PMI® Switzerland Chapter

Candidate - Nikola Goran Cutura

Image

Social Media

Nikola Goran Čutura

Board Member candidate

DA & CD through OT - use PMI initiatives to improve our PMI Chapter

DA: Instead of current organisation in silos, an organisation around value streams is now preferred. Disciplined Agility provides a toolkit – let's apply it in our Chapter.

CD: Existing tools are insufficient and sometimes inefficient – build new and automate existing processes using Citizen Development platforms.

OT: Organisational Transformation initiative by PMI (Brightline) will guide us on this journey.

These are the points I will try to enforce for the benefit of the Chapter and the volunteers who will have the opportunity to experience PMI standards and practices within a PMI Chapter.

Project Management experience

When I started my career as a Software & Systems Engineer 30 years ago in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, I wasn't only interested in how to optimize the product of my work but also in how to optimize the process of work itself. Adopting the best practices along the way, I encountered Agile and CI/CD and the whole game went several levels up. Combined with my childish curiosity – asking not only 'how' but also 'why', I saw myself quickly writing requirements specifications, solution proposals, interacting with customers and development, testing and support teams... In 2011, I came to Lausanne to support Loterie Romande in using its brand new Internet Gaming System after having participated in its development together with my colleagues in Belgrade, Serbia. Since then, my interaction with the client became my everyday job and tasks like requirements management, solution proposals, project coordination started suppressing my development activities. In 2015, I was officially recognized as a Project Manager and my journey through various methodologies, models and frameworks started... and the end is not in sight. I have certified my skills in traditional (PMP, HERMES), agile (CSM, CSPO, SPS) and hybrid (DASSM) approaches and my desire to learn and acquire new skills only grows.

PMI volunteering experience

As I passed the PMP exam in 2019, I started attending evening events in Geneva. On my 3rd event, I approached Alexander Seeger, the Brand Ambassador, asking him: "Is there any event in Lausanne or only in Geneva?" to which he promptly replied: "Do YOU want to ORGANISE an event in Lausanne?". And before I could answer, he shouted: "Alice, you have a volunteer!" Alice Pannerec, Romandie Events Team Director, asked me to organise the first networking after-work in Lausanne that was also the last before COVID.
During COVID confinement, I joined the Virtual Events initiative organising some and helping organise many other events. It was a great opportunity to meet and collaborate with many volunteers across Switzerland, most of which I could meet in person only a year later. I not only enjoyed in making virtual events happen – it was part of my "therapy" that helped me guard my mental sanity during long days of COVID restrictions. In late 2021, I was appointed the Romandie Events Team Director, taking Alice's place, who decided to take other challenges within the Chapter. And just in time - it wasn't long after the end of confinement that the first post-COVID on-site event in Lausanne (Dec 1 2021) marked the revival of live in-person events. 2022, a year rich of live event experiences, started and although we can see the end of the year, we can't see us stopping.

My motivation and key priorities within the chapter

Events are the life of a Chapter, the very purpose of its existence. Pre-COVID events were mostly on-site and in-person. COVID confinement forced us to make virtual events only but it brought us new forms like Open Spaces and Community of Practice. Post COVID period needs to balance between the desire of people to see one another in-person again and the ease of attending an event from the comfort of home. Hybrid forms are needed as well as adaptation to the various interest groups of public. There is no one size that fits all and we need to be prepared to tailor each particular event.