The Critical Path

Community Features and Functionality

We’re excited to bring you some new functionality to the community. You may have noticed the new badge page that displays all of the badges you've been awarded for participating int he community, plus additional badges that you can earn.

To view your badge page, just go to your profile and click on "View all badges."

You may be wondering how you can earn the badges that are not yet posted on your page. Finding out is easy - simply click on the faded badge icon and a pop-up will tell you exactly what actions you'll need to take to earn the badge:

We hope you are enjoying this new feature and are exploring all of the great ways you can add to your badge earnings!

Discussion Board Round-Up

Check out the Project Management Central forum board and find out what the community is saying on a variety of hot topics!

• What is your preferred way to earn PDUs?
• What is your definition of innovation?
• Developing "new" versus "old" project managers - How?

Have an opinion of your own? Help out a fellow project manager and weigh in on these posts that need answers:

• Does bureaucracy affect projects? How?
• How do you measure the effectiveness of communication plans?
• What is the difference between project management and strategic project management?

Stay tuned for more updates and featured community activity!

This year’s EMEA Congress is being held in Barcelona, Spain and guess what? It’s not as far away as you think! Whether you'll be joining us in person or staying home, you can participate in the knowledge, networking and fun!

We’re trying something new this year and bringing you, the community on ProjectManagement.com, to Congress in Barcelona! How? Well, check back regularly between now and 12 May for new updates here in The Critical Path and on our brand new PMI EMEA Congress 2016 event page. We'll be posting blogs, articles and discussion posts leading up to the event, as well as special blog posts each day of Congress designed to bring all of the action to you, wherever you may be.

Get Involved!

Have social media accounts? Follow us using #PMICongress and participate in discussions, see photos and videos from the event and have your voice be heard!

The ProjectManagement.com community has the unique opportunity to participate in the LIVE PMI Salon session being held on Tuesday 10 May at 16:15PM CEST. What time is that where you are? Find out here!

Our panelists will be discussing the topics below and will be taking your questions live from Twitter. They want to hear from you!

• Big Data
• Artificial Intelligence/Open Source Technology
• Human Connections

Mark your calendar NOW and use #PMICongress to actively participate in the session. Check back here for more info leading up to the event!

Want to join us in person in Barcelona? There's still time to register! If you're going, be sure to let us know in the comments below or via social media. We'd love to connect with you!

This month we're pleased to highlight one of our most active members, Rami Kaibni. Even if you're new to the community, chances are Rami has answered your question or provided you with ideas on how to get an answer.  

How did you get involved in project management?

I graduated from Birzeit University in West Bank, Palestine with a degree in Civil Engineering with honors and emphasis on structures. I was employed by the civil engineering department as a research and teaching assistant for one year before I joined an international company (Consolidated Contractors International Company) that specializes in Project & Construction Management. Since Civil Engineering is a wide field, part of my job (besides design) was to manage projects. That is where the adventure started and it’s been more than 10 years now. I really enjoy doing project management because every project is unique; you always keep learning and the limit is the sky.

Who or what inspires you to be the best project manager you can be?

Project management is a very innovative and creative field. At the same time, it is a very competitive field. If you do not make sure you are doing things right in terms of coping with the changes in managing projects, attitude, and so on, then you can’t sustain in this industry and you also can’t survive in this world. Everything is dependent on how efficiently you manage things - even on a personal level. I always believed in a saying which inspired me a lot: What’s more important than reaching the top of the pile is staying there.”

What is one thing you wished you'd known when you first started out in project management?

I wish there were more sources of education in the Project Management Field. Practical PM is great and the best teacher but educational programs and mentoring are also important and plays a major role in development. We had to learn project management the hard way but I personally believe it was a great way.

It's Friday at 4 pm and your boss just told you that you've been assigned to work on a project - on a different continent! You leave 9 am tomorrow. What are the next five (5) things that you do?

It is somehow unusual for a project director to request that a PM relocates to a different continent within few hours, it is not practical. To be able to answer this properly, I will assume that this is an emergency and that I will be going there for one week so set things up and go back to finalize all pending issues.

The next five things would be:

• Informing the deputy PM of the decision and have her/him take over immediately until I return.
• Ensure accommodation, transportation and ticket are all reserved.
• Get an idea from my boss about the nature of the client, client.
• Read about the country I am going to and the nature of doing business there.
• Prepare my suit bag and necessary documents.

You’ve come to the realization that an important project you are currently managing is going to be a massive failure. Somehow, every red flag has been missed or ignored and it’s far too late in the game to turn things around. Maybe you inherited the mess, maybe you’re the cause of the failure, or maybe it’s just the way things turned out and there’s nothing you could have done to prevent it. What 3 types of things will you do, mentally, physically, or even spiritually, to cope until the project is over?

Personally, I’ve worked on projects where we ran over budget, were behind schedule at some point or had many issues but at the end of the project, it ended up with a success. I’ve never experienced a total failure project because the project is always as good as the PM is unless there were severe uncontrollable issues. I imagine if I was put in a situation like the one addressed above, I would do the following:

• Allocate more time to communicate with the client to make sure they do not lose trust in our company and to always keep them alert of our loyalty and commitment to the job.
• Boost the morale of the project team as much as I possibly could because blaming others would never solve the problem and try to sort out the problem and initiate mitigation plans in order to minimize the level of failure. 
• Make sure to record all lessons learned properly to make sure we do not face similar failures in future projects.

In summary, even though the situation assumes that the project will be a massive failure, a project manager should never give up and in such situations, he should think about how to resolve as much issues as possible and at the same time think about future projects and how not to have them affected by the failure of this project and change the failure of one project to a success on another project.

Please introduce yourself to Rami in the comments below and take some time to add him to your network as a connection. 

Is there a community member who you think deserves some recognition for their contributions to the community? Let us know! Email the member’s name and a brief explanation as to why you think he/she should be featured in our Member of the Month to [email protected].

Welcome to today's open house celebrating giving back through project management! We're excited to open up our community today to all project managers around the world to talk about making a difference through the use of project management. Here's what's on the agenda:

Two FREE Webinars (great way to earn PDUs!)

• LIVE at 12:00 PM ET: How to be a Strategic Volunteer presented by Bruce Harpham. In this webinar, you will learn how to filter and identify volunteer opportunities that fit with your skills and passions. Project management and leadership skills have great value in many circumstances - the key is find the right fit for you.
• OPEN On Demand ALL DAY: Project Marketing and Stakeholder Engagement for Non Profit presented by Dr. Maulik Baxi. More and more project and program managers are now being employed by non-profit organizations across the world. Similarly more and more non-profit organizations encourage their staff to become familiar with and obtain certification in project and program management. While the guidance available in the project management body of knowledge, the practical literature on the topic of marketing and stakeholder engagement largely focuses on for profit corporations. This webinar presents the principles and tools and techniques as it is applicable to the non-profit organizations

One (1) PDU will automatically be reported for PMI credential holders who view either the live or recorded version of these webinars. Please allow 10-14 business days for processing. 

Please note: Pre-registration does not guarantee access. Our webinars are on a first come, first serve basis with a maximum room capacity of 1500 attendees. These webinars will be recorded and available On-Demand within 48 hours.

Tell Us How You Get Involved!

Are you giving back to your community? Have you been able to utilize your project management skills in a way that benefits the greater good? We want to hear about it! Share your story in our discussion thread and be entered to win one of the prizes described below!

Get Inspired!

To celebrate today's open house, we've unlocked the following resources and organized them to inspire you! Get started here:

• The Nonprofit Challenge
• Think Strategically: Be the Ultimate Volunteer
• The Philanthropic PM: Challenges and Opportunities
• How Can I Give Back? Am I Qualified To?
• Advice on Advice
• It’s Time to Give Back...Your Profession Needs You
• PM Philanthropy: A Mutual Opportunity
• Chapter Spotlight: Project Management for Social Good, PMI Central Indiana Chapter
• Making the World a Better Place through PM Philanthropy

Resources!

Want to take a step forward and get involved? Check out the following resources to start giving back!

• PMI Educational Foundation - Project Management for Social Good
• Volunteer with PMI
  • Explore the many ways to volunteer and give back with PMI!
• PMI Local Chapters
  • Get involved locally and make a difference!
• Volunteer Relationship Management System
  • Our Volunteer Relationship Management System (VRMS) makes it easy to search for volunteer opportunities throughout the world. To get started, log in or register and visit the VRMS to find volunteer opportunities that interest you.

Amazing Giveaways (sorry, open to US residents only)

To celebrate today's open house, we're giving away the following prizes to randomly selected individuals who share their stories in our discussion thread.

. Tell us how you give back and be entered to win:

• Three (3) community members will receive one (1) signed copy of "Project Pain Reliever) by Dave Garrett, founder of ProjectManagement.com. Retail value $49.95.

• Three (3) community members will receive a ProjectManagement.com t-shirt (size XL)! Retail value $15.00.

• Five (5) community members will receive this handy spiral bound notebook that can hold your business cards and a pen! Retail value $3.00.

The mission of the PMI Educational Foundation, a charitable nonprofit organization, is to inspire and empower people to realize their potential and transform their lives and their communities through the use of project management knowledge. Their vision is that all people worldwide have a better tomorrow by applying project management skills in their daily lives.

Check out their work and some of the ways they can help you get involved below!

Everyone agrees education can change a life. But what if education went beyond teaching facts? What if education taught students how to learn?

As project-based learning increasingly becomes the standard teaching approach in many classrooms, it is being proven that learning through hands-on activities bridges the gap between knowing and doing.

When students learn and apply project management skills, they develop 21st Century skills for communicating, organizing workloads, planning, and thinking critically and become more collaborative, creative leaders.

Watch and hear for yourself why the youth agree that learning project management is so impactful.

Project Management Skills for Life® is a guide that provides an introduction to the basics of project management as well as tools and techniques to help develop skills to become a great project manager leading successful projects. A basic understanding of project management concepts will help your team effectively create a plan, organize activities and train individuals to complete simple to very complex projects.

To download this resource and begin a PM training for a youth or nonprofit organization in your community, visit our Learning Resources Library at www.pmief.org

Apply for the Community Advancement Through Project Management Award!

The newly-designed 2016 Community Advancement Through Project Management Award will emphasize the pro bono project management contributions to increasing the capacities of nonprofit organizations. 

Visit the PMI Educational Foundation site to learn about eligibility requirements and categories. Hurry, the application deadline is 20 May 2016!

Learn how past award recipient Jessica Berrada’s volunteer work as the President and CEO of the Commissioned by Christ (CBC) nonprofit organization exemplifies the value of project management in delivering nonprofit missions.

Receive PMIEF’s Monthly e-Newsletter, PM for Social Good®, to stay up-to-date on PMIEF resources and programs.