The Practicing IT Project Manager

New project management articles published on the web during the week of February 21 – 27, 2011.  We read all of this stuff so you don’t have to!  Recommended:

• Elizabeth Harrin reports on week four (of eight) of her Villanova course, “Maximizing IS/IT Team Effectiveness.”  The focus this week is on communication, and she fills her post with bullet points, and her take on the applicability of the content.
• Samad Aidane interviews Dr. Lewis Temares, former CIO at the U. of Miami, on what CIO’s want from their project managers.  The podcast runs 11:56, just enough time to finish a cup of coffee.
• Derek Huether updates his helpful tips for running a meeting.  And I’ll add one: when your 9:00 AM meeting scheduled for 30 minutes ends at 9:18, close with, ”Let me give you back twelve minutes to your day.”  Positive reinforcement, doncha know …
• Claude Emond, one of the authors of the current PMI Standard for Portfolio Management, has begun a five-part series on a framework for Agile project management.  Must read!
• Project Shrink Bas De Baar offers a glossary of alternative terms for familiar project concepts, so “You can use a metaphor for your endeavor and frame all activities in an entirely different setting.”  Scan quickly, and then read his article, “Temporary Tribes.”  Just excellent!
• Julian Egelstaff writes about the IT role archetypes that emerge during an IT project.  “A lot of IT failures happen when people focus too much on one issue at the expense of another … This is especially true when the engineer role is filled from outside the organization, as will happen often in the nonprofit context.” And other places, too.
• Craig Brown offers seven bullet points on identifying bad business processes.
• Kimberly Wiefling rants about Stone Age practices in the Age of the Internet.
• Brad Egeland lists four key benefits to developing a work breakdown structure.
• Jerry Giltenane is conducting a survey on “the adoption factors of social media in virtual project teams,” as part of his MBA dissertation.  And after you take the survey, you get to see an analysis of the responses to date.
• Roger Chou writes about how project management maturity can fuel great ideas, and offers Apple as an example.
• Don’t you wish you had this guy’s job?  “A project manager has demonstrated a tiny spy plane with flapping wings like a hummingbird.”  Check it out! It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, “Bird’s eye view.”

Enjoy!

I was in a meeting this week with some senior marketing folks, and got a bit of insight into how they view change, and especially, the pitfalls in driving change.  One of the key takeaways for me was their taxonomy of “resisters,” based on the underlying reasons they resist change.

• Technical resisters – those whose lack of skills, or possibly their lack of available, appropriate technology, causes them to resist change.  These are the folks who fear being left behind, through no fault of their own.
• Political resisters – those who currently have some degree of authority based on the status quo.  These are the folks who fear losing power or influence in an organization that may no longer value or respect their contributions.
• Cultural resisters – those who are used to the old way, and either doubt the value of the new way, or their ability to function in the new way.  These are the folks who fear that they are about to become obsolete, and possibly unemployed.  Or even unemployable.

Each of these concerns may have a legitimate basis.  I’ve been a party to projects whose entire ROI was predicated on eliminating workers, and I’ve seen resisters become saboteurs.  It’s not possible for the project manager to address all of these concerns, but you should monitor the resisters, and escalate as needed.  Whether it’s the project sponsor or a key stakeholder, someone may need to confront these resisters and either address their concerns and fears or, if necessary, take disciplinary action.

It’s sobering to think that we might be putting people out of work in a period of sustained high unemployment.  But it’s part of what we do – we’re agents of change.  Consequently, we need to take an ethical stance toward those who resist change.  We can and must work to ensure that the changes we shepherd in are as delivered as humanely as possible, but we can’t avoid our responsibilities to the organizations that employ and empower us.  Or to the people impacted by our work, both positively and negatively.

PMI announced today that they are launching an Agile Certification, to be piloted beginning this year. The examination content outline will be made available in April, and PMI will begin accepting applications in May.  The first offering of the Agile Certification examination will be in the third quarter of 2011, and participants should expect to receive their scores approximately ten to twelve weeks later.  PMI says the official name of the credential will be announced prior to the beginning of the pilot.

You don’t need to hold any other PMI credential in order to apply, as long as you meet the requirements:

• At least a high school diploma or equivalent
• 2,000 hours of project team work over the last five years
• In addition, 1,500 hours working on Agile teams, or using Agile methodologies within the last two years
• 21 contact hours of Agile project management training
• Pass the examination

Testing will be available globally at Prometric Testing Centers.  Fees are based on the exam administration type and whether the applicant is a member of PMI; see the PMI website for details.  As with the other PMI credentials, the Agile certification will have to be renewed every three years.

PMI claims that their research indicated that 68% of the organizations using Agile Practices would find value in an Agile certification for project managers, and 63% of hiring managers would encourage their project managers to pursue an Agile certification.  PMI reasons that their Agile certification, requiring a combination of training, experience in using the methodologies, as well as general project experience and the examination, would be “more credible than existing training-only or exam-only based offerings.”

The only concern I have with all of this is the complete lack of a “body of knowledge” document, comparable to the PMBOK and BABOK, or a practice standard.  I’ll wait to see the examination content outline, but PMI needs to commit to development of a BOK or practice standard for Agile, either as an internal effort or jointly with one of the Agile organizations.   Otherwise, I’m not sure what they’ll be certifying against.