Chapter Communications Blog

Chapter Member Update June 2013 - Sabrina Lange

Published: about 13 hours ago

(photo) Sabrina Lange moved 3 years ago from Germany to Switzerland.
She works for a consulting company as project manager, mainly in IT
Software or IT-Infrastructure projects. She was motivated to join PMI-CH
in order to meet other PMs, to exchange ideas and to remain on "the
tooth of time" in PM. Sabrina mainly participates at Zurich events
... More...

Chapter Member Update June 2013 - Béatrice Tissot

Published: about 13 hours ago

(photo) Béatrice Tissot is French, coming from Paris. She is now
working within "insentia" in Geneva (ICT business application
company) as Business Development Manager. Béatrice is already a member
of PMI in France and it is important to her to be also a member of the
Switzerland chapter. She has been a board member in Lyon and now she is
... More...

Chapter Member Update June 2013 - Martin Härri

Published: about 14 hours ago

(photo) Martin Härri is one of the founding members of the PMI
Switzerland Chapter back in 2001, and he has been a volunteer ever
since, serving the Chapter in several different roles. In 2002 he got
his PMP certification, and has maintained the certification since then.
This year he obtained the PMI-SP (Scheduling Professional)
... More...

Chapter Member Update June 2013 - Eugenio Forzani

Published: about 14 hours ago

(photo) Eugenio Forzani is an Italian who has followed his passion for
technology by studying and working in Italy, Germany and now in
Switzerland. He has gained his main experiences in the high-precision
industry and in the aerospace field. Eugenio obtained PMP certification
to give a fundament to his management experience and to extend his
... More...

Message From the Board - June 2013

Published: Tue 14-May-2013 00:15:15

Message From the Board - June 2013
... More...

Event Report - 18 April - How to Communicate with the Steering Committee

Published: about 8 hours ago

Mr Simon Hughes started by pointing out that steering committees (SC)
are an opportunity often underestimated, to gather those senior officers
together and communicate to them. From his work in project management at
Novartis important patterns emerged, issues such as SC members
under-performing due to lack of training for this or being unaware of
... More...

Event Report - 10 April - Practical Aspects of Stakeholder Management

Published: Mon 22-Apr-2013 21:22:09

Dr. Thomas Diethelm addressed the audience confidently. While his
approach stems mostly from actual experience, it only deviates from
PMBOK in a few areas. He started with some important definitions and
base notions, such as identifying stakeholders, sponsor, risks, issues
and changes. He then gave a few very good examples which ranged from
... More...

Event Report - 03 April - Congrès du Management de Projet 2013

Published: Wed 17-Apr-2013 00:00:00

Breakfast: The networking starts with a coffee and the atmosphere is
exciting and buzzing with discussions and registration
activities. Morning: Following the official opening by the president
of the organizing committee, Thierry Labriet, José Lopez (Executive Vice
President, Nestlé S.A.) presented insights about how to successfully
... More...

Chapter Member Update May 2013 - Marina Riedi

Published: Thu 11-Apr-2013 11:09:32

(photo) Marina Riedi is a Russian who lives in Switzerland for over 16
years. She is a self-employed trainer on the topic of Emotional
Intelligence and conducts Workshops and Assessments on this topic for
companies and private persons. Previously, between 2000-2012 Marina
worked as a Project Manager with IBM Switzerland from where she also has
... More...

Chapter Member Update May 2013 - Roman Macchi

Published: Tue 9-Apr-2013 15:40:19

(photo) Roman Macchi is Swiss who lives and works in Basel. After 3
years as a project manager at Credit Suisse in Zurich, he currently
works for a consulting company (BCP Business Consulting Partner AG)
based in Basel managing mainly various IT- and Organization-Projects for
different customers in Switzerland. For Roman PMI-CH is a big
... More...

Chapter Member Update May 2013 - Kaushik Pramanik

Published: Tue 9-Apr-2013 15:36:07

(photo) Kaushik Pramanik is British National having PMP certification
and working in Banking and Financial sector over the last 15 years as
Project Manager and Project Leader. In the past he has worked for
Citigroup, Credit Suisse and UBS Group and now he is associated with a
consultancy firm. In 2012 Kaushik helped PMI Switzerland chapter to
... More...

Event Report - 19 March - Agile Project Management at NASA

Published: Sat 16-Mar-2013 12:56:03

(photo) The projects last for years. The Lessons Learned sessions
last for days. The thousands of employees are spread throughout ten
disparate centers, each with its own identity and organizational
culture. We are talking about experts in their fields, collaborating on
projects where the task is to achieve the almost impossible while
... More...

Event Report - 5 March - Understanding and Managing Risk in Pharma R&D

Published: Sat 16-Mar-2013 11:50:28

(photo) Our speaker started by flipping up a coin, which gave an
unusual outcome: the coin escaped and rolled into the audience. What is
the risk of that? We must consider the probability, as well as the value
of the coin! The presentation is aimed at the pharma context but the
ideas are equally applicable in any industry. Mr Stott revisited and
... More...

The Networking Project Manager - Congress @Lausanne 2013

Published: Thu 14-Mar-2013 21:53:26

(photo) The 19th Project Management Congress will take place on 3
and 4 April at the University of Lausanne. Networking will be the guest
of honour at this edition, focused on the Networking Project Manager.
Placed at the forefront of society today, networking has become an
essential part of our lives. Thierry Labriet, President of and trainer
... More...

Event report - PMI Swiss Corporate Network Group (SCNG) Meeting: Management of Change

Published: Wed 13-Mar-2013 23:47:30

(photo) On March 6th 2013 the tenth meeting of the PMI Swiss
Corporate Networking (SCNG) group took place, hosted by Zurich Insurance
in Zurich. For this "anniversary meeting", the members had
selected the topic of "Management of Change" at the previous
meeting. Core Team members Mario Gstrein, from the University of
... More...

Message from the New President of the Chapter!!

Published: Wed 20-Feb-2013 22:15:11

Over the last two years, the Chapter Board focused on
"stabilization", and as a result we are now in a good position
to start new initiatives focusing on growth and development (both in
term of Members and Services to the PM Community). More details were
communicated at the AMM, but in a nutshell, the new board will aim to
... More...

Learning Seminars

Published: Sun 17-Feb-2013 18:44:09

The major goal of the Chapter is to contribute to help our members in
developing their Project Management skills and competences, enhance
their knowledge and promote the Project Management profession. Until now
we were achieving this goal by proposing the Evening Events in Romandie,
Zürich and Basel giving access to new development and trends presented
... More...

Social media meets Project Management -my favorite blogs

Published: Thu 14-Feb-2013 23:12:10

(photo) So many blogs, so little time! Just in Wordpress alone, over
400 million people view more than 4.1 billion pages each month!
There are many popular blogs almost about almost anything you might
think of, but it can be difficult to find something worthwhile sharing
in the cluttered Web. This is my personal selection, in no particular
... More...

Event report: "Enterprise social networking: Do you know what's going on?!?", 31st of January 2013 , Geneva

Published: Thu 7-Feb-2013 22:33:39

Energizing, provoking, keeping the ears open and the eyes smiling...
If you attended Henri Gautier and Frédéric François' presentation,
"Enterprise social networking: Do you know what's going
on?!?", on the 31st of January 2013 at the hotel Royal in Geneva, I
am sure you would continue the list further. Some of us classified it
... More...

Chapter Member Update February 2013

Published: Mon 21-Jan-2013 00:00:00

As the end of December, the PMI Switzerland Chapter was pleased to
welcome 30 new members, bringing the active membership to 1406! Of
the recent new members, Sascha Tayefeh, Marco Quadrelli, Jean-Christophe
Fallet, Francis Meyer, Christian Schmitt and AliceTognetti provided more
information introducing themselves, below. We are pleased to
... More...

How to get the most out of PMI

Published: Tue 1-Jan-2013 21:35:54

Sure, you can visit great events at PMI Switzerland, discuss issues in
the Linkedin group and get the latest news about project management on
our homepage, but there is a sure way to get even more value from your
PMI Switzerland membership. The best way to network, to gather PDUs
and to experience amazing collaboration of the best project managers in
... More...

New Year's Editorial - A new cycle is about to begin

Published: Fri 28-Dec-2012 23:53:33

(photo) If you are reading this article, it means the world
didn't came to an end on December 21, 2012. Despite the
catastrophic predictions, we are still here. It all was, it seems, just
a matter of resetting the long count Mayan calendar and restarting the
count. For the PMI, 2013 will also mark a change of cycle, as the
... More...

Event Report: Jungle of Standards (Dec. 3)

Published: Fri 21-Dec-2012 14:05:29

(photo) Despite the bad weather conditions, about 50 participants
came to this interesting event held at Partner Re. As more and more
organisations are working on project base, the question arises if there
is any need to standardize the project management methodology. According
to the Chaos report from Standish group - there is. The percentage of
... More...

Event Report: Swiss Program Management Conference - Zurich, October 24th

Published: Thu 22-Nov-2012 16:16:44

(photo) As defined by the PMI, the ?Program Management Professional
(PgMP) credential recognizes the advanced experience and skill of
program managers?. Fair enough: more and more companies are moving into
program management as a way of thinking and it seems only a natural step
after the PMP. So far, so good. However, a quick check of requirements
... More...

Announcement - PMI Chapter dues are changing

Published: Mon 19-Nov-2012 14:29:18

Dear Chapter Members, every non-profit organization strives to break
even. When this does not happen, it uses its financial reserves which
are meant to absorb the negative result of a financial year. It must
also reexamine its model if the capability of breaking even seems
challenged beyond the occasional bad year. The Chapter still operates
... More...

Chapter Member Update January 2013

Published: Fri 21-Dec-2012 11:37:07

As the end of November, the PMI Switzerland Chapter was pleased to
welcome 98 new members, bringing the active membership to 1401! Of
recent members, Marco Sutterle, Robert Hasler, Vincent Messerli and
Javier Mantilla provided more information introducing themselves,
below. We are pleased to present you below also our chapter members,
... More...

Getting to Know Louis Perron, 2013 AMM Keynote Speaker

Published: Fri 2-Nov-2012 10:52:50

Why did Barack Obama win his election in November? The economy is still
considered by many measurements to be dismal. There is little in the
last four years that any incumbent leader of the western world has been
able to show for his or her achievements. Think of Brown, Sarkozy,
Berlusconi, Zapata...even in Canada (a chilly mass of land most
... More...

2013 AMM Announcement

Published: Tue 30-Oct-2012 12:15:55

Annual Members meeting will be hosted at IBM in Zurich on
January 22. The board of directors will present 2012 results and their
proposals for 2013. Also we will have the results of the PMI Switzerland
chapter new Board Elections. As election topic is very pertinent, we
contacted Dr. Louis Perron a political scientist and consultant with
... More...

December Newsletter Editorial

Published: Mon 29-Oct-2012 12:36:40

Dear members and Subscribers, While Curiosity
continues to take its pictures and test its devices, preparing to look
for proofs of life on Mars, we unfold this third and last editorial on
the challenges of space projects. Scope Management Scope
management is difficult even for ordinary projects. For me, personally,
... More...

November Newsletter Editorial

Published: Mon 29-Oct-2012 11:57:32

Dear members and Subscribers, Space has been filling
my dreams since my childhood. I must say it is a family interest passed
down from my grandfather to my mother, who has collected hundreds of
science fiction books throughout her life. Luckily for me, Mars is again
on the press these days. Last month we looked at how project management
... More...

Members Update

Published: Thu 27-Sep-2012 08:43:27

Last month, the PMI Switzerland Chapter was pleased to welcome 25 new
members, brining the active membership to 1366 as of August
31st. Congratulations also to our 6 chapter members who obtained
their PMP/CAPM certification in August 2012 (by certification
date): Sven Magnus Furrer, Friederike Goecking, Martin Laatsch, Alex
... More...

Event Report:In the Eyes of the Beholder... Stakeholder Management - Geneva, 13 Sept

Published: Tue 25-Sep-2012 09:19:46

It was a sunny and warm late summer evening and I was in my car on
the way to the Novotel Hotel to see Manon Deguire lead the discussion
for "In the Eyes of the Beholder... Stakeholder Management." I
had 30 minutes before the event kicked off and, as expected, I was
crawling through traffic in city center Geneva. I had timed it perfectly
... More...

Event Report: Agile Project Management with DSDM Atern - Completing the Parts that are missing in Scrum 20.September.2012

Published: Mon 24-Sep-2012 20:20:35

(photo) For me, and I believe safe to say, to many others, this was a
much anticipated event. In fact, it was so anticipated, it had been sold
out several weeks in advance. And fortunately, it did not disappoint.
Matthew Caine, an Englishman with a northern accent, took the floor to
tell us two stories: a true one and a truly epic one. "I am going
... More...

PMI-CH (Re-) Election of Chapter Officers

Published: Mon 24-Sep-2012 17:38:38

From the PMI Switzerland Chapter Nominations Committee (Annick Simonot,
PMP and Martin Härri, PMP) The year 2012 is soon coming to a close and
the Nominations Committee would like to inform all members of the PMI
Switzerland Chapter of the nomination and election procedure and open
the call for Chapter Officer Nominations for 2013. The membership will
... More...

September Message from the Board

Published: Thu 13-Sep-2012 11:26:03

Hello fellow Project Management enthusiasts, I hope you are back from
the holidays and while holidays always feel too short, I hope you are
getting back into the groove of the daily activities and to the reality
of life. The board would like to bring to your attention two
important announcements: 1. Dr. David Hillson, the risk doctor, will
... More...

Project management office - what value?

Published: Sat 25-Aug-2012 20:07:00

This is a freely adapted synopsis of the article featured in Le Temps,
online edition, of 7 May 2010, by Marie-Laure Chapatte. The concept
of a PMO has become more popular and accepted in recent years. A PMO
allows to optimize the management of the project portfolio and as well
as to balance trade-offs between all projects. According to a study by
... More...

Swiss Corporate Network Group (SCNG) Meeting - “Project Resource Management”

Published: Sun 29-Jul-2012 22:25:02

On June 22nd the eighth meeting of the PMI Swiss Corporate Networking
(SCNG) group took place, hosted by Hewlett Packard in Dübendorf. The
members had selected the topic of Project Resource Management at the
previous meeting. SCNG member Joanna Brown from HP opened the meeting
with a short introduction into the history and business of HP. Most of
... More...

Event report: Business Technology & Innovative IT in the Fragrances and Flavors Industry, 20 June, 2012

Published: Sun 22-Jul-2012 23:18:10

(photo) The speaker, Fabien Jaunault, almost looked too small for the
oversized amphitheatre where he was supposed o talk. But, once he get he
got started, his passion was enough to fill the room. "I am sure
everyone has used a Givaudan product this morning. It could have been
your perfume, your shower gel or even your yoghurt...", he said.
... More...

Member of the "Groupe Formation" for the PM Congress on 3 to 4 April 2013

Published: Wed 27-Jun-2012 09:11:14

Suisse romande (Lausanne) Identify and select high-quality trainers.
Compose the training program for the Congress. Trainer follow-up and
coaching for their presentations. Trainer escort and introduction during
the Congress. Providing evaluation feed-back to trainers. Contact
Name/Reports To:Thierry Labriet, Thierry.labriet@pmi-switzerland.ch or
... More...

Event Report: "Recruit the Perfect Project Manager"

Published: Tue 12-Jun-2012 09:49:25

The event on June 7, 2012 in the Basel Hilton was advertised as
"Recruit the Perfect Project Manager!" Naturally, seeing
myself as a perfect Project Manager (*laugh*), I was quite interested to
hear what the three speakers had to say. Apparently I was not alone in
this regard, as this event had attracted over 50 people, making it one
... More...

Get to know you PMP´s : Members whose obtained their certification in April and May 2012

Published: Sun 20-May-2012 13:06:30

(photo) Olga Skatchkova comes from Russia and is living in
Switzerland since 2008. She felt a real need for the PMP certification
because most of the customers she works with expect such a certification
these days. As with most of us she got euphoric after passing the exam.
She says she got released from the preparation stress...well, I would
... More...

Event report - April 5 "how do you drive a car with wheels running in different direction"

Published: Mon 7-May-2012 00:46:13

The April 5 event was going to share a best practice on how to drive a
car with wheels going in opposite directions. In Switzerland some
companies are teaching how to drive a car on the snow or on the ice.
This event promised to be thrilling: no snow and no ice, but definitely
cold weather. What did we learn? Adapting your leadership style to
... More...

Event report: The new TWINDEXX Swiss Express - Next generation high speed, double-decker train, in Zurich April 25, 2012

Published: Tue 1-May-2012 14:34:31

(photo) "I am sorry for the delay", said Stéphane
Wettstein to finish his presentation. "I am glad you all are still
there". And, indeed we all were... For over one hour, the audience
had listened attentively to Wettstein explain how Bombardier had won the
tender to manufacture the Swiss Express double-decker trains. It was a
... More...

Nuclear challenges

Published: Sun 15-Apr-2012 08:15:32

The Federal Court has determined in March 2012 that the Swiss nuclear
power plant of Mühleberg (Berne canton) could not continue to run unless
a major overhaul is undertaken. Such an investment is quite unlikely and
most probably the plant will need to be shut down. This means an immense
project is about to start! And it is difficult to imagine how many
... More...

Event Report : Business Process Management for Project Managers, 8 March 2012, Geneva

Published: Sun 25-Mar-2012 19:22:18

"Accepting BPM gives organizations a chance to have their business
drive the projects traditionally dictated by IT. The focus is on the new
or improved business capability, rather than an information
system," , stated Alexandre. The Event Alexandre Nevski
presentation on BPM was divided into a few key areas and he inspired
... More...

Is project management becoming a commodity?

Published: Fri 16-Mar-2012 20:57:02

(photo) If you are PMI certified or planning to become, you have
certainly seen some kind of statistics on certifications. You may have
heard that in the past decade 930 project management professionals have
been awarded a PMI credential in Switzerland. Does it sound a lot? Are
you wondering if Project Management certification is becoming a
... More...

Spring conference 2012

Published: Wed 22-Feb-2012 21:26:12

Spring conference 2012 The new Skills for Project Managers March 20th
2012 9am, @Technopark in Zurich The project manager switches easily
between meetings in different subject areas and at different
hierarchical levels. He usually responds immediately to changes in
project situations, presents the current status of the project and leads
... More...

Event Report: "Finding fulfillment and happiness in project work" in Basel, Feb 2, 2012

Published: Thu 9-Feb-2012 13:08:59

"Finding fulfillment and happiness in project work." I
wasn't sure what to expect when I registered for this event but,
overall, the event was very enlightening and engaging! The first
speaker of the evening was Beat Dietziker from TenStep, the event's
sponsor. Beat gave a sponsor presentation without a presentation. A
... More...

EVENT REPORT : 2012 AMM

Published: Sat 28-Jan-2012 15:07:03

The Key-Note Speaker: The live-action figure of the evening was the
keynote speaker, Alfonso Bucero, who presented an animated lecture on
how project managers can build executive support in their organizations.
Alfonso Bucero spoke to much head-nodding and chuckles from the
audience, but his message was a simple one that anyone can benefit from:
... More...

GET TO KNOW YOUR PMPs - Member introduced in January 2012 newsletter

Published: Thu 5-Jan-2012 23:43:11

(photo) Sergei Kuzmitch is a native from Belarus, who has moved to
Zurich area to work in the energy industry. About three years ago, he
learned from other project managers in his organization about the PMP
certification. Because Sergei wanted to improve and structure his
knowledge in Project Management, he saw the PMP as a logical next step.
... More...

EVENT REPORT: International Project Management Day - a special evening event with Jack Duggal (November 23rd, Zurich)

Published: Thu 1-Dec-2011 18:17:16

(photo) "It has become a tradition to celebrate the Project
Management Day here in Partner Re and in the HP headquarters in
Geneva", said Elizabeth Weber, the PMI Switzerland President, to
kick this event off. It was indeed a special occasion: the Swiss chapter
is celebrating its 10th anniversary. The moment couldn?t have been
... More...

GET TO KNOW YOUR PMPs - New PMPs introduced in NL 201112

Published: Wed 23-Nov-2011 20:27:04

(photo) Sergei Kuzmitch is a native from Belarus, who has moved to
Zurich area to work in the energy industry. About three years ago, he
learned from other project managers in his organization about the PMP
certification. Because Sergei wanted to improve and structure his
knowledge in Project Management, he saw the PMP as a logical next step.
... More...

PMI Chapter Strategy Meeting Update

Published: Fri 4-Nov-2011 12:27:31

On the October 15th the chapter board has organized a meeting for
discussing and deciding on the chapter strategy for the forthcoming
year(s). This was an extraordinary meeting commemorating the 10 years
completion of the chapter and lasted more than 24 hours. The meeting
started on Friday 1pm and went until Saturday 5pm and the board members
... More...

PMI 2012 Research & Education Conference

Published: Wed 2-Nov-2011 21:26:51

PMI 2012 Research & Education Conference by Justyna Rudnicka
PMP The upcoming PMI Research and Education Conference will take
place on 15-18 July 2012 in Limerick, Ireland. The conference is a
premier international project management research and education event.
It brings together the audience of scholars, senior practitioners and
... More...

PMDAY Bulgaria Conference - Nov 11, 2011

Published: Fri 21-Oct-2011 12:13:21

PMI Bulgaria Chapter(R) is proud to announce the PMDAY BULGARIA 2011
conference on Friday, November 11th 2011.The conference will be a full
day event of professional discussions, presentations, knowledge transfer
about project management and the latest trends including soft and
technical skills, as well as distinctive networking opportunities.
... More...

GET TO KNOW YOUR PMPs - Members whose obtained their certification in August 2011

Published: Fri 30-Sep-2011 11:59:41

We are taking the time to introduce some of the new PMPs more
personally. You can get to know better some of those who obtained their
certification in August 2011 (in order by participation):
(photo) Jan Holleufer is German, and works in the pharma industry.
Jan first heard about the PMP in 2009, and felt that the PMP was a
... More...

EVENT REPORT: Emotional Intelligence - Use the Power of Your Emotions (September 20th, Zurich)

Published: Wed 28-Sep-2011 21:59:19

(photo) The PMI CH Chapter hosted an event on Emotional Intelligence,
a lecture delivered by Marina Reidi - who combines 11 year experience
as a project manager with her passion for public speaking and
fascination about the topic of emotional intelligence. A huge crowd
turned out for the event since the nature of the topic, everybody was
... More...