PMI Switzerland Chapter Newsletter March, 2019

Editorial

Author: Adi Muslic, PMP

Dear members and newsletter subscribers,

Recently I met with a friend who started looking for a new job after many years spent in the same organization. It is a story about changing everything that you have been used to for a long long time. This is not an easy change. It is a life change. It is also a story about going out of the comfort zone. And this is another challenge.

We can think or say to ourselves that we are ready to face new challenges, it is right time to change etc, etc. But are we really ready?

In my experience we are never ready enough. This is an emotional change and working with emotions is never easy. Also, by working in a certain environment for a long time we lose capability to see how world is changing around us. It is also much harder seeing what needs changing from inside than outside.

if you are really ready for the change you will have your plan before this day comes. You just need to execute it. If you have not got a plan you need one. It is very likely you also need a change manager. You need someone who will help you see what needs to be done. If you have a friend with recent experience in the job market make a contact. If not, there are self learning options. To validate the result of your hard work you may need one of those agencies offering help in developing a competitive profile. It is always better to do it locally, in person, as online agencies are usually not very familiar with the Swiss market. In short, you have to make that change with or without help.

Adi Muslic
Copy Editor

Members Update

Author: Alp Camci, PMP

8 new members joined our Chapter, bringing the active membership to 1712 as at the end of January.

A warm welcome to all !

Congratulations also to the members who obtained certifications in January: 6 PMP, 1 CAPM and 1 PMI-ACP

The following members provided information about themselves: Edouard Boulanger, Ngum Meh Zang and Burcu Haznedar.

Message from the Board

Author: Thijs Wijnands, PMP

PMI-CH is expanding its horizons !

During the last meeting of the BoD it was unanimously agreed that the Switzerland Chapter will expand its horizons and will seek for active partnerships with other professional organisations.

Swiss engineering will be the first to partner up with PMI-CH. Swiss engineering is the largest professional network of engineers and architects in Switzerland having more than 13,000 members. We hope that exchange of technical expertise, experience will help you to leverage your potentials better.

Members of Swiss engineering will be able to join PMI events on a reduced fee and vice versa so be prepared to see some new faces in the next few months! Our chapter will also reach out to students from Universities that are interested to obtain the CAPM certification. Very soon, the dates for the first CAPM exam prep trainings will be made available on the PMI-CH web page. The trainings will be free of charge and will be given by chapter members but only a limited amount of seats will be made available.

Finally, with a ever increasing number of social events, technical training and evening events, the web page will be modified to provide a better overview of what is going on.

Thijs Wijnands, PhD, MBA, PMP
VP Personal Development
PMI Switzerland chapter

Mentorship Program

Author: Andreas Bleiker

Are you looking for an experienced Project Manager who can support you as a sparring partner in your next career step? Or are you, as a well-seasoned Project Manager, looking for a volunteer opportunity where you can share your experience with a less experienced colleague? Then, the mentoring program of PMI Switzerland might be interesting for you.

We are currently still looking for mentees and mentors across Switzerland.

More information and application

inNOWation PMI Italy

Author: David Fowler, PMP

PMI Central Italy Chapter is pleased to announce the InNOWation Conference that will be held in Rome (Italy) on June 13th and 14th 2019.

The “InNOWation – creating the future” event is a 2-day international event designed to discover how innovation, through our projects, programs and portfolios, is a key element for the success of our companies. The event wants to offer to the attendees case studies with highlights on project management issues related to innovative elements in the project (technologies, processes etc.).

The attendees will have the opportunity to share best practices from more than 15 great speakers from successful companies and institutions from all over the world. Let’s unveil some of those: Kozak-Holland, PhD from the Salford University Business School (UK), PMP and the author of several books, will explain why projects are a great opportunity to bring innovation into our companies; Jennifer Hoffman, Senior Vice President at Global Risk Intelligence, will join us from Washington, D.C. and will demonstrate how AI can help on reducing risks; David Hillson, active in the Project Management Institute and known globally as The Risk Doctor, will honor us with his presence by talking about how a simple integrated risk process can help to stop things going wrong in our innovation projects, as well as help things go right; last but not least, Kazuo Inumaru who has been teaching Social Anthropology, Japanese Management, HRM and Cross-cultural Communication will shed light on innovation in the ethical sphere.

Speeches will cover cross-industry case studies and experiences, from the telecommunications to transportation sector, from Risk to Human Resource management.

Participation in the event allows the acquisition of 12 PDUs (distributed on the three sides of the PMI Talent Triangle).

Registration is already open with special discounts available for members of other PMI Chapters throughout Europe and other association with conventions, as well as Corporate Ambassador Program’s Corporates employees.

The event will be held at Frentani Congress Center, in the center of the eternal city, where the PMI Central Italy Chapter 20th Anniversary was hosted in October 2016.

Close to several attractions of the eternal city, at walking distance from Termini Station (with connection with Fiumicino International Airport), the venue is very well equipped for this kind of event and very easy to reach.

You will find updated information on the event on this web site https://innowation.pmi-centralitaly.org.
For request and clarifications, please send an email to inNOWation@pmi-centralitaly.org.

Event Report - Be Strategic or Be Gone! on February 21, 2019 in Geneva

Author: Daniel Rodellar, PMP

It is a good thing to create a strategy, it is even better to execute the strategy to get the expected benefit! In fact, only 2% of leaders/executives are confident that they will achieve their strategy’s objectives and goals.

Then, why such low rate of achievement? Thijs Wijnands has taken us on the journey to create a strategy, from the definition of strategy to the top 5 take away to prevent not achieving your goals!

The purpose of the strategy is the reason why we do things; the strategy defines how do we do things at global level; the tactics are how at the detail level; the goals are what we want to achieve on a high-level and finally the objectives are detailed view of what will be achieved. Read the complete article here.

Transformation Assurance: Benefits management, more than a mere buzzword in today’s demanding and changing business environment?

Authors: Marc Lahmann, Parlitz Thomas, PMP

Transformation Assurance: Benefits management, more than a mere buzzword in today’s demanding and changing business environment?

In the world of project management, amid efforts to sell large-scale business transformation programmes and control their success, ‘benefits management’ and ‘benefits realisation management’ are terms that are becoming increasingly commonplace. However, these processes often stop after the business case has been approved by the sponsor.

How can this be in a highly competitive business environment where change is omnipresent, investments are micromanaged by financial controllers, and failed business transformation programmes can endanger the careers of executives and managers?

An organisation’s success is not built on the capacity to adapt to change, or the right investment in new markets or products. Instead success, perhaps the very existence of an organisation, hinges on the overall benefit realised by implementing change through a transformation programme.

Continue reading here
Download the pdf version here