performance Oversight Committee
Tony Appleby, MBA, PMP
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Chair, Strategy Oversight Committee
Randall T. (Randy) Black, P.Eng., PMP
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DIRECTORS
Margareth Carneiro, MBA, MSc, PMP
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J. Davidson Frame, PhD, PMP, PMI Fellow
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Teresa A. (Terri) Knudson, MBA, PMP, PgMP, PfMP
+1 507 259 9568
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Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, MBA, PMP
+32 479 80 94 18
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Kathleen P. Romero, MBA, PMP, CSM, and SPC
+1 804 677 7674
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Tejas Sura, MS, MBA, PMP, PfMP
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Roberto Toledo, MBA, PMP
+52 55 5416 7214
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Thomas Walenta, Dipl.Math, PMP, PgMP, PMI Fellow
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Cecil White, EdD, MBA, PMP
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Al Zeitoun, PhD, PMI-RMP, PMI-SP, PMP
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STAFF EXECUTIVE
President and Chief Executive Officer
Mark A. Langley
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from the Board
Jennifer Tharp, PMP, Vice Chair
Staying Ahead of Technology Learning AND Developing ARE More Important Than Ever
PMI Today: Is it really “learn—or else?” Why is it necessary for project managers to advance their careers by learning new skills, above and beyond the usual project management skills?
Ms. Tharp: Today, project management is understood to be much more than a technical skill. Yes, we must have technical ability to be effective project managers—but that's not enough to help our organizations achieve their goals.
We need to keep learning and keep developing—that is more true than ever today, given the rapid pace of change in technology and markets.
Over the next decade, we will see game-changing technologies profoundly influence the world—everything from self-driving cars and 3-D printing to robotics and cloud technology.
Companies all over the world see organizational agility as key to their future. That means being a learning organization—employing project managers with a passion for learning and growth. Project managers make dreams a reality. A company can only be as successful as its project managers in achieving those dreams.
PMI Today: What do you see as the most essential skill sets for project professionals in the near future? In the distant future?
Ms. Tharp: It can be much harder today to map out your career when it's unclear what skills will be in demand in the future. Today the hot topics are things like artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, virtual reality, 3-D printing ... and who knows what we'll be talking about this time next year? I don't believe in a distant future—we can't even imagine what the world will be like three years from now!
PMI Today: In light of artificial intelligence and other disrupters, how do you see the role of the project manager evolving?
Ms. Tharp: You may have heard about the iced-tea company that rebranded itself as Blockchain Iced Tea in order to become more popular. In the same way, a lot of what is called AI today is really just a rebranding of old decision-support systems. But there is interesting technology on the horizon that can manage projects for us without requiring human intervention.
With AI, the system learns from past experience in order to make better decisions in the future. These decisions can be of the caliber made by an experienced and unemotional project manager. The goal is to discover insights and make decisions beyond what people can do today. Wouldn't you like a system that can make reliable decisions for you, saving time while improving outcomes for your projects?
Technology is great at transferring data, moving it around between different systems, handling mass emails and reporting, all of which are necessary tasks that no one wants to do. Computers excel at speed, scale and scope. They're not creative or adaptive. They don't understand context.
Humans are slow and get bored at repetitive tasks. They're terrible at big data analysis. They use cognitive shortcuts, and can only keep a few data points in their head at a time. But humans excel at thinking and reasoning.
Today we already have technology that can help us make better estimates, identify when unauthorized changes are made and facilitate project visibility through automated chatbots.
In the future, AI will be able to take data sets from a thousand different complex projects to extract common lessons learned, to give you alerts of what to look out for, right when you need it. AI can read between the lines to find out what options you haven't considered in order to give more meaningful advice.
Leading the Way
Over time, we can see that the technical side of project management, the parts we now include in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), become the easiest ones to automate. As the profession incorporates the latest technologies, it's important that we keep up with these changes, but it also makes our leadership and business and strategic management skills much more important. Things like problem solving, adaptability, leadership, creativity, innovation and emotional intelligence will become even more essential.
But we can't just sit back and wait for robots to take over the boring parts of our jobs; we need to constantly be aware of new technologies, and look at bringing some into our companies and becoming the new experts. It's up to us to leverage these new tools to make project management better.
Organizations are working to become more agile, and they need us to help lead the way.
PMI Today: A lot is said about the term “digital skills.” What are digital skills? Do they pertain to all three sides of the PMI Talent Triangle® (technical skills, leadership skills, strategic and business management skills)?
Ms. Tharp: Digital skills are exploiting the new technologies that are rapidly transforming our working life. The skills that got us by on our last project may not be enough for our next project!
Our projects and our companies are creating a lot of new data. Data analytics essentially allow you to make good decisions in your projects. But you know the expression “Garbage in, garbage out.” The key to successful data analytics is knowing what data to collect and measure in order to improve performance. How can you learn analytic tools and understand how to apply them?
But digital skills aren't limited to technical skills. For example, organizations that align their projects to strategy are most likely to see measurable results in the long term. Instead of working on the next project in the queue, project and portfolio managers need to make decisions based on digital analysis. For example, setting specific KPIs and identifying methods for measuring each indicator can help ensure that a project realizes strategic benefits.
Technology Is Your Friend
PMI Today: What sort of skills does a project manager need to make virtual teams effective and efficient?
Ms. Tharp: Technology is your friend with virtual teams. When I work with my client in New York from my home in San Francisco, I always try to have my camera on in order to build trust and collaboration. That sometimes means looking presentable when I've only just rolled out of bed, so it's not always successful.
Virtual communication is naturally more challenging than face-to-face interaction, particularly when you are working on complex issues. Anyone who has sat through a six-hour virtual meeting knows that eventually they break down, and it's better to try to meet face-to-face. Collaboration technology can be a huge benefit, but lately it seems everyone is using a different system, so it's another challenge to keep learning new tools.
Virtual teams require good communication skills, high emotional intelligence, an ability to work independently and the resilience to recover from the snafus that inevitably arise. Awareness of and sensitivity to other cultures are also important in global groups.
The most effective virtual teams are small ones—fewer than 10 people. Your PMI Board of Directors is a virtual team of 15 people. We have experimented a lot in having virtual meetings and collaboration tools, but when it comes to an engaged discussion, there's no substitute for face-to-face meetings for creating trust and building relationships, two things that are critical for a high-performing team.
By developing your leadership, strategic and business management capabilities, along with keeping your technical skills up-to-date, you increase your value and your visibility.
As the job market becomes more competitive, all of us must ensure that we have the portfolio of skills that organizations need to meet their goals. You can take steps today to be ready for the future.
The truth is that the role of the project manager continues to change and expand every day.
So the question is—are you ready for tomorrow?
Check and Update Your Contact Information Now
Make Sure Your Board Election Material Reaches You
Each year, PMI members have a chance to influence PMI's future by choosing members of the Board of Directors. In order to vote, we need your current email address.
Now is a good time to visit MyPMI to update your contact information and ensure that you receive your electronic ballot.
PMI members are asked to log onto their MyPMI profile no later than 5:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Daylight Time (UTC–4), Saturday, 30 June 2018 and verify that their preferred email address listed is correct.
The Board of Directors election is conducted electronically, so members can read candidate biographies and questions online and easily return completed ballots in a secure environment.
Please take a moment to verify your contact information so you can receive the election material and other member information without interruption.
Senator Visits GHQ, Highlights Value of PMI's Work
On 6 April, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, who represents Pennsylvania, home of PMI Global Headquarters (GHQ), briefly spoke to the staff about the importance of their work. He also took questions, town-hall style.
Mr. Casey was introduced by PMI President and CEO Mark A. Langley, who noted that the senator was a co-sponsor of the Program Management Improvement and Accountability Act (PMIAA). This legislation, passed unanimously by the Senate and signed into law in 2016, will improve program management practices and accountability in the federal government, and establish a documented formal career path for project and program managers across the U.S. government.
“We're really thrilled to have had your support and the support of the rest of the Senate to put this in place,” said Mr. Langley, “because it means a lot to the profession of project management and the nearly three million people that we represent around the world. We want them to be valued and we want the profession to be valued, and the best way to do that is to help organizations, including the public sector, adopt practices that will make them more successful.”
Mr. Langley also noted that the PMIAA legislation is a benefit to Pennsylvania and the rest of the world. He cited the Project Management Job Growth and Talent Gap report, noting that 22 million project-related jobs will be created by 2027, including 2.1 million in the United States alone.
Mr. Casey also supported PMI's successful effort to get the U.S. Department of Labor to add project management specialists to its Standard Occupation Classification system. In 2017, PMI recognized Mr. Casey as one of its first “Congressional Champions” for his longstanding support of PMI's federal policy priorities.
Mr. Casey, in his remarks, said that the work PMI does is critically important. Taxpayer confidence in government and congress is very low, yet we have more threats than ever before, he said. Referring to PMI, he said “the work that you do helps our national security ultimately, when you're playing a role in holding government accountable and making it more efficient and effective. Your work also helps us grow our economy, create jobs and move the country forward.”
GHQ staff participated in a town hall meeting with Sen. Casey.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey
The discussion also emphasized the important role that project managers will continue to play in addressing urgent infrastructure needs in the United States. Mr. Casey highlighted the high levels of structurally deficient bridges in Pennsylvania.
“I appreciated the opportunity to engage with some of the very people working on the most far-ranging projects in our communities,” said Sen. Casey. “Project managers lead the way on large-scale projects that contain the potential to grow our economy and create jobs that pay family-sustaining wages.”
PMI® Global Conference 2018
Be a Champion of Change
You know the world is changing. Disruptive technologies are transforming the way you and your organizations work. “Best practices” are giving way to “next practices.”
As a project manager, you're in the center of and driving that change. But it's not always easy. To stay ahead, you need to continually update your skills.
PMI® Global Conference in October can help. Our flagship live-learning event for the year is designed to help you become a champion of change.
You'll join thousands of like-minded professionals for three days of learning, networking and fun. You'll gain instantly applicable skills, hear from high-energy speakers and form lasting friendships. And you'll celebrate being part of a global community of change champions.
Conference attendees can:
- build a customized schedule
- be inspired by our keynote speakers
- learn about the latest tools and solutions
- earn 21 or more professional development units (PDUs) toward maintaining your certifications.
The conference includes an exhibit hall where you can learn from participating companies, meet with vendors and network with colleagues. Featured activities include an area where you can gain career insights from ProjectManagement.com experts. There'll also be hands-on learning sessions, poster sessions, featured topics and product presentations.
If you're interested in joining us, you'll find a letter on the conference website that might help. We've drafted it to help you make the case for attending.
The Basics:
PMI® Global Conference 2018 Los Angeles, California, USA 6–8 October
Theme: Champions of Change
PMI Professional Awards Gala:
6 October (Day One of the conference)
SeminarsWorld® courses are available before the conference (2–5 October) and after (9–10 October).
PMI Leadership Institute Meeting*: 4–6 October
Early Bird rates:
Available until 25 July
For more information/to register: PMI.org/global-conference
*By invitation only for PMI chapter leaders and global volunteers
The letter sets out how the event will give you the skills and networks you need to be a change champion in your organization. You can easily tailor it to your situation.
Keynote Speakers
PMI Global Conference 2018 features three keynote sessions that are high-energy, hilarious and, above all, human.
Jon Dorenbos is known as the National Football League's “Magic Man.” A former long snapper for the Philadelphia Eagles and New Orleans Saints football teams, he is now a professional magician and speaker.
Jon Dorenbos
Mr. Dorenbos openly shares his childhood tragedy on stage. When he was 12, his picture-perfect family was destroyed after his father murdered his mother. Mr. Dorenbos chose to rise above this adversity. He set ambitious goals, then planned and carried out the steps needed to accomplish them. He started learning magic as a child and is now considered a “master magician,” earning the respect of top magicians everywhere.
Mr. Dorenbos inspires his audiences by sharing his life experiences and NFL stories, relating them to corporate culture. He discusses the importance of discipline, teamwork, perseverance and accepting failure in achieving a goal. In his own words, “Live in vision—not circumstance.”
Cam Marston, an author, columnist, blogger and lecturer, is a leading expert on the impact of generational change and its impact on the marketplace. Mr. Marston and his firm, Generational Insights, have provided research and consultation to hundreds of companies for more than 20 years. They've also worked with professional groups and associations. His expertise has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and BusinessWeek, as well as on Good Morning America, CNN International and more.
Cam Marston
His writing explains how generational characteristics and differences affect every aspect of business. This includes recruiting and retention, management and motivation, and sales and marketing.
Mr. Marston enlivens the research data he presents with anecdotes, tales from the real business world, attention-grabbing visuals and quips that make the message stick.
Abigail Posner is the head of strategic planning at Google's creative think tank, the ZOO. She is passionate about sparking curiosity, stimulating thinking and fostering wonder in our daily lives.
Abigail Posner
Her role at Google is to help advertisers and marketers make sense of our deep, emotional relationship to the digital space. She also helps them to convert those insights into strategic and creative efforts. While at Google, she launched an industry-first thought leadership series on human beings' emotional relationships with the digital space. Before joining Google, Ms. Posner held positions as executive vice president, strategy director at Publicis New York, and as head of strategic planning at DDB New York.
Thanks to her degree in social anthropology from Harvard University, she shines a unique, humanistic lens on culture, business and technology. This brings a fresh perspective to corporate culture, product development, branding and marketing.
In Short
PMI Global Conference is where you can find your inspiration, make connections, learn valuable skills, stay current and be more visible. Be the change you want to be—become a champion of change. We look forward to seeing you in Los Angeles this October.
ANSI Reaccredits PMI as a Standards Developer
It's been almost 20 years since PMI first became an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accredited standards developer. That occurred on 14 October 1998, and the first standard PMI developed under that accreditation was A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – 2000 Edition.
Since that time, ANSI has periodically audited PMI to make sure PMI's procedures adhere to ANSI's central requirements for consensus. We are proud to say that following a recent audit, PMI has been accredited as a standards developer for another six years.
“It's an honor to have a six-year accreditation cycle,” said Lorna Scheel, PMI standards compliance specialist.
“Most organizations are accredited on a five-year cycle. Our six-year term is evidence that our process is clean and compliant and representative of ANSI's assessment that we have a good standards development system.”
Due Process
Due process requires any person with a direct and material interest to be able to participate in the development of a standard by being able to express a position and its basis, have it considered and have the right to appeal.
One of the due process requirements of ANSI accreditation is consensus. A standards developer must allow all stakeholders to participate and leave comments. The developer must respond to the comments and give due process to the commenters. ANSI's audits make sure that this consensus process is adhered to.
A benefit of ANSI accreditation for standards users is that, to prevent confusion, ANSI requires coordination and harmonization among standard developers, ensuring only one standard per topic. Thus, users of The Standard for Project Management (within the PMBOK® Guide – Sixth Edition) and PMI's other accredited standards, including The Standard for Program Management, The Standard for Portfolio Management and The Standard for Business Analysis (within The PMI Guide to Business Analysis), are the only American National standards for those topics.
Users of standards published by ANSI-accredited standards developers are assured that the standards were developed with rigor and that, prior to publication, no comment from users was overlooked.
PMI China News
Game Simulates Project Management
By Yang Xue, PMP, PMI China Beijing volunteer
PMI China hosted Beijing's first project management salon of the year, a project management simulation practice attended by nearly a hundred project managers. Ma Chen, PMP, PgMP, PfMP, led the activity.
Mr. Ma used a game to engage the participants. The game used a designed plot and scenes and involved experimental learning, an important foundation for knowledge acquirement. The aim of this event was more than just learning through experiment. Practical applications and lessons learned were also emphasized.
Ma Chen, PMP, PgMP, PfMP
Before the game started, participants were divided into 12 groups and formed a closed-loop sale-and-purchase cycle. Then each group selected its own “project manager,” “purchasing director” and “financial director.”
The game consisted of three processes. First was an analysis of the project plan to clarify the project objective and delivery of the project results. It was critical to have a thorough analysis and understanding of project plan, which contained product cost, product price limits and project objective.
The second involved conducting market research to identify competitors and partners and make purchase and sales strategies, since the project plan of each group was confidential. Third was implementing the strategy for signing the contract. In the game, Mr. Ma formulated and promulgated different policies and market rules based on the progress of each stage. Each group needed to adjust the procurement method according to changes in the environmental factors of the project, and complete the goals set in the initial stage of the project as much as possible within the prescribed game time.
Intriguingly and inspiringly, the game was designed with a well-hidden trap that no group identified until the “market” turned into chaos. It was a simulation of real project management and the hidden problems that should be carefully identified by the project manager. That's the reason for the importance of requirements analysis and enterprise environment factors.
At the end of the game, each group summarized the points that were most impressive, what should be improved and what deserved more attention, which also inspired attendees to identify the hidden trap in their real projects. The event ended with Mr. Ma's comments on each group's performance and his perspectives on it.
PMI Educational Foundation
PMIEF and True Colors Fund Address Youth Homelessness Through Project Management
The PMI Educational Foundation (PMIEF) supports nonprofit organizations building their capacity by helping their professionals acquire and apply project management knowledge to overcome challenges in their everyday work. The foundation recognizes the value of project management as a business solution, so it supports nonprofit professionals' project management training to ensure they become more efficient and more effective in their delivery of services. This strategy allows PMIEF to touch people's lives worldwide by making a difference in the organizations on which they rely for support.
PMIEF's 2017 grant to TCF helps build the organization's project management capabilities and those of its community coalitions across the United States.
PMIEF's 2017 grant to the True Colors Fund (TCF) for the “PMIEF – TCF PM for Communities Initiative” advances these efforts to equip what the foundation terms “PM Capable Nonprofits,” which is one of its three pillars of focus. Founded in 2008 by Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award-winning singer, actress and librettist Cyndi Lauper because of her personal commitment to equality, TCF strives to improve the lives of the most marginalized youth in the United States, including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ); racial/ethnic minorities; immigrants; and at-risk as defined by juvenile justice and foster care systems. The organization is especially committed to ending homelessness among these vulnerable populations so they can lead happy, productive, fulfilling lives.
The grant equips both TCF staff and its community coalitions across the United States with project management competencies to innovate projects to eradicate youth homelessness. Specifically, the funding has delivered project management fundamentals training to TCF staff to enhance their practice and to prepare them to train community coalitions nationwide in project management. Doing so will enable the coalitions to devise comprehensive, actionable project plans to mitigate youth homelessness where they live. Individuals representing entities such as faith-based organizations, libraries, local legislative offices, police departments, schools and small businesses comprise the coalitions.
The initiative strategically targets coalitions in Dallas, Texas, USA; Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; and Pinellas County, Florida, USA. TCF will provide them ongoing technical assistance to apply project management to their work as they ideate and execute their project plans. In addition, the organization is developing a Project Management for Communities Toolkit that will provide practical guidance on how the 10 project management Knowledge Areas specified in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – Fifth Edition are applicable to designing community-based solutions to this pervasive problem. TCF will integrate the Toolkit into its work with the coalitions.
Moreover, TCF will create a two-hour, asynchronous, online course based on the Toolkit that consists of 10 multimedia lessons comprised of three modules each. It will make the course available online via its True Colors Learning Community.
“As a social worker, I've realized there are synergies between project management and community organizing,” says Christa Price, LMSW, TCF associate program director. “By connecting those dots, we have been able to formalize our strategic planning process and tailor resources and trainings to meet the needs of each community coalition we work with. By empowering communities to use project management tools and techniques, we're building systems to help youth move out of homelessness.”
PMIEF's partnership with TCF reflects a shared, staunch commitment to work both with and through others to improve people's lives. This includes surmounting challenges that create difficult circumstances for individuals by devising project management-rich solutions to them.
“Our small team has been able to accomplish so much because of support from PMIEF,” explains Joe Moran, PMP, TCF chief creative officer and chief of staff. “The project management training we received gave our team a strong foundation from which we were able to optimize our internal processes. We're now able to transfer this knowledge to communities across the country as they implement plans to prevent and end youth homelessness. The grant completely changed how we work as an organization.”
Visit pmief.org to view a special video message from Cyndi Lauper about how PMIEF's grant has helped TCF become project management-capable and to learn about the foundation's entire portfolio of PM Capable Nonprofit grants.
Events Calendar congresses | conferences | seminars | symposiums | e-Learning
PMI Today Deadlines:
AUGUST 2018..................................... 15 JUNE
SEPTEMBER 2018................................ 16 JULY
Free listings in the PMI Today® Events Calendar are reserved for activities organized by PMI, its communities and its cooperating organizations. For information on how to purchase a paid advertisement in this calendar, email [email protected]. Please see PMI's online Events Calendar at PMI.org/events/calendar for more events.
JUNE 2018
5–6 June
PMI Northern Alberta Chapter
PMINAC Conference 2018
Enoch, Alberta, Canada. PMINAC Conference 2018 is northern Alberta's premier event for project management practitioners. This year's theme is “Be Bold. Be Moved. Be the Change.” pminacconference.com.
6–7 June
PMI Philippines Chapter
2018 National Symposium on Project Management: Paths to Success
Mandaluyong, Philippines. The National Symposium on Project Management is the biggest annual event for project managers and practitioners in the Philippines. It is attended by project managers, executives and project team members as they come together as a community to discuss, network and elevate the practice of making projects successful. pmisymposium.ph.
22 June
PMI China
China PMO Symposium
Shanghai, China. The role of the project management office (PMO) in organizations continues to be a topic of great interest to project management practitioners in China. This event will bring together global and local PMO leaders and executives who oversee their organization's portfolio of projects, programs and strategic initiatives, to explore the potential of the PMO and its essential role in strategy implementation and value delivery. pmichina.org.
22–23 June
PMI Turkey Chapter
PM Summit 2018 Ankara
Ankara, Turkey. PM Summit 2018 Ankara is the most important gathering of project managers, CEOs, senior staff, leaders and project management futurist builders in Turkey. The summit's goal is to increase awareness of organizational learning—is learning a part of organizations' business styles, and do organizations have a learning strategy? Discover expert sessions, presentations, workshops, networking activities and more. pmi.org.tr.
SEPTEMBER 2018
9–11 September
PMI Chapters in Africa
2018 PMI Africa Conference
Port Louis, Mauritius. Hundreds of visionaries who manage Africa's projects will meet in September 2018 to build relationships and share ideas on how to harness the power of project management in building projects in one of the world's most diverse, resource-rich emerging markets—Africa! pmiafricaconference.com.
Interested in having a FREE PMI Today® event listing on this page? Please go to PMI.org/events/calendar and click on the link for submitting events. Your listing will be considered for both the PMI.org online calendar and the PMI Today calendar.
Live Webinars from ProjectManagement.com
As a valued member of the ProjectManagement.com community, you can access webinars that provide insight from the industry's most respected voices on the most relevant and important topics today—and earn PDUs.
6 June, 12:00 EST (UTC –4)
How an Award-Winning Project Stopped Nuclear Waste from Threatening the Environment
The Hanford Double Shell Tank AY-102 Recovery Project successfully transferred leaking nuclear waste into a double shell tank for safe storage with no safety issues, ahead of schedule, and US$8.7 million under budget. This project won the 2017 PMI Project of the Year Award. Presented by Lorelie Kaid, PMP, and Sebastien Guillot, PMP.
21 June, 3:00 p.m. EST (UTC –4)
Project HEADWAY: Why Does Technology Get in the Way?
Technology offers huge promise, and yet many technology implementations—particularly in the project management world—fail outright. Part of this is a result of technology shaping how we are forced to think about our projects. Explore a different way of approaching and adopting technology. Presented by Mark Mullaly, PhD, PMP.
For more information and to register, visit ProjectManagement.com/Webinars.
UPCOMING > PMI EVENTS
PMI® Global Conference
Los Angeles, California, USA 6–8 October 2018
PMI.org/global-conference
PMO Symposium® 2018
Washington, D.C., USA 11–14 November 2018
PMI.org/pmo-symposium
24–27 September
PMI Minnesota Chapter
Professional Development Days 2018
St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. This is our chapter's signature four-day conference for all project professionals. In 2018, we are excited to be celebrating 25 years of continuous PDD excellence! We will offer three days of professional courses and a one-day multitrack selection of 25 or more one-hour sessions. pmi-mn.org.
OCTOBER 2018
12–13 October
PMI India/PMI North India Chapter
PMI India National Conference
New Delhi, India. The 2018 Project Management National Conference is the place for you to realize how challenges can turn into opportunities. This mega gathering, in its tenth year, could not have a better theme than “India in 2022—Leading in a Globally Disruptive Market,” where you can discuss, share, be inspired and gear up for the transformation that we are all part of. pmi.org.in/pmnc18.
NOVEMBER 2018
3–4 November
2018 PMI MENA Conference
Kuwait City, Kuwait (3 November) and Manama, Bahrain (4 November). Many international speakers will share the latest in topics ranging from project excellence to strategic PMOs to business analysis, and much more—a unique learning and networking opportunity. pmimenaconference.org.
12 November
PMI German Chapters/PMI Southern Germany Chapter
PM Summit 2018
Munich, Germany. The PM Summit is one of the biggest project management events in Germany. The theme this year is “The Human Success Factor in Projects.” pm-summit.de.
SeminarsWorld® Events
Leading subject matter experts share their experience and deep knowledge on a variety of topics. Whether you are looking to build your leadership skills, work on soft skills such as communications and collaboration or delve deeper into agile, these events provide unique opportunities to learn and connect with the project management community.
Learn more about SeminarsWorld courses being held in these locations and throughout the world. Use PMI's search tool for project management training matched to your specific needs. Visit learning.PMI.org.
25–28 June
Mega SeminarsWorld Orlando, Florida, USA
30 July–2 August
Portland, Oregon, USA
6–9 August
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
27–30 August
Washington, D.C., USA
24–27 September
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
2–5 and 9–10 October
Los Angeles, California, USA
Chapters in Brazil Assist Tunisia Chapter in Junior Enterprise Event
Junior Enterprise is a nonprofit organization entirely executed by students, as part of their education. The first Junior Enterprise was held in France in 1987. The Brazilian Confederation of Junior Enterprises was founded in 2003 and The Tunisian Confederation of Junior Enterprises was created in 2012.
An organization called GPjr—Project Management for Junior Enterprises—has operated since 2015 in partnership with PMI chapters in Brazil. The goal is to bring good project management practices to junior entrepreneurs.
Over the course of three years, about a thousand participants attended 13 events.
The first GPjr was a pilot project in Brasilia—120 junior entrepreneurs attended the event, which had the support of the PMI Brazil, Distrito Federal Chapter. Among the topics covered were A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) and agile approaches.
The goal of this program is very simple and effective: The students do not know how to manage projects, even though they have projects and programs to deliver. Usually, they do not learn project management skills and practices at university. So the partnership with PMI aims to offer the students knowledge regarding good practices. PMI gains visibility with the young generation that will be in the market soon, mostly as entrepreneurs but also as professionals in general.
All photos other than those labeled GPjr Tunisia show GPjr activities in Brazil.
GPjr has now become international. On 10 February, the first international GPjr was held in the city of Sousse, Tunisia, and brought together African junior entrepreneurs. The event was a partnership with PMI Tunisia Chapter.
In the event, people shared success stories, as well as processes and good practices in project management. It was approximately 10 hours of knowledge sharing, with lectures and workshops.
PMI Tunisia President Lotfi Trigui, PMP, and Chapter Vice President Administration Saida Njim, PMP, took part in the event, which included a keynote session and an agile workshop. Recently, they were contacted by the Eniso Junior Enterprise to plan for a second agile workshop.
This partnership paved the way to a second overarching partnership with the National Confederation of Junior Enterprises at the country level, which will allow the PMI Tunisia Chapter to raise awareness of PMI standards and of the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® certification that is aimed mainly to students and entry-level professionals.
GPjr Tunisia
GPjr Tunisia
For more information about GPjr, email [email protected] or visit gpjr.com.br.
Chapter Links news | people | projects
PMI Singapore Chapter pmi.org.sg
Chapter Presents Awards, Hears Senior Minister
Nearly 300 project professionals from more than 180 companies participated in the PMI Singapore Chapter's fourth project of the year awards ceremony.
The awards program honored outstanding completed Singapore projects in the categories of business and information systems, and engineering and construction. The program was backed up by 21 judges and evaluation panel members, which included senior executives and professors.
The chapter was proud to have Indranee Rajah, senior minister of state for law and finance, Republic of Singapore, as its distinguished guest of honor. Ms. Rajah noted that the chapter has been a crucial partner in promoting project management in Singapore.
In her talk, Ms. Rajah also covered the impact of technology disruption in the engineering services industry, how rising urbanization presents new opportunities in Asia Pacific and evolving opportunities coming from industry transformation.
Prior to the awards ceremony, Ms. Rajah had a dialog on the importance of project management in the engineering services sector with senior leaders from large engineering companies and the chapter.
For more information on the awards and to find out who the winners were, please visit PMI.org.sg/poy-2017-18-overview.
Dialog on project management in the engineering services sector.
Indranee Rajah, senior minister of state for law and finance, Republic of Singapore.
PMI Delaware Valley Chapter pmi-dvc.org
Event Helps Military Personnel and Veterans Learn About PMI
By Harris Snyder, PMP, Military Outreach Director
Since 2016, the PMI Delaware Valley Chapter (PMI DVC) has actively supported PMI's mission to engage with active-duty and veteran U.S. military personnel who are interested in both project management and learning about PMI. In the past, PMI DVC has provided to interested individuals mentoring and guidance related to both PMI and the military benefits offered by PMI.
Brendan Davis, PMP, director of volunteers (rear, left) and Frank McKeown, PMP, vice president of programs, talk to an event attendee.
In 2017, a small team from PMI DVC went to Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, USA to present to a group of 15 active-duty Air Force officers and enlisted personnel information related to PMI's military outreach initiatives. Face-to-face interaction between PMI and military members is an effective method for generating interest in project management and what PMI has to offer.
On 7 April 2018, PMI DVC continued its outreach efforts by attending Veterans Appreciation Day at Horsham Air Guard Station in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, USA. This event was sponsored by the Retiree Activities Office of the 111th Attack Wing of the Air National Guard, which is stationed there. PMI DVC's team consisted of Frank McKeown, PMP, vice president of programs; Brendan Davis, PMP, director of volunteers; and Harris Snyder, PMP, director of military outreach. PMI DVC's invitation was arranged by Mr. McKeown, who previously retired from the 111th but was still active with the group.
The purpose of Veterans Appreciation Day was to make available to veteran and active-duty Air Guardsman a variety of information about services and benefits available following retirement from the military. Both retirees and active duty personnel were in attendance. Many of these individuals are candidates to continue careers after military retirement, and some of these individuals are or were performing project management duties without realizing it. Therefore, it was a good fit to have the chapter's presence to help these individuals realize that becoming involved with PMI is advantageous.
The PMI-DVC team had a table in a well-trafficked area just outside of the main presentation room and was present for the entire duration of the event. The team had the opportunity to provide literature and talk directly to event attendees not only about PMI in general, but about some of the valuable benefits specifically available to veterans.
Because this weekend was a duty weekend for the Air Guard at the base, the PMI-DVC team was able to also talk to individuals not associated with the event but who were themselves interested in PMI. Summing up PMI DVC's desire to perform military outreach, Mr. Davis said, “Hosting a table at veteran events is a helpful introduction to our chapter as well as to veterans and their families. It lets me understand what they may be looking for, and helps frame my summary of what PMI could offer them.”