Metro St Louis PMI Chapter - pmimsl.orgpmimsl.org/downloads/2010_december_newsletter.pdfMetro St...

Metro St Louis PMI Chapter

December 2010 Newsletter

Out of Scope – Chris Oestereich

What a long, strange trip it’s been. My term as president is coming to an end. It seems a good time to take stock of what we’ve done, thank the many people who have helped along the way and set forth a challenge to our incoming president. (You didn’t think you were going to get a free pass Theresa, did you?)

What have we done? Early in my term, we decided to pursue efforts to review our structure and to see where we might realign to improve our future efforts. At the time we had two levels of officers in name, but a flat organization in function. Each of our officers worked tirelessly as an army of one to ensure that their area’s responsibilities were covered, typically doing much of the work themselves. This was a natural progression of our chapter’s rapid growth over the past couple of years. After reviewing this structure, and the obvious pain points, the board agreed to form teams which would be lead by our vice presidents. We updated the By-laws

to reflect this change and also removed voting rights from our directors. This relieved our directors of the responsibility of attending all board meetings. Directors come to board meetings when they have something to present and otherwise now have additional time to spend with their committees.

Is that all? Aside from the structural changes, we updated our website. The new site has shown a great increase in traffic from our previous incarnation, which tells me we’re on the right track with it. The new site has a full content management system that allows our officers to update the area they are responsible for, so please check back frequently for new content.

Is there anything else? We also held our version of International Project Management Day with the help of the folks at the Sever Institute and CAIT at Washington University as well as several dedicated volunteers. The first event garnered us publicity via PMI Today. We plan to continue co-hosting this fun and important event and will look for ways to make it bigger and better in 2011.

Want to help out? Are you ready to take the plunge and start pitching in? How about working with one of our committees? We would gladly welcome your skills and expertise. Volunteering is a great way to expand your network and gain new skills. For information on current opportunities, contact our Director of Volunteerism, Debra Pratt, at: [email protected]

Giving thanks. I’d like to close by thanking all of our officers and volunteers for making our chapter a force for positive change in the Metro St. Louis region. I’m consistently impressed by the breadth and quality of offerings produced by an all volunteer workforce. Without their efforts, we would not have this thriving community of professionals to connect and share with. Please join me in thanking the volunteers at our upcoming events. They work hard for you and deserve a pat on the back !

For any newsletter related queries, suggestions or anything else, please email: [email protected].

mailto:[email protected]


Metro St Louis PMI Chapter http://www.stlpmi.org/

By Cornelius Fichtner, PMP

Anyone who has sat for the Project Management Professional (PMP) exam knows that studying the PMBOK Guide and having 35 Contact Hours is just not enough. When you talk to them about the PMP Exam, they will tell you it covers a lot of ground and the questions are not as straightforward as one would hope. Of the ones that have passed the exam, an overwhelming percentage of them will tell you that they used more than just one study method.

Just as a golfer must learn to “drive” and “putt” before they ever step onto a 18 hole golf course, the PMP Applicant must also learn the mechanics of taking the exam and what to expect when they arrive on game day. Employing multiple study methods may give you a triangulated understanding of the material as well as illuminating what you do know and what you don’t know.

Being able to answer PMP Exam sample questions is crucial to your exam success. Simple? In concept; yes. After all, the PMP exam has only multiple choice questions. However, there are a number of question styles; each has their purpose and caveats, which makes knowing how to get the most of each question exponentially crucial.

Let’s jump into the PMP Exam question types:

FORMULA based questions are more than just ‘solving for the median’ or calculating earned value. There are around 49 PMP exam formulas that you must know backwards and forwards in order to pass the PMP Exam. Understanding them thoroughly down to the importance of each element will give you the decision making criteria to include or exclude the values in the PMP exam question.

SITUATIONAL questions test your ability to apply theoretical know how to real life project management situations. Often, these questions tend to be very long winded. The idea behind this is that in real life you will be handed both relevant and irrelevant information. Your task is to identify what’s relevant, ignore what doesn’t matter and then act upon the real issues. Be sure to read and accurately identify the actual question being asked of you, so that you can eliminate the useless information.

Often, situational questions will offer two choices which are both reasonably correct, so it’s vital that you identify if the question is asking you the BEST choice, or the NEXT choice, or the EXCEPTION, or the ONLY answer.

KNOWLEDGE based questions require you to identify the meaning of the situation based on your understanding of the facts provided. These questions also occasionally ask “What is the exception?”; e.g. ‘Group brainstorming encourages all of the following except:’

Knowledge based question may also ask you to identify an example chart or graph, such as recognizing a RACI or Pareto chart.

INTERPRETATIONAL questions test your ability to deduce a situation or condition from the description of a status or problem. For example: “If your project has an SPI and a CPI both greater than 1, how well is your project performing?” To solve this, you will need to know how SPI and CPI relate to the project’s performance.

SPECIFIC TECHNIQUE questions will provide a snap shot of a situation, like a network diagram, and ask you to provide an element that’s inherent in that diagram such as forward pass or backward pass.

December 2010 Newsletter of 10

Practice all question types to pass the PMP Exam

http://www.stlouispmi.org/

http://www.pm-exam-simulator.com/


PMBOK GUIDE KNOWLEDGE questions test your familiarity of specific areas, such as “Which of these processes are not part of the Initiating Process Group?” or “What are the inputs to the Create WBS process?

You need to answer dozens of samples from each question type before you will feel ready to tackle the exam. But how and where do you find good PMP mock exams?

There are many free PMP sample questions available just one short Google search away. However, you want to be very careful, because with free mock questions more times than not, the old adage “You get what you pay for” applies.

The best way to practice sample questions is by signing up to an online PMP exam simulator. You can access the questions over the internet from anywhere and on your schedule. Be sure the questions were created based on the most recent version of the PMBOK Guide. The question population should be a good mix of the types as well as cover all PMBOK Guide concepts.

So, there you have it. If you want to pass the PMP exam, you need to learn about the different types of questions that appear on the exam and practice them using a high-quality online PMP Exam simulator. Once you know how to identify the real question being asked from each of these question types, you’ll greatly increase the odds of arriving at the correct answer. I know this sounds simplistic, but it is no small task because you’ll need to be able to recall and apply all the theoretical knowledge required, combine it with your own project management experience and relate this to the question at hand.

About the author:

Cornelius Fichtner, PMP is a noted PMP expert. He has helped over 10,000 students prepare for the PMP Exam with The Project Management PrepCast at http://www.pm-prepcast.com and The PMP Exam Simulator at http://www.pm-exam-simulator.com






http://www.pm-prepcast.com/


By Gary Hamilton, Jeff Hodgkinson, Gareth Byatt

Let’s face it; virtual teams (where we work with colleagues in remote locations, be they close by or in different countries) are now a reality in the workplace. If this trend in the workplace environment continues, virtual working will increasingly influence the way we operate, and the ‘effective virtual team worker’ will be a valued asset. A key benefit to forming virtual teams is the ability to cost-effectively tap into a wide pool of talent from various locations. There are several definitions of the virtual team worker, but within the context of this article, we are talking about people who work on project teams and who display the following attributes:

• They work primarily from a particular office (maybe a home office, or maybe a fixed work location), and they are not expected to travel each week as a part of their job (i.e. road warrior) or be physically in the office on a daily basis.

• They likely work from home one or more days per week.

Most project managers with a few years experience or more are likely to have managed a project where some or even all of the project members were remotely located. How different is managing a virtual project team from a co-located team? Are there additional considerations or risks involved in managing a virtual team? Before we answer these questions, one must first understand the dynamics of the virtual team worker.

Being a virtual team worker is not for everyone or every organization. A virtual team worker is more likely than the collocated worker to suffer from feelings of isolation if the set-up is not right, and they need to be more self-managing and focus their efforts in a particular way. In order to effectively manage their virtual project team members, the project manager needs first to understand how to achieve this. We contend that there are five primary aspects in which a project manager should direct their efforts to ensure effective project management of the virtual team;

1) Manage Goals2) Manage Communications 3) Keep People Motivated 4) Regularly Assess the Effectiveness of the Remote Communications, and 5) Use Collaboration Tools.

Manage Goals: Setting clear goals and objectives are important in any project. When a portion of the team is virtual, this is all the more important. The virtual team workers cannot physically walk into your office to ask clarifying questions, review goal statements posted on the walls or physically attend team focus meetings. Setting clear goals, expectations, and how each virtual member’s contributions align to the goals is crucial. In order to allow inclusion of virtual team members, consider adding the project team goal statements on the front page of team work sites or find other ways of making them readily available. .

Manage Communications: If you have read any of our previous articles, or indeed other project management material, you may recall that project management time is arguably 90% communication. There is no difference for this between collocated or virtual teams. The key difference for virtual team working is that project managers need to understand the specific communication needs of the virtual team workers, as well as their own communication style. Apart from perhaps an initial face-to-face meeting (which we recommend, if it is feasible), virtual team workers are connected to each other through electronic forms of communication (email, instant messaging, conference calls, videoconferences). The constraint of being bound together by a “virtual” communication medium places a risk on project performance that needs to be managed. In order to mitigate this risk, the project manager needs to understand the importance of selecting the appropriate communication medium for each message. Be highly perceptive of cultural differences if your team is multi-national, and how different cultures may prefer different communication mediums. Is something during your project significant enough to warrant a video conference (e.g. the achievement of a Milestone)? Only through video conferencing can you detect positive or negative body language. On phone calls (which are a common form of virtual communication), pay attention to the tone of voice being used; be perceptive to any signs of discontent or


Managing a Virtual Project Team



frustration. You can also hear if anyone is “tapping on a keyboard” during a conference call. Check that people are paying attention by making any conference call interactive.

Keep People Motivated: Any feelings of isolation and disconnection from the team have a direct correlation to the motivation of the virtual team member. It is also possible that “out of sight” means less focus on the virtual project, and more on activities with people who are physically next to you. The project manager should look for ways to keep the virtual team workers engaged and motivated throughout the project. Regular phone calls, perhaps combined with web meetings, are a useful way to achieve this. Many of the same steps you take to motivate a collocated team can be used, but you need to adjust your style for the “virtual space”. A few tips are to add pictures of the team in the teamwork site, use video conferences whenever possible (remembering that they are more expensive than phone calls, so you may need to budget for this), hold a “virtual team lunch” to discuss lessons and updates, and make an allowance if you can for face-to-face time to celebrate successes and/or other major project milestones.

Regularly Assess the Effectiveness of the Remote Communications: The virtual working arrangement does not suit everyone. People work differently, they have different work styles, and they have varying degrees of comfort with using electronic communications technology. In order to effectively manage the communications of a virtual team, the project manager needs to accurately assess each person’s level of comfort or willingness to be in a virtual setting, and look for any behavior that may signal that a virtual team worker is suffering from “disconnection”. If so, assess the problem, have a conversation with the team member, and be prepared to implement appropriate actions to overcome the issue.

Use Virtual Collaboration Tools: This subject is broad enough to be an article by itself. A virtual team worker needs to have the means to work effectively in a virtual project. Phones with conferencing ability, online web meeting spaces, a global time clock (if the team is global), and mobile computers are some of the requirements. Modern online communication systems allow you to see if someone is “online” or not, or in a meeting (which can guide you as to whether to chat using an instant messaging tool). In the same manner as you ensure your team members software is compatible (particularly if they work for different organizations), the project manager needs to ensure the team members are trained in and have a comfort using such technologies.

In conclusion, virtual teams are increasingly prevalent in today’s world, and a lot of high quality information exists on how to work effectively as a team. As well as the economies that can be achieved from virtual teams, this style of project offers great potential for harnessing talent from many locations. Managing a virtual project team can be richly rewarding, and requires many of the same core competencies as managing a collocated team, with the added element of being highly sensitive to communication styles and ensuring appropriate styles are used depending on the occasion. The elements we discuss above are all part of effective communication needed to mitigate the project risks associated with not being collocated. . The project manager should assess their own ability to be a virtual team worker, as well as being able to assess their team members. When project communication is working well, high-performing project teamwork can be achieved.

About the authors:

Gareth Byatt is Head of the IT Global Program Management Office for Lend Lease Corporation. Gareth has worked in several countries and lives in Sydney, Australia. Gareth has 14+ years of project and program management experience in IT and construction. He can be contacted through LinkedIn. Gareth holds numerous degrees, certifications, and credentials in program and project management as follows: an MBA from one of the world’s leading education establishments, a 1st-class undergraduate management degree, and the PMP®, PgMP®, PMI-RMP®, & PRINCE2 professional certifications. Gareth is also the APAC Region Director for the PMI’s PMOSIG and chairs several peer networking groups. He has presented on PMO, program and project management at international conferences in the UK, Australia, & Asia including PMI APAC in 2010. Email Gareth: [email protected]

Gary Hamilton is the Manager of the PMO and Governance within Bank of America’s Learning and Leadership Development Products organization. Gary lives in Bristol, Tennessee, USA and works out of Charlotte, North Carolina. He has 14+ years of project and program management experience in IT, finance, and human resources. Gary volunteers as the VP of Professional Development for the PMI East Tennessee chapter. Gary has won several internal awards for results achieved from projects and programs he managed as well as being




named one of the Business Journal’s Top 40 Professionals in 2007. He can be contacted through LinkedIn. Gary holds numerous degrees and certifications in IT, management, and project management and they include: anadvanced MBA degree in finance, and has the PgMP®, PMP®, PMI-RMP®, PMI-SP®, ITIL-F, and SSGB professional certifications. Gary also is a 2009 Presidents’ Volunteer Award recipient for his charitable work with local fire services and professional groups. Email Gary: [email protected]

Jeff Hodgkinson is a 30+ year veteran of Intel Corporation, where he continues on a progressive career as a program/project manager. He is also the most experienced MAPP (Make A Project Plan) Day Facilitator at Intel with over 150 events to his credit. Jeff is an IT@Intel Expert and blogs on Intel’s Community for IT Professionals for Program/Project Management subjects and interests. Jeff received the 2010 PMI (Project Mgmt Institute) Distinguished Contribution Award for his support of the Project Management profession from the Project Management Institute. Jeff was also the 2nd place finalist for the 2009 Kerzner International Project Manager of the Year Award TM. He lives in Mesa, Arizona, USA and volunteers as the Associate Vice President for Credentials & Certifications for the Phoenix PMI Chapter. Because of his contributions to helping people achieve their goals, he is the third (3rd) most recommended person on LinkedIn, and is ranked in the Top 75 (75th)most networked LinkedIn person. Jeff holds numerous certifications and credentials in program and project management, which are as follows: CCS, CDT, CPC™, CIPM™, CPPM–Level 10, CDRP, CSQE, IPMA-B®, ITIL-F, MPM™, PME™, PMOC, PMP®, PgMP®, PMI-RMP®, PMW, and SSGB (Six Sigma Green Belt). He is an expert at program and project management principles and best practices and enjoys sharing his experiences with audiences around the globe as a keynote speaker.Email Jeff: [email protected] or at: [email protected]





October 2010 Dinner Meeting

The October 20 Dinner Meeting consisted of a tutorial on Lean Six Sigma and a presentation on Risk Management. Kim Rochetti presented “Lean Six Sigma and Project Management Tools Complement Each Other to Provide Optimal Results.” Kim discussed how to optimize project results using Lean Six Sigma, Change Management,

and Project Management. The main presentation was a little different format from other dinner meetings this year. A panel of experts discussed Risk Management. The panel consisted of Dr. Mary Sumner from SIU-E, Ozzie Lomax from Ameren, and Wes Frick from Boeing. They discussed the results of a survey of Risk Management practices in our community. They also involved the audience to discuss questions like “How much risk management is enough?” This was a very interactive session and was enjoyed by all.

2 nd International Project Management Day in St Louis

St Louis PMI Chapter partnered with Washington University of St Louis to celebrate the International Project Day. It was the second time that St

Louis had it's own IPM Day and it was a grand success. Over 100 Project Management professionals from all over the city participated at Washington University campus. The event started with Cocktails and provided a wonderful opportunity to network.

The main presentation was given by Robert Serben, who is a departmental leader with Edward Jones and gave impressive presentation on “Ethical Behaviour: What's old is new again”. In his presentation, he gave examples from daily life and associated them with the decisions we make at professional level and showed how they are interlinked. He gave an idea to the audience that thinking, rationalizing and making decisions ethically has been and will continue to remain focal point in our societies and modern industries.

The Project of the year was also awarded to Gateway to Innovation. We thank our sponsors – CAIT of Washington University, Daptiv, Ameren, Microsoft and SIU-E to support this event and for providing different giveaways for the audience.


Chapter Activities



November 2010 Dinner Meeting

The November dinner meeting was preceded by a Career Fair. This event featured recruiters from a variety of industry sectors, and provided potential opportunities for both new and veteran project management job seekers.

After introductory remarks by Chapter executives, the main speaker, David Montour, gave his presentation, discussing “Are you a Program or a Project manager?” Montour discussed the differences among Portfolio Managers, Program Managers and Project Managers, and the value to an organization of coordinating these three disciplines. Among the points of differentiation, Portfolio Managers strategically balance projects based upon investment objectives. Program Managers manage a number of projects

simultaneously in support of a particular customer / product. Project Managers manage individual projects within a variety of constraints and facilitate their progress from initiation to completion. Q&A followed the presentation.

Go to St Louis PMI Chapter website to get the presentation decks for these events. ( http://www.stlpmi.org/ )

February Dinner Meeting – February 16, 2011

Main Presentation : The Race to the South Pole: Ten Lessons in Project ManagementPresenter: Rick Brenner

The Race to the South Pole: Ten Lessons in Project Management

On 14 December 1911, four men led by Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole. Thirty-five days later, Robert F. Scott and four others followed. Amundsen had won the race to the pole. Amundsen's party returned to base on 26 January 1912. Scott's party perished. As historical drama, why this happened is interesting enough, but to project managers, the story is fascinating. Lessons abound.

Tutorial: Saying No: A Short Course for Project ManagersPresenter: Rick Brenner

Saying No: A Short Course for Project Managers

Sometimes people with organizational power don’t hear “No” when they should, and sometimes project managers don’t deliver it clearly enough. This program explores the obstacles to delivering a clear “No” and shows you techniques for getting your “No” across.

Go to http://www.stlpmi.org/ and choose Events → Current Events to register for this dinner meeting.


Upcoming Events for Our Chapter





International Institute for Learning has come up with different resources and webinars for the International Project Day. Their website ( http://events.unisfair.com/index.jsp?eid=1022&seid=30 ) is open for public registration until February 1, 2011. Register online and listen to their 11 presentations to earn 11 PDUs.

Mentoring Program

Every great project manager has been influenced by someone in their careers, either coming from a senior project manager, career coach, or other manager. Mentoring is an invaluable part of a project manager’s development as the shared “tricks of the trade” enable a project manager to grow in his or her career. Chapter members who have the heart of a teacher and thrive on developing others have the ingredients to be a strong mentor. We are looking for Project Management mentors from across all backgrounds and experience. Chapter members looking for a mentor may apply as well. Mentor volunteers must be Metro St. Louis PMI chapter members and PMP certified. Mentors are eligible for 5 PDUs. Mentees (those looking for a mentor) must be chapter members to be eligible for a mentor. Mentees are eligible to earn 5 education credit hours toward PMP (if not already accredited). The Mentoring program is facilitated by a Mentoring Coordinator and Committee. The Committee is responsible for reviewing mentor/mentee applications and resumes and making matches based on career goals, experience, and occupational role. Once a mentor and mentee have been matched a member of the Mentoring Committee will contact the pair and set up a face-to-face meeting to cover the requirements of the program, do’s and don’ts, and collect signed Mentoring agreement forms. A minimum of 2-4 contact hours a month for a 6-9 month duration is required for a mentored relationship. Upon the end of the formal mentoring period the mentee may submit a feedback form to help the Committee continuously improve the program.

Application forms and templates will be located on the new Metro St. Louis PMI website. If you would like to volunteer to be a mentor, mentee, or help run the program as a Committee member, please send an email to [email protected], and state your intention of being a mentor, mentee, or Committee member.

Metro St. Louis PMI Chapter is Recruiting !!!(Registered Company Coordiators [RCC]... that is)

Metro St. Louis PMI has been seeking area PM professionals who would be interested in taking a direct role within their company to further the outreach and opportunities that the Metro St. Louis PMI Chapter offers. The primary responsibility is to be an active coordinator for our chapter activities and events.

As an RCC you will help us to build a core group of project management specialists within your company and communicate meaningful events and development programs. It will also enable you to earn PDU’s for chapter development services.

We are having an organizing meeting in December to review the current RCC role functions and plan for our launch in 2011. This meeting will be scheduled based on interest and centralized locale.

Please contact Greg Tate, Corporate/University Relations Director at the email [email protected]


Updates from Chapter committees

Resource Alert


http://events.unisfair.com/index.jsp?eid=1022&seid=30



Metro St Louis PMI Chapter - pmimsl.orgpmimsl.org/downloads/2010_december_newsletter.pdfMetro St...

Documents

Transcript of Metro St Louis PMI Chapter - pmimsl.orgpmimsl.org/downloads/2010_december_newsletter.pdfMetro St...