PM Mex Corner

PMI Organization and chapters are constituted by volunteers. The Organization itself started as a volunteering initiative, with the main goal to cultivate, and promote modern project management practice. 

To be effective it is important to sum rather than to compete with such an initiative, because summing efforts, greater things can be constructed, more publications, bigger network. With this in mind, many of us, look to integrate with this laudable effort. The first way to do that is volunteering. 

PMI chapter are organized as franchise, in the way that no more than one Chapter can be started if there is already one in your local area, or at least that is what is stated in the PMI chapter rules. 

In the other hand, we cannot deny that those who are in charge of PMI Chapter are in a special situation to promote its career, and gain contracts or employment in Project management field. In other words, a PMI Chapter is an important market interest prey. Once you have Chapter in your possession, there are big incentives to try deny access to others, which may be competitors in the field. 

How can such conflict of interest can be controlled?, Of course that there is a ruling PMI document of ethics, and also there is a complaint mechanism. But these two countermeasures are not enough to counter the big incentive to capture a Chapter for personal interest. Once a Chapter is captured, volunteering and chapter community diminishes, and such a beautiful initiative stops being of use. 

One way to find a way through this common problematic situation, is to ask, Who should be the receiver of the benefit of a PMI Chapter?,  Who loses if there is not a healthy functioning Chapter in your area?, the answer does not need to be complicated: The first winner of a healthy Chapters are those involved with it:  Chapters members and Volunteers; secondly Society, the Profession and so on. 

So the best control to prevent Chapter kidnapping, is to have an enthusiastic Chapter community that does not conforms to low Chapter-leaders performance, that participates intensively, not letting to be left outside. A Chapter community that push for its rights of having the experience of being a member and / or a volunteer in the  profession they love.

Whose is the Chapter anyway?

Any of us should feel uncomfortable working in an immature environment, where success is just a matter of luck or the ability of a few very talented People. On the other hand, while trying to implement formal procedures, for example for a PMO, we are always under the threat of the bureaucracy trap.

Bureaucracy has become a bad word.  But it was a good one, it was introduced to define the method of government of an organization where order and procedures existed. Max Weber (German sociologist) defined bureaucracy as the systematic processes and organized hierarchies necessary to maintain order, maximize efficiency and eliminate favoritism.

So bureaucracy was created by men as an instrument to help organize in a more mature manner human endeavors.  However as any human made stuff, bureaucracy can be used for good or for bad. The bad usage of bureaucracy appears when it is used to justify its existence rather than used as a support to obtain final goal accomplished.

In the case of a PMO, a bureaucracy governance is established. No matter how lean, any procedure is a bureaucracy instrument.  If this procedures serve more to justify the existence of the PMO rather than achieving the final goal (the project done on time on budget), then we have fallen in the trap of bureaucracy.

More harm will come:  When individuals are faced to the demons of delays, paperwork and low value procedures, resistance to the new procedures increases. The argument is that the PMO is an office of useless work and low value added procedures… and they are right.  Because the PMO has fallen in the bureaucracy trap.  The trap is completed when the organizations arrive to the consensus that "less process is better" and "no process at all then even better".  The whole organization has fallen in the trap… they have not evolutioned to a better way of doing thing, but they are back to old edges.

All PM professional need to be vigilant to not be caught in the trap.  The final end is to get projects done within specifications on time, so on…   and procedures are just facilitating instruments. If they are not facilitating then they should be corrected, but not removed. Removing formal procedures is the final stage of the bureaucracy trap.  In order to avoid dealing with Frankenstein, burn the monster!  and go back to medieval times. Correcting procedures is the way out, not removing them.

Many enroll Volunteering, with the ultimate aim to make their Résumé look nice; but with few intentions to really exert a voluntary altruistic work. 

The presence of “good causes” in our “professional profile", makes us feel good, and sell more; we believe that we are more appreciated. But when much “ado About Nothing”... I mean, when we say that we are Volunteers, just to look nice at pictures, but with little or nothing real work involved. Then it is a lack of honesty. 

Volunteering is born from a profound personal reflection. We cannot impose someone else volunteering because volunteering is the result of an honest conversation with ourselves. Many of us go through life wondering: What do I need to be happy?, May it be: fight for money to arrive first place?, friendships?, love and liking to people?. However we do not realize that the straight path to happiness is to fight for the others happiness. 

How often we are grumbling about the bad state of the roads?, the poor state of education in the country?, the poor state of medical services?, etc. However, how often do we contribute directly to improve those thing that we complain about? 

Going to Work or School as a “model citizen” is not enough to improve our World. Hardly anyone will accept that they are doing less than it is possible to get things right. It is easy to believe that we do everything almost perfect. But everything in our world is not just perfect, right? If we ALL think that doing what we are doing so far, is enough, then we will only get to stay the same as today. For things to improve we need more than “standard good citizenship” 

As a professional interested in things improve, I cannot agree that Metro lines continues to be built with poor quality, or that food wasting continues. Or that my neighbors reach maturity age almost illiterate?. Why allow to continue immortalizing the bad practices that lead to things so poorly constructed, dangerous and soon stop working, generating more costs and less economic momentum in our society? 

I can contribute by promoting the culture of good project management. Why keep doing things the “Chilazo” way (“there-it-goes way”), unprofessionally, if they can be done professionally? 

Compassion and empathy are values that are difficult to feign or pretend. Being a Volunteer is to stop being just an opinionated spectator. When you only judge without acting, you are poisoning your soul. Even more, you''re part of the cause of the situation that you complain about (“Sois la ocasión de lo mismo que culpái“: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz) 

Give voluntarily, is to become a, full, responsible human being. Accountable of ourselves, our actions, and our environment. It is an advanced state of assertiveness. To become a genuine voluntary and not just glorify our personality 

We do not need to be wealthy to be able to give. By giving volunteer work, we suddenly realize we earn more than double with a single effort, because we enrich our soul; improving the life of someone else; and also we contribute to spread and expand the spirit of brotherhood and humanity. 

A beloved teacher made us memorize the following verse. At that time I was not aware of the great truth that enclosed, I share it below: 

"Voy con las riendas tensas 
y refrenando el vuelo, 
porque no es lo que importa llegar pronto ni solo, 
sino llegar con todos y a tiempo". 

"I go with the tight rein 
and holding it, 
because it is not what matters to arrive early and alone, 
but with all and on time". 

León Felipe