Leadership Lessons: Benjamin Locwin

I recently interviewed Benjamin Locwin of lonza Biopharmaceuticals to talk about the ins and outs of leadership in today’s competitive business landscape.  Locwin is speaker at the upcoming ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014 conference in Seattle taking place next month. He will be presenting a session entitled, “Using Evidence-Based Practice for High-Impact Messaging.”

At PW&WCBA, you will have the opportunity to join industry thought leaders as they re-examine how to identify opportunities and track their success, understanding what it means to be an effective leader in a virtual and multicultural world, and explore the future role of project managers and business analysts with the corporation.

Check out what Locwin had to say:

IIR: How do you, as a leader, stand out in a crowd in this competitive business world?

Locwin: For this, leadership branding is critically important; I have my own leadership brand, and this constancy of message carries through all of the work I do with my teams.

IIR: What are characteristics of a GREAT leader?

Locwin: Listening, being empathic, and not being afraid to make the big decisions. To paraphrase Peter Drucker, an expert in a field has seen enough to be able to quickly appraise a situation and know what’s important to focus on.

IIR: How does a successful leader communicate?

Locwin: One word: Often. If a leader isn’t developing a strategy and communicating a vision, and then communicating frequent progress checks, no one knows what the status is of their achievement work.

IIR: What are the most important decisions you make as a leader of your organization or team?

Locwin: As an organization gets larger there can be a tendency for the “institution” to dampen the “inspiration.” How do you keep this from happening? By disentangling the chaos of the entire big picture and making the smaller teams still feel like critical cogs in the whole machine; It’s really a sense of scale in this case that demotivates. By making the goals and achievements real, tangibility can be felt.

IIR: How do you encourage creative thinking within your team or organization?

Locwin: Much of this is derived from Edward de Bono; Lateral thinking requires tools and techniques to encourage it often. I have developed these systems so that they frequently call upon the experts to continuously refine their work in new, bold, and creative ways.

IIR: How do you help a new employee understand the culture of your organization?

Locwin: Culture can only be felt or measured on a very broad scale; it’s how the business functions as a whole and in the context of its own unique ‘corporate memory.’ You can’t ‘train’ a new employee on the culture of the organization, he or she learns by interacting within it.

IIR: What is one characteristic that you believe every leader should possess?

Locwin: An understanding of behavioral psychology and fluency with statistical variation.

IIR: What is the biggest challenge facing leaders today?

Locwin: Diversity in the workplace with respect to different fluencies with technology and media. Being part of the ‘next-five-minutes’ forecasting model (which is to say that long-term forecasting as had been done for many decades in business is no longer relevant with such short time horizons now).

IIR: What is the one behavior that you have seen derail more leaders’ careers?

Locwin: Believing that natural variation doesn’t occur.

IIR: What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?

Locwin: Stop. Look. And listen. Don’t go out and make decisions until you’ve taken stock on how the status quo is running; You’d be more likely to make things worse than better.

IIR: What are you doing to ensure you continue to grow and develop as a leader?

Locwin: Continuous learning. It’s all about adaptability.

Locwin will be speaking at ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014, taking place in Seattle, Washington September 22-24th at the W Hotel. The 2014 program is designed with courses for all training levels, a robust agenda, and most importantly tangible lessons which you can begin implementing the day you return to your office, making you even more valuable to your organization. To learn more or register for the event, click here:  http://bit.ly/1p8VOGT

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Leadership Lessons: Silvanus David

I recently interviewed Silvanus David, SITA SOUTH AFRICA, to talk about the ins and outs of leadership in today’s competitive business landscape.  David is a keynote speaker at the upcoming ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014 conference in Seattle taking place next month. He will be presenting a session entitled, “Cyber Security.”

Check out what David had to say:

IIR: How do you, as a leader, stand out in a crowd in this competitive business world?

David: I am a project management subject matter expert. I add value to the scientific knowledge base. I have something to offer that will make this world a better place than I have found it.

IIR: What are characteristics of a GREAT leader?

David: Humility is key. Focus as well – knowing how to keep the team focused and what is important.

IIR: How does a successful leader communicate?

David: Successful leaders communicate honestly. Good and bad news must be communicated.

IIR: Can you name a person who has had a tremendous impact on you as a leader? Maybe someone who has been a mentor to you? Why and how did this person impact your life?

David: My CEO, Mr. Freeman Numvalo. He arrived at the organization when it was at its lowest from an employee satisfaction perspective. His engagement with staff and his ability for getting people to start believing in themselves was “messiah” like. His focus on the vision and objective of the organization was always core and he was “outcome” and “impact” driven.

Image via Plexxi.com

IIR: What are the most important decisions you make as a leader of your organization or team?

David: Strategic direction of the team. Ensuring that the outcomes of Government are adhered to and supported.

IIR: As an organization gets larger there can be a tendency for the “institution” to dampen the “inspiration.” How do you keep this from happening?

David: Whatever we do has an impact on the service delivery for the citizenry of the nation. My team is inspired by knowing that the value they add makes the nation a better place for all.

IIR: How do you encourage creative thinking within your team or organization?

David: All for people to make mistakes within a controlled environment. Reward employees whose ideas thru creative thinking has added value to the organization.

IIR: Which is most important to your organization or team? (mission, core values or vision?) How do you communicate the “core values” to your team? 

David: Vision, Mission and core values are all important. The best way to communicate “core values” is by visibly demonstrating it.

IIR: How do you help a new employee understand the culture of your organization?

David: The best way to help a new employee is to have a comprehensive induction program for the new employee. Also, the new employees should be assigned to a mentor for a period of time.

IIR: What is one characteristic that you believe every leader should possess?

David: Every leader must know the end-game. And he must be able to change direction mid-flight.

IIR: What is the biggest challenge facing leaders today?

David: Staying relevant to customer needs.

IIR: What is the one behavior or trait that you have seen derail more leaders’ careers?

David: Arrogance and the false belief that it is all about themselves.

IIR: Can you explain the impact that social media has made on you as a leader?

David: It depends on what interests you and what you are exposed to. Social medial can be very beneficial.

IIR: What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?

David: It’s not about you.

IIR: What are you doing to ensure you continue to grow and develop as a leader?

David: Think hard about business and people.

David will be speaking at ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014, taking place in Seattle, Washington September 22-24th at the W Hotel. The 2014 program is designed with courses for all training levels, a robust agenda, and most importantly tangible lessons which you can begin implementing the day you return to your office, making you even more valuable to your organization. PW&WCBA offers attendees 36 PDU/CDUs - that's more than half of the required credits necessary to maintain your certification in just one place.

To learn more or register for the event, click here: http://bit.ly/VPs7Ua

Related articles

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Starbucks - More than a cup of coffee

As Project Managers and Business Analysts we are all exposed to different cultures working in various industries. ProjectWorld will be hosted in Seattle, Washington this year on the West Coast and many attendees will have the unique pleasure to experience an offsite learning session at Starbucks Corporate Headquarters. Attendees will gain insight into the unique Starbucks experience and culture.

Starbuck’s was originally about the coffee beans; they didn’t make coffee. Howard Schultz had a dream, bought Starbucks and eventually realized his dream. Several years ago Howard Schultz reached a turning point with Starbucks and in his book ”Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life Without Losing its Soul” he revisits how he turned Starbucks into an experience that would first be cultivated by his leaders (his managers) and then through his employees by (as he put it) “as managers we would put our feet in the shoes of our people.”

Starbucks has a corporate culture that encourages its leaders to create a unique culture for employees and for the employees to create a unique and personal experience for its customers.  

Starbucks has established five principles that employees follow and use in their daily lives at the company: The five core business principles are:

· Make It Your Own
· Everything Matters
· Surprise and Delight
· Embrace Resistance
· Leave Your Mark

It will be interesting to see how this translates to managing projects at Starbucks. If you have signed up for the tour you’ll be one of the lucky attendees to gain insight into how these practices are put into action in how they manage and deliver their projects.

Jan Asbjorsen, Program Manager, Law & Corporate Affairs, Starbucks Coffee Company will lead attendees on A Behind this Scenes Look at the Starbucks Corporate Headquarters. In addition to a private tour of the Starbucks world headquarters, attendees will hear from a cross-departmental panel of project managers (including store development, IT, retail operations, law and more), as well as walk away with a checklist of things to consider when determining how to size your projects, tools, organizations, success factors, etc.

PW&WCBA
September 22-24, 2014
W Hotel
Seattle, Washington

Download the brochure for full details: http://bit.ly/1nwdqM0
- See more at: http://pwwbcablog.iirusa.com/#sthash.gwf2fHBk.dpuf

 References:
Interview with Howard Schultz:
http://www.oprah.com/own-super-soul-sunday/The-Coffee-Culture-Howard-Schultz-Wanted-to-Bring-to-America-Video?playlist_id=47020

Leadership Lessons: Brian Duffy

I recently interviewed Brian Duffy of The Boeing Company to talk about the ins and outs of leadership in today’s competitive business landscape.  Duffy is a speaker at the upcoming ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014 conference in Seattle. He will be presenting a workshop alongside Joe Reid entitled, “Requirements Management Best Practices at the Boeing Company.”

Check out what Duffy had to say:

IIR: Can you name a person who has had a tremendous impact on you as a leader? Why and how did this person impact your life? 

Duffy: The best leader I worked for rallied the organization around a vision, worked with the leadership team to collaboratively develop a strategic plan to move the organization toward the vision, and used project management principles to turn the strategic plans into project plans. That’s when I made a career change to move into a project manager role.

IIR: How do you help a new employee understand the culture of your organization?

Duffy: As a project office we have developed a team operating plans that describe our products and services and our intended use of management best practices to run the organization.  It helps orient new employees that we have a strong emphasis on creating value for the company.  We consistently ask our internal customers how specifically our products and services are helping them achieve bottom-line business results.   

IIR: What is the biggest challenge facing leaders today?

Duffy: I think leaders today need to recognize that the up and coming work force is entering the workplace better equipped to be more productive due to their technological savvy and with an ability to come up with wildly creative solutions to problems. The organizations that leverage that most effectively will rapidly see improvement in business results.   

Duffy will be speaking at ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts, taking place in Seattle, Washington September 22-24th at the W Hotel. The 2014 program is designed with courses for all training levels, a robust agenda, and most importantly tangible lessons which you can begin implementing the day you return to your office, making you even more valuable to your organization. PW&WCBA offers attendees 36 PDU/CDUs - that's more than half of the required credits necessary to maintain your certification in just one place.

To learn more or register for the event, click here: http://bit.ly/1tec13U

Related articles

• What Leadership Was and What Leadership Has Become (shoretelsky.com)

Associated Bank Reveals Visual Thinking & Creative Problem Solving Processes for Project Management

FACT: 75% of the brain's neuroreceptors are devoted to processing visual information. That's 60x more than are devoted to hearing!

Project Managers and Business Analysts alike are accountable for understanding, and helping others understand, all aspects of a project. When planning, designing and communicating a project, sometimes words alone aren't able to provide a clear picture - that's where visual thinking and reporting tools can help.

Next month, at ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts, Paul R. Williams, former Vice President, Operations & Technology PMO Lead, Associated Bank, NA will share how you can leverage visual thinking in project management. He'll provide you with the tools needed for creative problem solving, task planning and reporting project-based metrics and results.

PW&WCBA

September 22-24, 2014

W Hotel

Seattle, Washington

In addition to Paul's presentation, check out these featured sessions:

 ·        Making Innovation Work: New Directions Behavioral Health

·         Story to Stage: The Art Behind the Science of Presentation Excellence: Windsor Leadership Group

·         How to Best Take Advantage of Cloud Computing, Microsoft

·         If It's Creativity You Want, Then Creativity You Will Get! Expert Facilitation that Fosters Creativity: Kathleen Hass & Associates

·         Reinventing Global Project Management - A Transformational Journey: 3 Tenants You Should Always Employ for Success: AT&T Business Solutions

Download the brochure for the full program agenda:  http://bit.ly/1l2GbGj

PLUS, PW&WCBA still has the PM and BA sessions that you've come to expect year over year.

Mention code PW14LI & Save 15% off the standard rate. Register today:  http://bit.ly/1l2GbGj

We hope to see you in Seattle!

All the best,
The PW&WCBA Team

@Project_World

#PW14

pwwbcablog.iirusa.com

Related articles

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Leadership Lessons: Dr. Alicia Aitken

I recently interviewed Dr. Alicia Aitken , managing director Asia Pacific, Human Systems International (HSI), to talk about the ins and outs of leadership in today’s competitive business landscape.  Aitken is a keynote speaker at the upcoming ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014 conference in Seattle. She will be presenting a keynote session entitled, “Benchmarking Risk Management: What Good Looks Like.”

Check out what Aitken had to say:

IIR: How do you, as a leader, stand out in a crowd in this competitive business world?

Aitken: Being authentic. Today’s world is full of leadership models, business school taught methods and processes. Leaders stand out by being authentic and true to who they are and who they are leading.

IIR: What are characteristics of a GREAT leader?

Aitken: For me, great leaders are those that are not only visionary but are able to bring people on the journey with them to share and understand the vision and inspire them to want to work towards a better future state. Great leaders take the time to know themselves as well as their team and work to leverage each team members’ strengths on the journey.  Great leaders lead with authenticity and courage.

IIR: How does a successful leader communicate?

Aitken: Often and in many different ways. People hear and understand in different ways, it’s important for leaders to work hard to find and use all the different communication techniques, one-on-one, group messages, email, notice boards, texting and most importantly, listening. 

IIR: Can you name a person who has had a tremendous impact on you as a leader? Maybe someone who has been a mentor to you? Why and how did this person impact your life?

Aitken: Dr. Lynn Crawford has been the most influential leader in my life. She has taught me not only about project management but how to succeed in life by following your passions, having the courage to live by your values no matter what, constantly reflecting on your own practice to ensure you’re always improving, to open doors for good people along the way and to have the courage to walk through doors opened by others for you and the good grace to thank you as you step through. 

IIR: What are the most important decisions you make as a leader of your organization or team?

Aitken: Who joins the team.  

IIR: As an organization gets larger there can be a tendency for the “institution” to dampen the “inspiration.” How do you keep this from happening?

Aitken: Encourage all team members to voice ideas and try new things and have the self-control when some of them inevitably fail not to get angry but talk through how we can learn from the lesson.  

IIR: How do you encourage creative thinking within your team or organization?

Aitken: I try to hire people with diverse backgrounds and diverse education paths so that my teams are mixtures of different ways of thinking. The mix of people generates ideas that spring from different origins which fosters creativity simply by coming at problems from different perspectives.

IIR: Which is most important to your organization or team? (mission, core values or vision?) How do you communicate the “core values” to your team?

Aitken: Core values are most important as they are the stable. The core values underpin the delivery of changing missions and visions over time. The core values are communicated both implicitly (I model them) and explicitly (I talk openly about what the core values are, how they manifest in behaviors and why we have them).

IIR: How do you help a new employee understand the culture of your organization?

Aitken: I talk to them. We are small enough that I can talk to everyone one-on-one. As we grow this will become less one-on-one and more through group sessions.

IIR: What is one characteristic that you believe every leader should possess?

Aitken: Self awareness.

IIR: What is the biggest challenge facing leaders today?

Aitken: I’m not sure there are challenges that relate to today in particular. Leadership is a base human need. It has been around for millennia and will continue into the future.

IIR: What is the one behavior that you have seen derail more leaders’ careers?

Aitken: Hubris.

IIR: Can you explain the impact that social media has made on you as a leader?

Aitken: It has given me one more mode of communicating and bonding with my team. It has slipped into the mix along with everything else we do.

IIR: What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?

Aitken: Asking questions shows you care not ignorance – listening is one of the best skills you can employ with team members, clients and co-workers.

IIR: What are you doing to ensure you continue to grow and develop as a leader?

Aitken: I am constantly looking for people I think are good at things I am yet to learn and try to model from their example

Aitken will be speaking at ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014, taking place in Seattle, Washington September 22-24th at the W Hotel. The 2014 program is designed with courses for all training levels, a robust agenda, and most importantly tangible lessons which you can begin implementing the day you return to your office, making you even more valuable to your organization. PW&WCBA offers attendees 36 PDU/CDUs - that's more than half of the required credits necessary to maintain your certification in just one place.

To learn more or register for the event, click here:  http://bit.ly/1kA3cjq 

Related articles

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Women in Leadership: Jo Miller

I recently interviewed Jo Miller, CEO Women’s Leadership Coaching Inc. to talk about women in leadership. Today, women make up over 50% of the workforce, are entrepreneurs, hold key leadership positions and serve on board of directors. Miller will give us her insight into the challenges women face in the workplace, how to overcome these obstacles and become a more empowered leader.

Miller is founding editor of BeLeaderly.com, keynote speaker at the upcoming ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014 conference in Seattle. She will be a keynote for session entitled, “Become a Person of Influence" and you find her website here at www.womensleadershipcoaching.com.

Check out what Miller had to say:

IIR: Jo, exciting to have you at ProjectWorld! How would you define a person of influence in today’s organization?

Jo: An influencer is someone who has a goal or a vision that they’d like to achieve that is bigger than they can accomplish alone — meaning they must engage, motivate and inspire others to collaborate and help out in order for that goal to be achieved. To be an influencer you don’t need a leadership job title or a team who report to you, in fact, I would volunteer that no-one gets promoted into leadership without first showing that they can positively influence others.

IIR: You’ve interviewed women worldwide; what do these up and coming leaders tell you are their top three leadership challenges in business? 

Jo: By far the biggest frustration that emerging leaders tell me they deal with is office politics. Most leadership books won’t tell you this, but it is one of the biggest career-killers if you don’t find a positively way to navigate it. Ignoring it is not an option, because you’ll get passed over for career opportunities if you don’t “play the game.”

Next, for women especially, making their value visible and not being the best kept secret in the organization. Women have a tendency to work hard, deliver outstanding work, then go on to the next task without pausing to make sure their work was visible to higher-ups.

And finally, in a world where promotions are increasingly rare and everyone needs to collaborate cross-functionally to get stuff done, I would say that influencing without authority is a big challenge many up and coming leaders need to figure out.

IIR: What was the impetus for you to start your coaching business and focus specifically on women leaders?

Jo:   Coming from the corporate world, where I had tried unsuccessfully to find a roadmap or guide on how to advance up the corporate ladder, I knew there was a need. I also met too many women with leadership potential that outshone their current positions, and saw the talent pool that was not being tapped. I realized that companies would be better off if they had a way to connect with that untapped potential, so I started creating coaching programs and workshops that gave women a roadmap to break into management and leadership positions.

IIR: Tell us about your new book “She’s Got Clout; How to Become a Rising Woman of Influence. How can we get a copy of your book?

Jo: I’m still working on it! The book will focus on the topics I teach in my one-day Poised for Leadership workshop. It’s a set of core competencies for employees who want to break out and establish themselves as emerging leaders in their organizations. Topics include how to gain visibility and reward for your accomplishments, navigate organizational politics with savvy, and build a reputation as a leader or expert.

IIR: Project Managers are making the shift to become project leaders leading global teams. What are your top three leadership tips for these project leaders?

Jo: 1. Don’t wait for positional authority: look for opportunities to act, identify leadership gaps, and take the lead. 

2. If you want to increase your influence, start by building a network of relationships with people that support you in your career and leadership goals. When people know you and trust you, you don’t need to cajole or persuade them to help you out: they are happy to collaborate and help out a friend.

3. Enlist senior-level sponsors inside and outside your direct management chain. Sometimes all it takes to influence something is having a highly influential individual give it their blessing.

IIR: Projects and politics are like oil and water; they don’t always mix. Give us a little insight on your workshop you’re facilitating at ProjectWorld about Office Politics. 

Jo: In my workshop, we will talk about why you should not ignore office politics (even though most people really, really don’t like it). There are some compelling career advantages enjoyed by people who have the skill of being “positively politically savvy”, like being more promotable and less likely to derail. I will define that skill, and share some very practical tools that help participants build their political savvy, from understanding the dynamics of power and influence in their organization to understanding the unwritten ‘rules of the game.’

IIR: Women have the skill sets, integrity, character and experience to lead; what is holding some women back from breaking through the glass ceiling? 

Jo: That’s a big question! And perhaps one not answerable in a short blog post, but we are lucky to live in a time when a lot of research is being done. Why aren’t women breaking into leadership in larger numbers? For one, our corporate workplaces are rife with unconscious bias that sets women at a disadvantage. And our workplaces are not always female-friendly at that critical point when employees start getting promoted into management ranks, meanwhile their home lives become very complex. Thirdly, there are some simple, practical skills that don’t always come naturally, but that women can develop in order to make their value visible for consideration for higher-level assignments.

IIR: What is the AHA moment for women after they take your training and use your leadership coaching system? 

Jo: One such aha moment is not to let their management make career choices for them! That they can be the driver of their career, and take charge of their career trajectory.

IIR: What advice would you give to women who are looking to take the next step to advance in their careers? Are there networks or associations you would recommend women join to network and help gain an advantage to move forward in their careers?

Jo: I recommend not just joining the relevant associations in your professional area, but being an active participant. Take a leadership role! You will get to meet and speak with the movers and shakers in your industry, and if you play your cards right, they will become your mentors, sponsors. You will develop a world-class personal board of directors.

Want to learn more about this topic and network with PM and BA professionals like yourself? Don’t miss ProjectWorld and World Congress for Business Analysts 2014 in Seattle this fall. For more information about this event, click here: http://www.iirusa.com/projectworld/pricing-info.xml

Find Out What’s New at PW&WCBA This Year

Have you heard the news?

PW&WCBA 2014 is making a move to Seattle. And the location isn't the only thing that's changed. We've added more in-depth workshop options (including Agile PM Training, Requirements Management Best Practices, Cyber Security, Emotional Intelligence and more!) and ALL NEW offsite learning sessions at the headquarters of Boeing and Starbucks!

PW&WCBA

September 22-24, 2014

W Hotel

Seattle, Washington

But have no worries, ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts still has the PM & BA foundations that you've come to expect:

·         3 Days Jam-Packed with Session Addressing Your Project Pain Points: We've heard your needs and have designed the 2014 program around YOUR specific challenges. PW&WCBA covers it all - including a new Project Scheduling Lab with Russell Martin & Associates, a focus on Leading High Performance Teams from NASA and Becoming a Person of Influence from Women's Leadership Coaching.

·         40+ Speakers sharing their best practices and lessons learned from deep in the project trenches. Find out what works (and what doesn't!) from some of the best in the industry. You'll hear from: AIG, Allstate, Bank of Montreal, Erie Insurance, IIBA, Kindred Healthcare, Microsoft, Quest Diagnostics, Starbucks & more.

·         A Look to the Future: PW&WCBA prepares you not only for the changes taking place now in project management and business analysis, but also what's coming. IIBA's Kevin Brennan and Clark County NV's Ricki Henry will share What the Future of Business Analysis will look like, while Kathleen B. Hass explores what the New Project Leadership Model looks like.

·         36 PDUs and CDUs to Maintain Your Certification. That's more than half of what you need in just one place!

·         Unparalleled Networking. PW&WCBA Connect allows you to see who's attending the event and begin networking before you arrive in Seattle. Plus, we've added 2 networking receptions to continue the conversation and learning after the conference day ends.

And that's just the beginning. Download the conference brochure for the complete agenda: http://bit.ly/X57epm

Check out the 2013 Executive Summary for a recap of last year's event: http://bit.ly/1zJL238

Join us at PW&WCBA 2014 and invest in yourself and become even more valuable to your organization.

Mention code PW14BL & Save 15% off the standard rate. Register today: http://bit.ly/X57epm

We hope to see you in Seattle!

All the best,
The PW&WCBA Team

@Project_World

#PW14

pwwbcablog.iirusa.com

Agile State of Mind

Are you wondering how to choose which project management method to deliver a successful project? Organizations today have to be more competitive in the marketplace so choosing the best practices and methods for your organization and projects is important. Agile is a set of values and principles, not a pre-defined process with obvious areas of limitation. Waterfall is a model based on development method that is linear and sequential.

Here are four criteria to choose the best fit of methodologies at the right time for the right customer.

1. Time to market projects – Agile adoption has replaced waterfall in organizations in the delivery of small, yet frequent pieces of functionality where requirements are expected to evolve, change is embraced, competition in the marketplace is a key concern, and critical to delivery of the latest technology. I.e.: medical device manufacturing, military/aerospace.

2. Status quo – Waterfall is a better choice for organizations that are not flexible, have clearly defined requirements, frequent interactions with end users and other stakeholders is a constraint or when there is risk of key developers quitting the project midway.

3. Success criteria – The success of a project that is defined by delivering business value will benefit from agile methodology. The success of a project defined by measured by KPI of the IT organization would be better suited with a Waterfall methodology.

4. Organizational Project Portfolio – Organizations that have a diverse portfolio must be both risk adverse, innovative and take some risks to be competitive.  Choosing a hybrid approach to use a blend of both methodologies would be beneficial. Planning, requirements and team communication are areas in which organization are designing custom best practices/ methodologies that fit their culture.



Action Items to Help You Get Started:

> Choose your methodology wisely; make sure your project team can adapt to the change and lead using the right best practice methodology or a hybrid approach.

> Focus on team member selection – Resources on an agile team can thrive by co-locating in common areas or resources can struggle due to intense and constant interactions which may create stressful team dynamics.

> Leadership Support – all projects need great sponsors, buy in from the business for implementing IT standards and methods and support for product service delivery using a big bang approach to smaller iterative delivery cycles.

Ultimately, a hybrid approach of traditional waterfall and agile elements make be your key to success. A hybrid approach can help an organization leverage talent and deliver business value early and often for software development projects.

ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014, is taking place in Seattle, Washington September 22-24th at the W Hotel. The 2014 program is designed with courses for all training levels, a robust agenda, and most importantly tangible lessons which you can begin implementing the day you return to your office, making you even more valuable to your organization. PW&WCBA offers attendees 36 PDU/CDUs - that's more than half of the required credits necessary to maintain your certification in just one place.

To learn more or register for the event, click here: http://bit.ly/1jtZtxB
- See more at: http://www.iirusa.com/projectworld/speakers.xml

Big Data and Project Management

Today, organizations are taking strategic risks to add business value through innovative big data initiatives. Big data is a blanket term for any collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using available data management tools or conventional data processing applications. Tom Davenport, author of “Big Data at Work” has worked with many companies and he’s uncovered key principles around five key areas to be successful at big data projects. He discusses these principles in his article in Harvard Business Review.

These five key areas represent a combination of internal organizational resources, standards, processes, methodologies and/or best practices:

1. Technology
2. Good change management
3. Clear business objectives
4. People
5. Good Project Management

These five key areas represent the foundation of most information technology projects. It may surprise some people that Davenport suggests that out of the five; Project Management done well may give your organization an edge if you have the agility to implement and be successful at these high risk big data projects.

This year ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts has three top speakers discussing big data:

>  Benchmarking Risk Management: What Good Looks Like Dr. Alicia Aitken, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Human Systems International
>  Cyber Security Silvanus Moses David, Program Manager, SITA South Africa
>  Project Scheduling Lab Lou Russell, CEO, Learning Facilitator, Russell Martin & Associates

Want to learn more about this topic and network with PM and BA professionals like yourself? Don’t miss ProjectWorld and World Congress for Business Analysts 2014 in Seattle this fall. For more information about this event, click here: http://www.iirusa.com/projectworld/pricing-info.xml

Go Behind the Scenes at Starbucks for PM Best Practices at PW&WCBA 2014

Have you ever wondered how a company like Starbucks handles complex projects in a world-wide organization?

ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014 is revealing those best practices.

PW&WCBA

September 22-24, 2014

W Hotel

Seattle, Washington

Jan Asbjorsen, Program Manager, Law & Corporate Affairs, Starbucks Coffee Company will lead attendees on A Behind this Scenes Look at the Starbucks Corporate Headquarters. In addition to a private tour of the Starbucks world headquarters, attendees will hear from a cross-departmental panel of project managers (including store development, IT, retail operations, law and more), as well as walk away with a checklist of things to consider when determining how to size your projects, tools, organizations, success factors, etc. 

Download the brochure for full details: http://bit.ly/1nwdqM0

Plus, you'll also hear:

·         From Leading a High Performance Team to Landing on Mars - Adam Steltzner, Lead Landing Engineer, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover Project

·         Benchmarking Risk Management: What Good Looks Like - Dr. Alicia Aitken, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Human Systems International

·         Becoming a Person of Influence - Jo Miller, CEO, Women's Leadership Coaching, Inc. 

·         Big Data: Getting Past the Hype - Meta S. Brown, Author, Data Mining for Dummies

·         The Past, Present and Future of Business Analysis - Kevin Brennan, CBAP, PMP, Chief Business Analyst, Executive Vice President, IIBA

·         How to Best Take Advantage of Cloud Computing - Ben Armstrong, Principal Program Manager Lead, Microsoft

·         Debugging the Myths of Agile - The True Value of an Agile Process for You and Your Workplace - Bryan Winsko, Agile Project Manager, PMI

Download the brochure for the full PW&WCBA 2014 program:  http://bit.ly/1nwdqM0

Mention code PW14LI & Save 15% off the standard rate. Register today: http://bit.ly/1mh6EJY

We hope to see you in Seattle!

All the best,

The PW&WCBA Team

@Project_World

#PW14

pwwbcablog.iirusa.com

Leadership Lessons: Paul R. Williams

I recently interviewed Paul R. Williams, Leader of Project Management, PAi, to talk about how PMOs add value to the organization. Today, PMOs are a strategic imperative for the C-Suite to deliver projects aligned with key strategic initiatives. Project Managers are in high demand today; Williams will give us keen insight into recruiting, training and retaining key program staff.

Williams is speaking at the upcoming ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014 conference in Seattle. He will be presenting a session entitled, “Leveraging Visual Thinking in Project Management.”

Check out what Williams had to say:

IIR: As a leader in your organization how do you promote IT and the PMO to the C-Suite?

Williams: I like to position the PMO to the C-Suite as a “Strategic Execution Team.” In other words, it is the role of the PMO to plan and execute the key strategies identified and sponsored by the C-Suite (and their direct reports). This only works, however, when the PMO has sufficient access to senior leadership and visibility to the strategic roadmap.

IIR: What are some of the challenges you face as a leader in your organization?

Williams: Resource management. It seems there’s always too much work and not enough, or the right kind, of people to get it done. Very few organizations have a good handle on resource supply vs. demand management so there is a tendency to over commit to what can get done. Poor resource management results in too much “work-in-progress” which has a tendency to show up in project status meetings as scheduled work that is constantly being pushed ahead. Organizations need to drastically improve upon how much actual resource capacity exists at a given time, what the high-confidence demand estimates are for that timeframe and how to reconcile any differences.

IIR: Training and retention of project management staff is important; how do you support the personal development of your project staff?

Williams: I like to encourage my project management staff to achieve a certain amount of continuing education hours, regardless of their certification requirements, within their performance plan. This lets them know that the organization considers their professional improvement as a core value. As a frequent writer and speaker on project management topics, I also encourage my team to get involved in the greater PM community and share their voice and ideas.

IIR: In PMI’s 2014 Pulse of the Profession; it suggests organization will be more successful if they focus on people, process and outcomes. How do you lead your PMO to demonstrate your success?

Williams: Organizational success begins and ends with people who focus on the outcome. The process is only the instruction manual or roadmap, but success happens when dedicated, educated people focus on exactly what needs to get done. Successful Project Managers ensure they understand exactly what “done” looks like for the project and then works backwards from there to ensure a successful outcome.

IIR: What four tenets does your PMO organization promote to demonstrate the value of project management in your organization?

Williams:
> Trustworthiness: Project Managers are essentially windows into the reality of the project, both good and, especially, bad. They report based on facts, ensure all voices are heard and are not afraid to have the “courageous conversation.”
> Accountability: Project Managers “own” the projects they manage and are expected to collaborate with whoever is needed to ensure the project’s success.
> Fiscal Responsibility: Project Managers are responsible for the effective and efficient management of the organization’s financial investment in the project’s desired outcome and/or benefits.
> Leadership: Project Managers are leaders of the organization. They think strategically, resolve conflict, make difficult decisions and have the organization’s best interests at heart.

IIR: What advice would you give to someone who wants to manage a Project Management Office?

Williams: A PMO Leader is the sum of many parts: HR rep, financial guru, wordsmith, negotiator, facilitator, peace-maker, arbiter, decision-maker, process wonk and sympathetic ear. While having expert knowledge of project management discipline is certainly a pre-requisite, most people who actually lead PMOs are those who have mastered the soft-skills of being a leader, not a “follow the playbook” manager. Understand the needs, wants and challenges of all areas of the organization to become a valued, trusted business partner.

IIR: A visual thinking concept is a form of communication; tell us about some key tools and techniques you would recommend for projects managers?

Williams: In my presentation on this topic, I’ll explore some of the best visual thinking tools that project and business analysis professionals can apply in their work such as mind mapping, storyboarding, Kanban boards, as well as, the effective usage of charting, dashboards and info graphics.

IIR: Project Management has become increasing important to organizations over the last 20 years; from your point of view what are still some of the challenges for practitioners?

Williams: There are many people who still don’t understand the tremendous positive impact that professional project management can provide for organizations. Some still see us as meeting schedulers, note takers or task list creators, while others see the role in a more negative light such as governance overlord, process cop or task master! It is up to all of us in the project management profession to reverse these stereotypes by acting with integrity, providing education about our roles and duties, demonstrating the benefits of our involvement (both quantitatively and qualitatively) and leading responsibly.

IIR: Social media has made a big impact in the last 5 years; what tools do you use and recommend for project managers?

Williams: I use a number of sites, multiple times per day, to keep up with the latest news, ideas, blogs, etc related to project management, leadership and overall news. Zite is my “go-to” blog and news aggregator that keeps me informed on all of my important topical areas of interest. Twitter is my lifeline for real-time news and insight to what my peer group thinks is important to share. LinkedIn is where I stay connected to those important to me, my career and my profession. There are a few project management related mobile apps available, but I’m still waiting for the “killer” PM app…maybe I’ll write one!

Williams will be speaking at ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014, taking place in Seattle, Washington September 22-24th at the W Hotel. The 2014 program is designed with courses for all training levels, a robust agenda, and most importantly tangible lessons which you can begin implementing the day you return to your office, making you even more valuable to your organization. PW&WCBA offers attendees 36 PDU/CDUs - that's more than half of the required credits necessary to maintain your certification in just one place.

To learn more or register for the event, click here: http://bit.ly/1jtZtxB

Go Behind the Scenes at Starbucks for PM Best Practices at PW&WCBA 2014

Have you ever wondered how a company like Starbucks handles complex projects in a world-wide organization?

ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014 is revealing those best practices.

PW&WCBA

September 22-24, 2014

W Hotel

Seattle, Washington

Jan Asbjorsen, Program Manager, Law & Corporate Affairs, Starbucks Coffee Company will lead attendees on A Behind this Scenes Look at the Starbucks Corporate Headquarters. In addition to a private tour of the Starbucks world headquarters, attendees will hear from a cross-departmental panel of project managers (including store development, IT, retail operations, law and more), as well as walk away with a checklist of things to consider when determining how to size your projects, tools, organizations, success factors, etc. 

Download the brochure for full details: http://bit.ly/1jlRmZL

Plus, you'll also hear:

·         From Leading a High Performance Team to Landing on Mars - Adam Steltzner, Lead Landing Engineer, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover Project

·         Benchmarking Risk Management: What Good Looks Like - Dr. Alicia Aitken, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Human Systems International

·         Becoming a Person of Influence - Jo Miller, CEO, Women's Leadership Coaching, Inc. 

·         Big Data: Getting Past the Hype - Meta S. Brown, Author, Data Mining for Dummies

·         The Past, Present and Future of Business Analysis - Kevin Brennan, CBAP, PMP, Chief Business Analyst, Executive Vice President, IIBA

·         How to Best Take Advantage of Cloud Computing - Ben Armstrong, Principal Program Manager Lead, Microsoft

·         Debugging the Myths of Agile - The True Value of an Agile Process for You and Your Workplace - Bryan Winsko, Agile Project Manager, PMI

Mention code PW14LI & Save 15% off the standard rate. Register today: http://bit.ly/U1vWFa

We hope to see you in Seattle!

All the best,
The PW&WCBA Team

@Project_World

#PW14

pwwbcablog.iirusa.com

Related articles

• Starbucks To Open College Program For Baristas (seattle.cbslocal.com)
• How Starbucks Constantly Reinvents Itself (inc.com)
• If Management is the Only Way Up, We're All F'd (moz.com)
• Which Crowdsourced Ideas Did Starbucks Bring To Market? (psfk.com)

The Silver Bullet to Project Success – Sponsor, Project Manager and Business Analyst

Are organizations looking for that silver bullet to avoid another project failure?   Could these roles in your organization be the silver bullet to cure a major prevailing problem?  Let’s look at a snapshot of each role to better understand how the role and key tenets help sets the stage for project success.

Role	Key Tenets
Sponsor: Your role has always been identified as a key role for project success; it’s time to elevate your commitment to provide necessary guidance for the project manager and business analyst.	Support, coach/mentor, communicates with stakeholders, escalates issues to senior management, remove barriers and approves resources for the project
Project Manager:  Your role is shifting from project management to project leadership.  It’s time to step out of your comfort zone to coach sponsors, lead change, effectively manage your projects through the entire lifecycle and lead distributed global teams.	Leadership, coach/mentor, define project scope, communication with project team, stakeholders and sponsor, stakeholder expectation management, soft skills
Business Analyst: Your role is taking a front row seat where you belong alongside your business partner; the project manager.  BAs can really help move the needle forward to align projects for success.	Engagement with business, business analysis tasks i.e.: define solution scope and business requirements for alignment with business and project objectives

Pairing these three leaders together in partnership will help ensure your project will be successful throughout the lifecycle to completion. In a nutshell, the executive sponsor, PM and BA; all play leadership roles;

>The Executive Sponsor owns the project and is responsible for benefits realization to create value for the business case, 

>The PM leads the team and delivers the solution and,

>The BA ensures that the solution meets the business need and aligns with business and project objectives.  

ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014, is taking place in Seattle, Washington September 22-24th at the W Hotel. The 2014 program is designed with courses for all training levels, a robust agenda, and most importantly tangible lessons which you can begin implementing the day you return to your office, making you even more valuable to your organization. PW&WCBA offers attendees 36 PDU/CDUs - that's more than half of the required credits necessary to maintain your certification in just one place.

To learn more or register for the event, click here: http://bit.ly/1jtZtxB 

Related References:

Project Managers are From Mars and Project Sponsors are From Venus 

The Project Manager vs. the Business Analyst

Project Manager as a Leader

The 5 Best Free Project Management Tools

There are effective free project management tools out there - some are more robust than others, but all of them provide ways to collaborate and complete projects quicker. According to Digital Trends, here are the best free project management tools:

Trello: Trello is a project management tool designed to organize every component of your project into task cards. This tool is valuable in just about any environment, providing a simple means of creating checklists and assigning tasks to team members in real time. The tool allows users to share projects and attach documents to task cards, each of which syncs across compatible devices via the cloud. Also, users can adorn cards with photos, colors, and deadlines, and the software keeps a record of all activities for future.

Asana: The app, available on both Web and mobile platforms, provides an iTunes-esque workspace housing a navigational sidebar offering projects, a user inbox, and features like Focus Mode and Milestone. When the state of a  project changes, users receive updates in their inbox, and can view which tasks still need to be completed using the Milestone component. 

Evernote: This tool is basically note-taking software formatted into different notebooks, serving as a personal project management utility as opposed to a collaborative one. However, as outlined in our guide on how to use Evernote, the software is capable of doing more than making a rudimentary list. The free service comes bundled with an enormous ecosystem of integrated apps. The tool lets you format notes into a visual presentation, or publish to a blog, allowing you to include photos and voice memos in the process.

Basecamp: The tool has an impressive track record with known companies, including Nike, Twitter, and National Geographic. Basecamp’s Web portal features a discussion board, and a to-do list, allowing members to comment on specific tasks, while serving as a streamlined hub for file sharing that you can integrate with your email. Basecamp features a calendar to stay on top of deadlines, and tracks progress on specific tasks. It also gives you the ability to upload collaborative files, and tweak the site’s granular controls to include information relevant to each individual user.

Google Drive: Every feature the aforementioned project management tools offer is available with Google Drive in some form. Considering that many people have registered a Google account, this makes sharing calendars, documents, spreadsheets, and maps easier than doing so with the other tools on this list.

Related articles

• 10 Must-Have Personal Project Management Tools (lifehack.org)
• Handy Project Management Tools (keithpwilliams.wordpress.com)
• 11 Web Tools to Effectively Manage Your Business Calendar (smallbiztechnology.com)