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Characteristics of Successful Organizational Change

July 3, 2020 By

 

ADVISORY ARTICLE

By Angelica Larios, MBA, PMP

Mexico City, Mexico

 

 

Organizations change all the time, that is a fact. Whether the changes are planned or unplanned, that is a different story. The ideal is that organizations go through a process of change the best possible and prepared way; however, that is not always the case, and not all initiatives of change end with a good result. Several aspects are involved in the successful or unsuccessful result for an endeavor of change, no matter if the size, type, age, or industry for the organization, the following studied components are according to experience and studies vital for the success of the organizational change.

Leadership, without a doubt, is a strong component of the success of any organizational change projects. Even when there is not the only characteristic, it is evident that good leadership, a good head of the organization, will lead the boat to a right end. Leaders around the world under a broad of styles and approaches are the ones in charge of making the right changes for the organization. Either where is a great strategy to implement or an innovative process to take into consideration, a new product or service or as simple as focusing on internal people and building “professional and social capital.”[1] These actions will orient and influence the final result.

Even when leadership becomes a fundamental aspect, in this paper, leadership is focused on human resources, contribution to the community, the use of standards, the importance of being agile, the importance of relying upon external consultant and more critical the trust needed in the leader and project manager to success in organizational change.

Focus on Human Capital and Resources

Experience and evidence show that leaders of outstanding companies take fewer risks in their decisions and when undergoing an organizational change than their competitors. Still, contrary to what one could think, they produce better outcomes by not rushing headlong into a decision. As it is illustrated, the best corporate leaders actively build the collective capacity for organizational growth and change by establishing strong, cohesive cultures where engagement, mutual understanding, and reciprocal accountability drive better organizational outcomes.[2]

There are several examples of these types of leaders, executives, CEOs, managers and project managers; one case can be found in companies that everybody knows. In the case of FedEx, his founder, and leader, Fred Smith was known for his spirit and participative leadership that was sympathetic and familiar at the same time. Taking into consideration its employees over the material value has made of this organization a huge success. In 2018, it was recognized among the most admired companies in the USA. “FedEx inspires its more than 400,000 team members to remain “absolutely, positively” focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards and the needs of their customers and communities.”[3]

With effective strategies in place for the stakeholders, organizations are turning their attention to improve the engagement with employees, using both external social tools and improved social functionality of internal platforms such as company intranets. Organizations recognize nowadays that employees are quite often “their most passionate, credible and impactful brand ambassadors, both internally and externally, and are designing communications strategies that reflect that reality,” said Tyler Durham, partner and managing director of Ketchum Pleon Change. They performed a study in 2012 that revealed an important movement among “those analyzed in the area of internal social connections on two fronts: internal engagement between the company and its employees, and empowerment of employees to represent the brand externally.” In both cases, the support that moves toward “true social business and will ultimately foster real business results in terms of employee retention, engagement, and productivity.”[4]

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How to cite this article: Larios, A. (2020). Characteristics of Successful Organizational Change, PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue VII, July.  Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/pmwj95-Jul2020-Larios-characteristics-of-successful-organizational-change2.pdf

 

 

About the Author


Angelica Larios

Mexico City, Mexico

 

Angelica Larios, MBA, PMP, is a project manager with more than 20 years of experience in implementing software projects related to business intelligence, planning and budgeting, and financial consolidation solutions based on software applications to support the business decision process. She is the owner of ALACONTEC, an I.T. consulting company founded in Latin America. She has held several professional positions in private and public organizations, such as the Health Ministry in Mexico as I.T. director, and as a business manager for several firms in Mexico.

She holds a master’s degree in business administration and a bachelor’s degree in computer science from National University of Mexico (UNAM) in addition to her studies in project management and her Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification, which have helped her to consolidate her career and have a better understanding of what businesses and projects need nowadays. She is a doctoral student in strategic leadership at Regent University, VA, USA; she is a PMI volunteer since 2007 starting in the local Mexico chapter, being Past President and and currently serves on the Board Volunteer Advisory Committee (BVAC) that supports the PMI Board of Directors (2016–2018).

Angelica can be contacted at angelica.larios@gmail.com

To view other works by Angelica Larios, visit her author showcase in the PM World Library at https://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/angelica-larios/

 

[1] Jones, M., & Harris, A. (2014).

[2] Collins, J. & Hansen, M. (2012).

[3] Durham, T.  (2012).

[4] Durham, T.  (2012).

 

Filed Under: Advisory Articles

Operation 24/7

July 3, 2020 By

Effective Project Management in Different Timezones

 

ADVISORY ARTICLE

By Steven Haywood

Illinois, USA

 

 

Every project manager’s goal is to streamline the workflow as efficiently as possible. There are, of course, dozens of tried and tested strategies to refer to. However, in practice, projects cannot always be managed based on the theory of these trusted methods. When a company expands or outsources work, the most challenging responsibilities fall into the hands of the project manager. With diverse teams located in different time zones, there are factors such as cultural and time differences that have to be taken into account. For the project manager, the risks may only magnify. Still, companies don’t seem to stop employing diverse teams as it leads to acquiring new talents and cutting off the costs.

However, if you ask any project manager working with global teams, they will say that the pros do not always outshine the complication. My experience associated with running global teams is along the same lines as well. Regardless of my opinion, business trends prove that global projects are here to stay. What is left to do for project managers is to find ways to tackle the issues, and make the global projects work in favor of you as well as your employees.

The Issue – Constraints of Time Zones

Imagine the case when your side of the organization is facing an emergency, and you need someone to solve it right away. But the team that attends to a certain department has already packed up for the day.

The Solution

Addressing the time zone issue starts even before your collaboration does. The first step is to ensure that both teams have an overlap in the working day, even if it is only for one hour per day. However, it might not necessarily offer a solution to an emergency described. There will inevitably be delays that occur in these cases. The upside is that with another team working during your off-hours, the problems could be fixed overnight. In effect, you will get an uninterrupted workflow as teams are essentially working in shifts throughout the day, although this might not work positively to manage team building or motivation aspects.

The Issue – Communication Barriers

Depending on your outsourcing team, you might be working with people whose mother tongue is not English. In some cases, the team members might still be fluent in the language, which diminishes the issue.

The Solution

Even without language barriers, a global workforce needs to have an effective communication system in place. Using simple language is the most vital step to facilitate communication with non-native speakers. Using business jargon and technology might make it easier. But you want to first establish common reporting strategies for all the teams. Collaboration tools might also be productive in order to exchange reports. Define expectations, the formats, and the frequency of communication right from the start. This would help to develop a standardized communication strategy. You can also assign someone who has the right language and interpersonal skills to be in charge of the correspondence.

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How to cite this article: Haywood, S. (2020).  Operation 24/7: Effective Project Management in Different Timezones, PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue VII, July. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/pmwj95-Jul2020-Haywood-operation-24-7-advisory.pdf

 

 

About the Author


Steven Haywood

Chicago, IL, USA

 

Steven Haywood is a Project Manager at Essay Pro, a leading academic writing service. His experience in the industry has exposed him to working with diverse teams in different parts of the world. Over the years, Steven has developed project plans and strategies that have helped him coordinate successfully with multiple remote teams. His career ladder began as a trainee in a marketing firm, where he learned the ins and outs of marketing, outreach, and project management. He specializes in carrying out all aspects of project management, from conception to execution and feedback. Today, Steven Haywood  is the head of a project management team with individuals working from several remote locations.

 

 

Filed Under: Advisory Articles

Contingency Planning vs. Scenario Planning

July 3, 2020 By

 

ADVISORY

By Steve Ford

Colorado, USA

 

 

The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief overview of contingency planning and how it fits into the overall scenario planning process. Furthermore, this paper will illuminate the significant steps of the scenario planning process and the importance of scenario planning in the modern marketplace.

Contingency Planning

Contingency planning is a component of risk management (PMI, 2017). The purpose of contingency planning is to proactively establish which project risks (both positive and negative) can be moderated against using various methods of mitigation. One form of contingency response is the strategic reserve. These reserves may take on several different forms. Schedule contingency, for example, is a duration estimate that accounts for possible schedule overruns and provides a time contingency. Budgetary contingency, such as a management reserve fund, protects against cost overruns by having a ready reserve of allocated funds available in the event a task or subroutine goes overbudget (PMI, 2017; Kerzner, 2018). Other contingency strategies include insurance tactics, hardware redundancies, software backup, alternate physical locations, legal strategies, human resource substitutions, and even comprehensive strategic alternatives regarding changes in the sociopolitical environment.

A contingency for a positive risk, such as a sudden and unexpected influx of resources, could be to initiate an internal effort to innovate or perhaps acquire additional human resources. In any case, all quantified risks are listed in the risk register. The risk register includes the action to take, resources required, decision-maker, risk owner, contingency plan, trigger conditions, contingency plan if the response fails, and residual and secondary risks that may trigger from the primary risk (PMI, 2017). Risk quantification and the risk register directly impact the decision-making matrix in that one can effectively categorize the level of decision-making authority needed to respond to the risk (PMI, 2017). Risk quantification is also used to establish cost and schedule contingency plans (PMI, 2017). For instance, a realized risk with high impact and high-resource mitigation may require a high-level authority to implement the corresponding mitigation strategy. In contrast, a risk with low impact and low-resource contingency utilization may only require low-level authority to implement a mitigation strategy (Kerzner, 2018).

Contingency Planning vs. Scenario Planning

Scenario planning is a strategic planning and risk management methodology to develop multiple, holistic, plausible scenarios for the future in order to gain insight and create strategic alternatives (Wilkinson & Kupers, 2013). Scenario planning was simultaneously developed by Herman Kahn (a member of the RAND corporation) in the United States and Gaston Berger in France in the 1950s (Wilkinson & Kupers, 2013). Scenario planning seemed to catch on and continued on a small scale until the 1970s when Shell oil publicly championed the process as part of its strategic planning and risk management operations. Immediately afterward, scenario planning came into vogue (Wilkinson & Kupers, 2013).

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How to cite this article: Ford, S. (2020).  Contingency Planning vs. Scenario Planning, PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue VII, July. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/pmwj95-Jul2020-Ford-contingency-vs-scenario-planning2.pdf

 

 

About the Author


Steve Ford

Colorado, USA

 

 

Steve Ford holds a BS from the US Air Force Academy (2004), an MS in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota (2009), and is currently in the Doctorate of Management- Project Management program at Colorado Technical University (2021). Steve is currently the managing member of Advanced Applied Project Management Solutions (LLC), a project management consultant firm. He holds numerous project management-related qualifications, including Project Management Professional (PMP), Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Professional, Project Management- Lean Process Certified, Lean Supply Chain Management Certified, and Lean Culture Certified. He has more than 18 years of aerospace and construction experience in project management.  He can be contacted at steven.w.ford.jr@gmail.com.

To view other works by Steve Ford, visit his author showcase in the PM World Library at https://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/steve-ford/

 

Filed Under: Advisory Articles

Fostering Collaboration

July 2, 2020 By

with an Empowered Technical Program Manager

 

ADVISORY ARTICLE

By Dharma V. Mehta

California, USA

 

 

Employing technical program managers (TPMs) has become one of the more recent trends in the technology industry. A recent review of LinkedIn job posts finds that nearly 10,000 TPM positions are available in the United States, including opportunities within such major companies as Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Netflix, Apple, Airbnb, Lyft, Uber, and Intel. The increase in demand for TPMs stems from a need to employ individuals who are capable of managing and delivering on complex projects that involve multiple stakeholders. While the goal seems clear and straightforward, there is an interesting irony. And that is, there is a lack of consistency in how the job is defined and therefore implemented. In some cases, hiring managers don’t really know what to expect from TPMs, which can result in biases that affect job performance. Add to that discussion the conversation about the degree of which hands-on technical skills are required, and the debate rages on. While it’s true that TPMs should possess a background in technology, this skill is not sufficient to effectively staff this role. An ability to collaborate with multiple stakeholders, to lead others without reliance on authority, and to make reasoned business decisions that are supported by those throughout an organization are much more important qualities for TPMs to exhibit.

Defining the role of the TPM

The role of the TPM is to be responsible for ensuring that projects and programs remain on schedule and that all stakeholders are able to prioritize the work in order to meet deadlines and deliver on customer satisfaction. As a baseline, qualified TPM candidates need to:

  • Display a business acumen that is customer centric and strategic
  • Demonstrate an ability to solve problems
  • Influence others in different departments to remain aligned for a common goal
  • Have organizational skills that lend to end to end project management
  • Be well versed in proactive risk management
  • Understand core concepts in technology software and/or hardware (including architecture design, that is required to complete jobs and tasks.)

The TPM will be responsible for coordination across diverse teams—for example, a customer interface for a new website that allows for product reviews. For this type of project to succeed, the TPM must be able to evaluate the end-to-end technical design and user functioning, to question the validity of potential problems related to design and/or functionality, and to determine the appropriate delegation of staff members and their responsibilities, such as back-end engineers, web developers, and testers. If and when complications arise, it is important for the TPM to be empowered to rank problems based on importance and severity and to understand which issues are most technically difficult to solve so that solutions can be accomplished and further problems can be mitigated…

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How to cite this article: Mehta, D.V. (2020).  Fostering Collaboration with an Empowered Technical Program Manager, PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue VII, July. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/pmwj95-Jul2020-Mehta-empowered-technical-program-manager2.pdf

 

 

About the Author


Dharma Mehta

California, USA

 

 

 

 Dharma Mehta, Director of Program Management at Roku, has 10+ years of professional experience at prestigious companies including Amazon, PayPal and Accenture, solving complex processes and technology problems with simplified solutions. He has expertise in the fields of technology portfolio/ program/ project management, driving software product development, advertising technology and platform business, strategic planning, building high performance teams, and transforming software experience for developers and end customers. He is particularly effective at optimizing performance of people, processes, and technology to deliver improved business outcomes. For more information call 408-987-1794 or email dharmamehta@gmail.com.

 

 

Filed Under: Advisory Articles

Setting Realistic Performance Bonuses

June 4, 2020 By

for Program & Project[1] implementation Personnel

 

ADVISORY ARTICLE

By Dr. Kenneth Smith, PMP

Honolulu, Hawaii

 

 

The objective of a systematic project evaluation system is to be able to measure performance of different types of projects (or programs) periodically[2] in a consistent manner ¾ in terms of “Effectiveness” (i.e. results) and “Efficiency” (i.e. timeliness &/or within budgetary constraints).  Once indicators have been selected to quantitatively measure Effective Program and Project performance, target setting is the next step.[3]

The Executive Management (EM) level sponsoring the Program or Project is responsible for – and usually actively involved in — authorizing resources, establishing production target levels and setting delivery deadlines.  But for most effective management, rather than simply having targets imposed from above, it is also essential that the Project Implementing Team (PIT)[4] ‘buy-in’ to those targets and schedules.  Otherwise, while the project manager may exhort the team to try to achieve them, the rest of the team may remain indifferent, or regard such targets as simply another bureaucratic – and all too often unrealistic – hurdle to try to comply with.  Furthermore, in unionized organizations, there may even be active resistance against targets and achievement quotas.

A common Executive Management buy-in approach is to establish — or negotiate — performance incentive bonuses.  Incentive bonuses — not unlike uniforms for identifying team membership — are a cohesive means for fostering team spirit and furthering their performance.  Such incentives may be a percentage of the Project’s planned cost, PIT members individual annual salary levels, or whatever else might be considered appropriate recognition for the group effort.

But what is a reasonable or ‘fair’ bonus, and how can it best be established?

At the outset in devising a performance bonus system, it should be remembered that whatever the outcome, PIT employees are entitled to fair compensation for their labor.  Thus, the system should be “fail/safe”[5] – i.e. ‘topping up’ compensation for achievement, but not penalizing implementors for shortfalls — especially since so many factors inherent in the project implementing process are beyond the implementing team’s control.

Whatever the nature of the Project or Program – a performance incentive system should strive to accommodate eight key objectives, as follows:

 

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How to cite this article: Smith, K. (2020).  Setting Realistic Performance Bonuses for Program & Project implementation Personnel, PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue VI, June. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/pmwj94-Jun2020-Smith-Setting-Realistic-Performance-Bonuses-for-project-implementation-personnel.pdf

 

 

About the Author

 


Dr. Kenneth Smith

Honolulu, Hawaii

 

 

 Dr. Kenneth F. Smith has been a project management consultant for ADB, the World Bank, and USAID for decades. He earned his DPA (Doctor of Public Administration) from the George Mason University (GMU) in Virginia and his MS from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT Systems Analysis Fellow, Center for Advanced Engineering Study). A long-time member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and IPMA-USA, Dr. Smith is a Certified Project Management Professional (PMP®) and a member of the PMI®-Honolulu Chapter.

Ken’s book — Project Management PRAXIS (available from Amazon) — includes many other innovative project management tools & techniques; and describes a “Toolkit” of related templates available directly from him at kenfsmith@aol.com.

 

[1] This tool applies to both the management of individual Projects and Programs — which comprise several Projects with a common objective.  Thus, throughout the article, whenever ‘Project’ is mentioned, it applies equally to Programs.

[2] At least Annually.

[3] The ‘Critical Path’ and ‘Earned Value’ methodologies address the Efficiency aspects, so will not be covered here.

[4] Employees, or their Representatives in a Unionized workplace.

[5] In this regard a frequent EM error is to establish a ‘carrot & stick’ plan which, while rewarding teams for reaching or exceeding targets, also penalizes them for shortfalls.

 

 

Filed Under: Advisory Articles

Leadership in a Project Environment

June 4, 2020 By

Tips and Techniques to Help You Succeed

 

ADVISORY ARTICLE

By Laszlo A. Retfalvi P.Eng. PMP PMI-RMP

General Manager
Retfalvi and Associates

Ontario, Canada

 

 

Abstract

In today’s complex project and business environment, organizations must not only address the effective management of projects, but also the leadership of projects in order to succeed.  Leadership competence, even more today than ever in the past, is no longer seen as an optional project management skill, but a key part of being a successful and respected Project Manager. We need to recognize this new norm – there is simply no way around it.

As reported by PMI®’s PMI (2017) Project Management Job Growth and Talent Gap 2017–2027, the project management-oriented labor force in seven project-oriented sectors is expected to grow by 33 percent, or nearly 22 million new jobs through 2027 of 11 countries on 5 continents surveyed. If organizations fail to adequately address talent management and equip Project Managers with the skillsets required to fill anticipated future project management roles, significant initiatives will be at risk.

In order to ensure this occurs, Project Managers and project management practitioners must clearly understand that it takes true project management leadership to successfully drive aggressive and complex projects. Project management leadership combines select project management and leadership attributes with a risk-smart attitude and accountability-based behaviour to achieve professional and personal success.

The goal of this paper is to review the Project Management Leadership Model© and provide proven tips and techniques to help Project Managers understand, assess, and strengthen needed leadership skills to meet todays and future industry expectations.

Introduction

One would think that with the advance of agile based techniques, abundance of project management training, and the proliferation of various project management certifications, we would see a corresponding increase in project success.  This does not appear to be the case.

As reported by PMI®’s PMI (2018) Pulse of the Profession 2018- Success in Disruptive Time, although there has been a reduction since 2013 in the amount of money that organizations waste due to poor project performance, of the 5402 professional surveyed, this value remains at 9.8 %. This equals $99 million for every $1 billion invested. Also reported was 57% of projects finished within their initial budgets, 52% of projects finished within their initially scheduled times, and 5% were considered failures.

Almost every time we pick up a magazine, receive an e-mail, or read a blog, an organization or individual is promoting some type of project management related training. Different types of vendors promising mastery of a topic in a few short days or promoting the investment of new methodologies or workflows. All these promotions, referred to by the author as silver bullets, promise to help individuals become better Project Managers.

Experience has shown that many Project Managers have not developed the right mix of skills and behaviours to be effective and successful. It almost seems that the technology and tools that we use today, such as e-mail, instant messaging, or social media, are considered more important than the actual soft skills that Project Managers so dearly need.

In a way, these powerful tools cause us to skip or ignore the basics. As a result, our risk awareness suffers as we place our ability to listen effectively on the back burner. This lack of understanding of our current situation results in a significant lack of accountability.

In the opinion of the author, the end result is that we would rather focus on what is easy and glitzy, not what is important. This needs to change.

 

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How to cite this article: Retfalvi, L.A. (2020).  Leadership in a Project Environment: Tips and Techniques to Help You Succeed, PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue VI, June.  Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/pmwj94-Jun2020-Retfalvi-Leadership-in-a-Project-Environment.pdf

 

 

About the Author

 


Laszlo A. Retfalvi P.Eng. PMP PMI-RMP

Retfalvi and Associates
Ontario, Canada

 

 

Laszlo Retfalvi is General Manager of Retfalvi and Associates.

Previous roles include Vice-President of the Program and Risk Management Office (PRMO) at Allen Vanguard Corporation, Director of the Program Management Center of Excellence at Shared Services Canada, and Director of Integrated Sensor Systems at General Dynamics Canada. Previously, Laszlo held roles with the Irving Corporation and SED Systems.

A seasoned 30+ year veteran of engineering, project management and business in private and public sectors, Laszlo and his teams have successfully managed and delivered products, systems, and services to Military, Para-Military, Public, Government, and Private Customers.  Areas of expertise include independent reviews, risk workshops, schedule and cost risk analysis.

Laszlo is an award winning instructor, author, and coach. With a passion to help individuals succeed, Laszlo is currently an Instructor at University of California Irvine Extension. Laszlo is also an Instructor at Oregon State University Professional and Continuing Education. Areas include Project Planning, Risk Management, Leadership and High Performance Teams.

Laszlo is author of The Power of Project Management Leadership: Your Guide on How to Achieve Outstanding Results (CS Publishing March 2014) including the Project Management Leadership Model©, a framework to develop personal project management leadership excellence. A recognized industry speaker, Laszlo has published and delivered over 70 papers and presentations internationally, including PMI® ProjectManagement.com Risk and Leadership Community of Practice Premium on Demand webinars with over 50,000 views to date.

Laszlo has been happily married to Lisa for over 33 years and they have two wonderful sons, Andrew and Alexander.

Laszlo may be reached at laszlo@retfalviandassociates.com or on LinkedIn.

 

 

Filed Under: Advisory Articles

Honesty as the Basis of Ethics in an Organization

June 4, 2020 By

Why Ethics Are That Important

 

ADVISORY ARTICLE

By Angelica Larios, MBA, PMP

Mexico City, Mexico

 

 

‘‘The time is always right to do what is right.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nowadays, more and more articles, books, and guides to ethics and codes of conduct are high on the agenda of every organization, enterprise, business unit, and projects. The concern is evolving and growing; and it is now necessary to have a model that directs behavior inside organizations. But where does this anxiety come from?

Recent headlines report several financial corruption scandals, conflicts of interest, and collusion in different spheres, among many other events—revealing a moral crisis. This crisis of values, morals, and ethics in business is present not only in the United States, but other countries as well. It is advisable to revisit some crucial aspects of ethics to maintain the integrity of organizations and keep them from ethical threats.

Ethics is a concept commonly used to refer to the morality of an individual or an organization, and if well applied, ethics can become a principle that improves decision-making processes. However, ethics does not describe a specific norm or conduct ethics is related to an intimate way of reflection, and it helps to determine what the correct path is and how individuals should act. According to Mahatma Gandhi, it is more important to obey the inner voice of conscience than the highest law of courts or governments.

Ethics must be expressed as a policy within the organization that defines the way a person should behave. Ethics should help to identify behaviors that are correct and accepted. On the other hand, ethics are a mechanism to teach others what those values are, and what an organization stands for. Ultimately, ethics should delineate the acceptable from the unacceptable with no ambiguity.

At the bottom line of ethics, there is honesty, which should be part of every transaction, interaction, decision, or action that an organization and its employees take. Langlois says, “Ethics will play a paramount role in allowing leaders to turn towards organizational or professional values in order to justify their decisions.”

PMI recalls the importance of ethics in the decision-making process, “like all leaders, project managers build trust by the way they make decisions.” (PMI, n.d.) PMI also states, “Ethics is the discipline of ‘how to do it best’. To guide behavior and help with tough decisions, we have crafted a Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and an Ethical Decision-Making Framework. To deepen your knowledge and perspective, we provide numerous articles, papers, and webinars”  (PMI, n.d.). This shows concern for addressing the importance of ethical aspects in day-to-day actions and decisions.

“When unethical behaviors arise, take action. Use our ethics complaint and review process and see the specialized resources available. In practicing ethics, honesty plays an essential role in helping to maintain ethical aspects since it offers the foundation of moral behavior,”  (PMI, n.d.).

In this article, I propose implementing a policy of honesty within an organization as a way to face current challenges that organizations encounter regarding ethics. I am providing six steps to help improve relationships between organizations and the employees, orienting the application of ethics though steps of honesty.

 

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How to cite this article: Larios, A. (2020). Honesty as the Basis of Ethics in an Organization: Why Ethics Are That Important, PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue VI, June. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/pmwj94-Jun2020-Larios-honesty-as-basis-for-ethics-in-organizations.pdf

 

 

About the Author

 


Angelica Larios

Mexico City, Mexico

 

Angelica Larios, MBA, PMP, is a project manager with more than 20 years of experience in implementing software projects related to business intelligence, planning and budgeting, and financial consolidation solutions based on software applications to support the business decision process. She is the owner of ALACONTEC, an I.T. consulting company founded in Latin America. She has held several professional positions in private and public organizations, such as the Health Ministry in Mexico as I.T. director, and as a business manager for several firms in Mexico.

She holds a master’s degree in business administration and a bachelor’s degree in computer science from National University of Mexico (UNAM) in addition to her studies in project management and her Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification, which have helped her to consolidate her career and have a better understanding of what businesses and projects need nowadays. She is a doctoral student in strategic leadership at Regent University, VA, USA; she is a PMI volunteer since 2007 starting in the local Mexico chapter, being Past President and and currently serves on the Board Volunteer Advisory Committee (BVAC) that supports the PMI Board of Directors (2016–2018).

Angelica can be contacted at angelica.larios@gmail.com

To view other works by Angelica Larios, visit her author showcase in the PM World Library at https://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/angelica-larios/

 

Filed Under: Advisory Articles

Career Tips for New Graduates

June 4, 2020 By

From the Eye of a Management Professional

 

ADVISORY ARTICLE

By Rami Kaibni

Vancouver, BC, Canada

 

 

New graduates are often concerned and become overwhelmed as soon as they graduate when facing the real world. Mentoring several candidates over the years, I’ve heard various concerns and worries that new graduates have and can summarize below some of the common ones:

Defining a Career Path

  • How can I define my career goals?
  • What if I discover later that this is not what I want to do?

Establishing a Professional Resume

  • I don’t have any experience yet so how can I establish a resume?
  • Should my resume be very detailed and ATS compliant?
  • Is having a LinkedIn profile an asset?

Applying for Jobs

  • How can I apply for jobs?
  • I heard that applying online through jobs platforms isn’t effective.

Going for Interviews

  • I’ve never been through a job interview before. How shall I prepare?
  • How are interviews structured?

Starting a New Job

  • What if I don’t feel comfortable with the organization?
  • What if I don’t like the job?

In this article, I will be providing below a few general tips that will hopefully help new graduates have a better level of comfort while venturing into the world of practice. Many of those tips apply for professionals who are considering a career change as well.

 

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How to cite this article: Kaibni, R. (2020).  Career Tips for New Graduates: From the Eye of a Management Professional, PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue VI, June. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/pmwj94-Jun2020-Kaibni-career-tips-for-recent-graduates2.pdf

 

 

About the Author

 


Rami Kaibni
B.Eng , PfMP®, PMP®, PMI-(PBA®, RMP®, ACP®), CBAP®, AgilePM®, GPM-b™ 

Senior Projects and Development Manager

CANADA / PALESTINE

 

Rami Kaibni is a Career Coach, Agile Trainer and a certified Senior Portfolio and Project Management Professional holding a bachelor’s degree in Structural Engineering and over 15 years of professional experience in Professional Development / Career Coaching, Portfolio / Program / Project Management, Construction Management, and Business Development.

Besides holding multiple certifications in the management and business fields, Rami is also a member of many global organizations of which some are: Project Management Institute (PMI) and Green Project Management (GPM) in the United States, International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) in Canada, PMO Global Alliance, Agile Business Consortium in the UK, and International Association of Project Managers (IAPM) in Liechtenstein as their Senior Official in Vancouver, Canada and Jordan.

Over the course his career, he worked with highly reputable organizations and clients both nationally and internationally and have been deployed on high profile projects across Asia including the Gulf Region, Middle East, Shanghai/China and currently in Vancouver, Canada.

As a Professional Development and Career Coach, he helps guide and mentor individuals who are looking for professional development to boost their career, individuals who are considering a career change, new graduates looking for a new job or have an upcoming interview properly prepare and achieve their goals. He also works with organizations to put customized programs for their employees professional and leadership development.

As an Agile Trainer, he helps coach individuals and organization executives and employees in Agile Project Management.

On the other hand, as a Senior Portfolio and Project Manager, he specializes in various aspects of portfolio and project management from initiation, planning, estimation, cost control, execution, quality control, monitoring and closing. He helps clients achieve the desired outcome for their projects.

On a personal note, Rami is also a volunteer member of the Global Goodwill Ambassadors Foundation and a named Global Goodwill Ambassador (GGA) for Canada.

RMK Coaching: https://www.rmkcoaching.com

LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/rami-kaibni

ProjectManagement.com: https://www.projectmanagement.com/profile/ramikaibni/

 

 

Filed Under: Advisory Articles

Coordination in Digital Transformation Projects

June 4, 2020 By

using Continuous Integration Continuous Deployment

 

ADVISORY ARTICLE

By Chanchal Gupta

Pittsburgh, PA, USA

 

 

Abstract

Coordination plays a vital role in both project development and operation activity, especially in regard to the software development lifecycle of digital projects. Based on my analysis of recent digital transformation projects it’s obvious to have continuous improvements and speed to market is the key. Recently, more and more Digital Projects are being executed using DevOps model. DevOps is the practice of operations and development engineers participating together in the entire service lifecycle, from design through the development process to production support. CICD (Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment) helps the development and operation team to have frequent production changes without downtime using DevOps model. From a project management perspective, PMs need to do more co-ordination jobs to have delivery in sequence from different teams. We will learn the nature of coordination work in continuous integration and continuous deployment of the project lifecycle, where each code package in the development is treated as a separate project to be managed.

Introduction

A precise definition of continuous integration and continuous deployment (CICD) can be difficult to produce. However, continuous integration and continuous deployment is a code management process to move code to multiple environments without production downtime. It plays an important role in digital globalization development projects to minimize the timeline to move to production.

Based on thoughtworks.com, continuous integration (CI) is a development practice that requires developers to integrate code into a shared repository several times a day. Each check-in is then verified by an automated build, allowing teams to detect problems early.  By integrating regularly, you can detect errors quickly and locate them more easily. It helps to push code to production in a short period.

The agile development methodology is very useful for these digital transformation projects. We can do various sprints to complete the development. Scrums masters can also help to achieve it by running the shorts scrums by breaking the tasks into multiple sprints.

Continuous integration continuous deployment is more complicated and broken into multiple units for development. We can have multiple teams, vendors working into the same solution to completely build a larger project. It is a very useful tool to help the technical team for quick integration and frequent code release but there are still various stakeholders whose involvement will require before making the final move. A project manager will play a vital role to have coordination among these teams to make sure there is no blockage and dependencies stopping the technical team to make progress.

The normal software development lifecycle

The normal development process is Initiation, Analysis, Requirement gathering, Design and Development get executed in a sequence based on the defined requirement.

Deploy it to production and hand it over to the maintenance/operation team for support. This is a simple waterfall model development method. Figure1, source: (qmansys.com).

 

More…

To read entire article, click here

 

How to cite this article: Gupta, C. (2020).  Coordination in Digital Transformation Projects using Continuous Integration Continuous Deployment, PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue VI, June. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/pmwj94-Jun2020-Gupta-continuous-integration-continuous-development.pdf

 

 

About the Author

 


Chanchal Gupta

Pittsburgh, PA, USA

 

Chanchal Gupta is a Senior Digital Technical Project Manager who has served as as project management expert and leader in the software development since 2007. He now works as a Manager, Digital deployment and Vendor Management for a Pharmaceutical company and responsible for managing digital projects and operations. Chanchal is highly knowledgeable in software development, requirements analysis, digital transformation projects, cloud computing, architecture, database design, and excel and at creating and implementing technical and operational plans and strategies. Chanchal Gupta can be contacted at chanchalpgupta@gmail.com

 

 

 

Filed Under: Advisory Articles

You are special because

June 4, 2020 By

your words can make a difference

 

ADVISORY ARTICLE

By Alfonso Bucero

Madrid, Spain

 

 

Abstract

When was the last time you seriously thought about the words you use each and every day as a project manager? How carefully do you select them? Many times your words have much more power than what you can imagine. They can build a bright future, destroy opportunity or help maintain the status quo. Your words reinforce your beliefs, and your beliefs create your reality and contribute to project success. This paper explains how your words, as a project, manager may generate different perceptions and reactions from different people; how to select the right words to be used correctly in the right environment, with the right people. If you take care selecting the right words to say you will be programming your mind to be successful as a project manager.

  1. Introduction

Your words have much more power that what you can imagine. Think of a process of a row of dominos that looks like this:

Thoughts – Words – Beliefs –Actions- Results

For instance, a project manager has a thought, such as “I am not very good when it comes to project sales”; now let’s remember that he doesn’t have this thought only once. He runs it through his mind on a regular basis, maybe hundreds or thousands of times in his life. Then, that project manager starts to use words that support this thought. He says to his friends and project management colleagues, “I am never going to do very well in sales” or “I just hate making sales calls or approaching prospects”. Here again, that project manager repeats these phrases over and over and over…in his self-talk and in his discussions with others. This, in turn, strengthens his beliefs and it is at this stage where the rubber really meets the road. You see, everything that you will achieve in your life flows from your beliefs.

So, in the sales example, that project manager develops the belief that he is not going to be successful in project sales. This becomes embedded in his/her subconscious mind. What can possibly flow from that belief? Because that project manager does not belief in his/her project sales ability, he/she takes very little action, or he takes actions that are unproductive or ineffective. He does not do the things that would be necessary to succeed in project sales. And then that project manager gets very poor results. To make matters worse, that project manager starts to think more negative thoughts, repeat more negative words, reinforce negative beliefs and get even more negative results. I’ is a vicious cycle. This whole process could have had a very happy ending if that project manager had selected positive thoughts and reinforced them with positive words. In turn, he would reinforce the belief that he is successful in sales. As a result, that project manager would take the actions consistent with that belief and wind up with outstanding results.

  1. Select the right words

In my experience professionals who feed themselves a steady diet of negative words are destined to have a negative attitude. It is a simple matter of cause and effect. I have heard some project managers saying and repeating negative words about the project they manage, and you cannot keep repeating negative words and expect to be a high achiever. The reason I found is that negative words will always lead to the reinforcement of negative beliefs and eventually to negative outcomes. I have observed many colleagues, myself included that usually repeated to themselves sentences like, “I am not good delivering presentations”, “I am not good talking to upper managers”, “ and I am not very good managing project cost”. And, after many years of using negative words, you develop a strong belief that you can’t do these things. We are unconsciously programming negatively our minds.

 

More…

To read entire article, click here

 

How to cite this article: Bucero, A. (2020).  You are special because your words can make a difference, PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue VI, June. Available online at: https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/pmwj94-Jun2020-Bucero-your-words-can-make-a-difference.pdf

 

 

About the Author

 


Alfonso Bucero

Madrid, Spain

 

 

Alfonso Bucero, MSc, CPS, PMP, PMI-RMP, PfMP, ACE, SFC; PMI Fellow, is an International Correspondent and Contributing Editor for the PM World Journal in Madrid, Spain. Mr. Bucero is also founder and Managing Partner of BUCERO PM Consulting.  Alfonso was the founder, sponsor and president of the PMI Barcelona Chapter until April 2005, and belongs to PMI’s LIAG (Leadership Institute Advisory Group).  He was the past President of the PMI Madrid Spain Chapter, and then nominated as a PMI EMEA Region 8 Component Mentor. Now he is a member of the PMIEF Engagement Committee. Alfonso has a Computer Science Engineering degree from Universidad Politécnica in Madrid and is studying for his Ph.D. in Project Management. He has 32 years of practical experience and is actively engaged in advancing the PM profession in Spain and throughout Europe. He received the PMI Distinguished Contribution Award on October 9th, 2010, the PMI Fellow Award on October 22nd 2011 and the PMI Eric Jenett Excellence Award on October 28th, 2017.

Mr. Bucero can be contacted at alfonso.bucero@abucero.com.

To see other works by Alfonso Bucero, visit his author showcase in the PM World Library at https://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/alfonso-bucero/

 

 

 

Filed Under: Advisory Articles
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