Practical Approaches to Change Management from Farm Credit Mid-America

Change is inevitable, that's a fact. And it's never easy. But if there's one thing we can learn in today's project landscape, it's that not adapting to change isn't even an option.

Project timelines are accelerating at an unprecedented pace and you're expected to work with brand new tools and solutions that weren't even available a few years ago - how are you and your teams coping?

 

PW&WCBA is Your Partner in Advancing Your Change Management Strategies:

Change is Tough: The Alternative is Tougher.  A Case Study on Organization-Wide Change Management Emphasizing Practical Approaches and Lessons Learned

Farm Credit Mid-America's Vice President of Process Improvement & Execution, Chuck Millhollan will lead you through a multi-faceted case study which incorporates strategic portfolio management, the practical application of Lean concepts in a service organization, a complex program impacting every employee in one of the largest associations in the Farm Credit System, and a multi-year change management initiative on the organization's Journey to 2020. Special attention is given to the practical tools and tactics the Farm Credit Mid-America teams have used to enhance delivery and change management.

In addition to Chuck, also hear from:

• Lou Russell, CEO, Learning Faciliator, Russell Martin & Associates on The IT PM as Change Leader

• Myles Miller, CEO & Founder, LeadUp discussing Change Agents - Are You Ready for Change?

• Brunella Lahey, Senior Business Systems Analyst sharing how to Implement Global Solutions at a Fortune 100 Company

• Wayne Kremling, PMP, Senior Project Manager, The Boeing Company revealing Managing Risks, Issues and Opportunities with a Mitigation Burndown

• And much more!

To view the full agenda download it here: http://bit.ly/1EDAgB8

Join us in October and walk away with an action plan to increase your ability to manage projects during times of change. Register today with code PW15BL and receive $100 off current rates! http://bit.ly/1EDAgB8

We hope to see you in Seattle!

Cheers!

The PW&WCBA Team

@Project_World

#PW15

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Top Business Analysis Trends of 2013: Enterprise Analysis will become the Foundation of Business Architecture

Business analysis is an essential part of any business because change is constantly a factor that needs to be dealt with. Changes happen not just with the market you have but also in the industry you belong to. In order to succeed despite the changes, proper business analysis must be done at the right time. Business analysis (BA) can come in various forms but it is important if you want your business to stay not just ahead of the game, but also to survive the many changes that affect your performance.

According to Nancy Nee, vice president of Global Product Strategy, ESI International, there are specific BA trends that will be prominent in 2013. We have gone over six of them in our previous posts. The seventh key BA trend this year is about how the government will slowly, but surely, recognize the value of BA as it moves towards a more agile environment.

These days, with budgets so tight, there is a focus on strategic enterprise analysis – the foundation to organizations that are embracing business architecture.

“It’s all about: How do we grow our business? Make our business more money? How do we keep our business stable? All of these things are about the BA and the ability to do strategic enterprise analysis,” Nee explained.

We will begin to see that as organizations are able to work in the space they are trying to deliver their products with greater uptake to be the next Apple or Microsoft, for example. They will be looking at strategic enterprise analysis and business architecture together for its all about defining the “what” of business and how we can deliver customer value.

Check out the full video below:

The Future of Project Management - From IIR ProjectWorld Workshop

Dan Rasmus was at last week's ProjectWorld in Baltimore. He documented a session called "The Future of Project Management." This is co-posted from his blog.

I conducted a workshop on the future of project management at IIR's ProjectWorld conference in Baltimore last week. Here is the brainstorming based on Microsoft's future of information work scenarios:

Proud Tower

• Project Management = science
• Rigid processes, only need to know what you need to know
• Single methodology
• Strong government influence on practice, but company ultimately decides on competitive issues
• Scope, cost, schedule (pick one)
• Very reliant on internal resources and capabilities
• Schedule is driven even if not realistic
• Low level of forgiveness for failure
• Control + Good Model = company existence
• Low innovation and freedom of thought
• Quality= Doing what the boss says

Continental Drift

• Project Management = discipline
• Reduced Innovation
• Government dictated methodology
• No outsourcing
• Resources only extend to region
• No worry about language (assumed)
• Divergent standards around the world (practices by region)
• Duplication of many companies doing the same thing
• Reduced specialization at the individual level – more “Jacks of All Trades”
• Projects are low risk
• Highly secure environment
• Less variation among projects
• Many compliance projects
• Virtualization of organization takes place within trusted core
• Quality=do what is least risky

Frontier Friction

• Project management=art
• All about people, trust and relationships
• Resources: use who and what is available
• Need to learn to negotiate with power (when power isn’t constrained by common law)
• Dependent on the luck of the skills that are in the pool
• No certifications or standards
• Skills taught by mentoring
• Quality = do the right thing

Freelance Planet

• Project Management = experiment (adventure)
• Team recruitment=Ocean’s 11 model (people I know and trust)
• Highly networked teams
• Only as good as your last job
• Strong peer pressure to succeed (last job reflects on team too)
• Either very honest or very dishonest, no room for gray
• Many projects, smaller in scope
• Projects are interesting
• No big firms (can’t gain critical mass among branded individuals)
• Negotiating with teams for credit, pay, etc.
• Methodology is determined by team, by project
• Communities of practice
• Less economies of scale
• Prima Donnas
• Meritocracy
• Highly personal knowledge, shared only with trusted individuals (including very private Associations)
• Learn by doing on teams (Take responsibility for your own learning)
• Quality= do what offers the most learning within time and budget constraints that delivers what the customer says they want (so my contract will get renewed)