PM Network

News reports are dominated by events that could be considered mega-risks for megaprojects: terrorism, droughts, floods, failing states, revolutions and large-scale migrations. In this month’s PM Network cover story, experts advise those handling project risks to be resilient in the face of all that is happening. Make sure your disaster management plan includes potential cascading failures. Know when to escalate a risk and have an understanding of an enterprise’s risk appetite.

One category of megaproject is happening in countries around the globe—initiatives to upgrade wireless networks. These networks will support a more data-rich environment that includes the Internet of Things. The global 5G market could reach US$247 billion by 2025. These networks will have to handle the safety demands of self-driving vehicles, making risk management important.

Risk management has led to another type of project—initiatives to improve food safety. When people are sickened by food, it affects organizational finances as well as public health. The article includes case studies on rooting out disease in the Australian banana industry and using social media to identify restaurants having food-safety issues.

Recruiters are finding that strategic thinking is a hard-to-find skill among project managers. If you wish to adopt a strategic mindset, you should ask questions throughout a project’s life cycle, questions such as “What is the business case?” “How does the business landscape shape this project’s success?” “Does this project still make strategic sense?” and, at closing, “Was this project a strategic success?”

To get ready for the exciting PMI Professional Awards Ceremony later this month (held just prior to PMI Global Congress 2016—North America), PM Network presents a summary of the three Project of the Year Award finalists. Want to find out whether the big winner is the U.S. Department of Energy’s photon microscope project, the Guaiba 2 low-environmental-impact Pulp Mill in Brazil, or the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in Australia? Come to congress!

Beyond the global risks highlighted in our cover story, there is much going on in the world affecting the projects you work on now or might work on in the future. That is the raison d’être of the Edge section of PM Network. This month, Edge covers the rush to mine lithium, a metal feeding the demand for device and electric car batteries; the effects of Brexit on British construction projects; and the growth of tall-building construction projects using wood instead of steel.

Hear practical advice from practitioners, subject matter experts and executives in the magazine’s monthly Voices section. Andrew Robinson offers a framework and process that organizations can use to ensure strategy gets implemented. Kareem Shaker, PMI-RMP, PMP, provides a detailed list of traits and practices that can be used to build a team that thrives on innovation. Chris Burner, chief project officer of a public authority in California, tells how a public-sector megaproject can finish on schedule and within budget. Practitioners offer “Getting It Done” articles on why project management often fails in tech-driven companies and how coaching can help project managers gain confidence and unlock potential.

Did you know…if your native language is español or Português and you are a member of PMI, we have you covered! You can read the current and recent issues of PM Network in your language.

Healthcare and IT are two major industries on their own. These two powerhouses are being integrated in many interesting ways that are helpful for patients and efficient for companies in both fields. The August PM Network cover story reports that project managers are seeing increasing opportunities in initiatives involving electronic health records, video consultations and smartphone apps for diagnosis. Particular challenges in these projects are scope creep due to the high degree of customization, privacy concerns, prevention of hacking and gaining engagement from doctors and nurses.

How do Enterprise Project Management Offices (EPMO) secure C-suite buy in in order to deliver results? Four EPMO leaders provide their ideas on increasing alignment to organizational strategy, dealing with C-suite turnover and the best ways for EPMOs to deliver value.

Big elections are making the news this year. In the project world, what’s new and growing (slowly) is the concept of online voting. New South Wales, Australia held the largest-ever online election in 2015. Estonia is a pioneer in online voting. Project teams taking this on must tread carefully because of security challenges. Online voting systems need rigorous requirements management and robust testing and risk mitigation.

In the latest entry of the periodic feature Projects on the Map, PM Network looks at Vietnam, Asia’s newest manufacturing powerhouse with the world’s ninth-fastest growing economy. To sustain this growth, the country needs US$200 billion in infrastructure projects, creating opportunities and challenges. Projects tend to be late and over budget, but leaders are aware that increasing fundamental project skills will help.

A case study in this month’s issue dives into how research scientists and engineers needed to embrace the value of project management to complete a €1 billion, 20-year initiative to construct an experimental fusion device in Germany. Another profiles a project to create the National Gallery Singapore from two colonial-era buildings.

The Edge is PM Network’s news section and highlights include projects to coordinate anti-terror data among countries, a report on creating high-tech textiles and information on a trend showing increased corporate relocations.

Practitioners, executives and subject matter experts come together in the Voices section of PM Network to provide advice and interesting reading. For example, Arctic Portal senior project manager Kamil Jagodzinski tells how his organization, which facilitates cooperation among Arcitc stakeholders, created his position to help get involved in larger projects. Lindsay Scott from Arras People answers questions on how young project managers can grow their reputation, how to move out of the oil and gas industry and whether a project manager should train in agile. Other articles cover project pet peeves, using a PMO to translate high-level business requirements into lower-level requirements and preventing problems when you have to leave a project team.

Our “Getting It Done” practitioner-writers cover mindfulness techniques and managing anxiety prior to taking the PMP exam.

Did you know…if your native language is español or Português and you are a member of PMI, we have you covered! You can read the current and recent issues of PM Network in your language.

Hello followers of this blog! I’m sorry that, due to a long and much-needed vacation, I missed writing about the June issue of PM Network, the one with the high-speed train on the cover. So this post will cover June and July, and for good measure a just-published book derived from PM Network stories.

First, the book: It is called Getting It Done: Project Management in Action, and it was a long-time project to gather and organize more than 50 practitioner-written articles. The goal was to provide readers with usable hints, information and stories from around the world that could be classified by the legs of the PMI Talent Triangle™: technical project management, leadership skills, and strategic and business management.

This handy book puts all this great PM Network content together under one cover. These were stories that appeared under the old “From the Trenches” banner (which we’ve since renamed “Getting It Done”). I highly recommend purchasing this book for yourself or for the project manager in your life.

Now, on to PM Network. The June issue’s cover story details the growth in high-speed rail projects around the world. The track covered by high-speed trains is expected to triple by 2020. Learn about challenges faced by managers of these projects in places like Saudi Arabia, India and California, USA.

Also in June are stories on how the world’s rapidly aging population is creating a demand for projects serving senior citizens; all about contingency budgets and how to request that sort of funding from your sponsor; and using business cases to help project teams challenge their assumptions and keep sight of business benefits. A case study details a project to design, construct and test a new U.S. facility for destroying chemical weapons.

In The Edge, learn about CEOs views of stakeholder concerns, how Indian outsourcing firms are dealing with a changing economic landscape, and project growth expected in Iran as sanctions get lifted. Columnists in June explain how new project managers can jump-start their careers through certifications, learning from others and free tools; discuss how project managers can leverage innovation even without C-suite approval; and, in “Getting It Done,” urge team members to optimize risk reduction by empowering contractors to flag problems as soon as they are discovered.

Once you’ve digested all that information, turn to the month of July, where the cover story is how one team representing 140 countries successfully managed a 2015 major event: Expo Milan. Feature stories cover subjects important to many of us in your career and in your life: the rise of mobile banking and the associated project challenges. Also coming to a career near you: the project genius behind mergers and acquisitions (or, after the deal is signed, what happens to make things work, integration-wise).

Other feature stories cover nanotechnology and how to turn negative feedback into a positive experience. Edge news stories dive under the sea to discuss exploration of the ocean floor, and go to the sky for construction of massive telescopes. Want to know how the Internet of Things will affect the project landscape? That’s the topic of this month’s metrics infographic.

Voices columns include “The Agile Project Manager”: Jesse Fewell tells readers once you find out the problems to be solved, you can choose the right kind of agile approach. Learn three ways PMOs can develop their project management staff in “Getting It Done.” See how an IBM senior project manager deals with major change initiatives in “Inside Track.”

PMI members enjoy this spread of content each and every month in PM Network. Archived copies are available online if your vacation caused you to miss a month. And, if your native language is español or Português and you are a member of PMI, we have you covered! You can read the current and recent issues of PM Network in your language.

Just as a spider’s web is complex when you look at it up close, so are organizations. Dependencies go in every direction, and these introduce uncertainty and add risks to projects. In this environment, PMO leaders must be prepared manage sweeping change and facilitate the C-suite’s strategic decision making.

This month’s PM Network article on complexity offers some tips on how to do that. One way is to use tactical information to create a story that helps executives make the call. Another way is to break down large portfolios into a series of mini-portfolios divided by business areas.

The Caribbean region is way more than a tourist resort. Its developing nations are striving for economic growth, but first need to upgrade infrastructure. Our profile of the region finds a lack of project management maturity is making it difficult for these countries to streamline their development of energy, water and transportation facilities.

Talent shortage getting you down? Many companies are looking at passive candidates—those who might be open to a job move but not actively searching. Finesse and personal connections can help your organization connect with these candidates. Cultivating this passive talent could help organizations fill gaps.

One of two case studies in this issue provide insights into how project managers turned a design by renowned architect Frank Gehry into curvaceous quarters for the University of Technology Sydney’s business school. The other, PM Network’s cover story this month, tells how a project team built an 8.5 megawatt solar power plant on an island in the midst of a national park in Japan.

The big, noticeable project opening this month’s Edge section portrays the first-ever effort to thoroughly hand-clean the Colosseum in Rome. Elsewhere in Edge, learn about projects in the up-and-coming field of virtual reality; see what cities are doing to improve bus and bike transit; read about the growth of medical hacking attacks and the cybersecurity projects being launched in response; see how the team completing the FIFA World Football Museum closed the project despite controversy surrounding FIFA; and read how teams are developing early-warning systems for earthquakes.

Voices is the part of PM Network where experts, executives and practitioners get to speak. This month it includes an interview with Peter Taylor, PMP, head of the global PMO for Kronos, discussing the value of the PMO and how it is measured. Our innovation columnist Kareem Shaker, PMI-RMP, PMP, talks about the importance of solid risk management when working on an innovative project. Uncertainty can be managed by being sure the project aligns with the organization’s risk appetite.

Our practitioner writers help you get it done in “Getting It Done: Project Management in Action.” This month your colleagues talk about managing millennials, working with project teams in Russia and estimating pitfalls in construction projects.

Did you know…if your native language is español or Português and you are a member of PMI, we have you covered! You can read the current and recent issues of PM Network in your language.

After nine years and US$5.6 billion, one of the largest and most visible megaprojects is just months away from closing. This project, our April PM Network cover story, is the expansion of the Panama Canal. Very soon larger ships will be able to go through larger canal locks, and the canal will double its capacity. A PMO with a staff of 350 helped make things happen by consolidating project talent and resources, thus enabling faster decisions.

Project managers have numerous opportunities to “take the wheel” as projects ramp up to create the next generation of vehicles. These cars have advanced features right through driving themselves, and many are electric vehicles. Skilled project and program managers are needed to keep costs low on these complex projects, while managing diverse stakeholders and unforeseen risks. One thing unusual about these efforts: Many involve collaboration among competing companies.

Are you in charge of restarting a stalled project? On the negative side, there’s that stigma attached to the initiative. On the good side, you get a list of lessons learned to watch for the second time around. Pay extra attention to relationships with sponsors and stakeholders to assure them past problems will be solved.

Effective projects start off by defining their end. The team needs to know the path, purpose and parameters when the project is in the initiation stage. This stage is all about building the business case and establishing the foundation of the project charter by asking the right questions of the right people.

PMI’s 2016 Pulse of the Profession^® report advises organizations seeking a competitive edge to create a culture that recognizes the value of project and program management. The project managers they hire need to be proficient in leadership skills as well as strategic and business management skills, not just technical skills.

April’s PM Network readers may notice two new features. The Edge section opens with a “wow” project, in this case a model of Titanosaur, the biggest dinosaur to ever walk the earth. 3-D printers were used in the assembly of the big guy. The magazine closes with the “Closing Thoughts” of a professional in project management, in this case Noman Zafar Chaudry, PMP, an Australia-based scheduling/planning specialist in the construction sector.

Other Edge news articles talk about tide-powered renewable energy projects, China’s aspirations to build infrastructure for a new Silk Road trade route, the controversial rebuilding of the Belgrade, Serbia waterfront, and initiatives to allow wildlife to safely cross highways.

We have renamed our practitioner-written “In the Trenches” column “Getting It Done: Project Management in Action.” The new name reflects what project managers do (they get it done!). This month’s writers tell us how to handle risks in construction projects by focusing on contractors and suppliers, and provide tips on starting your organization down the path to agility.

Our regular columnists provide interesting and valuable commentary on a diverse range of subjects including transitioning from project to program management, making sure agile teams keep the big picture in mind and using portfolio management skills to prepare for the Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP)^® exam.

Did you know…if your native language is español or Português and you are a member of PMI, we have you covered! You can read the current and recent issues of PM Network in your language.