More Project Management News

Intervals Reaches $330 Million in Work Managed with Web-based Project Management Software
CSRwire.com — Santa Barbara, CA – July 15, 2009 – Intervals, the growing online project management software from Pelago, has recently reached $330 million in work managed by its customers. As a web-based service accessible from anywhere with a web browser and an internet connection, Intervals is currently in use by small businesses in 90 countries. Collectively, they have used the software to track over 48,000 projects, 282,000 tasks and 2,900,000 hours.

The Intervals team recently completed a significant infrastructure overhaul during the first half of the year, and is continuing to improve the service by increasing response times and adding new features based on customer feedback. New features include the ability to update several project tasks at once and a quick-search enabled page for editing tracked time details. “We really want to make a difference and listen to our customers, which is something many software companies have failed to do,” said Michael Payne of Pelago. Pelago has stated on many occasions that their goal is to differentiate their software by offering superior customer service. “We have quadrupled our numbers since this time last year while adding several new features, many of which were suggested by our customers,” stated John Reeve, also of Pelago.

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Bottom-up view on challenges to project management

Results of a new global study conducted by ESI International reveal project portfolio management (PPM) challenges from a “bottom-up,” project and program management perspective. Leading concerns noted by project and program managers polled in the study included: greater need for PPM improvement given the economic downturn; lack of PPM experience, tools or process in commercial and public organizations; redundancies and conflicts in project portfolios; and inconsistent project reviews with poor follow-up. Survey respondents were project and program management professionals representing government, as well as commercial industries in financial services, telecom, IT, energy, pharma & health, professional services, manufacturing and other sectors in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia.

“ESI’s global Project Portfolio Management Survey provides senior management with insights to guide them in charting a path to increased ROI from their project portfolios,” said Mario Arlt, PMP, vice president of client solutions, ESI. “The survey’s focus on project and program managers rather than senior executives offers a reality check for executives to ponder.”

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5 themes recruiters are looking for

Melanie Franklin, CEO of Maven Training, spoke about the market trends hitting project management at a breakfast event in London, UK, recently.

Franklin, who is the author of three books on the soft skills required for project management, spends a lot of time consulting on what organizations need to do in order to deliver better projects.  She’s in and out of board rooms and she hears what people want from project management professionals.  At the moment, these are the trending topics.

Organizations want:

• Knowledge and understanding of best practice
• Technical project management skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Specialist knowledge in a relevant industry sector
• PRINCE2 on your CV

She also said that there’s a wider trend away from ‘project management’ towards PPM, PPRM or P3.  If those acronyms don’t mean anything to you they are:

PPM:  project and programme management
PPRM:  project, programme and risk management
P3:  project, programme and portfolio management.

At interview you should be able to talk knowledgeably about the fact that PPM is the delivery of organisational change and development capability, as opposed to project management which is ‘just’ getting something done.  At board level the discussions now are about programmes and portfolios, which translates as doing the right thing for the business, and not just doing projects for the sake of it.

Those weren’t the words Franklin used exactly, but she was clear that project delivery is about staying OTOBOS and programme delivery is about delivering an outcome or vision and a more strategic change or business transformation.  In summary, when she is hiring or advising people on hiring, she looks for various key skills as follows.

In a project manager:

• Delegation
• Planning
• Delivery on time
• Cost management
• Quality management
• Risk management
• Change management and managing the impact of those changes
• Requirements gathering
• How scope is presented and checked and how often.

In a programme manager:

• Benefits management and realization
• Stakeholder management
• Ability to manage uncertainty with innovation, problem solving skills and creativity
• Ability to manage problems without constantly referring them up.

For both jobs Franklin said she would look at how recent is the candidate’s investment in their knowledge.  For example, if you are going for a job as a project manager you are presenting yourself as an expert in project management.  So how true is this?  When did you last attend an event or networking evening, training course or seminar?  How is this reflected on your CV?  It doesn’t have to cost a lot (read this article for some ideas on things that you can do without corporate investment) but it does have to be recent.

So now you know what employers are looking for in terms of both wide trends and specific skills – good luck with the job hunting!

Project Manager of the Year Award

As reported in Trading Markets.

New York, NY, Jul 02, 2009 (PRWeb.com via COMTEX) — JW/A | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating — International Institute for Learning, Inc. (IIL) has opened the application process for the 2009 Kerzner International Project Manager of the Year(TM) Award. A global leader in professional training in Project, Program, and Portfolio Management, Business Analysis, Microsoft(R) Office Project and Project Server, PRINCE2(R), and Lean Six Sigma, IIL established this prestigious international award in 2006 to recognize project management professionals who demonstrate superior performance, outstanding skills, and innovative project management techniques, as well as those who make significant contributions in business, industry, government, community, or not-for-profit environments. The Award bears the name of Dr. Harold Kerzner, Ph.D, M.S., and M.B.A., Senior Executive Director of IIL. Considered by many to be “the father of modern project management,” he is an expert in the areas of project, program, and portfolio management and is the author of a number of best-selling project management textbooks, including Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, which is now in its tenth edition. His most recent textbook, Value-Driven Project Management (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) will be released in September of this year.

“Dr. Harold Kerzner is a true visionary in the field of project management and it is with great pride that we pay tribute to his contributions through the Kerzner International Project Manager of the Year(TM) Award,” said E. LaVerne Johnson, Founder, President, and CEO of IIL. “IIL is delighted to reward outstanding professionals for their dedication to the pursuit of project management excellence.”

Previous winners of the award have seen tremendous growth in their professional endeavors as a result of the honor. “Following my selection as International Project Manager of the Year, I have been very satisfied to see my career make a ‘quantum leap’, my network expand, and my credibility grow. The honor has elevated my status in the field, resulting in a new career opportunity that has profoundly changed my life and the lives of my family,” said Scot Hanley, PMP, MCP, 2008 Kerzner International Project Manager of the Year. “I have also been asked to contribute to Dr. Kerzner’s latest book and have been invited to lecture regularly on project management at the University of Alabama.”

To be eligible, candidates must possess the PMI(R) PMP(R) cred

Project Manager Needed

Location: Malaysia
Salary: £80000 per annum
Company: Leap 29 Ltd
Sector: Oil / Gas / Power
Job role: Civil engineer
Job type: Permanent

The client is one of the largest oil and gas production companies based in the Asian Pacific region and due to the increase development of one the key sites they are now looking to bring on board a project manager.

The appropriate candidate will be based in the region located close to Malaysia and this will be based on a rotation basis of denominations yet to be decided. A suitable candidate must be degree qualified and it would be advantageous if the candidate was a member of an engineering professional body.

The candidate must also have 10 years experience working within a project management position and this must be supported by experience of working within the oil and gas industry also. The candidate must exhibit and posses all the soft skills required of a senior program/ project manager, this included good analytical skills.

Due to the location of this project the client is only looking to bring on board a candidates that is of an Malaysian or Thai nationality and there is no room for movement on this prerequisite.
If you feel you are an eligible candidate for the above position, send a copy of your resume to the contact details below and I will be in contact in due course
Apply here.

Construction Project Leadership event

As we are half way through the year now, you are no doubt planning your training and events schedule for the rest of 2009. There’s a new project management event that might be worth adding to your list of things to attend, especially if you work in civil engineering, public sector build projects or defense.

On August 25 Columbia University’s Center for Project Leadership (CPL) will be hosting the First Forum on Construction Project Leadership, held at the Columbia University in New York City.

The CPL partners with industry leaders and leading researchers to develop theories and practices of project leadership and is part of the Graduate School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia.  It’s main aim is to develop useful theories of project leadership and management that are based on robust assumptions, suitable for dynamic situations, and conducive to the development of effective project management practices.  Basically, it’s the study of project management in action.  There’s also a strong research focus on leadership as distinct from project management and the Center tries to ground itself in providing success strategies for real-life projects, and doing that takes more than just following a plan.

The purpose of the August forum is to examine some of the current and anticipated challenges facing construction projects and to discuss the critical role that project leadership will play in addressing the increasingly difficult project environment in the coming years.  There’s the underlying assumption here that the economy will get worse before it gets better, but that’s a separate debate.  Construction and civil engineering has been hit hard and many building projects have been delayed or cancelled.

The forum will bring together a panel of top experts from industry and academia, who will examine the
importance of both project leadership and project management as critical skills for project success (as you’d expect from a Center that studies leadership).  According to the Center, unsatisfactory outcomes of construction projects are very often the result of being over-managed and under-led.  This forum will provide a the opportunity to learn from experts how to apply a balanced approach of leadership and management.

The event is pitched at project professionals working in organisations involved in the delivery of
construction projects.  It’s likely that many of the attendees will be from local, state and federal government as many of the largest building projects are publicly managed although I’m sure the forum will have plenty of things to share for anyone working on private sector projects too.

As events go, this one is actually very reasonably priced and it should be an interesting day.  You can see the full agenda for the forum on the CPL’s website.