The Importance of R&R

A new project and what it could mean for an organisation is exciting. It’s very easy to get caught up in that excitement and forget that a project is the sum of many parts and people. Companies don’t operate as isolated instances so why would projects. Start introducing global programmes and company portfolios and the hierarchy necessary to manage that work effort for a joined-up solution increases exponentially.

Delivering successful projects relies on an approach that’s robust and mature enough to set clear terms of reference and give everyone the instruction, information and support they need in order to succeed.

How do you shape up?

Age doesn't equal Maturity

Some things do improve as they age – fine wines or certain cheeses are prime examples. Unfortunately age is no guarantee that either will deliver excellent results to the consumer. The wine may be from a poor vintage or not be stored properly for good maturation, and the cheese well, the less said about rank cheese the better.

Organisations and how they deliver projects or services are a bit like good wine and cheese; successful quality outcomes depend on many inputs. In an organisations case those inputs can be identified as the maturity of people, process, technology and the organisation itself.

What is maturity if it’s not about age?

Finalists Announced - 2010 IPMA Young Project Manager Award

IPMA Young Crew Announces Finalists for the 2010 Young Project Manager Award

On September 24th the finalists for the 2010 IPMA Young Project Manager Award were announced. The winner of the award will be announced at the 2010 IPMA Young Crew Workshop Gala Dinner being held at the Hilton Istanbul Hotel in Istanbul, Turkey as part of the IPMA World Congress from 1-3 November 2010.

Introduced in 2006 the IPMA Young Project Manager Award recognizes rising talent in the project and program management industries by honouring young project managers that have demonstrated invaluable impact to the profession and for the companies for whom they work, and are on the fast track to becoming project leaders and influencers on an international scale.

"We received the largest number of applications ever for this year’s award." says Jhaymee S. Wilson, IPMA Young Crew Management Board Member and Coordinator for the award. "We are inspired by the high caliber of our candidates, and we have no doubts that among these names are some of our next great leaders."

The finalists for the 2010 IPMA Young Project Manager Award are:

Anne Hoffman, Siemens Wind Power A/S
Saad Hegazy, United Expert
Shailesh Nepal, China Engineering Railway Corporation, China and Tundi Construction Pvt. Ltd. Nepal JV

Deanne Earle said "As one of 5 on the jury panel I found it both interesting and challenging to judge the short-listed applicants for this years Award. The standards were high and each persons contribution to their project was outstanding. I congratulate the 3 finalists and wish them every success for this Award and their future careers."

About IPMA Young Crew: IPMA Young Crew is a key component of IPMA’s growth and development of the leaders of tomorrow. It is an active network of young project management professionals and students aged 25 to 35 who believe in community and the building of a worldwide young professional project management family. More information about the 2010 Young Project Manager Award is available at http://www.ipma.ch/crew/Pages/YoungProjectManagerAward.aspx.

Interview with Commsabilities

A couple of months ago I had the honour of being asked by Jo Ann Sweeney of Sweeney Communications Ltd to participate in an interview. She was interviewing a number of project management practitioners across the globe for a series of articles on communication skills. The group she chose to interview were all highly skilled individuals with many years of project experience in different parts of the globe and I was delighted to be included on her list. The result of her efforts is an excellent series of blog posts covering the top 5 communication skills for project managers - active listening, building relationships based on trust, setting clear priorities and enabling collaboration.

Not only was being interviewed by Jo Ann a great opportunity to share my thoughts and experiences in a different forum, it was also very interesting to read the finished articles and see just how similar the combined groups opinions, beliefs and ideas actually were. So while our project and organisational challenges may come in various shapes and sizes, underneath it all they're really not that different.

As well as her series of blog posts Jo Ann wrote a summary article called “5 Essential Rules for Project Leaders”, which was published on the PMI (Project Management Institute) website. To keep up with her latest publications subscribe to her RSS feed and if you're part of the Twitter world add her to your follow list. I have!

Thanks again Jo Ann.