The Anatomy of PW&WCBA

Did you attend PW&WCBA this year? If so, you may recall conference producer Rachel McDonald opening up the first main day with this presentation breaking down the makeup of the PW&WCBA community, if not give it a look now:

 

PW&WCBA Opening presentation 2012 from Michelle LeBlanc

This year's event featured: 
A more global focus than ever before
Content you can trust including all new keynotes & illustrations of complex project execution
24+ hours of (structured) networking

Attendees hailed from industries from Aerospace to Tourism and everything in between

55% of attendees self-identified at Project Management Professionals &30% identified as Business Analysts.

We can't wait to see how it will grow and change for 2013!

We'll be publishing insights from attendees of this year's PW&WCBA event over the next several weeks. Would you like to share your thoughts? Email them to Michelle LeBlanc at mleblanc@iirusa.com.

Last Chance to Save on ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts

There is just one question you have to ask yourself. And it's not why you should attend ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® in 2012. It's what you will miss if you don't?

Earn up to 36 PDUs/CDUs with just one conference investment: Within just one conference package you'll receive access to the 2012 on-demand Webinar Series, plus access to the live PW&WCBA conference in September. That's up to 36 PDUs/CDUs in one package! It's important to keep up to date on your professional education credits, and we're making it easier for you - earn almost half of the necessary credits in one place.

Complex Projects You Can Relate To: We've gone back to what matters most to you. Large-scale, complex projects delivered on-time and on-budget, including the World Trade Center, SEAL Team Six, Habitat for Humanity & Port Authority of NY & NJ.

The Latest & Greatest for All Your Hot Button Issues: The agenda covers: Risk Management for the PM & BA, Agile Essentials, Excellence in Project Portfolio Management, Transitioning Practices for Agile Delivery, Innovation in the PMO, Elevating the Role: From Manager to Leader, Creating a BA Center of Excellence, Social Communication, Innovation & Collaboration and Tools, Techniques & Trends. Download the brochure for details.

Re-Formatted Program Agenda: Our pre-conference summits and workshops no longer compete. Register for a workshop in the morning and a summit in the afternoon to maximize your learning. Make the most of your time at PW&WCBA!

Official Event Executive Summary: Get a wrap up of all the key topics and deliverables revealed throughout PW&WCBA's sessions in a document you can take back to the office and share with your colleagues.

Continuous Networking: Through our exclusive networking site, ProjectWorld Connect, you will be able to connect with fellow attendees and speakers before, during and after the event.

And much more! Download the brochure for the full conference agenda. (AND the 2011 Executive Summary & exclusive web seminar "10 Traits of an Agile Product Owner")

The industry's leading companies will be attending - don't get left behind - gain the skills, tools and techniques you need to be more valuable to yourself and your organization.

Take a look at the companies who've already signed on to attend: 
AAA Carolinas, Academy of Art University, Alfa Mutual Insurance, American Chemical Society, Ancestry.com, Aseco Integrated Systems, Atlas Copco, Axa Equitable, Ball Corporation, BECU, Blue Cross Blue Shield of SC, Blue Cross Blue Shield of TX, Boeing Company, Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield of MD, Chevron, Cisco, Citizens Bank, City of Charlotte, Constant Contact, Coventry Health Care, EBG Consulting, Inc. , ECMC, Enbridge Pipeline Inc, Encore Health Resources, Entertainment Partners, Farm Bureau Insurance, Florida Power & Light , Follett Higher Education, Forrest Research, Georgia Health Sciences University, Geospatial Intelligence Agency, Gerdau, GlaxoSmithKline, Green Shield Canada, Habitat for Humanity Int'l, Harley Davidson, Health Dialog Services, Highmark Blueshield, IBM, IIBA, John Deere & Company, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Liberty Mutual, Lifeway Christian Resources, Lincoln Financial Group, M&I Bank, Marathon Oil Company, Merck Pharmaceuticals, Meridian Technologies, Metropolitan Water, Microsoft, NAIC, Nationwide Insurance, NAV Canada, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Perrigo, PetSmart, Pfizer, Physicians Mutual, PMCentersUSA, Poole & Associates, Port Authority of NY & NJ, Projility, Prudential Financial, Puget Sound Energy, Railinc Corporation, Rich Products Corp., Robbins & Robbins, Inc. , Robert Bosch, Scotts Company, SEAL Team Six, Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure, SIGSA, South African State IT Agency, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, State Farm Insurance Company, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Texas Guaranteed, The Clorox Company, The Coca Cola Company, National Council on Compensation Insurance, The Travelers Companies, Inc. , Tishman Construction Corp., U.S. Cellular, Value Creation Associates, Verizon, Vistakon Inc. , Walt Disney World Company, WEA Trust, WinWholesale Inc. , World Vision Ethiopia , Wsp Flack & Kurtz

As a reader of our blog, you can receive 15% off the standard registration rate with Priority Code PW12BLOG. For more information on the ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts and to register, visit our webpage.

We hope to see you in Orlando this September!

The ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts Team

Follow the ProjectWorld Twitter: https://twitter.com/project_world

Become a fan on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/JAM9Yc

What's The Project Plan For Your Career?

Yesterday I had the pleasure of moderating yet another of our PW&WCBA webinar series. This session focused on career development - both for the manager that wants to bring out the best in their team, as well as the "rock star" on the team that wishes to drive their career forward. It got me thinking about project management and business analysis career paths, (which is always one of the hottest topics at PW&WCBA.)

Browsing PMI’s 2012 Pulse of the Profession I was interested to read the following:

"2011 PMI Project Management Salary Survey found that nearly 70% of organizations now have a career path for those engaged in project or program management. However, the majority of these are still informal and not clearly defined and in writing."

Anecdotal evidence from speaking with various PW&WCBA attendees agrees. One particular example from yesterday's webinar stood out to me as well: While the "rock star" on a team may need to be encouraged and developed to keep them within the team and the company - not everyone is suited to moving to a people management role, and in fact it may not even be something they're interested in. Whether that "rock star" is you, or you are the one in the management position, it is important to establish communication and evaluate what those career goals are.

If this is something you struggle with, several of our sessions at this year's PW&WCBA focus directly on next career moves, employee development and team leadership including:
What is a Business Architect and How Might YOU Get There? with Cecilie Hoffman, Business Architect, Railinc Corporation
Developing Project Managers into Project Leaders with Mark Schlosser, Director, Enterprise Project Change Management & Analytics, U.S. Cellular Corporation & Jackie Staley, Director, Enterprise Project Management, U.S. Cellular Corporation
How to Create and Sustain a Culture of Innovation in Your Organization with Srini Penchikala, Security Architecture Program Manager, Texas Guaranteed and
New Frontiers in PM: Creating High Performing Teams with Silvanus David, Program Manager, South African State Information Technology Agency

Plus, simply attending the conference can help you gain the skills and knowledge needed to take that next step - be it a people management role or more technical.  Download the brochure to learn more about these and all of our other sessions.

In your experience, is it difficult to define a project management or business analyst career path? Once you've reached a certain point, do you find yourself asking "what's next?" Share your experience with us in the comments.

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com

Friday Flicks: Why is communication so darn hard?

Earlier this week, guest blogger Peter Sloane commented here about communication challenges, and particularly the challenges that can arise as schedules and attitudes become more casual for summer.

Here in the PW&WCBA headquarters we recently missed a project team scrum meeting as so many members of the team were out on various July-4th-related holidays. Luckily it's a slower season, but what if an important deadline was missed or something slipped through the cracks as the scrum meeting went by the wayside? Part of our problem is, the team is just too big, if we kept the main meeting as a "scrum of scrums" and had smaller project teams meet separately scheduling issues wouldn't be quite so difficult.

Appropriately, PW&WCBA favorite Joseph Flahiff tweeted this illustrative video this morning: How do you deal with large project teams? Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com

Creating and Sustaining High-Performance Teams for Managers and Executives

We've been talking about leadership a lot lately both here on the PW&WCBA blog, as well as on the LinkedIn group, so it seemed appropriate that our 2011 attendee web seminar series kicked off with a session titled "Creating and Sustaining High-Performance Teams for Managers and Executives" by recurring favorite Peter Saddington.

Saddington shared some excellent insights with the group, two of which I would like to pass on here. First, the idea that as a leader your primary task should be as a "unblocker of impediments" and secondly that when approaching a team you should force yourself to "always assume the best." These two factors for me encompass the main shift from manager to leader - a leader can trust the team to do what needs to be done, but simultaneously lead by providing the resources or removing the roadblocks to progress. Would you agree?

Saddington also had a number of resources available for those looking to do some additional reading after the webinar, or for those who could not attend:
- Free Assessment and Coaching Giveaway
- Leveraging Team Science and Cultural Analytics
- Understanding Agile Culture
- Overview of Action & Influence and Team Science

Did you miss the session? 2011 PW&WCBA webinar attendees have free access to this resource. Check your email or crowdvine for details on accessing the recording.

Plus, don't miss out on our series for 2012, register for PW&WCBA for access. As a reader of our blog we'd like to offer you an exclusive 15% discount off the standard registration rate with code PW12BLOG. For more information on the ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts and to register, visit our webpage.

One World Trade Center: Managing the World's Largest, Emotionally Charged Complex Project Build

With One World Trade Center recently surpassing the Empire State Building at New York's tallest structure and President Obama now scheduled to visit the construction site this week our thoughts here at the offices of ProjectWorld and The World Congress for Business Analysts in New York are turning to our upcoming keynote by Jim Durkin, SVP, WTC Transportation Hub, Tishman Construction Corp.

View of 1 WTC construction from the author's apartment

Durkin will be presenting "World Trade Center: Managing the World's Largest, Emotionally Charged Complex Project Build" this September at PW&WCBA For the thousands involved with the $18 billion redevelopment of the 16-acre WTC site, the common thread is patriotism, indomitable spirit and a collective will to succeed. Durkin will report on the complex overlapping infrastructure at the WTC and how it calls for mass collaboration and coordination.

According to the August 2011 issue of Engineering News-Record, "depending on who is counting, there are at least seven major projects currently under way, each with its own team and schedule but not its own site, at least not below grade. All the projects overlap in a four-level basement. Consequently, the work is also loaded with challenges"

Durkin was quoted as saying “It's all coordination—coordinating with PATH, the memorial, the streets, towers 1, 2, 3 and 4, and the vehicle security center.”

Beyond coordinating with the many entities involved with the project, there have also been various changes to the design over the course of construction.

This piece in the New York Times addressed one of the project's challenges: "As design moved to the testing phase, it became clear that the prismatic glass simply had too many technical problems to overcome and at a budget that was not cost effective,” said John Kelly, a spokesman for the Port Authority. “We have been finalizing a design that will be far more practical while being both distinctive and magnificent."

Despite challenges faced (and what project of this scale doesn't face challenges?), the project continues on and the structure is rising an average of 9.5 feet a week. Completion of the tower is anticipated in 2013. Join us for Durkin's session at ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts for some actionable insights from the process.

As a reader of our blog we'd like to offer you an exclusive 15% discount off the standard registration rate with code PW12BLOG. For more information on the ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts and to register, visit our webpage.

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com

Call for Presenters: ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts Web Seminars Series

ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® On-Demand Web Seminar Series
Event Date: Web Seminars to take place from May - November 2012, will work with facilitator on selecting a date
Location: Virtual
Website: www.projectworld.com
________________________________________

INDUSTRY ALERT: OFFICIAL CALL FOR PRESENTERS
Papers are being accepted on a rolling basis,
We suggest you submit your proposal as early as possible.

The Institute for International Research (IIR) is currently seeking experienced facilitators and consultants to present virtually as part of our ongoing year-round education series for our ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® attendees.

About this unique event:
PW&WCBA is the industry's year round resource for project, program and portfolio managers and business analysts who wish to move beyond the fundamentals and learn leadership, strategy and enterprise-wide information in order to be more valuable for their organization.

Who and what are we looking for?

We are seeking experienced corporate practitioners, consultants, industry experts or solutions providers to lead a web seminar, 60 minute presentation inclusive of Q&A, to share new approaches and techniques our attendees can implement immediately. Web seminars will take place from May - November 2012. Priority will be given to proposals that highlight NEW case studies on pushing beyond the PMBOK and BABOK, presenting new skills, techniques and best practices for today's PM and BA worlds.

We expect our speakers to move beyond the fundamentals.

2012 Presentation Topic Areas include, but are not limited to:

• Agile Methodology
• Managing Stakeholders Expectations
• Collaboration
• Enterprise Business Analyst Responsibilities
• Mind Mapping
• Enterprise Business Analyst Integration in the Business
• Facilitation Skills - PowerPoint & Story Writing
• Critical Chain
• Managing Virtual Teams
• What a BA Needs to Know About IT
• Portfolio Management
• Moving from a Manager to a Leader
• Motivating Teams & Increasing Team Performance
• Building an Excellence Center
• Risk Management
• Enterprise Architecture

BONUS: In addition to the exposure and honor of being part of our "on-demand" web seminar series, you will also receive FREE admission to the 2012 PW&WCBA conference ($3,000+ value).

CALL FOR PRESENTERS:
For consideration, please e-mail rmcdonald@iirusa.com with the following information by Monday, April 30, 2012:
• Proposed speaker name, job title, and company name
• Contact information including address, telephone and e-mail
• Title of Presentation (one line, benefit focused)
• A brief summary of content to be delivered (no more than 75 words), followed by 3 bullet points of what the audience will gain from your presentation (key audience takeaways)
• Short bio of speaker (50-75 words)
• Speaker's high resolution headshot (optional)


Additional Details:
• Commercialism and self-promotion are NOT permitted or tolerated. If this happens, you will NOT be invited to return, your complimentary pass to PW&WCBA 2012 will be revoked and your web seminar will not be a part of our "on-demand" library.

Thank you for your interest in PW&WCBA. Please visit www.projectworld.com for more information.

PM Insights: Managing the tension between projects and operations

Over the next few weeks here on the Project World blog we're going to be featuring some of the insights shared at the 2011 Your Space session at the ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® event.

A repeat favorite, Your Space offers PW&WCBA attendees a chance to debrief on topics covered, come up actionable plans for their return to the office and share in the collective knowledge and expertise of other PW&WCBA attendees and speakers


 This week's topic comes from Table 2: Managing the tension between projects and operations

• The attendees at table two identified a number of issues that can cause tension between project teams and operations. Those included:
• Resource constraints
• Team members assigned to support both operations and projects
• Poor communication between stakeholders and operations
• Disruptive stakeholders
• Operations staff not engaged in project team – no buy-in or ownership
• No funding for operations to support the project outcome (during and after the project)
• Operations resistance to prescribed solutions.

Ultimately these sources of tension boiled down to four root causes: Lack of Communication, Not involving right people at right time, Resource allocation, and Prioritization.

Our team at table two suggested that ultimately many issues came down to resources or funding, which can be a difficult (if not impossible) problem to solve. However, re-prioritization of resources or improved communication could lead to improvements in some areas.

How would you address these issues? Have you ever faced conflict between projects and operations?

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com

CALL FOR PRESENTERS: ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® 2012

INDUSTRY ALERT: OFFICIAL CALL FOR PRESENTERS
Papers are being accepted on a rolling basis,
we suggest you submit your proposal as early as possible.

The Institute for International Research (IIR) is currently seeking corporate practitioners, authors and experienced facilitators to present at the 2012 ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® conference.

The event will take place September 10-12, 2012 at Disney's Contemporary Resort in Orlando, FL.

About this unique event:
PW&WCBA is the industry's year round resource for gaining cutting-edge insights through C-Level case studies & corporate best practice presentations, exclusive Web Seminars, Learning Labs, including the Annual PMO Forum and the Annual Portfolio Management Forum.

Who and what are we looking for?
We are seeking high caliber, unbiased program managers, portfolio managers, PMO, system engineers and business analysts. Experienced corporate practitioners, industry experts and qualified facilitators sharing innovative case studies, techniques, templates that attendees can implements as soon as they get back to the office. Each presentation should demonstrate at least three tangible takeaways.

Please note: Decisions will be based on the alignment of the content with the 2012 agenda content, feedback from the event advisors as well as on industry recognition and/or personal references.

We expect our speakers to move beyond the fundamentals.

2012 Presentation Topic Areas include, but are not limited to:

• What's New in Agile?
• Agile, Tools and Metric Tracking
• Cloud Risk: Managing the Risk and Rewards of Cloud Computing
• Defining and Developing the Next Generation of PMs
• Improving the Value of Your PMO
• IT Portfolio Management
• Soft Leadership Skills
• Risk Management
• Building Program Management Expertise
• Motivating Teams and Increasing Team Performance
• Creating a Center of Excellence (Both BA and/or PM)
• Demonstrating the Current Value of Project Management and Business Analysis to Your Organization
• Career Paths for the BA and PM - Where Do You Go After 5 Years?
• Using Six Sigma and LEAN to Improve Project Management
• Requirements Management and Communication
• Funding Models in a Tight Financial Market
• Leading Global Teams
• Change Management
• Reading Verbal and Non-Verbal Cues
• Virtual Engagement
• Lightweight Project Management Tools vs. Heavyweight
• Enterprise Analysis
• Enterprise Architecture
• The Mechanics of Business Process Modeling • Negotiation Skills for Dealing with Suppliers
• Improved Elicitation Techniques
• Developing Excellent Scoping Skills
• Agile Project Management
• A Systematic Approach to Increase Business Process Performance
• Improving Service Levels with Your Stakeholders
• Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring
• Developing a PM Toolkit: The Essentials
• Implementing a Portfolio Management
• Risk Management
• Estimating and Identification of Requirements
• Business Rules: An Important Technique to Capture and Discover What You Need
• Green Practices for the PM and BA
• Getting the Benefits of Consolidating, But Without Doing So
• The Current and Future State of the BA
• Identify and Retain the Best and the Brightest
• Agile: Governance and Decision-Making
• Sustainable Portfolio Management Practices
• Development Techniques that are Flexible and Responsive
• SOA Governance
• Integrating the Business Architecture with Human Performance

BONUS: In addition to the exposure and honor of being a speaker, speakers will also receive FREE admission to the conference, access to the post-conference web seminar series as well as any pre-conference activities ($3,000+ value).

How to Get Accepted:
Priority will be given to presentations that highlight NEW case studies on pushing beyond the PMBOK and BABOK, presenting new skills, techniques and best practices for today's PM and BA worlds. ONLY corporate/client-side speaker will be considered. If you are a consultant, solution provider, technology provider, analyst or consultant, please see sponsorship/exhibit section below.


For consideration, please e-mail rmcdonald@iirusa.com with the following information by Friday, January 30, 2012:
• Proposed speaker name, job title, and company name
• Contact information including address, telephone and e-mail
• Title of Presentation (one line, benefit focused)
• A brief summary of content to be delivered (no more than 75 words), followed by 3 bullet points of what the audience will gain from your presentation (key audience takeaways)
• Previous conference speaking opportunities for the last 3 years
• Short bio of speaker (50-75 words)
• Two references with contact information

NOTE: If your proposal is selected, portions of this submission will be printed in the brochure.

Additional Details:
• Commercialism and self-promotion are NOT permitted or tolerated. If this happens, you will NOT be invited to return as a speaker.
• Travel, lodging and other expenses are the responsibility of the speaker.

Interested in sponsoring or exhibiting?
If you are a vendor or solution provider and are interested in showcasing your organization's expertise - Please contact Jon Saxe, Senior Business Development Manager at jsaxe@iirusa.com or 646-895-7467 for more information.
If you were not selected to present and are a vendor or solution provider, you may qualify for additional speaking opportunities available through sponsorship.

Thank you for your interest in PW&WCBA. Please visit www.projectworld.com for more information.

Let's go ROWEing

This recent study by two University of Minnesota sociology professors looks at the effect of the the Best Buy headquarters switch to a ROWE, or "Results Only Work Environment."

The study found that, as a whole, employees working in the ROWE format were overall more invested in their work and had a lower turnover rate.

Reading the piece by Fast Company, I couldn't help but be reminded of our PW&WCBA presentation by Terri Dickson, "Soft Skills in a Virtual Team Environment." In this presentation, Dickson discussed ways to work with a team when you aren't meeting in person regularly: specifically how to maintain accountability and avoid trust issues or project slippage.


In her experience, when the team used specific strategies for maintaining good communication working virtually was as or more effective then working on site and meeting in person. Much like an environment where employees have more freedom with their hours, working remotely can allow team members to have better work/life balance, and feel more in control of their work.

Would you ever consider moving to a Results Only Work Environment? Do you think this would have a positive or negative effect on your overall ability to accomplish projects? How does this approach mesh with Agile methods?

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com

#PWWCBA: The 2011 event in photos

From day one at our Agile Summit to the 2011 Your Space activity, PW&WCBA 2011 was a truly interactive event.

Check out some photos from our time in Orlando here:


The learning doesn't end with the live event: make sure you are opted-in to our email list for event updates, exclusive content and more. Plus, join our LinkedIn community to stay in touch with industry experts from around the world. If you attended the event, you can find documentation and information about claiming PDUs on crowdvine. Lastly, stay turned right here and on twitter for a year round source for Project Management and Business Analysis news.

Live from #PWWCBA: Shift Happens

Carlos Dominguez started off the final day of the 2011 ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® talking about everything from RFID tracking trash:


To a generation that doesn't understand magazines:


So what does new technology and the new generation of workers mean for business? We're leaning to a point where "everything is being rebooted." Where once it was the music industry being dismantled by new technology, now the change has spread to newspapers, finance, education and more. In 10 years, it is estimated that over 40% of the fortune 500 will no longer exist.

Characteristics of a successful company in this environment are:
Ability to embrace change
Leveraging new technology (such as video)
Collaboration


Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com

Live at #PWWCBA: Metrics Magic and Social Currency

"Metrics Magic: Stop Guessing and Start Measuring your Requirements Practices" with Bradford J. Sandler PMP, Executive Project Manager, IBM Software Group Rational started off the afternoon in The New Era of Social Communication, Leadership & Collaboration track.

Sandler works with the Jazz team at IBM. According to the Jazz site, "Jazz is an initiative to transform software and systems delivery by making it more collaborative, productive and transparent, through integration of information and tasks across the phases of the lifecycle."

One interesting aspect Sandler mentioned briefly was the idea of  social currency being built up as users of a collaborative product digitally compliment their coworkers for providing useful information. In addition to actually allowing employees to easily access the assets (such as educational materials, documentation or presentations) they need more easily and conveniently  to accomplish a task, this social level of feedback provides both positive reinforcement and a metric for evaluation. Would you consider implementing a system like that at your company? Are there any disadvantages to a "reward" system like this?

Live from #PWWCBA: An Activity for Changing Your Mindset

During our next session "Measuring Product Knowledge Not Project Tasks" with Dr. Terry Barnhart, Senior Director Global R&D, Pfizer, Barnhart shared an activity that could be a good exercise for anyone wishing to think their way around project roadblocks.

Step 1. Write down a multi-step task (say, 5 steps) in a project you are working on
Step 2. Write down two entirely different sets of steps that could give you the same output value
Step 3. For each step of the process, write down the questions that each step answers
(For example, if your step is "Walk to the store to get food" the question might be "How am I going to feed myself?")

By replacing activities with questions you open yourself up to different possibilities. Answered your questions become a proxy for progress on your project, unanswered they can show you clearly where your project gaps are.

Live from #PWWCBA: Chuck Millhollan, GEEK

Our first main conference day at the 2011 ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® kicked off with Chuck Millhollan identifying himself with one word (Geek, rather than the string of letters that follow his name MBA, MPM, PMP, PgMP, CBAP) and then identifying some of the characteristics that make a good Project Manager.

What does leadership seek when hiring a Project Manager:
Problem solving skills
Communications
- writing skills
- presentation skills
Interpersonal Skills
Team Building Skills
Professional Discipline

Many of these terms are only glancingly mentioned in the PMBoK ad BABoK, yet these are the soft skills that hiring managers are looking for most. Hard skills (or certification for that matter) are implied or expected, but soft skills will set you apart. According to Millhollan, the continued value of a project manager is more about critical judgement then simply maturing processes and technologies.

Key takeaway: don't learn the body of knowledge to make yourself more marketable, learn the foundations to make yourself a great PM or BA. 

Soft skills, professional acumen and then lastly business acumen mare the recipe for a great PM or BA.

The most memorable quote for me from this session was the following: "Knowledge is not power, knowledge is potential, how you apply the knowledge is power"

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com.

Live from #PWWCBA: Structured Conversations to Deliver Value

It was fortuitous for me that I chose to attend Ellen Gottesdiener's final session of the day "Powerful Planning, Agile Analysis: Structured Conversations to Deliver Value" as it involved an in-depth use of the Project World website as an example of finding value for customers/users.

We identified many different possible users for the site:
attenders
vendors
bookers
reviewers
approvers

(Ellen's tip: give each user type a name that describes what they do, not a job title, things ending in "er")

Each of these users has different requirements priorities such as: register securely, ease of use, find out attendee numbers, see a business case showing ROI of attending the event. You can perform discovery to find out what your users need through steps such as interviews.

These requirements can then be a means to the end of finding value.

So, what would your requirements be for the 2012 ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® website?

Live at #PWWCBA: The Corporate Agile Transformation: Yes, It Can Happen

Jennifer Brownson of BMC Software kicked off the after lunch sessions at the Agile summit discussing the fact that everything at BMC is run using Agile practices, from software development to accounting.

Starting with a core agile cross functional team in 2004, Jennifer was part of a group that made the original switch to Agile. Originally one large product line of about 350 people worked on intentionality, trust of the team, and risk taking. By summer of 2008, those practicing Scrum within the company numbered close to 1,000 and eventually the momentum built to where it is today.

Some growing pains are to be expected during a transformation like this, but with internal buy-in, a certain amount of peer-pressure and a dedicated evangelist team that eventually won over agile champions within the PMO, the battle wasn't entirely uphill. The tipping point: management support of agile, building a symbiotic IT/product team relationship and a structured training program that is readily available.

General Organizational Impacts of the transformation:
Everyone becomes agile
Cross functional teams
No organizational silos
Time management
Measurement driven culture

Make sure to login to crowdvine if you're attending the conference to download Jennifer's presentation for more resources.

Live from #PWWCBA: All Analysts are Bilingual

In Linda Cook's session "Kanban – Limit Work In Progress and Go Faster" we started speaking the language of Kanban. Literally meaning "Card Signal," Kanban has some manufacturing roots as cards directed employees which task to start when.

Linda made one fun observation during the session: that business analysts are key to Kanban as they have a unique skill: they are "bilingual," translating information into stories. So, let's start deciphering Kanban and translate what it is and is not:
- Kanban is not just a software development methodology, not just an approach to project management, and much more than just a card wall

- Kanban is used to control Work In Progress, it promotes incremental change and  it requires some existing process to already be in place

The core elements of Kanban are:
- Visualize workflow
- Limit work in progress
- Measure and manage flow
- Make process policies explicit
- And use models to recognize improvement opportunities

Next Linda introduced the idea of creating "Slack":
Slack can reduce variability and thus improve quality and smooth out the flow to achieve an even cadence, or rhythm of events.

Kanban methods:
Help visualize the process with workflow models
Help to identify bottlenecks when the steps of the process are drawn on a model
Encourage continuous improvement
Minimize the initial impact of changes
May help reduce the resistance to change

We then wrapped up the session by making sample Kanban walls. Look for pictures of our work here soon.

Live from #PWWCBA: Agile Summit Beginnings

The 2011 PW&WCBA kicked off just now and I'm writing live from the Agile Summit. We got our minds flowing first thing with a "human histogram" - breaking out the group to see years worked in agile, types of products worked on, and more.

Ellen Gottesdiener, our Agile Summit Chair asked participants to start the day by grouping around Agile terms from our pre-conference glossary: Retrospectives, Backlogs, Velocity and more. Participants then wrote down what question, puzzle or issue they would need addressed today to feel that the summit was a good value. Over the course of the day, they'll be checking in on these issues. What is yours? Share with us in the comments.

Next we went through our "Petcha Kutcha" - an exercise where each speaker of the day presented their session through 20 slides with 20 seconds per slide. This exercise is a great preview of what we have in store for the day - not to mention a good way to decide which session to attend during our breakout tracks.

So far we're off to an exciting, interactive start of day one at PW&WCBA. Keep watching this space for more conference coverage.

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com

Project World Preview: 2010 in Pictures

Wondering what your 2011 Project World experience will be like? Take a look back at these on site photos from our event in 2010:

Be it networking, enjoying engaging speakers or sharing thoughts and insights during the annual "Your Space" exercise, the three days of Project World are a jam-packed experience. Interested? Register now and join us at Disney's Contemporary Resort in Orlando, FL next week.

Can't make it this year? Follow along in this space, and on twitter at #PWWCBA for live coverage and make sure to Opt In to get updates on future events!