PMOZ Excitement

The 2013 Project Governance and Controls Symposium held in Canberra last week was a great success – and planning for 2014 is underway, based on our first event, the Autumn Symposium in Canberra will become a highlight in the project controls and governance communities annual calendar!

Now to move onto PMOZ – PM Global’s major spring conference. We have been working hard on a revamp to make the program more flexible, accessible and exciting and moved to a city centre venue.

PMOZ 2013 will be held at the Grand Hyatt , Collins St., Melbourne from the 17th to 16th September (see more: http://www.pmoz.com.au/).

And, the framework for the conference program has been completely updated:

Tuesday Outline

Wednesday Outline

Early risers can attend an extended morning session on one or both days, and on Tuesday there is an extended twilight session.

‘9-to-5ers’ attend the normal PMOZ conference and for the dedicated ‘Dawn to Duskers’ you have access to everything an maximise PDUs ……

Each day starts with a focused workshop available to Early Birds and ‘Dawn to Duskers’ and there’s a similar twilight workshop on Tuesday for the Twilighters and ‘Dawn to Duskers’. Each workshop topic will be backed up by focused papers on the same general topic in the rest of the ‘half day’. Some of the options being considers for these three focused streams include :

• Business requirements and the role of BAs
• Positive dispute management – use facilitated options to avoid a costly fight.
• Change management and value – the critical back end of project delivery
• Project management in ‘Not for Profit’ and volunteer organisations with a focus on disaster recovery.

Four potentially hot topics and only three half days, we still have decisions to make……

In addition, the three main focuses of PMOZ remain in the program as well:

• Projects in organisations, focused on project governance, innovation, portfolio and program management, leading to the delivery of benefits and value.
• Planning and controls, focused on the tools and techniques required for effective project and program management. If the topic is a tool, technique or process used in project, program or portfolio management this stream is place to be!!
• People and the profession, focused on the people side of project and program management, all of the hard to use soft skills.

As in previous years, a blend of academic and practitioner papers will be presented on a wide range of topics within each theme. The call for abstracts is being extended to allow time for potential presenters to adjust to this new structure – all papers and suggestions are welcome.

Attending this new, dynamic and exciting event is altogether different – first you need to decide which registration option is best for you and then nearer to the day, which of the streams to attend during your time at the conference, there has always been a choice of excellent presentations – it has now become more challenging! Perhaps we need a workshop on decision making? Alternatively you can use our White Paper on Decision Making to help you choose.

We look forward to seeing you in September.

Project Surveillance from an Expert!!!

Last year at PMOZ 2012, I had the pleasure of listening to Lisa Wolf outlining the approach to project surveillance and health checks she has introduced and manages at one of the world’s foremost consultancy firms, Booz Allen Hamilton. Lisa’s presentation packed in more good advice than most people manage in a week!

This year Lisa is back in Australia at the PMI Australia Conference, Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre: 1 – 3rd May 2013. Her Master Class on the 3rd May is a must attend for any PMO manager, Project Director or Project controls professional.

Lisa’s master class focuses on the approaches she has adopted and the lessons learned in setting up an internal project management surveillance function within Booz Allen Hamilton’s as well as her extensive experience assisting US Government agencies and other clients.

The term surveillance is derived from the French word ‘surveiller’ and has a military pedigree. It refers to keeping watch on a location or person. In the case of project management, the notion of surveillance begs the question, “What do you watch?” Observing a project manager first hand is unnecessarily overbearing and may not be warranted. What you can watch is a project manager’s outputs from baseline establishment through project execution, as well as the people, processes, and tools in place to ensure appropriate monitoring and control processes are effective.

During the workshop, Lisa will explore the ‘best practices’ that are essential for successfully establishing a helpful and supportive surveillance function, including the essential processes, procedures, and vital internal relationship-building will be explored. She has proved effective and helpful surveillance will improve project performance – you too can learn the secrets!

For more information see: http://www.pmi.org.au/masterclass/.

I’m certainly looking forward to catching up with Lisa in Sydney where I’m presenting our paper Communication ≠ Engagement on the 1st day.

I encourage you to take advantage of this unique opportunity to learn from a ‘master’ and look forward to seeing you in Sydney.

Project Governance and Controls Symposium

Canberra hosted the inaugural Governance and Controls Symposium this week – it was a relatively small event packed with highlights.

The first PTMC (Project Time Management Certificate) workshop to be held in Australia – based on feedback from the attendees, this will grow to become a very popular training.

A free networking evening looking at the future of ‘project controls’ in Australasia. During the meeting the final wind-up of the Australian Performance Management Association was completed.

The main symposium included three outstanding key note addresses supported by stream papers and an engaging panel session.

The two days of concentrated learning and discussion were finished with animated networking sessions. All together an intense and enjoyable two days for both project controls professionals, and the executive managers responsible for governing this area of an organisation’s business. Two of the key outcomes from the Symposium were:

• Gary Troop, the President of the newly independent College of Performance Management (CPM) and symposium key note speaker announced a limited time offer to anyone in Australia to join the for US$25.  The CPM was a part of PMI from 1999 to 2012 but has reverted to an independent status to better serve the needs of the Earned Value community.  The College has a major on-line library of EV publications and plans to develop its conferences and webinars on a global basis – there is even talk of establishing an Australian Chapter – to be part of the exciting new development visit www.mycpm.org/aus and become part of the worlds leading EV community.
  
• The project controls professionals present in Canberra expresses a strong desire to see a network established to link all of the various ‘controls focused’ components within professional associations such as AIPM and PMI, independent bodies such as CPM and Planning Planet and individual controls professionals to help raise the profile of project controls, amplify the message from any one component member, and through the network assist in career development and finding the ‘right person’ for work when needed.

To help with this initiative, PM Global are starting to plan the second Symposium to be held in Canberra at around the same time in 2014 and discussions are underway to frame a proposal for a ‘no cost’ network designed to meet the needs of the ‘controls community’.

There’s a lot to do to maximise the gains made this week – watch this space……

In the meantime, if EV and /or ES is your ‘thing’ the US$25 offer is limited and needs prompt attention!  And to understand the link between controls and project governance see: http://www.mosaicprojects.com.au/Resources_Papers_172.html

Construction CPM Conference 2013

The Construction CPM conference is over for another year but will remain in our memories for a very long time to come! Combining a high quality conference – probably the best CPM / Scheduling conference in the world, with New Orleans during Mardi Gras was an inspired idea even if it means several weeks of exercise and dieting…..

Our thanks to Fred and Kim Plotnick for organising and hosting the conference and we look forward to coming back in the future. A few of our highlights were:

Seeing a real swamp with alligators and a top tour guide http://www.torresswamptours.net/ ….

The jazz, Preservation Hall, buskers and Bourbon Street…. Plus the food, the locals and the delegates at the conference. Not to mention papers and insights from many of the worlds leading practitioners and developers of CPM software,

Feeling jealous? Plans for the conference include:
2014: Disney World Florida.
2015: West Cost possibly San Diageo.
2016: New Orleans again.

Stay in touch and plan your attendance at: http://www.constructioncpm.com/

PS: We were there for work as well as fun, see: Our previous post

Looking to earn PDUs / CPD in a great learning environment?

A few interesting options to consider:

1. The Construction CPM Conference in New Orleans – http://www.constructioncpm.com/
   Its not too late – we fly out Thursday to enjoy a couple of days in the ‘Big Easy’ before the kick off Sunday evening (27th Jan.)
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2. The Project Zone Congress in Frankfurt 18th & 19th March – http://www.projectzonecongress.org
   One of Europe’s leading international conference and the good news – readers of this blog can claim a 10% discount by enter the code PZ2012_MEDIA02E0AC81 into the discount code field.
   I cannot make this year but we are planning on being there in 2014.
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3. A specialised and highly focused Governance and Controls Symposium to be held in Canberra on 10th April - http://wired.ivvy.com/event/GCSM13/. The call for papers still open and if you are serious about the contribution of project controls to value creation this is a must be at event.
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4. Later in the year PMOz in Melbourne, 17th & 18th September – Australian’s best PM networking conference – http://www.pmoz.com.au/

PMOz Rocks!!!

Who says project management is boring? The delegates at this year’s PMOz conference have not only enjoyed a wide range of high quality papers ranging from project managing particle physics at CERN to the valuing of soft skills, but also the best project management party anywhere (officially networking…).

Some images from last night’s event:

The Piano Lounge

The games room…..

The ‘after-party’

It’s just as well today’s opening keynote is from the Lazy Project Manager (Peter Taylor) – we need some strong coffee to re-set the brain for day 2.

The more serious ‘stuff’ will be on the PM Global website at www.pmgconnect.com soon.

PMOZ Grill the Experts

‘Grill the Expert’s’ has been highly rated in previous years and is shaping up to be even better this year! If a project management problem is causing you a lack of sleep, be at the plenary session on the morning of Thursday 16th – you should get an answer!!

The 2012 panel includes:
Pierrre Bonnell, Europe – a professor at CERN, his particles go faster then rockets…..
Peter Taylor, UK – the ‘Lazy Project Manager’.
Lisa Wolf, USA – a senior manager with Booze Hamilton Allen.
Lynn Crawford, Bond University – Professor of Project Management.
Bob McGannon, Canberra – inventor of ‘Intelligent Disobedience’

If you can’t make the full conference, book the day or even the session – the diverse backgrounds of this panel are sure to make for an interesting debate, all that’s needed is the questions. For more information, see www.pmoz.com.au

PMOZ – Two Weeks to go

PMOZ is now only 2 weeks away – this year’s conference has a raft of new ideas to provide delegates and speakers alike with better learning and networking opportunities and an improved social program to boot.

It’s not too late to book your place at Australia’s most innovative project management conference! I look forward to seeing you there: www.pmoz.com.au

PMOz – Program Finalised

I have just finished writing short one sentence abstracts for the PMOz program sheet that’s part of the delegate pack. I have to say there is are going to be many difficult choices of the best paper to attend across the three primary streams of Methodologies and certifications, Planning and controls and Projects in Organisations and that’s before taking into account the ISSEC papers PMOz delegates can attend if they so choose.

Its not too late to book your attendance at what is likely to be one of the best project management conferences this year. I cannot think of a better way to earn PDUs, learn new things and have some serious fun! The PMOz dates are 14th to 16th August and the place to be is: Sebel and Citgate Albert Park, Melbourne. I look forward to seeing you at the ‘Welcome Reception’ on the 14th; for more information see: http://www.pmoz.com.au.

Scheduling Conference – Sydney

We are participating in the Project Management for Major Projects Symposium, in Sydney from 30th July to 1st August 2012.

My workshop on the morning of 1st August is focused on How to use project scheduling to drive project success. In this intensive workshop focuses on the key elements involved in effectively managing the use of time on major projects. Understanding how your scheduling tools work is only half the battle – this workshop will show you how to use your tools to proactively manage time to achieve success!

Five years of research by the CIOB is leading a paradigm shift in the way projects are managed with innovative techniques and new forms of contract focused on the proactive and realistic achievement of scheduled deadlines! I am heavily involved in this on-going work by the CIOB and this workshop will be the first time the full package of innovations is presented as an integrated solution in Australia. The workshop will cover:

• Project scheduling – what works, what does not
• The difference between planning & scheduling, the importance of both processes
• Schedule density – the art of keeping the schedule realistic and achievable
• An introduction to the ‘Guide to the Management of Time in Complex Projects’
• An introduction to the new CIOB form of contract for projects
• A suggested framework for successfully managing time on your projects.

For more information you can download the workshop brochure from: http://www.mosaicprojects.com.au/PDF/Sydney_Aug_Project_Management.pdf

If you decide to attend, we may even be able to arrange a small discount for you – drop me an email and I will see what can be done.