PMQuest JournalNovember 2013 Issue In this Issue ... Editor's Corner – Message from the Editor |
Editor's Corner
Dear Members of PMI Singapore Chapter,
I am Mey Ling, the editor of this second issue of PMQuest. It is my great honors to be part of the PMQuest editorial team.
Since the debut issue of PMQuest was published in September, we received numerous positive feedbacks from our fellow members. On behalf of the PMQuest team, I would like to thank you all for your encouragements and continuous supports to PMQuest.
In today’s ever changing project environment, change management becomes a key concern for the project managers. Changes lead to uncertainties, and uncertainties affect the chances of success of a project. In this issue, we included the first part of an interesting article about the Physic of Change in a project, of which the author applies the famous Newton’s Law of Motion to change management. This article serves as an eye-opener for me, and I hope it will bring you some new insights into project change management too.
Other than that, we have included articles covering the stakeholder management knowledge area, guidance to compliment the use of PMBOK® Guide – Fifth Edition, topics related to IT project management, and a book review.
I hope you enjoy the articles we specially chosen for you in this issue.
If you have any suggestions, feedback or ideas for improvements, please send it to pmquest@pmi.org.sg and we will act on it.
TING Mey Ling
Editor, PMQuest
Special Feature
Understanding the Chemistry and Physics of Change: Part 1: The Physics
by Angelo Baratta
Change is not some random event. Change is about status quo. It is the planned movement from the current status quo to some new status quo.
Change, like a project, is transitional. It is the transition between two stable status quos, the current and the desired.
Change Management is a combination of art, practice, and science and it takes all three to get it right. The starting point for change is always the current state, which is subject to the Three Laws of Organization Change.
In this article, the author will show us how the classical and famous Newton’s Law of Motions can be applied in change management in the project environment.
Interested to find out more? Click here.
Special Feature
A strengthened PMBOK® Guide in a sequence
by Prof Vernon Ireland, BE, BA, MEngSc, PhD, FIE Aust, CP Eng, Eng.Exec.
The PMBOK® Guide – Fifth Edition is presented as a matrix of five processes and 10 knowledge areas. It houses 47 cells, which are called knowledge area cells in this paper. However, when this body of knowledge is applied to a real project, one cannot address all 47 activities at once and furthermore, there is a natural sequence within these knowledge area cells starting with signing the Charter and ending with Closing the Project. This paper presents a view of a sequence of knowledge area cells that can be performed on a project to logically work through each of the 47 cells.
The opportunity is also taken for the author to provide comments on a few activities which are felt to be underrepresented, mainly to do with choice of a project delivery system, the role of constructability, the role of PMBOK® Guide – Fifth Edition underpinning company processes and complexity issues.
To read the full article, click here.
Stakeholder
Some thoughts on Project Stakeholder Management
by Tan Heng Meng, MBA, BSc (Hons), PMP
As projects are carried out by some stakeholders and for the good of all stakeholders, Project Stakeholder Management is the most important skill that all project managers must master well!
One of the major changes in PMBOK 5th edition (PMI, 2013a) is the addition of Stakeholder Management as a new knowledge area. In previous versions, stakeholder related processes were part of the Project Communication Management knowledge area. The objective of this article is to review and comment on aspects that are not sufficiently covered in PMI’s body of knowledge on Project Stakeholder Management.
To read the full article, click here.
Integration
Project Manager’s roles in the security battle
by Philip Kwa, MBA, PMP
Despite the enormous importance to business, IT compliance is often regarded as a distraction and a management burden. While board members read security-related headlines in the press, they don’t really have a proper comprehensive list of risks and the potential impacts to their enterprise.
Security must therefore be seen as part of business issues, not just a one-line item on the list of CIO concerns. To convince the senior executive to take IT and information security seriously, their IT professionals, including project managers, need to change their tactics of tabling security issues at the board level.
To find out how the project management team could help the corporate to win the security battle, click here.
Stakeholder
Applying the ‘Productive Lazy’ approach to your Sponsor
by Peter Taylor
Critical to any projects success is having a good project sponsor. However, like the saying goes ‘you can pick your friends but you can’t pick your relatives’ and the same is true of project sponsors.
So what makes a good project sponsor and how do you deal with the one you have just inherited for your project?
To find out more, click here.
Integration
Tips for IT Service Delivery Projects
by Karan Bareja, PMP
Information Technology (IT) has increasing become an important part of business infrastructure. Indeed some new industries such as e-commerce and supply chain management are based solely on IT systems. For successful business competitive advantages, it is critical to manage all IT projects successfully.
Although many organizations have adopted ITIL as a best practice to manage their IT services, they did not get the intended outcomes and results to claim the desired success. Very often this is due to ineffective execution of IT service delivery projects.
What are the areas that the project managers should pay special attention to in order to increase chances of project success? To read the full article, click here.
Book Review
A Sixth Sense for Project Manager
by Tan Heng Meng, MBA, BSc (Hons), PMP
PMBOK Guide (PMI, 2013, p. 17) stated that project managers accomplish work through the project team and other stakeholders and effective project managers require a balance of ethical, interpersonal, and conceptual skills that help them analyze situations and interact appropriately. Thus it is clear that good knowledge of all the processes, tools and techniques mentioned in the PMBOK Guide alone is not sufficient for a project manager to operate effectively. Additional interpersonal skills (aka soft skills) and ethical skills are needed.
A Sixth Sense for Project Manager seems to fill some of the needs of soft skills for project managers.
To read more, click here.
PM Good Read
7 Top Wishes of IT Project Managers
URL: http://www.cio.com/article/741249/7_Top_Wishes_of_IT_Project_Managers_?page=1&taxonomyId=3013
Wish No. 1: To be involved from project inception.
Wish No. 2: The ability to put -- and keep -- together the perfect team for each project
Wish No. 3: To have powerful yet simple-to-use project management tools.
Wish No. 4: To have clearly defined project objectives and requirements.
Wish No. 5: To get buy-in from stakeholders and end-users.
Wish No. 6: To be treated with respect.
Wish No. 7: To be allowed to adjust projects as needed (without being second-guessed).
5 Crucial Tactics For Project Management
URL: http://cmvlive.com/technology/marketing/5-crucial-tactics-for-project-management
1. Communication
2. Diplomacy
3. Be A Team Player
4. Reception
5. Stand Your Ground
5 Steps to Dealing With Project Disaster
Step #1: What’s The Problem?
Step #2: What’s The Impact?
Step #3: What Shall We Do?
Step #4: Doing The Work
Step #5: Reviewing The Work