#PMICON18 – Day 1 The magic starts !

 

Magical start of the day of #PMICON18 at Los Angeles with spray painting and theJon Dorenbos takes us through the highs and lows of this life through some energetic tricks. One such snippet is here.

Key takeaways:

Have a vision in life and believe in magic!

Face the reality

Surround yourself with those who lift you up

Life is indeed a magic! I was all ready to spread the magic through the channel that I had at the congress as a speaker and as an SME at the “Ask the expert” started as soon as I stepped out of my room at the hotel. I guess my T- shirt said it all. 

I engaged in discussion across the hallways at the breakfast table, the linked- in corner, the awards gala dinner and at the community “Ask the Expert” booth.

Some discussions:

“There was a directive to implement JIRA company wide, we tried agile, but our people were not ready?”

Bingo! you got it, we need to focus on our people first. Agile is not only about tool implementation. Agile Methodology is a people-focused, results-focused approach to software development that respects our rapidly changing world. Focus on people first to bring the change in mindset for adaptive planning, self-organization, and short delivery times. Tools are just levers, Jira Software is an agile project management tool that supports any agile methodology, be it scrum, kanban, or your own unique flavor.

“We are into Workday implementation, one the first ever implementation for the healthcare, we tried agile but it did not work!”

Sure of course not all projects are suited for agile, it is up to the project manager to decide what can be agile, predictive or hybrid. For COTS implementation, we may not be full fledged agile on day one, but we of course implement some values of agile like faster feedback, inspect and adapt, and slowly and steadily e may want to look for more opportunities to be agile. Read more on hybrid methodology here

“I have started a new contract and I need to setup a process, there is no current process, how do you bring in agility here?”

No current process, that seemed scary at first, but as the discussion progressed, we agreed that there was a process which was adhoc. This needed to move to through the maturity level of Adhoc-> Repeatable-> Managed-> Adaptive-> Agile and DevOps. This cannot be achieved day one, but a project manager can assess the current situation and build in a road map for process agility.  

That evening the “Happy hour” became happier with some champagne, cup-cakes, lots of appetizers, in-promptu on the sofa expert discussions and networking with the attendees.

If you have not been able to sign up for the “Ask the expert” sessions, we are here till Monday, you still have time to sign up here, or just drop by for a more casual discussion at the “Ask the Expert” community booth in the exhibit hall.

And the end .. the PMI Professional Award Gala dinner, where the best and best of the project management is awarded. A retro musical by “Marilyn Monroe” and Dean Martin made this evening even more magical.

Are you ready for more magic on Day 2 ? Unable to experience this magic in-person at the congress?  Follow me on twitter , linkedIn or Facebook as I take you through this magical experience of #PMICON18 in the city of angels.