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Project Plus News
Saving Money and Reducing Risk in your Organisation...
Project Manager Today, the well known and widely circulated UK independent business publication, has included a Project Plus thought-leadership article in their February issue. The article titled 'Getting Return on Investment from your Project Management Office' is a shortened version of a full paper that has been created to assist organisations gain more from their investment iniatitives by way of better developing their portfolio, programme and project offices. It touches on the strategic aspects of alignment betweeen strategy, operation planning and project execution. Sign up via the next column if you'd like to receive free the full version of the whitepaper or simply ring our office.
The Project Management Institute (PMI®) has designated and awarded Iain Fraser, our Group Managing Director (CEO), with its prestigious PMI Fellow award during the PMI Awards Ceremony at the PMI Global Congress 2009 – Nth America in Florida, USA.
This award is the very first to be awarded to a person anywhere throughout SE Asia or Australasia and is one of only 50 globally and the second only outside of Nth America. The award is given to those that for over 10 years have significantly contributed towards and shaped the global profession of project management and PMI. It is PMI’s highest and most prestigious award that is presented to an individual.
PMI NZ Awards Excellence in Project Management...
The Project Management Institute New Zealand chapter (PMINZ) has established their inaugural national awards programme at a special cermony held in Christchurch as part of their National Conference. The awards programme covered 5 seperate categories open to nominations from all sectors. The winners from the finalists in each category where:
Research Award - Mehdi Ebrahim for research done on risk management associated with IT iniatitives.
Volunteer of the Year - Michael Richardson of Gen-i for extended and dedicated service as National Treasurer of PMINZ for 11 consecutive years.
Emerging Project Manager of the Year - Sarah Scott of Telecom NZ for work completed on the 'Your Telecom Project'.
Project Manager of the Year - Michael van Haastrecht of Arc Innovations for the successful completion of the Smart Metering Project for Meridian Energy.
Project of the Year - Ramp Signaling Project - executed by BECA and NZ Transport Agency to an exceptional standard and stakeholder acceptance.
Bust and Boom - the Bungy Economy?..
The beginning of the year seems to have brought an increased wave of optimism on economic recovery as various signals continue to be seen and commented upon. However the 'bounce back' is rather lethargic and quite different from a bungy type of rebound many would like. Vulnerablity still exists for many businesses which is slowing investment and the creation of jobs.
Many organisations are now looking ahead re new plans, new budgets and in many cases new teams as the effects of lay-offs and redundancies take hold. This, despite appearing somewhat negative, is creating a strong sense of focus with our clients which in turn is demanding new approaches and advise on project-based activity. As a consequence we have seen a lift in demand for our consulting services and thought-leadership. A healthy pipeline of work is ahead of us and we are committed to providing an even better level of service to our valued clients.
A stong sense of focus, coupled with a change mindset are, we believe, great attributes to have within any organisation that is looking to 'push-on' with investments and initiatives that contribute towards the meeting of their organisational goals and objectives.
New & Updated PRINCE2 Offerings...
Excitement continues following our successful introduction of our improved and updated PRINCE2 Foundation & Practitioners certification options. Sourced from the leading ATO in the global PRINCE community and delivered by trainers that are amongst the very best has meant that our 100% success rate has been maintained.
Already we have in-house bookings and our public schedule continues to attract strong interest including from those looking to re-certify. For more information click here.
Other New Training & Certification Options...
Recent additions to our extensive selection of training & certification solutions are:
1. Practical Stakeholder Management - a pragmatic workshop that offers a rubust and simple to use approach to stakeholder management. The knowledge and tools gained during attendence will allow greatly assist with stakeholder expectations and satisfaction. The initial workshops sold out so if wish to register get in touch with our office soon.
2. Business Change Management - change is the de-rigour for 2010 as oranisational leaders look to move forward from the slowdown of 08/09. Irrespective if your change initiave is small and straightforward or large and complex, effective change management is essential to your success and the sustainalbility of the change. this offering covers a complete 'How to' on all aspects of change.
3. Managing Multi Priorities - this workshop is highly focussed of time management and the management of competing priorities within any organisations that has portfolio and programme activity. Learn how to work smart, work on the right things for improved effectiveness and do stuff the right way for increased efficiency and organisational contribution.
Thought-Leadership & Advocacy for the PM Profession
2010 sees another busy year ahead for our thought-leaders. The first quarter will see Project Plus staff presenting up and down NZ plus further afield including a business forum onboard a cruise ship!
Our Group CEO, Iain Fraser, Karen Clarke, GM NZ Operations and Martin Atiken, senior consultant will deliver insights, views and challenges at various events around the world. Some of our UK resources are also involved. Topics include portfolio mgmt, future of the profession, macro risks aspects and business change management.
The highly respected 'Project Manager Today' UK publication included a Project Plus thought-leadership whitepaper on RoI from PMO's that was written by Dave Rochford and Iain Fraser.
If you'd like some high energy presenters that are passionate, witty and committed to assisting your gathering - get in touch and hear our messages!
Executive Concerns on Skills...
A recent survey conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit across nearly 600 C-level Executives around the world shows some very interesting if not surprising outcomes. When asked as to what the most important individual skill set is required for the future, the answer provided by the survey group was the ability to execute strategy and adapt to change. Also noted were significant increases in project planning and risk management requirements. When asked as to what are the most important organisational skills, the respondents stated that managing people, projects and talent were the three most critical areas.
It is clear from the above that senior business leaders from private, public and government sectors see project-based expertise as the 'hot' skill-set in looking to the future. There can be no doubt that this is further enhanced when the current global economic situation is considered. Organisations of all sizes and sorts will be looking for increased effectiveness, lower risk and earlier returns on investments. Advanced project-based skills will remain in hot demand for sure.
Fantastic New Pocket Books...
The Memory Jogger range of books has been enhanced again by the recent introduction of new tiltes namely, the Innovation Tools Memory Jogger, the Advanced Project Management Memory Jogger, the Time Management Memory Jogger and the Business Process Memory Jogger.
The Innovation Tools book is focussed on 'generating customer buy-in and solutions that flourish' and is a great source for tools and techniques for those involved with or planning towards innovatitive changes. Click here to read a review done by one of our senior consultants.
Project Plus has added an on-line ordering function that allows anybody to order and pay securely through our site. Click on this link Products to order directly from the large range of these popular business books.
Helping Kids through our Values...
Recently we learnt of the appeal that was being organised to assist sick kids at the Starship Hospital in Auckland. The appeal allowed for us to collect and sort all our old mobile phones and send them to the hospital for onward processing and distribution to those in need in other countries. Starship benefits by receiving a portion of the value of the refurbished phone which goes towards the health care of those kids in need.
Another benefit of this is that those same phones have not ended up in a land-fill thereby avoiding any environmental impact.
Our 'charity of choice' for our christmas donation was the Child Cancer Society. The Plusser team selected this from a number of options and we subsequently donated a sizable amount of funds instead of sending coporate christmas cards.
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Current Opinion:
PMBOK® vs PRINCE2®
Around the world it seems that businesses, governments, NGO’s and others are somewhat confused by the debates around the merits of popular project management approaches. In particular the Project Management Institutes (PMI) ‘Project Management Body of Knowledge’ (PMBOK®) and Office of Government Commerce (OGC) ‘Projects in Controlled Environments’ (PRINCE2™) seem to cause the most debate and therefore giving rise to the most confusion. This short article offers an overview of the differences and similarities of each approach. It also provides a case for collaboration between both. More ......
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