Project Management

The Critical Path

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Welcome to The Critical Path--the home for community happenings and events on ProjectManagement.com! This is where you'll find community news, updates, upcoming events, featured member posts and more. We'll also be showcasing hot topics in the project management arena and bringing you interviews with industry experts. The Critical Path is our primary way of getting news out to members, so be sure to check back for updates!

About this Blog

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View Posts By:

Cameron McGaughy
Kimberly Whitby
Laura Schofield
Tara Leparulo
Heather McLarnon

Past Contributors:

Marjorie Anderson
Carrie Dunn
Danielle Ritter
Kenneth A. Asbury
Craig Dalrymple
Rebecca Braglio
Kristin Jones

Recent Posts

Final PMI Fact File - December 2023

November 2023 Fact File Stats

October 2023 PMI Fact File Stats

September 2023 PMI Fact File Stats

August 2023 PMI Fact File Stats

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Date

Ask Us Anything - A World of Volunteer Opportunities with PMI!

Please join us for our next our next “Discover PMI - Ask Us Anything!” webinar, Ask Us Anything - A World of Volunteer Opportunities with PMI! on 22 September at 12:00PM EDT.

In this installment of the Discover PMI – Ask Us Anything Series, we will provide an overview on the benefits of how Volunteering is at the heart of the Project Management Institute.  From serving on the PMI Board of Directors to writing certification exam items, running a local PMI chapter to creating and reviewing content like the PMBOK Guide, PMI volunteers are the backbone of the Institute around the globe.

Spend an entire hour with two of your very own PMI Volunteer Engagement Specialists, Jamie Gray and Maria Hazell, who will talk about the fulfilling and impactful volunteer opportunities with PMI.

By attending this FREE webinar, you’ll walk away with the following outcomes:

  • The importance of volunteers to PMI and the project management profession
  • The ability to identify the various volunteer opportunities that PMI has to offer
  • How to search for and apply to available global PMI opportunities

Please join us for an informal and interactive discussion focused on the Benefits of Volunteering at PMI!

Posted by Kimberly Whitby on: July 14, 2021 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

NEW Discussion Threads for Industry Content

We're pleased to announce that as part of our overall content approach, PMI will launch a new initiative focusing on four industry segments this year, particularly in the fields of IT, Finance, Government and Construction. And as part of that focus, we want to highlight some existing PM Network content on ProjectManagement.com to engage the community, and to learn more about their specific industry needs.

The idea is for ProjectManagement to create, highlight, and maintain four dynamic, active threads for the community — one for each industry: IT, Government, Finance and Construction.

To start, we have selected three pieces of content from the IT sector to help launch the first discussion thread posted within the following links within Project Management Central:

1. How Do You Help Define Data’s Role in your Organization’s Strategy?    https://www.projectmanagement.com/discussion-topic/135655/How-do-you-help-define-data-s-role-in-your-organization-s-strategy-

2. Digital Acceleration through a Global PMO
https://www.projectmanagement.com/discussion-topic/135657/Digital-Acceleration-through-a-Global-PMO

3. How do you determine if an Agile, Waterfall or hybrid approach is best for your project?
https://www.projectmanagement.com/discussion-topic/135658/How-do-you-determine-if-an-Agile--Waterfall-or-hybrid-approach-is-best-for-your-project-

We welcome you to engage in these discussions, and please stay tuned for forthcoming postings!

Enjoy!

Posted by Kimberly Whitby on: July 26, 2019 01:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

November Community News You Can Use

Where does the time go? It's November and the United States is preparing to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday this week! No matter which part of the globe you reside, we all have reasons to be thankful each and every day. A very big THANKS to all of you, our dedicated and engaged community members, for all of your hard work and contributions to ProjectManagement.com!  Be sure to review the exciting activities taking place right here on ProjectManagement.com now through the end of the year! 
                                   

*Only one week away!* - Join us on 28 November 2017 for an Open House based on Project Management for Social Good®, a collaborative event between ProjectManagement.com and the PMI Educational Foundation, the philanthropic arm of PMI®.  Project managers have a unique skill set that they can use to bring value to their communities through partnerships with youth, teachers, and nonprofit organizations.  During this event, we’ll explore content from practitioners that are leveraging their skills and knowledge to deliver a huge impact. 


There’s still time to register for the PMI Talent Management Conference 2017! How can PM professionals cultivate the skills the market—and employers—demand? How can organizations develop PM talent that adapts to change and leads them to success? Stay ahead of career requirements and organizational demands at the PMI Talent Management Conference 2017, the only talent management event designed exclusively for PM professionals! Register today!


2018 PMI Professional Awards Call for Nominations!  Honor project management excellence and earn worldwide professional recognition and esteem by nominating professionals, organizations, scholars, authors and continuing professional education providers for the project management profession’s most prestigious and globally recognized achievements. The PMI Awards could highlight you or someone you know—the true leaders of the profession who are changing the world project by project, while serving as examples of success for the next generation of project managers to follow. Click here for details!


Go In-Depth With the Latest Edition of the PMBOK® Guide - In September 2017, we released A Guide to The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition. In this presentation, Cyndy Dionisio, the project chair of the Sixth Edition Core Committee, explains the updates, new processes, terminology and subjects in the Sixth Edition. She also talks about tailoring and agile practices.


Have some extra downtime over the holidays and looking to and attain knowledge, all while earning PDUs?  Be sure to check out our remaining webinars scheduled throughout 2017! You will be sure glad you did!

That's all for now! If you have any questions about community events, user guidelines, or any other community happenings, feel free to reach out to any member of the Community Engagement team. We're happy to help!

Posted by Kimberly Whitby on: November 20, 2017 03:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

To Ask, Answer or Observe...

I have been following a fascinating conversation started by one of our highly active community members, Mr. Stephane Parent, on the topic of those who ask questions and those who answer them within the community.  He posited that both are valuable ways of contributing to the community, and asked his colleagues how they felt about the way that these two trends play out on ProjectManagement.com.

The discussion (linked here:  http://www.projectmanagement.com/discussion-topic/39289/Question-or-Answer-) has been energetic and responses from other members validate that, yes, both actions create a more healthy community environment.  Of course, one member also pointed out the very real “third trend”:  those who log in and neither ask, nor answer.

In responding to this “third trend”, several have mused that members who are not actively participating in such discussions are difficult to connect with and that it is hard to feel a sense of connectivity to a silent community segment. 

But does that mean that our silent members are not contributing to our community?  It may be easy to draw that conclusion, but I wouldn’t start sketching it too soon.

Most communities, both online and in-person, have what community managers often hear referred to as “lurkers”.  These individuals do not tend to voice their opinions, respond to questions, or ask them in the public forums.  They quietly log in or enter a room, listening to the conversations, picking up resources, watch presentations and make notes, and quietly leave.  They may go almost completely unnoticed, but they are still part of the community and most would tell you that they feel engaged by the community. 

There is actually a commonly understood ratio of community member “types”, particularly online, and it usually looks like this 1:9:90.  For every 100 members, you generally have 1 highly active contributor who tends to generate and lead activity within the community, about 9 frequent participators who respond to and interact with community activity, and about 90 members who quietly observe and rarely raise their voice.  This is not a hard and fast ratio, but there are always higher numbers of “lurkers” than there are active contributors, and we are no exception.

There may be many reasons that this happens – even within a community of peers, not everyone is comfortable asking a question in a public forum, particularly if you feel that you are surrounded by subject matter experts who may perceive the question to be “simple”.  And, no matter how long they may have been practicing within the profession, some members may not be confident that their experience translates to actual expertise.  Circumstances can impact responses, and the best practice that works 99% of the time for them in their situation, may not be at all effective in another. 

But our silent members are still here to learn from one another and, while they may not be very vocal in the public threads, that doesn’t mean they are not highly engaged within their own network.  Their contributions may not be visible to the community at large, but they may have immeasurable impact elsewhere. 

Consider the mentor who logs in and reads new content, follows discussions, and watches webinar presentations, and may be sharing all of this with a new practitioner in his or her company.  Or the PMO Director who is not very visible online, but brings a wealth of knowledge back from ProjectManagement.com to her colleagues looking for tools and resources, helping develop his or her team and connect them with peers who can, in turn, help them develop themselves.  The consummate talent scout who is helping a chapter build out a local, industry focused program by reaching out to great speakers and authors.  And finally, some members may be facing very challenging issues which require discretion and cannot be addressed on a public forum – while these members may not post their questions on the discussion boards, they may be drawing upon their community network offline to seek help and talk through scenarios.

We may often tend to think of ProjectManagement.com as our community, however, as the Community Engagement team, we prefer to think of it as the “home” for our community – because we know that the website is only one of many places that the professional project management community gathers.  And this means that community members may have different comfort levels, needs and modes of engagement in the different spaces where community meets, whether in the forums, in a virtual event, at a chapter meeting, or industry conference or even when they just decide to get together on their own. 

When you look at our community in this way, it might surprise you to learn just how chatty our “silent members” are in these other spaces, and how they are contributing in ways we don’t see online.

Posted by Danielle Ritter on: July 20, 2016 03:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

Gain Influence within the Community!

Categories: influence

As you're settling into our new community, you may be wondering what Influence is and how to go about obtaining it. The information below will tell you just that!

 

Just remember, the more you participate, the more influence you can earn. Make sure you start connecting with others, commenting on content, and even creating content of your own and you'll soon be on your way to gaining influence!

Posted by Marjorie Anderson on: March 11, 2015 02:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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