#PMChat

A couple of weeks ago I took part in #pmchat. It’s a weekly Twitter get together for project managers to chat about.. well project management. Each Friday – using the hashtag #pmchat – a discussion on a particular topic takes place. I was asked to do one on the theme – how to move from being a full-time employee project manager to a contractor. To set the scene a blog post is put together – followed by a short radio show – you can check both of those out on the #pmchat website The great thing about Twitter is being able to have that focused conversation with people – and with limited characters so it’s fast paced and full of little nuggets The downside is that it’s incredibly difficult to share that experience with other people who are not using Twitter – because there really is some great advice out there that you could be missing out on. So I was thrilled to find that @edmontonpm makes the effort each week to produce a recap Here’s the additional things I’ve learnt from the session Moving from Employment to Contractor 1 Read More »

Last week I was invited along to the Manchester Metropolitan University ‘s Business School to talk to soon-to-be graduating project management students. We’ve done a number of presentations at different universities around the country – and it’s mainly a presentation about getting ready for the realities of life after studies. Part of the presentation can feel demotivating – but the bottom line is, it’s a challenge for most people these days to end up in the job they’re going to love – which means it’s no different for students that are soon graduating too. Like any presentation – you can’t just knock people down without bringing them back up so the second half focuses on what you need to do in preparation for the marketplace. There’s the practical advice around personal stock taking – understanding who you are and what you have to offer. This applies to practitioners as much as it does graduates.  There will be plenty of graduates in the marketplace at the end of the academic year – so what can be done to stand out? Read More »

In the Project Management Benchmark Report (PMBR) survey we track our respondents’ relationship with Professional bodies such as the APM (Association for Project Management) and the PMI (Project Management Institute) on an annual basis. We feel this is an important aspect of the sector as it has an impact on the ongoing discussions regarding the “professional status” of the sector and the practitioners who are active within it. Our previous blog post on professional affiliations serves as an introduction to this post.   Last year we looked at the levels of participation across those who indicated that they are a member of a professional body:   Event Type Never Occasionally Regularly Org Branch / Chapter Meetings 55% 32% 9% 4% Local Events 47% 40% 10% 2% National Events 56% 37% 7% 1% ©Arras People 2013   We then went on to look at this against the PMI and APM to see if there was any significant difference against the whole group and against each other:   APM – Association for Project Management Event Type Never Occasionally Regularly Organiser Branch / Chapter Meetings 49% 35% 11% 4% Local Events 42% 43% 13% 2% National Events 58% 36% 6% 0% PMI – Project Management Institute Event Type Never Occasionally Regularly Organiser Branch / Chapter Meetings 44% 42% 13% 1% Local Events 41% 44% 13% 2% National Events 41% 47% 11% 1% ©Arras People 2013           As we can from the tables, whilst the figures are slightly better than the overall group for both APM and PMI the numbers who regularly attend events organized by the body are still low. This apparent lack of “user involvement” made us wonder why 25,000 practitioners in the UK have aligned themselves to the PMI (6,000 UK members with 50% in the UK Chapter) and APM (19,500 members). What do they expect/receive for their annual subscription? Read More »

For a very long time people have argued over what defines project success. An answer is simple – success like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Five Successes Analysis of some beholder’s viewpoints show there are five themes in the key contenders for ‘the’ definition of a measure of success: The investor wants a return on their investment within the constraints that are their commercial reality – right thing done The PM’s boss wants the thing done right and to promises of time cost scope and quality – a quiet life The technicians in the team want an interesting challenge that grows their skill base – a better resume/cv The recipients of the project’s results don’t want change and disruption to comfortable day-to-day routine – most specifically negative effect on any bonuses or incentives The PM wants everyone else to be happy for as much of the time as possible, and hopefully everyone simultaneously when the project moves through implementation, closure and final payments (even for in-house notional-payment projects) So to reach success the steps are: Step 1 Establish in the heads of the stakeholders a shared understanding of what is wanted and what constraints really exist. This requires the investor’s presence to express what they want: What PRINCE2 ® calls a Product Breakdown Structure and PMBoK Guide ® calls a Work Breakdown is really useful here. What Dimension Four ® calls a Recognition Event® is even more useful. Encourage the debate about how to deliver within as many simultaneous real-world constraint as possible – this does not need the investor’s presence: what most of us think of as a work breakdown structure is useful here, so is a precedence diagram then a resource levelled Gantt or flow-chart or Kanban board are all useful here. Step 2 Take the trade-offs between concurrent, contradictory constraints back to the investor to arbitrate between choices. Read More »

Once again this year in the Project Management Benchmark Report we asked our respondents about their affiliation with professional organizations’ and membership groups to get a feel for the landscape. This is the first in a series of blogs that explores the data collected about this topical subject.   Professional Body All  Yes 61%  No 39% ©Arras People 2013   Numbers Up : As we can see in the table above, 61% of our respondents indicated that they are currently members of a professional body, a number that has continued to increase year on year through this recurring question. This year we have seen an increase of 6% from 55% which in turn was an increase of 8% from 47% in the two previous years. Whilst this increase is interesting in its own right, our real interest is how this membership is made up and which bodies are attracting membership from the Project Management community.   PPM Professional Bodies Yes All  APM – Association for Project Management 61% 37%  PMI – Project Management Institute 17% 10%  APM and PMI 4.6% 2.8%  APM and Other 12.3% 7.6%  PMI and Other 2.5% 1.5% ©Arras People 2013   Project Management Affiliation :  If we look at the breakdown in terms of pure project management we can look at the two leading recognised membership organisations that cater for this space in the UK; namely the APM (Association for Project Management) and PMI (Project Management Institute). Read More »