asapm Builds Change Agents (this post stays on top)
PM Commentary by Stacy Goff, asapm President.
asapm builds the Change Agents of tomorrow. Why do we say this? Because we have, we can, and we do!
With members ranging from young Project Managers to the experienced thought leaders of PM practice, we cover the gamut in experience. Our thrust is to improve the Performance Competence, and therefore the results, of Program and Project Managers, our initiatives, our stakeholders, and our organizations.
Our Certification Program, based on IPMA’s 4-L-C, Four-Level Certification program, is the envy of those who desire PM Certifications that use advanced assessments to verify Competence as the centerpiece of your PM Practice.
Our Competence Enabler program promotes PM Vendors who demonstrate the ability to contribute to the PM Performance of others. If you want better results, talk to our asapm Competence Enablers! Some even help PM consultants and other PM providers, helping them all to improve PM Performance.
About IPMA: International Project Management Association, the World’s first PM association, is a federation of National Associations, that serve locally, and collaborate globally. Our certifications and other offerings are recognized in over 50 other countries around the World, because asapm is IPMA-USA.
Horse Racing and Project Team Parallels
PM Commentary by Stacy Goff, asapm President, IPMA VP.
Saturday’s (May 18, 2013) excitement in the USA’s Preakness Derby horse race made me think of the parallels between the players in the horse-racing “sport,” and in successful projects. Each player fills an essential role in both cases, but it is the integration of all the roles that makes for success. And still, unanticipated events can cause even a “sure thing” to fail. I am not a horse racing enthusiast, but will admit to being drawn in this year (2013) to the hopes of the latest “Triple Crown” contender (a horse winning all of the big three racing events).
Horse Racing Roles
It is the Horse that wins the race, right? Well, not so fast (so to speak). A fast horse, in most cases, is a key to success, but the Jockey has a key role as well. That role includes deep understanding and communication with the horse, plus the in-race tactics that require instantaneous judgements when situations change.
This weekend, when Orb, the “sure bet,” Kentucky Derby-winning horse was hemmed in at the rail, neither he nor his jockey could navigate to the outside, where he could regain his stride. Even the most talented jockey and a stellar horse cannot always assure success.
Of course, the Owner also has a key role in success, ranging from establishing a winning strategy, buying or breeding a horse with potential, providing the best-possible training and preparation, making the key decisions about how to lead up to the main events (often applying their own experience, and also seeking and acting upon the advice of others). And of course, celebrating the win, and collecting the winnings; or, accepting defeat, when it occurs, and learning lessons to apply in later events.
And what about the Horse Trainer? What is his or her role in this adventure of horse racing? Clearly, the trainers are another key to success–in the weeks leading up to this race we heard as much about the trainers, their opinions and their approaches, as about the horses, and more about both than the jockeys or owners. But the winning team is the one that has high competence in all four roles–plus the luck of the draw–needed to become winners. (more…)
Declare Victory, and Take the Weekend Off
PM Commentary by Stacy Goff, asapm President, IPMA VP.
Is it time now, to “Declare Victory, and Take the Weekend Off?” You’ll have to read more than this article’s “teaser” to find out.
The Backstory
We founded asapm in 2001 with a vision of accelerating the advancement of the project and program management (PM) discipline for beneficial change in organizations, the USA, and the world. But first we had to reverse a downward trend.
Our founders——many of whom had key roles in the success of other professional associations——believed that PM had not kept pace with the increased complexity of initiatives. Despite the heroic efforts of PM thought leaders like Lew Ireland, William Duncan, Bob Youker, and others, during the 1990s the momentum of beneficial change through PM had dramatically slowed and showed few signs of regaining traction. And so these same people met to share their insights about the symptoms and causes of the downward trend, and about how to regain momentum.
Downward or Upward? The Insights
Our asapm founders collected their insights into seven areas that needed serious attention to halt the downward trend and begin its upward acceleration. The areas (numbered here for easier referencing; no ranking implied) are:
- Author ownership of PM intellectual property
- Learning focused on improving PM performance
- Demonstrating PM performance
- Improving communication with stakeholders
- Improving integration and coordination across PM-related groups
- Managing projects to fulfill business objectives and deliver business success
- Establishing PM as a core, life competence
Some of the areas required redirecting the practice of PM in general. Some required establishing ways to demonstrate and measure PM performance and business value. Some areas would be easier to measure than others. And some areas would require a seismic shift in thoughts and acts about who we serve and why.
How are We Doing?
1. Author ownership of PM intellectual property.
Then: People who created intellectual property were often relinquishing their copyrights and then licensing back the rights to use it. This was good for the associations, event organizers, and their lawyers; and not so good for the creators.
Now: This was a big win so long ago that most people don’t remember the challenges we overcame. At asapm, we believe the creators of intellectual property should retain their rights to it. When we publish your paper or you present at our events, you retain the rights to your intellectual property—unless you enter into an agreement to assign those rights to asapm. Interestingly, other associations are now more-0ften following that intelligent approach. (more…)
Navigating the S’s in Our Projects
PM Commentary by Stacy Goff, asapm President, IPMA VP.
I recall from my days of Sports Car racing in the 1970s the importance of aggressively, yet smoothly, navigating “the Esses.” These were the sections of the racetrack with a series of somewhat gentle left and right turns–such that, if you looked at them from above, looked like
several repeated capital letter S’s, laid down. The other competences of racing included preparation, apexing correctly, mastering the braking and acceleration points, all while maintaining steely focus and concentration, and strategic competitiveness. But even with all that, one’s performances through the Esses often made the difference between winning and losing. The reason: This is where the most-competent drivers gain the most speed.
The analogy is similar in projects. In projects, the Esses, or S’s, as shown in the title, include: Stakeholders, Sponsors, Sustainability and Success. And just as in racing, these appear to be gentle curves that the project throws at you—but competent and performing project managers know they are far more than that. They are the places where you can achieve the most project momentum.
Project Stakeholders
Everyone knows that Stakeholders are important in projects, yet too many project teams do a poor job of aligning with them, understanding their needs, and delivering to them. This is of recent interest for some, as the new ISO Standard for project management, 21,500, adds Stakeholders as one of the key Subject Groups. And, the PMBOK® Guide’s 2013 release also now includes Stakeholder Management as a knowledge area. Of course, many of us have long recognized Stakeholder savvy to include knowledge, skill, competence and a key performance area. This insight has been key to project success for decades. (more…)
Speaking Naked — Without PowerPoint
PM Commentary by Stacy Goff, asapm President, IPMA VP.
The title of this article is a reference to a 1988 book I read as I began doing more public speaking engagements, in addition to teaching project management workshops. The book, “I Can See You Naked, A Fearless Guide to Making Great Presentations,” by Ron Hoff, was first published about the same time as the first release of PowerPoint. The book was insightful, easy and fun to read, and filled with great insights. Still an excellent book, the 1992 edition remains available for bargain prices on Amazon.com. We do suggest that you stay away from the $499.97 offers.
But the purpose of this article is not to promote the book, but to acknowledge the challenges involved in reducing OPD, Overwhelming PowerPoint Dependency, in speeches and public presentations. By the way, this is not a diatribe against PowerPoint; used correctly, it remains a very useful tool. But this year there were at least three occasions where I did not have the convenience of using PowerPoint and its projected images. I had to Speak Naked–Without PowerPoint. Those occasions include Lew Ireland’s funeral, the Helsinki PMAF Congress, and my own Father’s funeral. Below are my insights from each.
Lew Ireland’s Funeral
asapm was represented at co-founder and past President Lew Ireland’s funeral last Spring by John Colville and myself. It was clear that Lew’s neighbors, friends and some of his family had little idea of the massive contributions Lew has made, over a 30+ year period, to the practice of professional project management. So we included the testimonies of people from all over the world in Lew’s Eulogy. (more…)
Dinner Speech at PMAF Congress, Helsinki, part 2
PM Commentary by Stacy Goff, asapm President, IPMA VP.
We suggest that you begin with Part 1 of this post, a summary of points made at the Dinner meeting of the PMAF (Project Management Association Finland) national congress.
3. Highlights of IPMA Services and Product
The IPMA Competence Baseline, ICB, is the foundation for advanced application of the practice of project management. It is our profession’s key to moving beyond tested knowledge, to demonstrate competence and business results. And it uniquely focuses not just on technical aspects of project management, but the essential interpersonal skills and contextual savvy it takes to achieve project success.
That said, our 4-L-C, advanced Four-Level Certification system, assesses and recognizes the demonstrated competences at increasingly higher levels or roles, from Certified Project Manager, to Certified Senior Project Manager, Program Manager, Senior Program Manager and Projects Director (depending on the member association—not all certify all levels).
While recognizing individuals who produce results is smart, we don’t stop there. Successful project teams are the most valuable talent in any project oriented organization, and our Project Excellence Awards program recognizes the world’s most effective project teams. Participating in a rigorous evaluation, where independent, professional assessors evaluate both PM processes and business results, successful teams can benchmark their performance against other winners, and further improve their results.
At the overall organization level, IPMA Delta offers the unique opportunity to assess the strengths and areas for improvement of the entire organization. This helps Member Associations to grow stronger relationships with their corporate members, and attract new ones, as they see the value in smarter use of their performance improvement funds. And, IPMA Delta helps participating enterprises in their marketing, offering a unique certification of the enterprise’s level of project maturity. (more…)
Dinner Speech at PMAF Congress, Helsinki, part 1
PM Commentary by Stacy Goff, asapm President, IPMA VP.
In November, we traveled to Helsinki, Finland, to represent IPMA, International Project Management Association, to “wave our flag,” at the PMAF (Project Management Association Finland) national congress. Leveraging our presence, hosts Heikki Lonka, President, Jouko Vaskimo, Certification Chair, and Jyry Louhisto, General Manager, signed us up for meetings with their organizational and certification leadership teams, added two presentations, two panel sessions, and the most challenging one, a dinner meeting presentation that was to address six areas of interest to PMAF members.
Most dinner meeting participants are usually more interested in visiting with friends they have not seen for months or longer, rather than listening to some dignitary from afar, droning on about topics of little interest. But Jyry was adamant that it was important to “wave the IPMA flag,” so we accommodated him. PMAF expected around 250 people for this dinner meeting, and there was to be no projector, and no Powerpoint slides. Naked-mic speaking, as it were!
The Topics
The topics to address were:
- IPMA’s basic principles
- The role of IPMA in support of member associations such as PMAF
- Highlights of IPMA’s services and products
- The importance of international networks to PMAF and its members
- PMAF’s role in the IPMA Family network
- What IPMA would like to be in the future
An interesting list of topics, and when asked how much time to take, Jyry said 15 minutes. A lot of ground to cover in a short time! To prepare, we used asapm co-founder Lew Ireland’s technique of posting the key thoughts on a series of note cards. Reviewing the notes afterwards, we realized that, while targeted for Project Management Association of Finland, most of the comments are accurate and useful for our other Member Associations in the IPMA Family—including asapm, IPMA-USA.
So you now have the benefit of a second helping of the starter course for the November 2012 PMAF dinner presentation (an excellent meal, by the way). (more…)
The Importance of Eye Contact In Web Meetings
PM Commentary by Stacy Goff, asapm President, IPMA VP.
This year I have done even more webinars and webconferences than in years past. And that is significant, because I have been using these web technologies since 1996. And, as others begin to use these technologies, I observe that some intuitively use them correctly, and some do not. One big example of correct is the challenge of keeping at least occasional eye contact with others.
This question of eye contact is a challenge, because our natural tendency in a web meeting is to watch the other participants on our monitor. But the larger your monitor (or the more monitors you use), the less likely it is that you are maintaining eye contact. We have participated in quite a few meetings where we saw more of the tops of peoples’ heads than their eyes. Why? Because they are looking primarily at the other participants on their monitors, and seldom at the camera.
Why Do We Care?
This sure seems like an obscure topic, doesn’t it? Dear reader must think this is a slow Summer day, with no inspiring Change Agent topics to discuss. Au Contraire! This is an essential topic if you wish to establish trust, communication and credibility in webconferences or webinars. This is especially important with the significant increase in virtual projects, webconferences, and live and prerecorded webinars, that are taking market share from in-person meetings and classes. (more…)
Project Managers: Playing Nice With Others
PM Commentary by Stacy Goff, asapm President, IPMA VP.
Project managers operate in many different contexts, ranging from operational companies with few projects, to project oriented enterprises. Competent and performing project managers not only respect and serve our context, but also manage to get the context–including the permanent organization, to work for us.
One secret to accomplishing that feat–for the permanent organization to work for us—is to look at our efforts and relationships from Executives’ and Managers’ point of view, instead of just a project view. In this article, we will explore facets of those and other views.
The Executive View
Executives view projects and programs as part of their portfolio. Perhaps just a minor part, in some cases; major in others. And from an Executive viewpoint, there are many different disciplines involved with these initiatives. In addition to the Functional Managers, who own the business area, manage much of the talent, and measure the benefits, there are quite a few other players involved with our initiatives, including… (more…)
Do You Manage the Leading or Lagging Factors?
PM Commentary by Stacy Goff, asapm President, IPMA VP.
We have just returned from the outstanding-as-usual 2012 Resource Planning Summit, organized by the irrepressible Dick Rutledge, dean of the PM-related conference providers. Only a few others operate at the same level of excellence. One of the key differentiators of Rutledge’s events is his ruthless demands of his speakers for audience take-aways and truly new ideas, as opposed to retreads of tired themes. And this time, we experienced those demands first-hand, as we were a presenter–our first opportunity in the four events we have supported.
Our presentation, Tip of the Iceberg: Managing the Entire ‘berg Improves PM Performance, was developed for this audience of key managers and enterprise leaders. The presentation looked at project and program decision-making from the perspective of top Executives–the tip of the iceberg, as it were. And we identified key practices that Managers in the Middle follow when they add clear value for their executives, their project teams and their organizations.
We asserted, as we did in our 2005 article, Project Levers and Gauges, that the most-effective project and program managers don’t just provide lagging data, they also provide leading information. And, we have carried the theme further, pointing out that this leading information is a well-kept secret of the most effective managers of project managers.
But, let’s start with the background. Many are familiar with the old misconceptions of project management, illustrated by the Triple Constraint, the Iron or Golden Triangle, or some other name. It often includes Time, Cost and Scope. Sometimes Quality is there instead of Scope. Sometimes Performance is the third parameter, which might include Quality and Scope. So far, so good; but why do we call this a misconception in project management? (more…)
A Nuclear Challenge; Guest Post by Glenn Williams
We spotted this article at a popular website, TheStreet.com. It is not accessible to most, because it is part of a paid subscription service, RealMoney. Because we liked it so much, we sought, and received permission to reprint the article, with credit. Why were we so impressed with this analysis by author Glenn Williams?
First, we have experience in Program and Project Management (PPM) in the Nuclear industry, and we continue to follow it. Second, although the article is a financial analysis, it demonstrates great insights, in estimating, in research, and analysis, in a complex subject. Third, Mr. Williams demonstrates the type of professional PPM competence that every Executive should be able to depend upon for advice in strategic decisions. Thank you Glenn, for being such a great example!
And Now, the Article
With license in hand, Southern (SO) is ready to build the [USA] nation’s first generation-III nuclear power plant. While this does not signal any nuclear renaissance, it does provide the nation with badly needed generation. The challenge will be for Southern to build Plant Vogtle’s additions on time and on schedule.
The reality is that cost and schedule will be difficult to achieve. In fact, the probability that Southern’s two 1,154-megawatt units will be operating by 2016/2017 and will have a final cost of $14 billion is about zero. Of course, the best available estimate is being used to forecast the project’s outcome. History has taught us 110 times before, however, that utility estimates for nuclear power plants include dozens of assumptions.
If one of those assumptions is wrong, the estimate is wrong. Remember, the Vogtle project is an attempt to build a first-of-its-kind nuclear power plant.
The question is how far off are Southern’s estimates? The answer is nobody knows. And, if anyone claims they know, they’re lying to you. (more…)