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*allPM Co-publisher, Judy Umlas
*From the Co-publisher's
Desk, Frank Saladis, PMP
*Project Management Events
*allPM September Poll Results
*Project
Management Poetry
*Feature:Top Ten Practical Tips in MS
Project 2000, by Eric Uyttewaal, PMP
*Column:
Portfolio Management for IT Projects, by Frank Saladis, PMP
*Column: Health is Not The Absense
of Disease, by Dr. David Hillson PMP FAPM
*Column:
Managing Change on Difficult Projects: A Case Study, by Alfonso Bucero,
PMP
*Column: Show Me The Value: Improving
Project Visibility Using a Web-based Portal, by Dan Patterson
*Column: The Business Value of a
Unified PM Methodology, By George Pitagorsky, PMP
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allPM
Newsletter Co-publisher, Judy Umlas
 If you ask most people what "portfolio management"
is, they will probably tell you that it's the management of
one's financial portfolio assets (i.e., funds) on a fee or commission
basis by professionals who have the authority to make investment
decisions. They derive their fees based on the size and performance
of the portfolio. In the field of project management, portfolio
management has a different connotation, but can have similar
affects on the bottom line. Therefore, we thought it useful
to devote October's daily PM Tips to this important subject.
Tips Editor Linda Kretz Zaval, PMP writes on the allPM.com
home page, "Are you having difficulty aligning people,
projects and organizational priorities? Are you wasting resource
effort on work that adds no business value? Portfolio Management
enables project selection and prioritization, with the ultimate
goal of sustaining a steady flow of new projects that optimizes
corporate strategy.” This month Linda has been providing
critical advice, strategies, tools and templates that can help
you maximize your success with your project portfolio management
initiatives. Please take advantage of all this useful information
- "tune in” to allPM.com on a daily basis!
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This month we are launching
an exciting new column by "Dr. Risk”, (aka Dr.
David Hillson, international risk expert) called the
Risk Doctor Briefing series. We all know risk management
is important, at least in theory. But somehow the reality
doesn't seem to match the theory, and risks just keep happening.
Wouldn't it be great to have expert advice on how to make
risk management work in practice? Or to get insights from
the leading-edge on where risk management is going and what
the trends and hot topics will be? |
The Risk Doctor Briefing series offers
just such advice. Regular briefings from Dr. David Hillson combine
leading-edge thinking with practical application, offering unique
insights to demystify the world of risk management. Covering
current topics and common problems, each briefing tackles one
essential issue in a way that makes sense to the hard-pressed
project manager or team member. Learn from the expert as the
Risk Doctor offers effective steps for diagnosis, prevention
and cure. Keep taking the prescription to ensure health for
your business and projects. And find out what lifestyle changes
you need to make to stay healthy! The first "briefing”
- Health is not the Absence of Disease” is in this newsletter.
So take two aspirins, call me in the morning and give me your
feedback on it!
In this edition of allPM Today, we also
have some thought-provoking articles, for example, one on ”The
Business Value of Embracing a Unified PM Methodology”,
by George Pitagorsky, PMP. In the article, he addresses the
best way to manage the organizational change required to implement
common PM standards and procedures that make up a PM methodology.
We also have an excellent article by Alfonso Bucero, PMP called
"Managing Change on Difficult Projects: A Case Study.”
This article describes a process of leading change that was
necessary in Caja Granada, a Spanish banking company, in order
to reduce resistance to change and to take advantage of favorable
existing conditions. We are really proud of our global perspective
on project management issues, and this is an example of it.
Since allPM.com members come from 90 different countries (isn't
that great?!), please submit your ideas for articles on PM issues,
best practices or lessons learned in some of those places. We
would love to learn about them. And speaking of submitting articles,
we could really use some on the subject of PM in government.
allPM.com is forming an alliance with PMI®'s GovSIG and
we want to engage SIG members from the getgo! Hopefully you
will be hearing from some of them with their best practices
and interesting case studies as time goes by.
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A bouquet of flowers and
congratulations to the people who wrote to tell me they
had become PMP's as a result of my request last month when
the theme for the PM Tips of the Day was PMP Certification.
Those who wrote to me (and I know there are more of you
out there who have recently become PMP's) said such nice
things about allPM.com, that with their permission, I am
including the comments with their names. Click
here to read them. |
Dr. Jovica Riznic, an allPM.com member
and engineer at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, has
updated us on the Student Forum 2003 in Project Management that
is taking place at Project World in Ottawa, Canada this week.
There are seven finalists who have submitted PM White Papers,
and allPM.com and IIL are sponsoring the contest in which two
papers will be selected as winners. In addition to giving valuable
prizes such as Dr. Kerzner's autographed textbook, allPM.com
will also publish the two winning papers in our newsletter.
We are happy and proud to encourage the next generation of project
managers!
Last but not least, here is a "sneak
preview" of Frank Saladis, PMP's leadership webinar series.
This link
is actually to the presentation he made at the PMI Global Congress
in front of a standing room only session that many said was
the best of the entire conference. We promised many people there
that we would be posting the slides he used on allPM.com, so
now all of you can enjoy it. We hope you will be participating
in the four part Leadership webinar series produced by International
Institute for Learning (IIL) that will start in January, with
Frank as presenter. Frank's presentation to PMI will give you
a "taste" of the topics he will cover. And yes, Frank
is thinking about performing (live) his Project Management Blues
song for those who participate in the webinar series.
So on this glorious, crisp, colorful
New York fall day, I hope you will all enjoy and profit from
everything that is in your life's portfolio, and manage it all
- perhaps with a little help from allPM.com - exceedingly well!
Have a great rest of the month!
Judy Umlas
Judy.Umlas@allPM.com
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From the Co-publisher's Desk- Frank
P. Saladis, PMP
 "I need to get
organized!" How many times have you said that to yourself
or overheard someone in the next cubicle saying the same thing?
Many of us are on a continuous journey to "get our lives
and our work under control." We file things a certain way
that works for us. We organize our clothing to get at our favorite
items. We set up folders in our laptop computers to organize
our documents and essential information and we arrange our personal
libraries at home to easily reach for our favorite book, video
tape, CD, or DVD. If you think about it, it's just portfolio
management. We have different portfolios for different items
and we organize them in such as way that we can clearly see
what we have and can get at the most important items quickly.
Some of us are better at this than others but overall, most
of us practice some type of portfolio management. It's not just
limited to our finances and investments.
The concept is relatively the same when
it comes to project management. We look at new projects, existing
projects, projects recently completed and projects that are
on hold or in trouble. In this issue of allPM Today we focus
on the importance of project portfolio management and how to
keep our projects organized. Linda Kretz Zaval provides us with
tips about project selection, prioritization and alignment of
resources. These are essential items for project executives
who need to be informed about projects going through the decision
pipeline to ensure they make "informed" decisions
about projects. Portfolio management is also a key ingredient
of Risk Management as discussed by Dr. David Hillson the "Risk
Doctor." The relationships between projects, their dependencies,
and the allocation of critical resources displayed through portfolio
management provide an excellent mechanism for more effective
risk assessment and response planning.
I am sure you will agree that allPM.com
has become a knowledge portfolio in itself. From articles to
templates to tips and tools it continues to grow as new authors
and subject matter are added. allPM.com provides you with a
wide range of information and expertise organized for immediate
access, just like a portfolio should. The profession of project
management continues to evolve and allPM.com will keep you up
to date on the latest trends, hot topics, and essential tools
to help ensure successful project implementation.
Frank P. Saladis, PMP
Frank.Saladis@allpm.com
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Partial Listing of Upcoming Project
Management Events
For a complete listing of events, or to add your own
event for free, please visit the Online Calendar at
allPM.com
PROJECTWORLD OTTAWA
October 20, 2003
http://www.projectworldcanada.com/
Project Estimating and Scheduling
in New York, NY
October 22, 2003
http://www.iil.com/str_link_all_results.asp?select_cartid=361
Project Management Certification
Program in Baltimore, MD
October 27, 2003
http://www.iil.com/certification_programs/certification_programs.asp
PMI METROLINA CHAPTER JOB FAIR
November 10, 2003
www.pmi-metrolina.com/skillfest2003.html
Project Management Fundamentals
Class in Cincinnati, OH
November 17, 2003
http://www.iil.com/str_link_all_results.asp?select_cartid=389
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September
Poll Results
Are you planning on becoming a PMP within the next 12
months?
A. Yes 60.00 % (66)
B. No 8.18 % (9)
C. I am already a PMP 31.82 % (35)
Total votes: 110
************
October's poll question is:
The greatest benefit of attending a convention to me
is
A. Gaining contacts
B. Education
C. Getting out of the office
D. Finding new resources
If you have not already done
so, please stop by allPM.com and add
your opinion today.
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Feature: Project
Management Poetry
A PM limerick written by:
Dr. David Hillson
There was a young PM called Schmidt
Who thought managing risk was no hit.
He said "I have no fear
For there are no risks here."
But he ended up knee-deep in trouble.
Dr. David Hillson PMP FAPM FIRM MCMI
is an international risk management consultant, and
Director of Risk Doctor & Partners (www.risk-doctor.com).
His specialty is risk technology transfer, assisting
organizations to develop in-house risk processes, and
he is a popular conference speaker and author on risk,
winning several awards for his papers.
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allPM Today Tips Feature
Top Ten Practical Tips in MS Project 2000, by Eric Uyttewaal,
PMP
Tip # 1
If you set an SS-dependency between two tasks, your
schedule may not be as flexible as it could be. For
example, you set an SS+2d dependency between "construct
drywalls" and "do electric wiring" to
make sure that the electricians start two days after
the carpenters started. However, when the drywalls take
longer, the wiring will also take longer. The SS-dependency
does not cause this to happen. To make it happen you
could set an FF dependency between the two tasks as
well, if only MS Project allowed more than one dependency
between two tasks. You may have to insert an extra milestone
"walls ready" with FF-dependencies from "construct
drywalls" over "walls ready" to "do
electric wiring". The combination of an SS-dependency
with an (indirect) FF-dependency, keeps the model valid
in most progress situations. This technique can be used
whenever you need two tasks scheduled more or less in
parallel.
SUBMITTED TO MPUG, August
2001
Eric Uyttewaal
(BS, Engineering; MS, Business Administration; PMP)
is Director, Microsoft Project Certificaton, International
Institute for Learning, Inc and author of "Dynamic Scheduling
with Microsoft Project ® 2000." This tip appeared in
the 3/2001 MPUG eZine.
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Column: Portfolio Management for
IT Projects
Written by: Frank Saladis, PMP
A major challenge faced by IT project
and program managers and in many cases the CIO or IT
director is the effort required to establish a method
for selecting, tracking, and controlling the projects
within or assigned to the IT organization. Projects
are started for lots of reasons. There are business
needs, strategic goals, performance improvement objectives,
new business ventures, internal infrastructure enhancements
and many more reasons. The problem is that sometimes
organizations lose track of the projects in progress
and in many cases, the justification behind a project
is forgotten.
Frank P. Saladis (PMP)
is Senior Consultant with International Institute for
Learning, Inc. He has been involved in the development
of standardized Project Management Guidelines (PMGs)
for the AT&T Corporate Information Technology Services
(Corporate ITS) organization and is the author of the
Project Evaluation Review Process (PERP). He is the
former President of the NYC PMI Chapter.
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Column: HEALTH IS NOT THE
ABSENCE OF DISEASE
Written by: Dr. David
Hillson PMP FAPM
There is currently a hot debate
about what the term "risk" really means, and
whether it is always and only about negative things.
The traditional position is to define risk as "an
uncertainty that could have an adverse effect leading
to loss, harm or damage". This has influenced the
scope of the risk management process, which aims to
avoid or minimize potential problems by acting proactively.
Indeed traditional risk management has been very successful
in this aim, and it is now seen as a major contributor
towards achieving project and business objectives.
Dr. David Hillson PMP FAPM
FIRM MCMI is an international risk management
consultant, and Director of Risk Doctor & Partners
(www.risk-doctor.com).
His specialty is risk technology transfer, assisting
organizations to develop in-house risk processes, and
he is a popular conference speaker and author on risk,
winning several awards for his papers. He is recognized
internationally as a leading thinker and practitioner
in risk management, and his recent emphasis has been
the inclusion of proactive opportunity management within
the risk process, which is the topic of his latest book
"Effective opportunity management : Exploiting
positive risk", published in 2003 by Dekker
of New York.
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Column: MANAGING CHANGE ON DIFFICULT PROJECTS:
A CASE STUDY
Written by: Alfonso Bucero, PMP
Keeping a company, in this case
a banking company, among the leaders in the market depends
on the capacity to change behaviors, skills, structures
and processes. It becomes important for people to exchange
information regarding the process of change and have
that information accepted as valid.
This article describes a process of leading change that
was necessary in Caja Granada, a Spanish banking company,
in order to reduce resistance to change and to take
advantage of favorable existing conditions. Every change
is traumatic by itself; this project required effort
from everybody in the organization. Some individuals
responded well; many others resisted efforts to change
their behavior.
Alfonso Bucero, PMP, is Managing Director
at IIL Spain, he has been Senior Project Manager at
Hewlett-Packard Spain in Madrid office during thirteen
years. He is a PMI member, belongs to the Spanish Professional
associations (AEPM (Asociación Española
de Project Management), ALI (Asociación de Licenciados,
Ingenieros y Doctores en Informática), AEIPRO
(member of IPMA) and he is an Advisor of DINTEL (Spanish
Association). Alfonso has a Computer Science Engineer
Degree from Politechnical University (Madrid), plus
18 years of experience in the field of project management
around the world, managing projects in Spain, Italy
and Portugal and he was a team member of all the HP
Corporate Project Management Initiatives.
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Column: Show Me The Value: Improving
Project Visibility Using a Web-based Portal
Written by: Dan Patterson
If your organization is like most,
you are facing an escalating number of projects with
ever-tighter deadlines. Many of those projects are increasing
in complexity and some may be managed by geographically
dispersed teams. And now, more than ever, real-time
project information needs to be shared with a larger
number of people, possibly including stakeholders outside
the organization.
Dan Patterson is product manager of
WelcomHome, Welcom's Web-based collaboration tool, and
has more than nine years of project management experience.
His specific areas of expertise and interest include
Web-based project management applications, construction
planning and control, and the use of Artificial Intelligence
for planning.
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Column:
The Business Value of a Unified PM Methodology
Written by: George Pitagorsky, PMP
What is the value to an organization
of embracing a common project management (PM) approach?
Why is a common process and methodology an essential
part of PM improvement? What is the best way to manage
the organizational change required to implement common
PM standards and procedures that make up a PM methodology?
Projects Are Mission Critical
Project management is a mission critical process. A
PM methodology is a means to improve performance. It
is a recognized priority in organizations as diverse
as US government agencies, financial service organizations,
pharmaceutical firms, global manufacturers, and contractors
in virtually every industry.
George Pitagorsky, PMP is
the Senoir Vice President Program Development
at International Institute for Learning. He
specializes in project management, information technology,
productivity and quality improvement, systems requirements
and organizational change management. He is listed in
Who's Who as an expert in Quality Operations & Quality
Improvement, and is the author of IIL's IT Project Management
System, and developer of IIL's
PM BASICS (TM).
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