I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience in creating an informal PM "support/networking" group where PMs gathering frequently to discuss issues they face, new tools, methodologies, etc.
The idea is to establish a brown bag group within my company (~20k employees) where PMs can share information about processes, tools, methodologies that work within their divisions and can be replicated in others.
I'm interested in learning about others' experience with such an undertaking, the success stories as well as the pitfalls. I'm concerned with items such as: 1) Keeping it Productive One thing I'm curious about is how one would keep the original intention of the group intact and not subject to being taken over by empire builders and braggarts (c'mon, we PMs do have a reputation for talking). 2) Agenda I would also be interested to learn about establishing an agenda for such a group, do you assign topics to be discussed (a certain methodology or a reading assignment) or is it a free form discussion on fire drill du jour?
Thank you for reading all this :-) and for any input. Saving Changes...
We did this in a previous position I was in. We limited it to folks who had been through training for the internal process. We got together once a month. We provided lunch for the group (part of the incentive). We usually spent 30 minutes for lunch, 45 minutes talking about some specific topic chosen the meeting before, 40 minutes going around the table and askinq questions, comments, etc, and 5 minutes to come up with something for the next meeting. It was hosted by the PMO. We also facilitated to keep the "exhuberant" discussions to a minumu. It was well received. Saving Changes...
Michael, thanks for your post. I'd like to hear more about your experience.
Here are some immediate questions I have: - Were you involved in creating the group? If so, what were some of the issues did you face/were concerned with? - Once a topic was decided for the next gathering, did each individual do research or was homework assigned to a person/group to present for next time? - What was some of the problems with the group and how were those handled? - Did the group begin to lose steam, and if so, what techniques were used to revitalize the group? - Would you recommend meeting more or less frequently? - Would you recommend more or less time per gathering? What other recommendations would you have for others who are beginning their own group?
I was very much involved in beginning the group. I had just conducted training for about 150 Project managers and was very much seen as an "expert". If you were not seen as an expert, that might be an obstacle. Our biggest problem was getting the group the right size. we wanted to keep it small enough to be interactive, but not so small as to exclude a bunch of folks. We kept it at 20, but considered doing something for a larger group with questions submitted in advance and/or having two sessions. As it turned out, our work load kept those who could attend at about 20. We chose Friday as the day. It seemed to work best for most.
The scheduling and handling cancellations and a waiting list are a pain. If you can delegate this piece of it, that is great.
We did a "nice" meal. We had a nice salad spread, drinks, and desert. I don't know if that made a difference, but folks were impressed.
Our first meeting featured our CIO. We had him spend about an hour talking about project management and why he thought it was important. This helped to set the tone.
The first couple of meetings after that, our PMO chose the topic based on difficulties we saw the PMs having (WBS generation, status reporting, etc.). After a couple of meetings we began asking them what they wanted to see or hear about. We got very good topic requests.
We also tried to send them away from every meeting with something in their hands. One meeting we gave each a copy of the PMBOK, one meeting, we gave them a handy guide book to MS Project (developed internally), and in another we gave them examples of status report we thought were well done versus not as well done.
Our biggest constraints were time for folks from the PMO to arrange and faciliate the meeting. There were a lot of very good ideas shared at the meeting so attendance was never a problem.
I would like to have had more than 2 hours, but that is as much of their attention as I could get. I would not go longer. You are also better off with fewer agenda items and go deeper into each topic. Monthly seemed about the right amount of time. We also had folks in different geographic areas that we did not address. This was a miss.
One of our primary responsibilities in our PMO was knowledge sharing. This was a very well received way to approach it. Saving Changes...
Michael BrownProject Manager| JPMorganChaseDeerfield, Il, United States
Very good posts here on this topic! We, too, had a similar concept at First Chicago Bank (Now Bank One). Our Enterprise Project Support Office sponsored a once-a-month "lunch series" for interested project managers. Each month we chose a different topic we thought would interest people based upon problems we heard during mentoring sessions. We met up in the cafeteria in a small conference room and discussed topics such as Risk Management and Critical Chain Project Management. The topics were well received and discussions were always interesting. For the most part, it was the PMO that chose the topic and presented. Frequency and topics were best determined by the group itself, but I think your concept is a great one. It's a wonderful way of supporting the project managers and hearing from THEM what is most important. Saving Changes...
Although I don't have personal experience, I did attend a presentation at ProjectWorld (Anaheim) last December where Christine Baker from Boeing spoke about developing a PM Interest Group (PMIG).
Her approach was to get Executive Sponsorship (more for guidance and $$ than approval), then hold an information meeting to gauge interest.
She spoke at length about the structure and governance of the group. They wanted the PMIG to be self-supporting, in other words, run by the membership itself instead of the founders. They also wrote a charter for the PMIG.
They had individuals express their particular interests, so subgroups formed around people's interests - PM career, tools, training, best practices, etc.
It might seem a bit over the top for what you need, but take from it what you can. I've attached the text from her PowerPoint presentation - her email is listed at the top of the page; I'm sure she would welcome questions.
