Message from the Chair

One of the things I try to do in my work outside of my PMI Consulting SIG responsibilities is read widely. I like to discover interesting details about subjects I know well or not so well. In fact, in order to work at my firm one of the objectives for selection as a field consultant is, 'a demonstrated intellectual curiosity.' The reason for this is that we often find solutions to our clients' needs beyond the known areas of our subject matter expertise. We see that it is in the serendipitous connection between two or more disparate ideas that you can sometimes create a moment when you say 'that's interesting'. Note it is not necessarily a 'eureka' moment. This is simply the discovery of something unexpected that may lead to a better approach or a better question. At heart it is a reflection of the designer's mind. Taking what you know and putting it to different and better use..

     The more that you read,
    The more things you will know.
    The more that your learn,
    The more places you'll go.

              - Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut

Currently I'm reading a lot of work that focuses on why we make the choices we make. These works address our consistencies in the face of wildly changing circumstances as well as our inconsistencies when faced with commonality. It seems that for all our outward desire to be objective, rational thinkers, there is a whole lot of subjectivity at play (whether we want to acknowledge it or not.) In consulting terms, the challenge is how to address this subjectivity on our clients' parts. Many of the clients I work with are not interested in project management per se. Yes, they recognize that it is a useful practice but they see that its value lies in being a means to an end. The change created. The capability developed. The capacity extended. Only the end result counts.

Correspondingly, I find myself crafting project management solutions that fit a client's particular functional or business needs. The Project Management Body of Knowledge, while present and underpinning everything I do, is not explicit. Increasingly I find project management in practice is not neat or tidy. It rarely has crisp edges and sharp lines (except, perhaps, for deadlines.) Rather, I find that project management in practice is often rumpled and worn and frayed around the edges. What makes it work is the application of intellectual curiosity - taking the best practices available from the PMBoK and making them suit the needs of the moment by applying the best practices from other sources, too.

How are you bending what you know to make your client's lives better? And what sources are you drawing on outside the domain of project management? I'm interested to know - after all, I am a consultant!

Andrew "Drew" Marshall
Chair, Consulting SIG
chair@pmiconsultingsig.org

Registration Now Open for PMI® Atlanta and La Crosse Chapters Professional Development Days 2008

PMI® Atlanta Chapter PDD 2008

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Register today to attend PDD 2008 and join us in the celebration. We know you will enjoy great hands-on project management interactions and gain in-depth project management skills and knowledge during this exciting event.

Oh No, You Gave Me What I Asked For!”: Part 3 - Analyzing Problems and Recommending Solutions that Address Expectations

Elizabeth Larson, CBAP, PMP and Richard Larson, CBAP, PMP, Principals, Watermark Learning, Inc.

Project professionals - specifically project managers and business analysts - realize that no matter how well projects are executed, projects still fail when customer requirements are not clearly defined and customer expectations are not met.

Uncovering expectations takes time and requires the art of consultative questioning. It demands patience with clients who have difficulty articulating their requirements. It requires a process for not only eliciting the requirements, but also for analyzing, documenting and validating them. Finally, it takes a commitment to defining requirements in sufficient detail to understand what those expectations truly are.
View Part III, Part II and Part I.

CSIG Partners with the MetSIG to Offer Free Webinars

The MetSIG will soon offer a webinar series on ”Measuring for Project Success with Proper Organizational Governance” by Steve Rollins MBA, PMP, PMOC. Watch for more details.

If you missed the live webinars of the 2008 MetSIG Online Congress, archived webinars are now available for download. PMPs earn 1 PDU for each 1 hour webinar.

MetSIG Chair Steve Rollins, PMP recently delivered a series of 10 live, one-hour webinars on the topic of
"PMO and the Portfolio: Measuring Towards Value." PMPs earn 1 PDU for each 1 hour webinar.

Webinar are free for CSIG members, just enter promo code CUSMET7.

Through this unique and thought-provoking presentation, attendees will gain an understanding of the seven gray areas most leaders face, and learn how to navigate these areas through powerful toolsets around four primary themes: Ideals; Leading by Questioning; Systems Thinking; and Empathy. This holistic approach enables better decisions from broader perspectives, as opposed to near-sighted assumptions, quick fixes and one-size-fits-all solutions. This presentation is based on the best-selling book Jerry Manas' Managing the Gray Areas, which Pat Williams, Senior VP of the Orlando Magic, called "a new path for leaders."

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Webinars are available in the Members Area of the CSIG web site

Join us on Tuesday, July 22nd at 2:00 EDT for this webinar with Ali Pulver, Global Project Management Director for Enfatico (a WPP agency).

The session will address Change Control within the context of a creative marketing project, and how to apply PMI best practices when you are likely the only one who knows them. Specific focus will be:

• How and why marketing/creative projects differ from other projects
• Common change control challenges and how to manage them
       - Process and documentation
       - Softer skills - how to avoid saying "no" and still maintain profitability.
  

Ali is the Global Project Management Lead for the new WPP agency Enfatico and has been in the WPP family since 2004, having led the Project Management team for Microsoft (as part of Young & Rubicam Brands) and leading the PM team for Wunderman NY.

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