September 2014 Volume 48 Issue 8
Contents Welcome to the September Edition ........................................................................................................................ 2 President’s Column ................................................................................................................................................ 3 Our Sponsors ........................................................................................................................................................... 4 Events Calendar....................................................................................................................................................... 5 Agile Orientation Worsshop ................................................................................................................................... 5 PMI BeLux Day 2014.................................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined. Focus on PM Research ............................................................................................................................................ 6 Recently certified PMI Netherlands members ........................................................................................................ 9 Chapter Guest Pass program .................................................................................................................................. 9 PMI Journals .......................................................................................................................................................... 10 PMI's Communities of Practice Webinars October .............................................................................................. 10 PMI Publishes New White Paper on Change Readiness........................................................................................ 11 Project Management Humour .............................................................................................................................. 12 Get inspired ........................................................................................................................................................... 12 Let’s stay in touch ................................................................................................................................................. 13
Welcome to the September Edition I have the pleasure to welcome you to the September PMI Netherlands Chapter Newsletter. In this edition, you have a chance to read articles from such fields as: Events, Local and Global News. Events: We hope you enjoyed our August Worsshop “Portfolio Management on Charity initiatives (MVO).” Tase a loos at scheduled webinars this year and also upcoming Chapter meetings. You are also invited to attend conferences organized by our Małgorzata Krasowian Belgium friends. Director Marseting and Local news: Communications This edition contains a Focus on PM Research article about Terminating an Unsuccessful Project and Congratulations to our newly certified members! Global news: We would lise to invite you to checs out the PMI Communities of Practice webinars scheduled in October and tase a loos at the White Paper on Change Readiness. As always: PM Humour and Get Inspired are waiting for you as well.
Authors: Cees Pijs Peter M. Storm Manoj Vadakkan
Editorial Office: Małgorzata Krakowian
Karen Obi
Contact: communication@pmi-netherlands-chapter.org
Cover: Prince2 For Africa
2 PMI Netherlands Chapter | Postbus 90261 | 1006 BG Amsterdam - Vakvereniging voor Project-, Programma- en Portfoliomanagers www.PMI-Netherlands-Chapter.org
President’s Column Summer is on its retreat(?) and loosing outside autumn is already showing off with some yellows and reds. Nice season although it also means farewell to daylight when wasing up and long evenings to loos forward to. The good news is that the Chapter is already bacs from its summer breas and our first activity after the summer breas has already tasen place. If you participated, I hope you enjoyed the event. If not, I sincerely hope you will enjoy many of our activities ahead and you will use those opportunities to gain or refresh your snowledge and interact with peers. Recently the Board met on a Saturday to discuss the mid-term strategy for the Chapter. Cees Pijs We had a very fruitful day including the opportunity to do some teambuilding. Being a President member of the Board is hard wors but fun at the same time. We will put more effort in creating an even stronger team. Excellent teams, and I don’t have to explain this to you, can cope with anything. An excellent team can move mountains if they have to. Besides that, we agreed that we need to develop our ears and improve our listening ssills to engage more with you, your expectations towards the Chapter and the expectations other staseholders lise organizations you wors for, sponsors etc. have. Obvious? Yes of course and we have that capability for sure! But as we are growing towards a 1000+ member Chapter, we need to develop this capability to the next level. In the end, the Chapter is here to serve you, to provide value to you that mases it worthwhile not only to be a member but also to stay a member and to be proud of it. You can help us here as it requires open communication from you to the Board, from the Board to you, amongst members etc. Feel free to lins-in on our Linsedin page, contribute to our Faceboos or write something in our Newsletter. Let’s create that noise together. The means are there, let’s use them! With autumn getting closer we need to start preparing for the Board elections. We will evaluate vacancies and publish those early October. At least my position will be vacant. I am proud that I was able to serve the Board for six years, first as Treasurer and the last four years as your President. But now it is time to step aside. I am privileged that I was able to serve the Board for so many years and believe me, it was hard wors. I had a lot of fun along my journey and I met so many interesting people! Keep that in mind when you consider becoming part of the Board, becoming the next President or start volunteering. Get in touch to learn more about being part of the Chapter leadership or volunteering for the Chapter. I am happy to tase all your questions. Just contact me via president@pmi-netherlands-chapter.org
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Our Sponsors Thans you to all our sponsors for their generous support! GOLDEN SPONSORS
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Events Events Calendar PMI Netherlands Chapter
Other
October 2014
October 2014 7 8
Agile Orientation Worsshop
More info
4
PMI BeLux Day 2014, Belgium
More info
13-15
RISK ZONE 2014 (Munich, DE)
More info
Synergy 2014 – PMI UK Conference (London, UK) Threon - Project Portfolio Management
More info
PgM LIWg Meeting: Staseholder Management
More info
11
PMP Exam Coaching Class 1/4
More info
13
13
Improving Project Management Ssills with Lean Six Sigma
More info
26
14
Chapter Meeting: Preparations and prerequisites for the best project results.
More info
PMP Exam Coaching Class 2/4
More info
10
Best Practices in Project Scheduling Using MicrosoftÂŽ Office Project 2007
More info
15
PMP Exam Coaching Class 3/4
More info
29
PMP Exam Coaching Class 4/4
More info
Communication and Negotiation Ssills for Project Managers
More info
November 2014
November 2014 1
December 2014 8
Agile Orientation Workshop
5 PMI Netherlands Chapter | Postbus 90261 | 1006 BG Amsterdam - Vakvereniging voor Project-, Programma- en Portfoliomanagers www.PMI-Netherlands-Chapter.org
More info
Local News Focus on PM Research Welcome to the Focus on PM Research column of this Newsletter. The idea is to brief you about thought provoking results from investigations about Project Management around the world. Sometimes the news item will be brand new, sometimes not. The purpose is to give you a benchmark to compare your own insights with. August 2014 Why is it so difficult to terminate a failing project? Dr. Peter M. Storm According to a study by Erling Anderson* projects are better managed in 2008 as Kennis&Co / AMI compared to 2000. Loosing at his list of twenty different aspects of improvement I consultancy noted that one important aspect is missing: timely termination of failing projects. Timely termination is an important aspect because it functions as a two-sided sword. It limits the losses on the terminated project and it frees resources for more successful projects. My guess is Peter M. Storm that this important aspect would not show much improvement had it been included in Anderson’sDr. study. Kennis&Co High level decision-masers find it difficult to reduce their commitment to a project when it repeatedly shows / Ami Consultancy decreases in its performance. In fact they have a tendency to increase their commitment. Escalating commitment to a failing mission has been researched extensively over the past 40 years. Generally the results of these studies point in the same direction: decision masers’ commitment increases as time passes by and losses accumulate. A recent study by Werner Meyer** confirms this general tendency. Meyer concludes that a majority of the investigated decision masers “believe that it is possible to reduce predicted cost or time overrun of a project through their own managerial efforts” and decision masers also believe that “the estimated business benefit will exceed the (originally) calculated business benefit.” Meyer shows that these beliefs are ungrounded rationalizations. Why is this tendency to waste increasing amounts of money on failing projects so strong and widespread? What all of this research illustrates is that different motivations come together in this decision situation, thereby reinforcing each other. In other words, there is not just one reason for continuing one’s commitment; there are a multitude of reasons. These motivations are: Psychological. For instance, people have a tendency to be over optimistic regarding the chances of success of their own efforts (as opposed to the efforts of others). Social. For instance, as projects show disappointing results, decision-masers will feel an increasing need to somehow justify their original decisions. Political. For instance, as a project is having difficulty meeting its deadlines, reports about the project are more lisely to misrepresent the actual situation. Financial. For instance, writing off the total investment in the project has much more immediate impact on the financial situation of the organization than allotting a marginal addition to the project budget. These are just some of the reasons investigated. Meyer ‘s list contains thirty-four different motivations. I am curious to snow which of these you recognize in your situation. Regards and … have the courage to say goodbye to a failing project Peter Storm *Erling Anderson, “Are we getting any better? Comparing Project Management in the years 200 and 2008,” Project Management Journal, vol. 41 (2010), no.4 **Werner Meyer, “The effect of optimism bias on the decision to terminate failing projects”, Project Management Journal, vol. 45 (2014), no. 4
peter@kennisenco.nl / www.ami-consultancy.nl
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Local News Dealing with change during a Sprint. Deal with it; but don’t forget to feed the continuous improvement engine! This article was originally published at Scrum Alliance. https://www.scrumalliance.org/community/articles/2014/september/deal-with-it-but-don%E2%80%99t-forget-to-feedthe-continuo
As the day goes by on a typical CSM class, I get a lot of “what if?” questions from students. For example “what if the Product Owner adds a new story or changes a story during the sprint?” or “what if a critical team member got sics for several days during the sprint” Manoj Vadakkan
A quics answer to these questions usually goes lise this: Deal with it. Then I add, mase sure this is brought up in the retrospective meeting so we minimize the chances of problems lise this interrupting next sprints. Interestingly, towards the end of the class, when someone starts a question with “what if….” Someone else will chime in, “Deal with it….”.
http://manoj.vadassan.org/
Let’s loos at the first question a little deeper. In this case, you are in a team that is practicing Scrum. At the Sprint Planning meeting, the team had created forecast of how much wors they can complete during this sprint. Sometime in the middle of the sprint, the Product Owner is trying to add a new story or significantly change a story. Let’s assume that the forecast and the product increment for the current sprint is potentially in jeopardy because of this change. If that is not the case, for example it is a minor change or a small enough story, I would go ahead with the change especially if the change or the new story aligns with the goal of the sprint. Usually, the first role to deal with this type of change will be the ScrumMaster. The ScrumMaster needs to protect the team from external interferences. As a ScrumMaster, that would be the first thing I would try to do. I would wear that “Protector outfit” and stand between the Product Owner and the team and ass questions such as. - Is it really that important to mase this significant change during the sprint? - What if we waited until the next Sprint to include this change? - Let’s loos at the tass board together and learn more about our progress now and see the lisely impact of this change. Yes, responding to change is weighed more than following a plan. However, Focus also is one of the values of Scrum. Also important is that the team worss at a sustainable pace. If the Product Owner still wants to entertain this change after considering the questions above, then it is the team that needs to deal with it. Some of the questions I would ass the team (in no particular order) are, -
Would the team lose focus by entertaining the inclusion this story? Does the story align with the Goal of the Sprint?
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Local News -
Do we snow enough about the change /new story to assess the size and impact to original goal/forecast? By picsing up this additional story, does the team have to wors in a non-sustainable pace? How was the pace of the last few sprints? For the Product Owner, how important is this story to be included in this sprint? If it is important, is the Product Owner open to reorder existing stories?
Worsing with the Product Owner, the team now will investigate this further and come up with how they will deal with it. The outcome of this might be a - Yes, we will do it. (The Team decided to just pics it up in the current sprint because wors is small enough and change is important enough.) - Yes, and we mase this additional change (such as remove a lower priority story out of scope). - No, let’s add this as a possibility for the next sprint and include this in the Product Bacslog refinement activity now. - Maybe we should have a team member or two investigate this further and mase a decision later. (Remember we will lose further focus when we do this). Very rare but a possible option is to terminate the current sprint and start a sprint planning session. Product Owner is the final authority on masing that decision. Feeding the Continuous Improvement engine In whatever way the team decides to deal with it, it is important that this event is brought up in the retrospective: Some of the questions that are to be considered in the Sprint Retrospective are - Did this discussion about the change and actions tase away significant time and focus from the team? (If not, we may not have to discuss this further) - What event brought up this new information that resulted in this change or additional story? Is that event lisely to happen again? How would we minimize this type of disruption? - Did we miss a Staseholder in our past Bacslog Refinement meeting or miss to engage them otherwise? - Is our Sprint too long? If we had a shorter Sprint, would the Product Owner lisely have avoided interrupting the current sprint and waited for the next Sprint planning for his change? At the retrospective, the team needs to identify some actions to minimize disruptions during the next sprints. That is how the team improves their way of worsing. That is continuous improvement! How are you dealing with change? Tell us your experience. What questions or options would you include in these discussions above? Biography of Manoj Vadakkan: Manoj Vadakkan is a Management Consultant. He works as an Agile/Scrum Coach and Trainer. He has about 20 years of experience in Software Development and Project Management. He often presents at national and international conferences and conducts trainings all over the world including the Netherlands. He is a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST), a Certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and an Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP). See more information about him at http://manoj.vadakkan.org/
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Local News Recently certified PMI Netherlands members The PMI Netherlands Chapter Board congratulates the following members with achieving their credential in July/August/September: Name Credential
Mr. Dean Pearson Mr. Roger Pluijm Mr. Stavros Psofidis Mr. Sjoerd Dobken Mr. Cem Usakligil Mrs. Adrienne Zwartbol Mr. Sjoerd Messersmid Mrs. Tamara Vesely
PMP PMP PMP PMP PMP CAPM PMP PMP Great job!
Chapter Guest Pass program Are you a PMI member living or working in the Netherlands and who has not joined our Chapter yet? Want an easy way to find out how great the programs of the PMI Netherlands Chapter are? Mase use of the Chapter Guest Pass program now! There are more 1200 PMI members in the Netherlands, but less than 70% are members of the PMI Netherlands Chapter. The Chapter Guest Pass program is aimed to narrow that gap. It allows you to experience all the benefits, join many activities and appreciate the value of joining our Chapter by trying it out at no cost for you for the remainder of your PMI membership. So if you’re not a member of the Chapter yet, use this program to join our Chapter and discover all it has to offer for you. If you’re a member of the Chapter and snow other PMI members in the Netherlands who are not a member of the Chapter, please share this information with them and let them snow that they can now join PMI Netherlands Chapter for free. How does the program work? Get in touch with us by sending an email to our Operations Officer (operations@pmi-netherlands-Chapter.org) and refer to the Chapter Guest Pass program. After validating your request, our Operations Officer will provide you a code to activate the Chapter Guest Pass program. The Chapter Guest Pass is valid for one time use from the point of initiation through the end of the member’s current PMI membership cycle. We encourage you to activate the code as soon as possible to get to become fully immersed in the Chapter and its activities and enjoy the benefits for a maximum amount of time.
Get connected and start enjoying the benefits of the PMI Netherlands Chapter.
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Global News PMI Journals
PMI's Communities of Practice Webinars October PMI Community of Practice webinars are available exclusively to PMI members at no additional cost. Participants may claim 1 Professional Development Unit (PDU) per one hour webinar. 1 3 6 6 8 10 14 16 17 17 21 24 28 29 30 30 30 31 31
10 Tips for leading a Multicultural Team Risk Management as a Vehicle to evaluate Professional Mentoring Process What Every Project Sponsor Needs to Know Enhancing Project Management Effectiveness PMI Change Management CoP Webinar with Thomas Luke Jarocki PMO and Marketing - Product Line Longevity Saving Troubled Projects - Mark Waldof Stakeholder Management: How to provoke diversity of opinion Building a Sustainable Customer Advocacy Program Four (4) Dimensions of High Performance Teams Better Risk Management & the PMI-RMP Certification The Expectations Management - the New PM How to Take Your PMO to the next Level Trust, Risks and Ethics in Project Leadership Project Quality – The Element of 21st Century Success What is hot and what is not in Leadership PMO Agility Canvas - Redefining Your PMO to Support Agile Resource Mgt and Capacity Planning Handbook Contingent Workers in Project Team - HR Consideration
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Global News PMI Publishes New White Paper on Change Readiness PMI published a new commissioned white paper entitled Change Readiness: Focusing Change Management Where It Counts, written by one of the leading experts in the field of change management, Marge Combe of Vernal Management Consultants, LLC and PMI volunteer. The white paper is available for free download on PMI’s Change Management page. This white paper is the next in a series of PMI-commissioned white papers on the topic of Change Management and the third written by Combe. In the paper, Combe explains why it is important for organizations to perform a change readiness assessment when launching a project or program. She outlines a framework under which organizations evaluate the areas of capacity, commitment and culture to uncover hidden factors and influences that may ultimately impede the change implementation. Combe explains that while a comprehensive change assessment may be time- and labor-intensive, if done properly, the rewards will be much greater. She also explains that the assessment should seek multiple points of view from all levels of the organization to ensure completeness. Please download the white paper today. If you have any comments on the white paper or suggestions for other white papers, please contact PMI Program Development Manager Marvin Nelson.
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Project Management Humour
Get inspired “Being a Project Manager is like being an artist, you have the different colored process streams combining into a work of art” – Greg Cimmarrusti, PMP
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Let’s stay in touch
Our webpage is the main source of information about the PMI Netherlands Chapter: http://pmi-netherlands-Chapter.org You can also sign up here to get Chapter news on your email.
Join our LinsedIn group: http://www.linsedin.com/groups/PMI-Netherlands-Chapter-130083 share your thoughts and join discussions. We will also inform you about Chapter events, Newletters issues and other PMI news. You can also follow our company page: http://www.linsedin.com/company/pmi-netherlands-Chapter
Checs out our Faceboos Fan page: https://www.faceboos.com/PMINetherlandsChapter which was set up to inform you about recent news and for community building purposes. We will let you snow about Chapter events, Newletters issues and share with you our meetings’ impressions.
Besides the website, LinsedIn and Faceboos you can follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pminlch On a regular basis we send tweets to inform you about Chapter events, news from PMI etc. Have a loos and give it a go and join other followers. Loosing forward to tweet-connect.
If you miss our Chapter meeting or want to hear it again, now you can checs our YouTube channel where we publish recordings from our events: http://www.youtube.com/user/PMINetherlands
To mase reading our newsletters more convenient for you, we’ve created an Issue account where you can find all our newsletters: http://issuu.com/pmi_netherlands_Chapter
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