The Critical Path

I'm excited to announce that we've been able to implement a few of suggestions from the community on how we can improve the ProjectManagement.com experience. 

So far:

1. We've made it easier to connect with other members! You can now easily connect by clicking the blue "Connect" button:  
2. You can now subscribe (or unsubscribe) from any Practice Area right on individual practice area's landing page. 
3. You can now unsubscribe and adjust frequency of emails by clicking on links at the bottom of the email.
4. We launched our Contribute Content page - learn how to get more involved here.

Thanks for all of your input and suggestions. And stay tuned - we've got so many more improvements on the roadmap for the year ahead! 

These Changes Mean Even Better Ways to Advance Your Career

In just six months the new CCR program will go live. As the global business environment and project management profession evolves, the program must adapt to provide development of new employer-desired skills, giving you a greater competitive advantage. So, how will you earn PDUs? How will you plan your career development? What do you need to do now?

Get the answers to these questions and more on our new CCR web page. It includes the most important topics leading up to the program launch like—the PMI Talent Triangle—so that you are prepared for the change. Stay tuned for more information in the coming months.

Stay current on all of the changes - visit PMI's new CCR web page for the latest details on:

·        Why the program’s changing

·        How to earn PDUs

·        The PMI Talent Triangle and its skill areas

·        Important certification renewal dates

·        Training materials

Bookmark this page to keep up to date on important details, training and resources, so you are prepared for the change.

Our community is growing by leaps and bounds! To continue to provide an atmosphere that helps project managers be the best at what they do, we recently published our User Guidelines (you can find them in the footer on every page). These guidelines were created to help members make the most out of the community and to establish some ground rules for participation.

As activity in an online community increases, the amount of spam and advertising tends to rise as well. To keep our community valuable and educational, we don’t allow for spam, advertising, self-promotion or solicitation. After all, who wants to participate in a forum that has a bunch of people just posting links to their blogs or to products they sell?

Therefore, one of our most important rules is to keep posts relevant to the discussion and purpose of our community. Our community is not the place to self-promote, pitch a product, advertise your blog, your services, your website, etc.  While you may think you are adding “value,” you actually aren’t. Rather, you are pushing members out of the community instead of helping to build within the community. We’re looking for real conversation. Real discussions.

Genuinely participating in the community is a great way to demonstrate your expertise. For example, let’s say you see a question and you have a blog post or video that provides an answer. Instead of linking to your blog, write your answer out and post it in the community. Just posting a link to an outside site is spammy. Remember – your member profile is where you can list all of your accomplishments and professional offerings. If you have a website, etc. and you’d like to share the link, post it in your profile.

You can drive attention to your profile by providing complete answers within the community and demonstrating that you care by helping others develop professionally. You’ll also raise your Influence Score and members will respect your knowledge. They will look to you for your expertise and check out your profile to learn more about you. When members think of a particular topic, you will come to mind as a subject matter expert and they may reach out to you, visit your website, or send a connection request.

The only exception to this might be the case of when a member specifically asks for a link to another site or you are specifically answering the questions/concerns broached in the thread. This will be a rare circumstance. 

But don’t just post a question anonymously asking for a link to particular information and then post your link underneath. We’ll just remove it.

So, we’re asking for your help to keep your community valuable. We are currently going through the community to remove any posts that are violating the user guidelines, but we may not be able to catch every one. If you see such a violation of our user guidelines, please flag it as spam. Our Community Engagement Specialists will either edit the post or remove it entirely. 

Finally, if you ever have any question as to whether or not something is okay, just ask a Community Engagement Specialist! Just send us a message through the private inbox system and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible to show you how to get off on the right foot. 

*photo by epSOS.de via flicker at https://flic.kr/p/dAPegg

On Thursday, April 30, the University of Maryland Project Management Center for Excellence has just unveiled full program details for the second annual Project Management Symposium, taking place June 8-9 on the university’s campus in College Park, Maryland.

Attendees will be able to personalize their experience by selecting session tracks which benefit their development the most - whether it's learning about people in projects, construction, agile/IT, project management methodology, risk and big data, federal programs, education, public private partnerships, and/or sustainability. With over 60 field experts under one roof, p roject managers across industry, government, and academe will have the opportunity to sharpen their skills and get a first look at how today’s trends will shape the future of project management.

So, without further adieu, the agenda includes:

• (People in Projects) “A Not So Unexpected Journey: Communicating for Results,” by Tasha Boone (U.S. Census Bureau) and Emily Allen (MITRE Corporation, LLC)
• (Agile/IT) “10 Agile Principles – Taking the Steps to Agile Success,” by Myles D. Miller (SUCCESSHQ)
• (Education) “Mentoring the Next Generation of Project Managers,” by Todd Carothers (University of Wisconsin – Platteville)
• (Sustainability) “Planning, Implementing and Measuring Sustainability,” by William J. Bertera (Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure), Crystall D. Merlino (Department of Defense, Office of the Secretary of Defense), and Lidia Berger (Dewberry)
• (Risk & Big Data) “Project Intelligence through Data Science and Process Mining,” by William Brantley (University of Maryland)

In addition to providing project managers with an unmatched learning experience, this year’s symposium will offer a networking reception on Monday afternoon, bringing together experts from across the country and around the world. Even more, PMI members can earn up to 15 professional development units (PDUs) toward maintaining their PMI credential.

For more information, or to register, visit the UMD Project Management Center for Excellence website.

Planning to attend? Leave a comment below and start your networking prior to your arrival!

Have you registered yet for the Second Annual Project Management Symposium hosted by the University of Maryland Project Management Center for Excellence on June 8, 2015? Now is the time! Wednesday, April 15, is the last day to take advantage of early-bird registration! Last year sold out – so don’t miss out by waiting to get your ticket. Click here to register.

Why attend? It’s a great opportunity to learn from and network with other project managers and to get a big-picture view of the many ways project management has evolved in recent years, learn from case studies, and find out how to leverage project knowledge and knowledge services to get things done in the modern complex project environment. Plus, those attending this year’s symposium can qualify to earn up to 15 professional development units (PDUs) toward maintaining a PMI credential!

This year’s Project Management Symposium will feature a line-up of world-class project management professionals, such as Dr. Harold Kernzer of the International Institute of Learning and Dr. Ed Hoffman, NASA Chief Knowledge Officer. There will be nearly 60 session speakers and five highly esteemed keynotes, including Jocelyn Davis, President and CEO of Nelson Hart, Chip Hastie; Vice President of Clark Construction Group, LLC; and Karen Richey, Assistant Director for the Applied Research and Methods Team at the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

 “We are thrilled to welcome some of the brightest minds in project management for the capital region’s second annual symposium,” said John H. Cable, Director of the Project Management Center for Excellence. “More than 250 project management professionals joined us last year, and we anticipate that number will grow thanks, in part, to this year’s line-up and growing interest in the field of project management in the Baltimore-Washington area.”

For more information, or to register, visit the UMD Project Management Center for Excellence website.

About the UMD Project Management Center for Excellence

The University of Maryland A. James Clark School of Engineering Project Management Center for Excellence’s mission is to provide high quality, challenging education in project management that encompasses breadth and depth, preparing graduates to be proficient as both contributing members of project teams and excellent project managers, to maintain a strong research program recognized for excellence in project management, and to provide project management training and development service to the university, the profession, and the community at large. Our academic program was the first program in an engineering school to be accredited by the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Global Accreditation Center, and the center is also designated by PMI as a “Global Registered Educational Provider.”