PMI Global Insights

I like to hear 2 types of sessions at PMI Global Congresses:

• real life stories
• disruptive thinking

Real life stories

At the PMI EMEA Congress in Barcelona, I had the opportunity to hear good project management stories that happened for real.

Martial Bellec and Olivier Cottard told us about Contract Manager (CM), a new role in projects that they are currently setting up at Orange Business. They try to define as clearly as possible the roles of CM from the role of PM. They explained how they involve customers and suppliers in their approach. The "implementation" is still on-going so the solution is not completely set yet.

Hakan Olsson and Stefan Bokander told us how their company, Tetra Pak, set-up project, program, and portfolio management over a period of 10 years. Very good story.

Mustafa Dulgerler told us about the relation between business requirements and project at National Bank of Abu Dhabi, in an international context. He had plenty of real life examples to share. I liked it. And he managed to keep the session very interactive!

Disruptive thinking

We hear fashion words like digitalization, collaboration, big data, artificial intelligence... Those buzz words are often very confusing to me. And I'd appreciate to get some keys to understand what to do with them.

Too often, I believe, we tend to become the fashion victims of those buzz words. In order to stay on the page, we run after sessions that deal with fashion issues. And too often, the speaker prefers to avoid risks and hesitates to take a disruptive approach. I can understand that. It is hard to put oneself at risk and to think out of the box.

However, in that case, I like when the speaker gives her/his personal view of the buzz word, even if it is a bit restrictive. At least it makes the session unique. And I hear something here that I dont hear elsewhere.

I want something specific. The contrary to general thoughts. This is why I come to PMI Global Congresses here in EMEA or in North America. And maybe one day in Asia Pacific or Latin America. Who knows.

The first day of the PMI Congress EMEA was dedicated to the new challenges posed by globalization and the impact on business.

In the opening session, Isabel Aguilera, considered by the media as one of the most influential international executives, made an inspiring presentation on the challenges faced by companies and their project managers. Technology and technical advances have changed the landscape and paradigms that governed till our days in companies on adapting to the market and competition.

Technological Challenges

Technology and the digital revolution produce continuous changes in the scenario in which we live and operate. And these changes occur so quickly that it seems that the "ground moved beneath our feet". In this scenario, project managers feel a bit like the white rabbit in "Wonderland", which did not stop running watch in hand: "I'm late, I'm late,..."

Forget that sentence taken out of context on adaptation and companies that survive. This is no longer useful, it is not enough to adapt, according to Aguilera. The transformation of business is not enough. Adapting to new needs posed by the market only assures you the second place in a race where only the first wins. To lead the market, we need a real change of paradigm that incorporates the benefits of technology and cooperation in a globalized world at the service of people, whether they are consumers or workers.

The first day of the PMI Congress EMEA was dedicated to the new challenges posed by globalization and the impact on business and the community of professionals dedicated to managing these disruptive change projects: technological challenges and problems of a globalized scenario.

First, companies face new technological challenges. In this sense, the sessions focused on presenting projects related to new sources of energy, sustainability and ecosystems.

I attended Javier Serrano’s presentation on the ITER project for the development of nuclear fusion energy, a project of international collaboration that would lead to an impact hard to value in terms of costs and benefits. How to assess a megaproject with more than 35 years ahead? What is the actual value for humanity resulting from its development?

As Michael Roberts reported: "President Reagan wanted this to happen because I saw the potential positive impact of American and Soviet engineers living and working together for some period of time." That is a good reminder that ITER — and many other similar megaprojects — is a dual experiment: it's not just science and physics, but also an experiment in international collaboration.

In addition to the technological challenge posed by developing a new source of energy, such projects have their own management challenges derived from the amount of involved Nations and thousands of workers in business partners located all over the world. The challenge posed to manage this type of project is given a few times each century, but will be a major occurrence in the decades to come, thanks to the technology feasibility for large-scale undertakings which have brought paradigm changes to vast social and scientific communities, and, in some cases, to the entire population of Earth.

Virtual Leadership 

Except for the previous project scale, companies around the world continuously confront similar challenges arising from the collaboration with distributed or virtual teams. A project professional of today lives in an increasingly virtual world, resulting in the need to lead virtual projects. The dynamics of a remote team require project managers to communicate with their teams differently.

The workshop I attended on Leading Virtual Teams, facilitated by Penny Pullman and Evi Prokopi began putting the problems we have to overcome to work with people located outside the work Center on the table: lack of commitment, poor communication, low motivation, cultural differences, language...

Technology enables us to bridge each of these differences, and the workshop was useful to present the experiences of many colleagues on how to work better with virtual teams. All this experience is collected in Penny Pullman’s book ‘Virtual Leadership, Practical Strategies for Getting the Best out of Virtual Work and Virtual Teams’.

The next day will aim at leveraging the power of sharing information between PPPM professionals across industry, function and geography.

We will be here to tell the tale.

Let's meet the team!

Be sure to check the PMI EMEA Congress 2016 event page for new posts every day, follow along with the PMI Congress Insights blog and follow us on social media using the hashtag #PMICongress!

Isabel Aguilera delivered a great opening keynote session on Monday. And I completely disagree with her message.

Why she is a great keynote

I think that chosing Mrs Aguilera as a keynote speaker was an appropriate choice. She is really engaging as she talks to her public. Her message is clear and simple. She does not make a thesis. What she says looks obvious at first glance. And, last but not least, as Ricardo Triana (past Chair of PMI) could say, she has this light inviting accent. Our friend Laura Samsó wrote "her words are like water". I would say yes: "sparkling water".

Her message

The message of Isabel Aguilera is very simple: "Becoming a leader is not easy, but you have no choice. So put yourself at work." The idea is not new, which is not a problem itself. I even think that this idea has led the world for the last 200 years or more. Mrs Aguilera started her presentation by crossing out a quote of Charles Darwin (The Origin of Species) "It's not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." Why? Because, according to her, if you are only responsive to change, it is not enough. Clear!

Why I disagree

Since not everyone can be a sustainable leader (except in a shared leadership model, which was not her meaning), I asked her the question: "Is there room for everyone in your world?" She answered that it is easier for some than for others.

I think our priority should be to reduce the violence. This means better live together and finding room for all. Violence is not the agression. The agression is always the other. Agression is only the conclusion of a process that has started earlier. Violence is not the agression, violence is rivalry. 

I thought the message of Mrs Aguilera was violent in that way. And I believe that instead of spreading violence, we should worry about containing violence and develop cooperation.

Project managers are good at putting people around the table toward a common goal. This is a good start to limit violence.

I guess you had a busy day, meeting new people, old friends, discovering new thoughts and ideas, sharing your experiences, buying a new book?, posting at the board to find colleagues to network with? ... Sure you did ... so, how it was? Did the event met your expectations? We hope so ... 

The Congress is divided in topics and each day is different: On Monday we focused in Globalisation and the Effect on the PPM Community; tomorrow Tuesday we will focus on Localisation and Industry Connectivity and we will conclude on Wednesday with Organisational Influence and Impact.

Antonio Nieto, PMI Board, introduced the keynote speaker  Ms. Isabel Aguilera ... how inspiring she was ... personal attitude, artificial intelligence and all the advances that are in place and coming, creativity, change, disrupting, innovation, transforming the model into digital, talent, focus, predicting the future, ambition and confidence, ... Ms Aguilera showed that while presenting, her words were like water my friend! 

After this we had a good break to check the last book publications about different topics at the PMI bookstore. I found this really good, you can buy the book you want with discount.

Going around I found an excellent initiative, a big board where you could paste your post-it with things you like so far, things you would like to share, ... how crazy and how creative!

Educational sessions are one of the pillars of PMI events and they were of quality where speakers really connected with the attendants. For today I attended different sessions where we dealt with complexity in turbulent environments, projects for a sustainable world (we need to keep track on this ...), how to raise up PMOs at country level ... we had questions and answers, sharing ideas and thoughts ... 

Do you know what is the PMI Educational Foundation (PMIef)? The first time I knew about them I really 'felt in love' with their objectives: Project Management for Social Good. I volunteer for the Spanish Mountain and Climbing Federation (FEDME) and we deliver some of the project management disciplines in our trainings in under-developed countries such Nepal or Jordan. I feel part of something bigger and that makes others people life better.

Networking is another pillar of PMI events and has been well explained by my colleague on the PMI Community Team, Carlos Javier Pampliega García. You will have different moments to connect with other peers, show them, share with them, learn, discuss, laugh ... so don't be shy and introduce yourself. You have nothing to lose and a lot to win.

We are in a moment where changes happen quickly and we need to adapt and overcome and continue. Never give up and play, take meditated risks and dream high!

So, let's go for a second round PMIs! Let's see tomorrow!

Let's meet the team!

Be sure to check the PMI EMEA Congress 2016 event page for new posts every day, follow along with the PMI Congress Insights blog and follow us on social media using the hashtag #PMICongress!

Kristin Jones, blogger at The Critical Path, a ProjectManagement.com site, leads the Congress Community Team to bring the news and talks to those who cannot attend. This is a new experience in the community for this year's Global Congress - EMEA.

The Community Team will cover all the presentations and will be live to share the best of the Congress: Kristin Jones, Yves Cavarec , Catalin-Teodor Dogaru, Joanna Newman , Carlos J. Pampliega, Laura Samsó 

After the first day of the Congress, I have the first "forecast" for our (Project Management) future: we will have a big "war for talents", no matter the industry but with an intenser focus on Digital/IT area. 

As Isabel Aguilera said today, in the keynote speech, "if you want to unleash the potential of your company, you need to be a magnet of talents". It's no surprise that in an extremely dynamically digital world, the human resource still remains the centre of any ecosystem. And this is valid for both directions: influencing the systems or being influenced by it.

The talents might prove to be the only sustainable advantage in a competing environment. But, as any other "resource" on this planet, it's not an unlimited one. Or, at least, it is not keeping up with the demand. So, as (again) for many other natural resources, it will trigger a "war" between companies and organisations from all around the world.

The signs are already there and, unfortunately, some of the effects can already be seen: exponential (but not sustainable) grow of the average remuneration, increased churn of employees, superficial assessments/interviews which result in poor selections and employee frustrations and so one and so forth.

As Isabel Aguilera mentioned today, the companies are already "aware of this great challenge". But, instead of finding a way out of it, due to (again) fierce competition, I see that they are actually preparing for it. Or, at a minimum, they don't do too much to avoid the (almost generalised) "war".

It will be harder and harder not only to find great talents, but, most important, to keep them in your company/organisation. In a full-scale "war for talents", no matter if they are Millennials or part from Generation X, Y - every talent will be head-hunted continuously, bringing more and more challenges in an already challenging environment. And nobody will win.

Are you ready for this "war"?