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NETWORK
MAKING PROJECT MANAGEMENT INDISPENSABLE FOR BUSINESS RESULTS.

DECEMBER 2010 VOLUME 24, NUMBER 12

> Companies are hiring again.
Do you have what theyre looking for?
> New outsourcing hotspots
> Making the jump to consulting
CPOs:
Make Room in the
Executive Suite
PMN1210 Covers final.indd 1 11/15/10 12:04 PM
PMN1210 Covers final.indd 2 11/15/10 12:54 PM
T
he government of Guatemala wants to
play with fire.
The Pacaya volcano erupted in
May, killing two and forcing mass
evacuationsbut harnessing its energy could
help the nation meet its goal of producing
60 percent of its energy from geothermal and
hydroelectric power by 2022.
Ormat Technologies Inc., a Reno, Nevada,
USA-based company, led projects to build and
set up two geothermal power plants in Guate-
mala. The plants use heat generated by the shift-
ing tectonic plates that cause earthquakes and
volcanic eruptions.
Geothermal plants harness this renewable energy
source and are more reliable and eco-friendly than
hydroelectric dams, according to Ormat.
Such a volatile environment does come with
risksthe company had to temporarily shut
down one of its plants when Pacaya erupted.
That isnt stopping it from planning future proj-
ects, though: Theres a phase where you just have
to drill and see, Ormat representative Yossi Shilon
told the news agency Reuters. The problem is that
you risk a very expensive investment and are not
always satisfied with the results.
Governmental tax breaks, though, help con-
vert these project hotspots into ROI.
Guatemala
P
H
O
T
O

C
O
U
R
T
E
S
Y

O
F

W
I
K
I
P
E
D
I
A
>>> OPENING
SHOT

You build a power plant and drill the wells, which

is the fuel for the 30 years to come. So there is a
significant capital investment involved, but it pays
outthats for sure.
Edward Corash, Ormat Technologies Inc., Reno, Nevada, USA
PMN1210 1-25.indd 1 11/15/10 10:53 AM
26
32
38
44
56
60
Hail to tHe CHief
Theres a big gap between the executive suite and project managers
and thats where chief project officers can help. by Sandra A. Swanson
Got talent?
Companies around the globe are hiring again. Project managers without
experience and standout skills need not apply. by Simon Kent
pmi 2010 projeCt of tHe Year finalist
HealinG a CommunitY
A healthy dose of communication helps a team bring in a
hospital construction project right on time and US$2.9
million under budget. by B.G. Yovovich
takinG on tHe tiGer and draGon
Outsourcings reigning powers face fierce new competition
though their upstart rivals come with some very real risks.
by Sarah Fister Gale
Career traCk
so, You Want to Be a Consultant?
Choose your projects. Pick up experience across sectors. Sounds
tempting, but going independent also means worrying where your next
gig is coming from. by Rachel Zupek
tHe peaCe proCess
Stakeholder vs. stakeholder. Team member vs. team member.
Conflict happensand its up to project managers to ease tensions.
by Chauncey Hollingsworth
pg. 38
contents
Timing Is Everything

When you are opening a healthcare facility,

and the marketing department is putting up bill-
boards that say it is going to open on August 26,
it does no good to open on August 20. It has to
be on schedule, and it is important for everyone
to finish together.

Janice Weaver, PMP, Norton Healthcare, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
features
a Closer
look: ipreo,
neW York,
neW York,
usa & epam
sYstems,
kiev, ukraine
A financial
software
company
discovers a
newfound
faith in out-
sourcing.
pg. 52
dec10
PMN1210 1-25.indd 2 11/15/10 10:53 AM
01 Opening Shot
06 The Buzz
24 In This Issue
66 Help Desk
26 CPOs: Make Room in the Executive Suite
32 Companies Are Hiring Again
44 New Outsourcing Hotspots
56 Making the Jump to Consulting
68 Featured Books
70 Services Directory
72 Metrics
17 From the Top
The Project Pipeline
Roberto Newton Carneiro, Comgs,
Sao Paulo, Brazil
18 Ask PM Network
A Failure to Communicate
by Bud Baker, PhD, Contributing Editor
20 Inside Latin America
Going in Prepared
by Roberto Toledo, MBA, PMP,
Contributing Editor
21 Asia Pacific Watch
Lost in Translation
by Lynda Bourne, DPM, PMP
22 Voices on Project Management
Endangered Species
by Dan Patterson, PhD, PMP,
Acumen, Austin, Texas, USA
viewpoints
UPCOMING MAJOR
PMI GLOBAL EVENTS
9-11 May PMI Global Congress 2011
EMEA, Dublin, Ireland.
Visit www.PMI.org for details.
dECEMBER
13-16 PMI SeminarsWorld, San Diego,
California, USA.
www.PMI.org/Professional-Development.aspx
JANUARy
12-17 PMI Charleston 2011 Seminar @ Sea,
Charleston, South Carolina, USA.
www.pmi-charleston.org/sea
24-26 PMI-Arabian Gulf Chapter 13th
International Conference, Manama, Bahrain.
www.pmi-agc-conference.com
MARCh
1-2 PMI Sweden Chapter Congress 2011,
Gothenburg, Sweden.
www.pmi-se.org/Sweden_Congress_2011
calendar of events
also in this issue
on the cover
dec10
The Two Sides of Tech Hiring

Right now its a two-tiered society. Some skills are in high

demand, while others are being left on the wayside.

Valerie Frederickson, Valerie Frederickson & Co., Menlo Park, California, USA
pg. 06
contents
dec10
Winner of a 2009 Honorable Mention for general excellence and
a 2009 Silver Award for a single-topic issue from Association
Media & Publishing (formerly Society of National Association
Publications) for general excellence among magazines with a
circulation of more than 100,000.
PMN1210 1-25.indd 3 11/15/10 10:53 AM
4-Day Bootcamp
e-learning/On-Demand
nstructor-Led Live E-Learning
Corporate/Group Training
"PM Registered Education Provider Logo"
the PM logo, "PMP ", the PMP logos,
"PMBOK", "Project Management Journal",
"PM Network", and the PM Today logo are
registered marks of Project Management
nstitute, nc.
"PM and PMP are registered marks of the
Project Management nstitute, nc.
For a comprehensive list of PM marks,
contact the PM legal department
We provide free PMP exam eligibility advice and exam application preparation help
We offer weekend & weekday classes to fit your schedule
PMP certified, well-educated instructors with years of management training experience!
PMT also offers a discount for the unemployed
This course is designed as a 4-day class where students can take the exam on the 5th day.
Subject to other eligibility requirements as set by PM and students must have PM eligibility
letter before they can take the exam. Visit our website for further details.
We guarantee 90% success in passing the PMP exam the first time & 100 % on second attempt.
f you fail, we will pay your re-exam fees and provide additional coaching upto two times. f you fail
a 3rd time, we will refund your course fees (less re-exam fees paid plus $200 admin fees)
29ZZZ Te|edrap| Road. 3u|le 2120. 3oul|l|e|d. Vl - 183Z5. u3A
[PHT|}
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Alfonso Bucero, PMP, Bucero PM Consulting
Sheilina Somani, PMP, Positively
Project Management
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NealWhitten, PMP, The Neal Whitten Group
PMI Board of Directors
Chair Eugene (Gene) Bounds, PMP
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and Program Alignment Committee
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beth.partleton@bod.pmi.org)
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shirley.edwards@bod.pmi.org)
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All rights reserved. PMI, the PMI logo, Making project management indispen-
sable for business results, PMI Today, PM Network, Project Management
Journal, PMBOK, CAPM, Certified Associate in Project Management
(CAPM), PMP, the PMP logo, PgMP, Program Management Professional
(PgMP), PMI-RMP, PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP), PMI-
SP, PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP) and OPM3 are registered marks
of Project Management Institute, Inc. Project Management Professional (PMP)
is a service mark of Project Management Institute, Inc. in the United States
and/or other nations.
PM Network welcomes story ideas and/or suggestions about sources. Our stories are
written by professional journalists. Please contact Imagination editorial director Cyndee
Miller or PMI editor in chief Dan Goldfischer with your ideas and suggestions. If you
are interested in submitting articles for the PMI Knowledge Shelf, located at www.PMI.
org/Knowledge-Center/Knowledge-Shelf.aspx, please contact Dan Goldfischer. More
information can be found at www.PMI.org/en/Knowledge-Center/Publications-PM-
Network.aspx . Published articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the magazine
or the Project Management Institute. PM Network is not responsible for loss, damage,
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www.PMI.org and selecting Resources, Virtual Library, then Publications Online
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can send change of address information to customercare@pmi.org or call PMI
customer service at +1 610 356 4600 option 8.
M p network
PMN1210 1-25.indd 4 11/15/10 10:53 AM
4-Day Bootcamp
e-learning/On-Demand
nstructor-Led Live E-Learning
Corporate/Group Training
"PM Registered Education Provider Logo"
the PM logo, "PMP ", the PMP logos,
"PMBOK", "Project Management Journal",
"PM Network", and the PM Today logo are
registered marks of Project Management
nstitute, nc.
"PM and PMP are registered marks of the
Project Management nstitute, nc.
For a comprehensive list of PM marks,
contact the PM legal department
We provide free PMP exam eligibility advice and exam application preparation help
We offer weekend & weekday classes to fit your schedule
PMP certified, well-educated instructors with years of management training experience!
PMT also offers a discount for the unemployed
This course is designed as a 4-day class where students can take the exam on the 5th day.
Subject to other eligibility requirements as set by PM and students must have PM eligibility
letter before they can take the exam. Visit our website for further details.
We guarantee 90% success in passing the PMP exam the first time & 100 % on second attempt.
f you fail, we will pay your re-exam fees and provide additional coaching upto two times. f you fail
a 3rd time, we will refund your course fees (less re-exam fees paid plus $200 admin fees)
29ZZZ Te|edrap| Road. 3u|le 2120. 3oul|l|e|d. Vl - 183Z5. u3A
[PHT|}
H|dd|e-East
8|ngapore 3|rdapore
0uoa| Aou 0|ao| 8a|ra|r 3aud| Arao|a 3|arja|
PHT| 4-0ay PHP Exam Prep oot 6amp 6ourse
0033_PMTI_4DAY_BOOTCAMP.indd 1 5/3/10 3:00:40 PM
T H E P R O F E S S I O N A L M A G A Z I N E O F T H E P R O J E C T M A N A G E M E N T I N S T I T U T E
Publication & MeMbershiP
PM Net work (ISSN 1040-8754) is pub lished month ly by the Proj ect
Man age ment In sti tute. PM Net work is printed in the USA by Quad Graphics,
Sussex, Wisconsin. Pe ri od i cal post age paid at Newtown Square, PA 19073-3299
and at ad di tion al mail ing of fic es. Canadian agreement #40030957. Post mas ter:
Send ad dress chang es to PM Net work, 14 Campus Boulevard, Newtown Square,
PA 19073-3299 USA. Phone +1 610 356 4600, fax +1 610 356 4647.
The mission of PM Net work is to facilitate the exchange of information among
professionals in the field of project and program management, provide them with
practical tools and techniques, and serve as a forum for discussion of emerging
trends and issues. All articles in PM Net work are the views of the au thors and are
not nec es sar i ly those of PMI.
Sub scrip tion rate for mem bers is US$42/year and is in clud ed in the an nu al
dues. PMI is a non prof it pro fes sion al or gan iza tion ded i cat ed to ad vanc ing the
state of the art of proj ect man age ment. Mem ber ship in PMI is open to all at an
an nu al dues of US$119. For in for ma tion on PMI pro grams and mem ber ship, or to
re port change of ad dress or prob lems with your sub scrip tion, con tact:
Proj ect Man age Ment in sti tute
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Tel +1 610 356 4600; Fax +1 610 356 4647
E-mail: customercare@pmi.org
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Timah Road / Singapore 229832 / Tel: +65 6496 5501 Fax +65 6336 6449 /
E-mail: customercare.asiapac@pmi.org
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300, Avenue de Tervueren / B-1150 Brussels, Belgium / Tel. +32 2 743 15 73;
Fax +32 2 743 15 50 / E-mail: customercare.emea@pmi.org
PMI India Regional Service Centre Tel: +91 124 4517140 / E-mail:
customercare.india@pmi.org
PMI has offices in India, China and Australia.
See www.PMI.org/AboutUs/Customer-Care.aspx for contact details.
PMi rePresentative offices
Beijing, China Washington, D.C., USA
Publications Mail agreeMent #40030957
Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: Circulation Department /
P.O. Box 1051 / Fort Erie, Ontario L2A 6C7
2010 Project Management Institute Inc. All rights reserved.
All rights reserved. PMI, the PMI logo, Making project management indispen-
sable for business results, PMI Today, PM Network, Project Management
Journal, PMBOK, CAPM, Certified Associate in Project Management
(CAPM), PMP, the PMP logo, PgMP, Program Management Professional
(PgMP), PMI-RMP, PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP), PMI-
SP, PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP) and OPM3 are registered marks
of Project Management Institute, Inc. Project Management Professional (PMP)
is a service mark of Project Management Institute, Inc. in the United States
and/or other nations.
PM Network welcomes story ideas and/or suggestions about sources. Our stories are
written by professional journalists. Please contact Imagination editorial director Cyndee
Miller or PMI editor in chief Dan Goldfischer with your ideas and suggestions. If you
are interested in submitting articles for the PMI Knowledge Shelf, located at www.PMI.
org/Knowledge-Center/Knowledge-Shelf.aspx, please contact Dan Goldfischer. More
information can be found at www.PMI.org/en/Knowledge-Center/Publications-PM-
Network.aspx . Published articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the magazine
or the Project Management Institute. PM Network is not responsible for loss, damage,
or any other injury to unsolicited manuscripts or other material.
Digital eDition
A digital edition of this issue is available to PMI members by logging on to
www.PMI.org and selecting Resources, Virtual Library, then Publications Online
Library.
reaDer services
For placing orders or for inquiries, please contact PMI Publishing Department
at pmipub@pmi.org.
Permissions. Requests to reprint articles published in PM Network must
be made in writing to the publisher using the online form at www.PMI.org/
Forms-Permissions.aspx. No part of PM Network may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, includ-
ing photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system,
without written permission from the publisher.
Back Issues. Back issues may be purchased when available by contacting
documentdelivery@pmi.org. Pricing varies with number of copies, and members
receive a discount.
PDF Files. Articles in PDF format are available for download from the
Marketplace at www.PMI.org. The most recent five years are at no cost to mem-
bers; older articles are US$10 each for members and US$5 each for student
members. Non-member price for all articles is US$15 each.
Glossy Reprints. Requests for glossy reprints of articles in quantities of 100 or
more can be sent to pmipub@pmi.org.
Bulk Copies of Current Issue. Copies of the current PM Network can be
obtained in quantities of 25 or more. Orders must be placed 40 days prior to
date of issue. The cost is US$5.50 per copy plus shipping.
Change of Address. Members can edit their demographics, including their
addresses, by logging onto www.PMI.org and accessing My PMI. All readers
can send change of address information to customercare@pmi.org or call PMI
customer service at +1 610 356 4600 option 8.
PMN1210 1-25.indd 5 11/15/10 10:53 AM
6 PM NETWORK May 2008 WWW.PMI.ORG
The U.S. job markeTis boom-
ingif youre young, talented and
have a very specific set of engineering
IT skills.
Thats the message coming out of
the job boards and tech-sector hiring
reports that hit the marketplace in the
fiscal fourth quarter of 2010.
raking in a median salary of
$144,000, U.S. software engineering
directors ranked among the top 10
highest-paying jobs across all industries,
according a 2010 survey of 40,000
workers published in october by
CNNmoney.com and PayScale.com.
Software architects also cracked the top
20 with a median salary of $119,000.
right now its a two-tiered soci-
ety, says Valerie Frederickson, Ceo
and founder of Valerie Frederickson
& Co., an IT career transition and
outplacement consultancy in menlo
Park, California, USa. Some skills
are in high demand, while others are
being left on the wayside.
That means recent graduates
armed with the latest whiz-bang
skills and highly specialized engineers
10 just the Fracks
12 3G Is So 2009
14 Te New Dubai?
IN ThEsE PaGEs
buzz the
The
haves and
have-noTs
of Tech
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sEE ThE laTEsT NEWs about project, program and
portfolio management online at www.PMI.org/PMport.
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0091_ACUMEN_WHOLE_ENCHILADA.indd 1 10/28/10 12:58 PM
PMN1210 1-25.indd 7 11/15/10 10:53 AM
Many organizations have realized that technol-
ogy investments can lead to long-term cost savings
and better efficiency, which has resulted in hiring
in a number of IT specialties, John Reed, execu-
tive director of Robert Half Technology, said in a
release.
Filling the Strategy gap
The silver lining for struggling IT professionals
is that project management expertise can give
them an edge on the competition, Ms. Freder-
ickson says.
Those who can walk the line between stra-
tegic thinking and doing the hands-on work are
in demand, she says. And project management
experience is the perfect solution.
In the wake of all the layoffs and restructuring
that have rocked U.S. corporations, many execu-
tives simply dont have time to communicate the
organizations strategic goals down the layers, Ms.
Frederickson says.
Project managers can fill this gap, she says.
They understand how to work with the executives
on the strategic plan, then translate that plan into
actionable items for project teams.
Of course, sometimes those translation skills
must work the other way, deciphering nitty-gritty
details into executive speak.
The ability to explain complex technology
to non-technical people has been and continues
to be the most valuable skill that I learned,
Scott W.D. Rankin, vice president of technol-
ogy at Corporate Reimbursement Services Inc.,
told CNNMoney.com. Most of the people
that make the decisions in a corporate environ-
ment are non-technical. If you want to stand a
chance of determining your own fate, you need
to know how to be able to talk to them in their
language.
Ms. Frederickson recommends candidates
showcase project management accomplishments on
rsums and prepare succinct anecdotes that illus-
trate their skills and experiences.
Even if you have the highly sought-after skills,
its still a competitive market, she says.
A targeted marketing mix can make the differ-
ence. You have to think about the issues CEOs
and CIOs are facing now and be able to speak to
those needs. Sarah Fister Gale
and scientists are getting their pick of top jobs.
But some seasoned mid-tier IT professionals are
struggling to find work as many once-cutting-
edge tech skills are outsourced to less-expensive
markets.
The programming language C++ is now an
international language, Catherine L. Mann, PhD,
told The New York Times in September. If thats
all you know, then youre competing with people
in India or China who will do the work for less,
said Dr. Mann, a global finance professor at the
Brandeis University International Business School
who studies the outsourcing of jobs.
We are talking about people with very par-
ticular, advanced skills out there who are at this
point just not needed anymore, Bart van Ark,
chief economist at The Conference Board, a busi-
ness and economic research organization, told the
Times. Even in this sector, there is tremendous
insecurity.
Hiring has stagnated or declined for profes-
sionals in computer systems design, Internet pub-
lishing, data processing and software publishing.
Computer scientists, systems analysts and com-
puter programmers all had unemployment rates of
around 6 percent in the second quarter of this year,
according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
The talent gap is even more pronounced in
Silicon Valley, the Northern California hub for
high-tech jobs. The region has an 11.5 percent
unemployment rate, yet there are hundreds of tech
job openings at big-name high-tech firms, includ-
ing Samsung, Google and Facebook.
Robert Half Technologys quarterly hiring
index, published in September, shows a similar
imbalance. Despite an overwhelming declaration
of confidence that their companies will continue
to grow, the majority of the 1,400 U.S. CIOs sur-
veyed have no plans to hire new IT staff, according
to the report. Only 9 percent expected to increase
hiring, 6 percent expected to decrease staff, and the
rest planned to stay the course.
The CIOs cited network administration, data-
base management and Microsoft Windows admin-
istration as the most in-demand skill sets. The jobs
they cited as most difficult to fill are networking
roles, followed by information security and help
desk/technical support.
buzz the
8 PM NETWORK december 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
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The
talent gap
is even more
pronounced in
Silicon Valley,
the Northern
California hub
for high-tech
jobs. The region
has an 11.5
percent unem-
ployment rate,
yet there are
hundreds of
tech job open-
ings at big-name
high-tech firms,
including Sam-
sung, Google
and Facebook.
PMN1210 1-25.indd 8 11/15/10 10:53 AM
buzz
december 2010 PM NETWORK 9
PMN1210 1-25.indd 9 11/15/10 12:48 PM
provincial government is reworking its regulations
to address the challenges posed by fracking, which
the company insists is just fine.
Were not in a rush; there is no rush, Ques-
terre CEO Michael Binnion told The Globe and
Mail. Were not in commercial development, and
there is plenty of time to update the regulations.
And quite frankly, the industry is unlikely to pro-
ceed unless there is a good regulatory environment
in the first place.
It may be a moot point. Operating costs in
Quebec are so high that natural gas prices would
have to rise significantly for the shale in the area to
be profitable.
Risk VeRsus OutRage
Whether or not the regulations are put into law,
companies launching fracking projects should
tread carefully.
Project managers have to factor in the potential
for community pushback and the need for local sup-
port into their project plans, says Dennis Lathem,
executive director of the Coalbed Methane Associa-
tion of Alabama, a Birmingham, Alabama, USA-
based trade association of the states gas producers.
It goes to risk versus outrage. It might be that
technically and logistically, the project is very low-
risk. But if you dont understand the outrage factor,
you are going to have problems, he says.
Its easy to dismiss people as environmental
extremists, but a lot of times thats not the case,
adds Gene Citrone Jr., engineering project manager
and director of special projects in the energy and
environment business unit at Process Plants Corp.
(PPC), Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, USA.
PPC is currently leading a project to clean salts
and chlorides from flowback water used in fracking
projects at the massive Marcellus Shale development
field in Western Pennsylvania. Seventy-three drill-
ing companies are currently operating onsiteand
theyre all contending with a great deal of attention.
For any project manager, the focus should be on
stakeholder management.
These citizens are concerned about their water
and their environment and they are the most
important people for project managers to talk to,
Mr. Citrone says.
Many of the chemicals that worry people, includ-
ing manganese and magnesium, are already present
A COnTrOvErSIAL oil-drilling technique
has environmentalists, landowners and regulators
loudly pushing for greater accountability. And
in the whirlwind news cycle, project owners are
quickly learning theyd better address concernsor
risk project failure.
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a process
by which companies drill deep wells, breaking
through hard layers of shale or other deposits to
access untapped oil and natural gas reserves. They
then pump pressurized water, sand and chemicals
down into the wells to pry open fissures and flush
the gas or oil to the surface. Although drillers use
mostly water, a number of environmental groups
contend the companies are also injecting harsh
toxins that taint aquifers and wells.
We have a lot of doubts about whether
[fracking] can be done safely without hurting
our precious water, new York State Assembly-
woman Barbara Lifton said at a community
meeting in late September.
The issue is particularly contentious in north
America. In the United States, the suspicions
are amplified by the fact that fracking is exempt
from the Safe Drinking Water Act. A flurry of
protests, articles and public events arguing that
the projects are hazardous to the environment is
prompting legislators at the state level to enact
new rules aimed at lifting the veil of secrecy on
fracking. The state of Wyoming, for example,
passed a law requiring energy companies to reveal
the chemicals used in fracking, so if groundwater
contamination does occur, the toxins could be
either identified or ruled out as the cause.
The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) is in the process of con-
ducting a $1.9 million study of frackings
effect on groundwater and any potential
for public health risks, but the results are
not due until 2012. Like the EPA, the
state of new York has not yet issued any
determination on the process, but its sen-
ate did pass a moratorium bill that will
remain in effect until 15 May 2011.
In the Canadian province of Quebec,
Questerre Energy Corp. was forced to
postpone its plans to drill two test wells along the
St. Lawrence river after some residents demanded
a moratorium over environmental concerns. The
Just the Fracks
buzz the
10 PM NETWORK december 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
>>Hydraulic
fracturing, or
fracking, is
a process by
which compa-
nies drill deep
wells, breaking
through hard
layers of shale
or other depos-
its to access
untapped oil
and natural
gas reserves.
grapHic courtesy of
redstate.com
50-200 feet
1,000 feet
3,000 feet
1 mile
7,500 feet
2 miles
empire state
Building 1,250 feet
(381 meters)
PMN1210 1-25.indd 10 11/15/10 10:53 AM
in the earth. Drilling holes can disrupt pockets of
heavy metals, which then flow into drill water.
Mr. Citrones project aims to clean the metal
from the water once it has been used in the drilling
so that the water can be repurposed. But for many
people, the sudden appearance of heavy metals sug-
gests that drillers are putting them there. A lot of
people dont understand whats happening, and that
scares them, he says.
Get them on Your Side
Because every project and every stakeholder is dif-
ferent, theres no project planning template for
avoiding outrage. There are, however, strategies that
project managers can use to minimize the risk of
public pushback. It begins with good communica-
tion early in the project.
Its important that the public
knows what you are doing as much
as possible, Mr. Lathem says. You
may still have people who dont like
what you are doing, but theres value
to getting ahead of the curve when it
comes to communication.
Mr. Citrone says sometimes you
can win over the skeptics. When
people are educated about our pro-
cess, and they understand that we
have geologists and engineers work-
ing with the drillers, they are more
likely to support us.
Keeping stakeholders in the loop
can also help quell rumors. Mr.
Lathem recalls running a fracking
project in which his team produced
an advertising insert in the local
newspaper explaining the process,
complete with photos and descrip-
tions of the equipment used. Most
of those vehicles were just carrying
water or sand, but people were see-
ing all these trucks traveling down
their roads, and they wanted to
know what was in them.
He also advises holding public
events to answer questions and
educate people about how fracking
works, and meeting with local lead-
ers and landowners to communicate
buzz
december 2010 PM NETWORK 11
thebuzz
>>On the Rise
Frackings popularity in the United States largely stems from rich deep
resources coupled with tax incentives for alternative fuel projects.
This combination has enabled the industry to flourish over the last 20 years:
Shale gas share of total U.S. gas production rose from 1 percent in 2000 to 20
percent in 2009, according to The Shale Gas Revolution: Hype and Reality, a Sep-
tember report from think tank Chatham House.
But few other countries have been able to grow their fracking industries as
well. Europe, for example, lacks the resources and policy advantages that have
helped groom the U.S. fracking industry, according to the report.
Despite these constraints, shale exploration projects are slowly gaining
worldwide traction.
Lane Energy Poland partnered with Schlumbergerto launch two drilling proj-
ects in the Baltic Basin of Northern Poland in 2010 to evaluate the potential of
shale gas production.
Similarly, while almost no shale exploration projects have begun in the
Middle East, Saudi Arabian giant Saudi Aramcos chief executive, Khalid al-Falih,
announced in September that the firm was considering exploration of shale gas
reserves for future projects.
Saudi oil companies have traditionally considered such reserves too costly
and difficult to develop. But the success of projects in the United States, com-
bined with a need for new gas resources, is sparking a reexamination.
Saudi Arabia currently burns significant quantities of crude oil in its power
stations, and the government would prefer to burn gas even if extraction costs
increase substantially, Samuel Ciszuk, a Middle East energy analyst at IHS
Global Insight told The National.
For a long-term strategy, they would definitely want to go for shale gasif
indeed availablerather than burning liquids, he said. With domestic demand
rising as fast as it does, I think they will look to all kinds of future gas opportuni-
ties available to them.
the benefits of a project. In Alabama, 43 percent of
all natural gas produced comes from underground
coal seams that have been hydraulically fractured.
Those projects translate into local jobs, added reve-
nue streams and reduced dependence on foreign oil.
Even environmental groups acknowledge the
need for newer sources of energy. Michael Brune,
executive director of the powerful conservation
organization Sierra Club, acknowledged the con-
troversy and the opportunity in an August post
on his blog: I am cautiously hopeful that strong
regulation and government oversight will make
drilling safe, because we sure could use the help
of natural gas as we push quickly and aggres-
sively toward a truly clean energy future powered
by wind, solar and other renewable resources.
Sarah Fister Gale
PMN1210 1-25.indd 11 11/15/10 10:53 AM
buzz the
12 PM NETWORK december 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
technologies, and dont have any legacy of 3G
premiums, Yota CEO Dennis Sverdlov said at
the launch ceremony for the companys 4G net-
work in Kazan, capital of the Russian Republic
of Tatarstan. The $20 million project, which
covers the citys more than 1 million residents,
was completed in two months.
As a result, we will soon see these countries
leapfrog the more-developed Western econo-
mies when it comes to wireless broadband ser-
vices, he says.
Technical DifficulTies
For all the opportunities, there are just as many
challenges to making 4G projects work in
emerging markets.
The first is infrastructure. Typically, data
network projects use existing cell towers to roll
out broadband access. The data network equip-
ment is installed on the towers, and cables are
buried or radio links deployed to create blanket
high-speed Internet access. If a market has no
cell towers or theyre inconsistent, the broad-
band provider has to build its own, which can
cost more than $100,000 per tower, says Phil
Marshall, PhD, chief research officer at Tolaga
Research, Newton,
Massachusetts, USA.
That can make the
ROI of such projects
prohibitively low. In
many developing mar-
kets, though, cell towers
already exist, and opera-
tors are open to partner-
ships with broadband
providers, Dr. Marshall
says. If you can share
resources, the project
becomes feasible.
In most emerging
markets, where voice
penetration is low, such
alliances are possible
because mobile provid-
ers arent investing in
broadband access and
present no competitive
threat, he says.
IN ThE bATTlE to offer the worlds fastest
wireless broadband connection, startup 4G ser-
vice providers are finding the best projects are in
emerging marketsif they can manage the risks.
high demand for wireless Internet services,
combined with a lack of existing infrastructure,
is giving forward-thinking broadband providers
a foothold in places such as Africa, Malaysia
and the Philippines, says Dov bar-Gera, CEO
of 4G Africa ltd., a Zurich, Switzerland-based
builder and operator of 4G networks.
The opportunities in emerging markets are
amazing, he says. The only fast alternative
for a quick, reliable and large-scale broadband
deployment is 4G.
Why even bother with 3G when you can
jump right to 4G?
Russian upstart Yota has deployed 4G
networks in seven cities on its home turf. It
recently completed its first rollout in Nicara-
gua, and has plans to unveil similar projects in
belarus and Peru. Since its launch less than two
years ago, the company has invested $500 mil-
lion in 4G projects in emerging regions.
These particular markets are not hindered
by the complexities of upgrading existing
3G is so 2009
PMN1210 1-25.indd 12 11/15/10 10:53 AM
they do in developed
markets.
Simple issues like
the lack of certain
tools or components,
which could be solved
in a couple of hours
in Europe, require
a sophisticated and
expensive logistical
process to resolve in
Africa, Mr. Bar-Gera
says.
Any provider con-
sidering launching
a 4G project in an
emerging market must
be aware of these dif-
ferences and keep a
strong presence in the
community.
Remote project
management doesnt
work, Mr. Bar-Gera
warns. Project teams
must work closely with a local management
team, develop good working relationships with
the incumbent service provider and follow
all the rules of the application process for the
license.
Done right, though, 4G projects could
put emerging marketsand some wireless
upstartson the fast track. Sarah Fister Gale
In developed nations like the United States
or the United Kingdom, there are already
established players who can roll out their own
4G networks. But in places like Russia or
Malaysia, its still a land grab, Dr. Marshall
explains. It gives new broadband providers a
chance to scale up.
Getting construction permission for antenna
sites in Africa is simple compared to developed
markets like the United Kingdom, where the
process is complex and fraught with red tape,
Mr. Bar-Gera contends.
Even with the infrastructure in place,
securing financing can be a big hurdle. These
kinds of projects have high startup costs and
high recurrent fixed costs, and you need a lot
of money to achieve profitability and even
more economies of scale, he says. A lot of
players go after broadband projects but under-
estimate the delays in funding, and the proj-
ects fail.
He likens it to building a railroad that only
reaches the next town.
The instability of the electrical power net-
work in developing nations also often adds
time and upgrade costs to project plans. Uplink
availabilitylinking the local network to the
Internetis also very limited and very expen-
sive in emerging markets, Mr. Bar-Gera says.
Prices can easily exceed $1,000 per megabit,
compared with advanced markets, where the
same connection costs only a few U.S. dollars.
And project schedules dont always work like
thebuzz
december 2010 PM NETWORK 13
100
megabits
per
second
Te data speed of a
true 4G network
2
megabits
per
second
Te data speed
of current 3G
networks
Source: International Telecom-
munication Union
>> the need for speed
More-established economies wont be left in the 4G dust. Competing carriers in the United States,
for example, are scrambling to roll out faster networks to accommodate data-heavy apps, games
and video tools that consumers want on their phones.
Mobile service giant Verizon Wireless recently made a major splash with its plans to roll out a 4G
network in 38 U.S. cities before the end of 2010.
At the recent 4G World conference, Clearwire chief commercial officer Mike Sievert envisioned
download speeds 10 times faster than they are today. The companys tests have produced download
speeds of more than 90 mbps (megabits per second) and upload speeds of more than 30 mbps,
according to a report in PCWorld.
PMN1210 1-25.indd 13 11/15/10 10:53 AM
buzz the
14 PM NETWORK december 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
ultra-sustainable Shahat Garden City in the Green
Mountain region of eastern Libya are in full
swing. Managed by U.K. firm Edward Cullinan
Architects, the community will create homes for
60,000 people over a 3,707-acre (1,500-hectare)
site, plus schools, a university and a botanical gar-
den. Because the location is near the UNESCO
World Heritage site of the ancient city of Cyrene,
project planners are working to accommodate the
areas rich archaeology and unique biodiversity.
The master plan strives for low-carbon living
through walkable neighborhoods, shaded streets,
natural-cooling and low-energy buildings, wind
farms and solar power fields.
Clearly, the move is on to reshape and mod-
ernize Libyabut it hasnt always been that way.
Reconciliationand GRowth
Its no secret that Libyas economy struggled
under strict sanctions by the United States
and other countries, due mostly to longtime
leader Muammar el-Qaddhafis alleged ter-
rorist ties and the countrys weapons of mass
destruction program. But in 1999, Col. el-
Qaddhafi surrendered two suspects wanted for
the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over
Scotland and later compensated the families
of the 270 victims.
The move was a powerful first step for Libyas
return to the international community. In 2004,
the United States removed all remaining sanc-
tions, Libya dismantled its nuclear program, and
companies jumped at the opportunity to have a
crack at the long-dormant market.
While other countries falter, Libyas GDP is
projected to grow by 8.4 percent in 2010, accord-
ing to the International Monetary Fund. Foreign
direct investment into the country quadrupled
from $1 billion in 2005 to $4.1 billion in 2008,
according to the United Nations.
Still, the Libyan landscape can present chal-
lengesboth literally and figuratively. The coun-
trys ancient capital city of Tripoli, for example,
has coastal and desert features, points out Eric
Butterworth, vice president and managing director
of U.K. project management, Hill International,
London, England.
So when the global construction giant
started working on a project to manage the
NO LONGEr an economic pariah, Libya is
transforming itself into the latest project hotspot.
Its absolutely the boom country at the
moment, richard Barber, supervisor at Han-
miParsons, a South Korea-based construction
management company, told the Associated Press.
With no debt and a $70 billion sovereign
wealth fundthanks to the largest proven oil
reserves on the continentthe North African
country is investing in its economic and social
expansion.
Libya is really trying to become, for lack of
a better term, a new Dubai, Carlos Caceres, a
deputy senior regional manager for U.S. engineer-
ing firm AECOM, told the Associated Press.
The country plans to spend $500 billion over
the next decade on an array of
projects to improve housing,
hotels, hospitals, education
facilities, ports, airports and
security. Libya is also keenly
aware of the need to address
its still-limited infrastructure.
Plans are in the works for high-
speed railways and first-class
roads along the Mediterranean
coast, connecting the capi-
tal with Egypt and Tunisia,
according to libyaonline.com.
Housing is fast emerging
as one of the hottest sectors.
AECOM, for example, is
overseeing an $80 billion-
plus program in Tripoli and
Benghazi, the nations two
largest cities. Projects include
constructing 160,000 housing
units and laying new sewage
and electrical pipes.
Turkeys EMSAS Con-
struction is building the Bab
Tripoli complex, a $1.3 bil-
lion luxury high-rise on the
road to Tripolis airport. The
finished project will contain 2,000 apartments,
a hospital and a mallcomplete with a bowling
alley and ice-skating rink.
And it looks like Abu Dhabi wont be the
only one with a carbon-neutral city. Plans for the
the new dubai?
Libyas economy is
projected to
grow by
8.4 percent
in 2010.
$1 billion
Te amount of
foreign direct
investment in
Libya in 2005
$4.1
billion
Te amount of
foreign direct
investment in
Libya in 2008
Source: International Monetary
Fund and the United Nations
PMN1210 1-25.indd 14 11/15/10 10:53 AM
buzz
december 2010 PM NETWORK 15
thebuzz
design of 25 new
university campuses
across the country,
the designs had to
reflect the climate.
Some locations
require only cool-
ing, others only
heating and some
both. Some loca-
tions are remote
and have to be self-
sufficient regard-
ing electricity and
sewage treatment,
he explains. Rain-
water is collected
for reuse wherever
possible, but in
some locations this
is not economic,
as the rainfall is so low it will not justify the
infrastructure for collection.
The project owner, the Organization for
Development of Administrative Centres
(ODAC), wanted the campuses to reflect the
countrys traditions.
At the outset of the project, the ODAC
insisted that the campus designs should respect
the local culture, heritage, architecture and cli-
mate, Mr. Butterworth says. Hill conducted
research at each location and implemented
regular site visits during design development to
ensure that the interpretations are appropriate.
Hill is not only dealing with local culture.
The megaproject involves coordinating all of
the campuses with design teams and contractors
from Europe, the Middle East, China and South
Korea, Mr. Butterworth explains.
Leaving foreign-language speakers to have to
interpret and understand the written word against
a background of their own culture can have issues
and result in misunderstandings, he says. To help
break down those barriers, the company holds
frequent workshops and meetings.
Rough TRansiTion
The campuses megaproject is slated for
completion in 2013, but Mr. Butterworth says
theres a tremendous push to deliver ahead of
schedule. The first should be completed by
2012.
Political representatives from the various
regions press for their local projects to pro-
ceed as quickly as possible, he says. However,
the countrys collaborative way of governing
means individuals rarely make decisions,
and committees are not able to respond as
quickly.
Any marketespecially one that remained
stagnant for decadescomes with some issues.
Libya is no exception as it attempts to transition
to a more market-based economy.
The country remains heavily dependent on
its oil industry, which contributes about 95
percent of export earnings, 25 percent of the
GDP and 60 percent of public-sector wages,
according to the U.S. Central Intelligence
Agencys World Factbook. While substantial
revenues from the energy sector coupled with
a small population give Libya one of the high-
est per-capita GDPs in Africa, little of that
income f lows down.
Even so, in a down market, companies are
always on the hunt for new project opportuni-
ties. And Libya is emerging as a surprise con-
tender for the next big thing. Rachel Zupek
Al Fateh University Library, Tripoli, Libya
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december 2010 PM NETWORK 17
In the volatIle energy industry,
theres little room for error. Roberto newton Car-
neiro, CIo at Comgs, Brazils largest natural gas
distributor, relies on sound project management
principles not only to accommodate tight deadlines
and budgets, but to help ensure projects deliver
direct and measurable results.
For almost five years, he has overseen many
high-profile, highly complex It business solu-
tions projects, including the implementation of
major infrastructure management and several
large outsourcing initiatives. he leads a team of
30 employees and more than 80 contractors, all
working on a vast portfolio of projects aimed at
helping the company maintain its competitive
edge in the marketplace.
How does Comgs manage its projects?
our approach is not limited to project manage-
ment but expands to portfolio management as part
of a broad It governance model. our main objec-
tive is to guarantee that every It investment brings
value to Comgs as well as ensuring that each par-
ticular project meets its core objectives.
We have a project management office that
is focused on delivering It projects and we try
as much as possible to stay in line with A Guide
to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK Guide).
What unique challenges do you face managing
projects in the natural gas industry?
We operate with narrow margins, which means
that projects must always meet their time and
budget targets. they also need to fully realize
their projected benefits, or we risk losing profit-
ability. the tightly regulated business environment
requires that project status, outcomes and post-
implementation reviews be constantly presented to
regulators. this adds time and complexity to the
project schedule.
and fierce competition and accelerated business
expansion put constant pressure on project teams
to deliver results without delays and ensure that the
planned benefits are fully realized.
How do you decide which projects
should be a part of your portfolio?
We are going through a series
of reviews by internal commit-
tees of the It demands within
the organization and assessing
these demands against the value
that they can bring to the orga-
nization. this review process
will enable us to prioritize those
projects and investments that
will deliver the greatest value and
RoI to Comgs, so we can best determine
which projects and improvements should
receive investment. our portfolio manage-
ment approach requires every project within
the organization to be directly related to a
strategic goal as part of our business case and
planning stage.
How do you manage risk?
Risk management is an important part of our
project management practices. Prior to project
initiation, we list all of the possible risks and rank
them according to the probability that they will
occur, potential harms to the organization if they
do occur, and any mitigating factors. no project in
Comgs starts without risk assessment.
What have been your biggest struggles?
one of the hardest challenges we face now in par-
ticular is the completion of a large customer rela-
tionship management and billing solutions project
that was delivered last year but failed to meet some
of its objectives.
It was the most important project delivered at
Comgs for the past year, and one of the reasons
the project failed was that project management
techniques were poorly used. We decided to reopen
the project to fix the problems, enhance what we
recognized as deficiencies or limitations in the
original project plan, and develop all the missing
parts using a more strict approach to the project
management methodology. We are already seeing
good results. PM
The Project Pipeline
Roberto Newton Carneiro, Comgs,
Sao Paulo, Brazil
>>We operate
with narrow
margins, which
means that
projects must
always meet
their time and
budget targets.
They also need
to fully realize
their projected
benefits, or
we risk losing
profitability.
0071_PMTI_PASS_IT.indd 1 9/1/10 3:21:10 PM
fromTheTop
PMN1210 1-25.indd 17 11/15/10 10:54 AM
For reasons he hasnt disclosed, my boss,
a director of our company, doesnt per-
mit me to share project details and finan-
cial status with my team members. As a
result, they dont fully understand our project status or
objectives, which has predictably led to big trouble. I
dont want to create problems with my boss, and Im
not ready to resign. What are my options?
The late management guru Peter Drucker
used to say that when sane, rational and
moral people behave in ways that seem
inexplicable, its because they see a real-
ity different than ours.
So lets start by giving your boss that
triple benefit of the doubt: Hes sane, ratio-
nal and moral. (If hes notwell, that would
lead to a whole different sort of article.)
This leads us then to the second part of Mr.
Druckers maxim: Your boss is seeing a real-
ity you dont.
One possibility is culture. In this case,
the question comes from a person in sub-
Saharan Africa. A friend of mine, a professor
and author who happens to hail from the
same country, laughed long and hard when
he heard the question. This boss is behav-
ing the way that any boss would behave in
that country, he said. We are raised there
to believe that if people have knowledge,
they will use it against us, to enrich them-
selves personally at our expense. The only
way to protect against that is to guard all
knowledge jealously, so that we are not taken
advantage of.
Given that culture changes only slowly
over time, there may not be a lot you can
do here. Your bosss psychological maps, the
way he sees the world, were established a
long time ago. They will not be easily modi-
fied, by you or anyone else.
There is, however, another possible expla-
nation, one which gives us more reason for
hope: Your boss is a product of his experi-
viewpoints
ence, and events in his life have convinced him that
when it comes to information, silence is safer than
sharing, and secrecy is superior to synergy.
Building Your Case
If your boss is wary of sharing project data, you wont
persuade him otherwise with generalities. You need
hard evidence that clearly shows the value of trans-
parency. One great source is an article entitled The
success of international development projects, trust
and communication: an African perspective by Ama-
dou Diallo and Denis Thuillier of the Universit du
Qubec Montral [International Journal of Project
Management, April 2005]).
Be careful dealing with a bosss lack of transparency.
b y b u d b a k e r , P h d , C o n t r i b u t i n g e d i t o r
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A FAilure to Comm uniCAte
Q:
A:
PMN1210 1-25.indd 18 11/15/10 10:54 AM
Be careful dealing with a bosss lack of transparency.
b y b u d b a k e r , P h d , C o n t r i b u t i n g e d i t o r
Then look at specific evidence you can use from
your own project. Approach it like a lawyer building
a case: Focus on demonstrating cause and effectspe-
cific past actions and their harmful results. Create a list
of your projects disappointments. Then show, logically
and systematically, how each of those setbacks can be
traced directly to decisions and actions that kept your
project partners in the dark. Stay away from emotion,
and keep your arguments data-based and objective.
The best project manager I ever knew lived by the
dictum that timing is everythingand that certainly
applies to your situation. Dont move hastily. Wait until
there has been a particularly egregious breakdown as a
result of poor communication. Give the boss a few days
to get over the disaster, and then make an appointment
to present your ideas. That way, you position yourself
not as a complainer but as a problem-solver.
You do need to recognize, of course, that youre in
very dangerous territory here. Theres no guarantee
your boss will take your suggestions well. No one wants
to be told that he or she has caused a project to fail.
Its possiblelikely, even, given his track recordthat
your boss may lash out at the nearest target, and that
would be you.
And although you ended your question by saying
you werent ready to leave your job yet, you must
accept that as a possibility. The question really is which
course of action allows you to minimize the risk of such
a dreadful outcome. PM
Bud Baker, PhD, is a professor of manage-
ment at Wright State University, Dayton,
Ohio, USA. Please send questions for Ask PM
Network to pmnetwork@imaginepub.com.
viewpoints
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>>If your boss is wary of
sharing project data, you wont
persuade him otherwise with
generalities. You need hard
evidence that clearly shows the
value of transparency.
School o ProjecL ManagemenL
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PMN1210 1-25.indd 19 11/15/10 10:54 AM
viewpoints
P
roject management is all about planning. Its as
simple as that. Without a well-thought, prop-
erly developed plan, no project will ever succeed
in meeting the desired scope, time and cost
objectives. This is one of the most powerful concepts that
todays project management best practices can teach us.
Understanding the importance of planning is some-
thing anybody can learn, either through formal train-
ing or real-life project experience. Dealing with unique
events that have high degrees of uncertaintyas projects
inevitably dowithout a proper plan is an instructional
(and potentially harsh) way of appreciating the value of
planning ahead.
Many people believe that planning is related to a per-
sons culture and background. Studies and research have
been conducted over the years about cultural differences
in management and work, chiefly by Geert Hofstede
and by Robert J. House, PhD, et al, in the GLOBE
study. Their works are recognized as the most respect-
able sources of information on this subject. Neverthe-
less, specific studies on project planning and culture are
scarce. Papers from Amy Chin Mei Yen (2007) and Ofer
Zwikael, PhD, PMP, (2007) are among the very few that
have explored the topic.
Its a common belief that planning culture is related to
the geographical climate where it developed. Cultures that
developed in regions of the world with tough climates, par-
ticularly harsh winters such as Europe and North America,
tend to put more importance in thinking about the future
and, therefore, planning. Cultures that developed in more
benign climates, with all-year access to food and supplies,
such as Latin America and South Asia, tend to focus on the
enjoyment of the present and a shorter-term vision.
The truth is that climate is just one among many
environmental factors, including history, religion, level
of education and development, that shape the way dif-
ferent cultures plan. In the end, all cultures planthey
just focus on different aspects of the planning process,
putting more importance on one or another component
of the project plan.
I have been teaching project management for more
than 15 years in Latin America, and Ive come up with
certain key ideas concerning planning that will work for
you, no matter how planning-oriented your culture is:
n
A planning environment needs to be set first.
Project managers and their teams have the responsibil-
ity for planning, but senior management also needs to
understand the vital importance of a plan. They must
set up the appropriate framework that will allow project
managers to develop a good plan.
n
Project planning is always a team effort. I never
get tired of explaining to project managers that they are
ultimately responsible when it comes to project plan
development. But they should never work on it alone
and risk not having everyone know all the details of the
project ahead. The entire team needs to be sufficiently
committed to the objectives established.
n
Fight for enough planning time if necessary. I am
regularly asked, How much time do we need to devote
to planning? And just saying, Enough doesnt work. I
have come up with a general rule: Devote 10 percent of
the project duration to planning.
n
Planning will always be cheaper than correcting
mistakes. When resources are scarce, our room for error
becomes narrower. Therefore, planning becomes one of
the most valuable methods to reduce the cost of a project.
n
Developing a simple Gantt chart does not equal
planning. A project plan is an integrated collection of
documents that includes, at the very least, a scope plan,
time plan and cost plan. These, among other important
elements, together help to assure success in every aspect
of the project.
All too often, project managers are overconfident
that their previous experience is an excuse to not prop-
erly plan a project. Always stress the importance and
value of planning, strategizing your moves and using
the plan as a way to communicate and align all the
project team members. This is especially key if you are
working with a multicultural team, where people will
have different ideas about what a plan should be and
how important it is to have a detailed road map of the
work ahead. PM
Roberto Toledo, MBA, PMP, is manag-
ing director of Alpha Consultora, and a
trainer and consultant who works across
Latin America. He can be reached at
rtoledo@alpha-consultoria.com.
GoinG in prepared
Devoting sufcient time to planning could save your project from future mishaps.
b y R o b e R t o t o l e d o , Mb A , P MP , C o n t R i b u t i n g e d i t o R
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PMN1210 1-25.indd 20 11/15/10 10:59 AM
F
rom earned value management to work break-
down structures, project management is rife with
terms specific to the profession. However, while
these terms are familiar to trained project manag-
ers worldwide, theres a good chance theyre completely
unknown to managers trained in organizations and societies
that have different approaches to doing business.
As such, its not surprising that misunderstandings and
confusion among stakeholders can easily arise. (In fact,
stakeholders might not even be aware that they are being
called stakeholders.)
The general business community frequently uses the
same words in a similar context but applies completely dif-
ferent meanings. Project managers say one thing, and others
understand something else completely.
Add in a few TLAs (that is, three-letter acronyms) and
total misunderstanding can ensue. When you mention
the threats and opportunities in the RBS, youre obviously
thinking of the risk breakdown structurebut your stake-
holder may be wondering why the Royal Bank of Scotland
is suddenly involved in the project.
Because one of the keys to project success is managing
stakeholder expectations, this is a major risk. Good com-
munication requires feedback. You must be sure the recipi-
ents fully understand what information youre conveying,
including all of the messages nuances.
False Expectations
Most project managers who are accustomed to dealing with
stakeholders from other parts of the business, other orga-
nizations or other cultures understand these issues. They
will carefully construct all of their communications and test
for understanding. But even this level of care may not be
enough. They must ensure that the information itself does
not create false expectations. This is particularly important
when preparing time and cost estimates.
In many parts of Asia, managers will not provide a
precise estimate unless they are absolutely certain they can
achieve exactly whats promised.
However, as project managers, we routinely use schedul-
ing tools that calculate very specific estimates. Theyll predict
that a task will be complete at, say, 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday
in four months, simply because this is the output from the
approximations entered into the schedule. Or that the total
cost of the project will be AU$10,986,547.55, because the
estimating system churned out that summary total.
These values may be precise, but theyre not precisely
accurate. As professional project managers, we know all esti-
mates are subject to a degree of variability. When the actual
work is done, each task will take a slightly different amount
of time to complete and will cost slightly more or less than
planned. However, many other people will translate the
precision of the estimate into an expectation that the work
will be performed exactly as planned.
Estimates made in more general terms are no less valid
and can avoid creating this type of false expectation. Achiev-
ing a detailed estimate for a US$11 million project to within
-5 to +10 percent would indicate a very careful estimating
process in a stable, informed environment. The same esti-
mate, calculated to the nearest cent, raises stakeholders
expectations and may result in the project being perceived
as a failure when their expectations are not realized.
Effective communication with stakeholders requires
project managers to look at the data generated by their
spreadsheets and scheduling tools and then condense this
information into a succinct summary. Unnecessary detail
and pseudo-accuracy should be removed. Instead, simplify
information and frame it in realistic terms.
When project managers effectively communicate realis-
tic information, they create reasonable expectationsand
everyone involved is more likely to view the project as a
success. PM
Lynda Bourne, DPM, PMP, is the managing director of
Stakeholder Management pty Ltd. and director of training
at Mosaic Project Services pty Ltd., both in
Australia. Dr. Bourne graduated from the
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
as the first professional doctor of project
management. She is president of the PMI
Melbourne Chapter.
Lost in transLation
viewpoints
Avoiding jargon and providing realistic data can be the key to efective communication.
b y L y n d a b o u r n e , d P M, P MP
GoinG in prepared
Devoting sufcient time to planning could save your project from future mishaps.
b y r o b e r t o t o L e d o , Mb a , P MP , C o n t r i b u t i n g e d i t o r
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>>Unnecessary detail and pseudo-
accuracy should be removed.
Instead, simplify information and
frame it in realistic terms.
PMN1210 1-25.indd 21 11/15/10 10:54 AM
viewpoints
I
ve noticed a surprising trend during the economic
downturn: Fewer capital expenditure projects were
being sanctioned and funded, but the need for
third-party assistance with schedule analysis and
risk assessments actually increased dramatically. This
phenomenon indicates a threat to the field of project
managementthe gradual extinction of the savvy proj-
ect scheduler.
Available software tools are more powerful than ever.
Although this software provides collaborative, web-based,
multi-user capabilities, project managers still struggle to
bring projects in successfully under the triple constraint of
cost, time and scope.
Project management boils down to planning the
work and working the plan.
Top-Down Planning
Critical path method (CPM) scheduling is the de facto
standard for scheduling projects. Estimating durations,
sequencing work and assigning resources are all common
steps. Yet all too often, project managers who follow this
method wind up with a plan that is either unachievable
or unrealistic.
A major mistake is to jump straight into the develop-
ment of the planned work rather than adopt a more for-
mal, top-down approach that better establishes the work
breakdown structure (WBS). Project managers should
only detail out the work once they have defined the project
objectives, elaborated the scope definition and expanded
the deliverables.
The WBS of a well-developed schedule should show the
entire scope of the project, with the underlying required
work encapsulated as activities. Project plans often omit
this formal structure, and that oversight inevitably leads to
scheduling challenges.
Definitely Maybe
Historically, scheduling has been a deterministic science in
which activities have definitive durations and single-point
cost estimates. This approach is being replaced by esti-
mates that, combined with risk-analysis techniques, give
not only forecasted completion dates, but also confidence
levels for the probability that the completion date will be
achieved.
The term risk analysis tends to convey the influence
of circumstances such as inclement weather or mechani-
cal failure. In my experience, I have discovered that 75
percent of the risk exposure within projects actually comes
endangered species
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projects from failing in the process. b y D a n P a t t e r s o n , P h D , P MP
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22 PM netWorK december 2010 WWW.PMi.org
>Join the discussion on the Voices on
Project Management blog at PMI.org.
Turning good intentions into positive outcomes
thats what project managers do, said former U.S.
President Bill Clinton at PMI Global Congress 2010
North America in October. Go to the blog to read
more about his speech and the specific challenges
facing project managers in the modern world.
PMN1210 1-25.indd 22 11/15/10 10:54 AM
from scope uncertainty and poorly built schedulesnot
discrete events captured in a risk register. From a planning
perspective, this is actually good news, because scope defi-
nition is typically easier to handle and reduce than external
risk events. Not only does certainty-based scheduling help
pinpoint problem areas within a project, it also gives the
team a range of dates to target, rather than a specific day.
Simplifying Matters
Sitting in a recent project review meeting, I heard a proj-
ect manager requesting a copy of the project plan. When
the lead project scheduler provided a Gantt chart that
listed more than 5,000 activities, the project manager
responded, Thats great, but wheres one that the entire
team can understand?
Excessively detailed schedules can overwhelm project
teams. Breaking down a project into grouped activities is
the most useful way to analyze costs, schedule, risks and
performance. The groups may be disciplines, locations,
types of work or phases within the project.
Analysis Paralysis
The ultimate objective of a project plan is to have a
target against which to track performance. Project
metric analysis goes well beyond applying formulas and
calculation to incorporate thresholds and tripwires that
give context to the results of the formulas. Does know-
ing we have 15 open-ended activities or five missed
deadlines really tell us anything meaningful? It would
be more useful to know the impact of the open-ended
activities, or the cost and schedule implications of the
missed deadlines.
The U.S. Defense Contract
Management Agency pub-
lishes metrics and tripwires as a
means of standardizing sched-
ule quality checks and setting
standards for contractors. Such
initiatives are a breath of fresh
air to scheduling, and I expect
to see similar initiatives across
multiple industries in the near
future.
But the Goalposts
Keep Moving
Maintaining an up-to-date
schedule is a difficult enough
task in the planning phase,
but it becomes infinitely more
involved during execution.
Project trending can give
a more useful indication of
performance than simply looking at a single snapshot in
time. Many projects track performance trending during
execution, but few do so during planning, which is often
an iterative process.
If we can plan and forecast the work that is required for
project completion and factor in the uncertainties, com-
plexities and risks that may occur during execution, then
failure will be a thing of the past. This scenario may be
easier to describe than to achieve, but adopting the prac-
tices above will align project teams to consistently deliver
successful results. PM
viewpoints
endangered species
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december 2010 pm netWorK 23
raise Your Voice no one knows project management better than you, the prac-
titioners in the trenches. so PM Network launched its voices on project management column.
every month, project managers will share ideas, experiences and opinions on everything from
sustainability to talent management, and all points in between. If youre interested in contributing,
please send your idea to pmnetwork@imaginepub.com.
Dan Patterson, PhD,
PMP, is the ceo and
president of Acu-
men in Austin, Texas,
uSA. He specializes
in project analytics,
risk management,
scheduling, estimat-
ing, earned value and
artificial intelligence.
PMN1210 1-25.indd 23 11/15/10 10:54 AM
<In This Is sue>
Hail to tHe CHief pg. 26
>> as more organizations learn the value of project management, the role of chief
project officer, or CPo, is gaining traction.
>> a CPo helps the rest of the executive suite prioritize projects and ensure that
all projects in the portfolio align with organizational goals and strategies.
Got talent? pg. 32
>> as world economies attempt to rise out of the recessionwith diverse levels of
successthe market for project managers is opening up.
>> However, the demand is limited to highly skilled, credentialed project managers
who can deliver confidently on complex projects.
HealinG a Community pg. 38
>> the project to build and staff the first hospital in the louisville, Kentucky, uSa area in
25 years came in right on time and nearly uS$3 million under budget.
>> the forward-thinking design focused on maximizing guests comfort as well as
staff efficiency.
taKinG on tHe tiGer and draGon pg. 44
>> outsourcing stalwarts india and China are facing increasing competition from emerging
markets, including ukraine, morocco, Colombia and Vietnam.
>> When evaluating outsourcing destinations for it projects, companies should look at
access to talent, maturity, longevity and security.
>> Companies must assess their risk tolerance, as many emerging hotspots come with
added dangers.
So, you Want to Be a ConSultant? pg. 56
>> a career as an independent consultant offers appealing advantages, including setting
ones own hours and selecting only the projects one wants to take on.
>> drumming up business will most likely be an ongoing concern, though one job often
leads to another.
tHe PeaCe ProCeSS pg. 60
>> Conflict among team members is unavoidable, so project managers should try to defuse
any clashes before they derail the project.
>> open communication and a deep understanding of stakeholder concerns can help
minimize discord.
key takeaways

We wanted an
entirely new-concept
hospital that was
designed and built on
new thinkingfrom
what the patients and
guests optimally wanted
in a healthcare experi-
ence, to what the physi-
cians and staff desired
in functionality and
maximally efficient work
processes.

Stephen A. Williams, Norton Healthcare,

Louisville, Kentucky, USA
US$2.9 million
The amount the
project was delivered
under budget
38
PMN1210 26-51.indd 24 11/15/10 11:24 AM
<In This Is sue>
>>Outsourcing
can carry hidden costs,
and those must be
included in any analysis. It
is therefore important to
define your overall busi-
ness objectives first and
identify what you expect
to save or achieve in out-
sourcing. You are then in
a much better position to
assess the benefits and
risks of each destination.
J. LeRoy Ward, PMP, PgMP, ESI
International, New York City, New York, USA
PG. 46
december 2010

The real effect of

having a project offi-
cer at the top level
of the company is to
surface the challenges
that project managers
have experienced for
time immemorial, and
to help negotiate bar-
riers to getting proj-
ects selected and then
completed effectively.
Chris Vandersluis, HMS Software,
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
PG. 29

We wanted an
entirely new-concept
hospital that was
designed and built on
new thinkingfrom
what the patients and
guests optimally wanted
in a healthcare experi-
ence, to what the physi-
cians and staff desired
in functionality and
maximally efficient work
processes.

Stephen A. Williams, Norton Healthcare,

Louisville, Kentucky, USA
december 2010 PM NETWORK 25
Marcelo Andrade, PMP,
Eficia Consulting ...................................................... 56
Ral Bellomusto, PMP, UADE
(Universidad Argentina de la Empresa) ......... 36
Russ Boreham, T-Impact ...................................... 35
Angela Brown, Bright Umbrella ..........................37
Doug Brown, Brown-Wilson Group Inc. .......... 48
Brigitte Cobb, BMI Healthcare .............................. 51
Alexandra Deutsch, Out There Media ............... 28
Nancy Dewhirst, BT ................................................37
Lalit Dhingra, NIIT Technologies ......................... 46
Lisa DiTullio, Your Project Office ........................ 58
Arkadiy Dobkin, EPAM Systems ........................ 55
Balazs Fejes, EPAM Systems ............................. 50
Erika Flora, PMP, PgMP, Beyond20 ................. 36
Melanie Franklin, Maven Training ....................... 35
Dave Glowacki,
LexisNexis Risk Solutions ..................................... 28
Carl Godell, PMP,
CJL Communications Inc. .................................... 58
Mattias Hllstrm, Projectplace .......................... 35
Don Jones, BDO ..................................................... 46
Craig Jordan, ESI International ........................... 34
Hemanshu Joshi,
Global Information Technology ............................ 34
Cludio Kindl, Clip Engenharia .......................... 29
Kurt Kohorst, Liberty Mutual
Agency Markets ...................................................... 47
Fbio Laranjeira Bernardes, CTEEP
(Companhia de Transmisso de
Energia Eltrica Paulista) ..................................... 64
Pablo Lewin, BASF ................................................ 36
Dmitry Maizet, EPAM Systems ........................... 54
Crowe Mead, PMP,
Calico Energy Services ......................................... 48
John Megibben, Messer/TMG ............................ 40
Jonathan Meyer, Ipreo .......................................... 53
Bill Neuguth ...............................................................37
Roberto Newton Carneiro, Comgs ................... 17
Mary Osswald, Kamehameha Schools ............. 62
Marcello Patrese, PMP, PMT Group ................. 62
Peter Ryan, Ovum .................................................. 46
Charles Ryder, PMP, Kennedy Ryder ............... 58
Pedro Serrador, PMP,
Serrador Consulting ............................................... 48
Johann Swart, PMP,
Airports Company South Africa ......................... 35
Roman Trakhtenberg, Luxoft ............................... 48
Chris Vandersluis, HMS Software ..................... 28
Pattie Vargas, PMP, The Vargas Group ........... 56
Tathagat Varma, Yahoo! .........................................37
J LeRoy Ward, PMP, PgMP,
ESI International ...................................................... 46
Ngozi Watts, WMS .................................................. 62
Janice Weaver, PMP,
Norton Healthcare .................................................. 40
Mark Westcombe, Lancaster University
Management School .............................................. 35
Stephen A. Williams,
Norton Healthcare .................................................. 40
Janet Yackey, PMP, Norton Healthcare ........... 42
David Zahn, Zahn Consulting ...............................59
PEOPlE PagE PEOPlE PagE
ORgaNizaTiONs PagE
Airports Company South Africa,
Johannesburg, South Africa ............................... 35
BASF, Santiago, Chile ........................................... 36
BDO, San Jose, California, USA ........................ 46
Beyond20,
San Diego, California, USA .................................. 36
BMI Healthcare, London, England ...................... 51
Bright Umbrella,
Wellington, New Zealand .......................................37
Brown-Wilson Group Inc.,
Clearwater, Florida, USA ..................................... 48
BT, Singapore ...........................................................37
Calico Energy Services,
Seattle, Washington, USA ..................................... 48
CJL Communications Inc.,
West Bloomfield, Michigan, USA ........................ 58
Clip Engenharia,
Belo Horizonte, Brazil ............................................ 29
Comgs, Sao Paulo, Brazil .................................... 17
CTEEP (Companhia de Transmisso
de Energia Eltrica Paulista),
Sao Paulo, Brazil ..................................................... 64
Eficia Consulting, Uberlndia, Brazil .................. 56
EPAM Systems, Budapest, Hungary ................. 50
EPAM Systems, Kiev, Ukraine ............................ 53
ESI International,
Dubai, United Arab Emirates ............................... 34
ESI International,
Washington, D.C., USA .......................................... 46
Global Information Technology,
Dubai, United Arab Emirates ............................... 34
HMS Software,
Montreal, Quebec, Canada ................................... 28
Ipreo, New York, New York, USA ...................... 53
Kamehameha Schools,
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA .......................................... 62
Kennedy Ryder,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ........................................ 58
Lancaster University Management
School, Lancaster, Lancashire, England .......... 35
LexisNexis Risk Solutions,
Boca Raton, Florida, USA .................................... 28
Liberty Mutual Agency Markets,
Seattle, Washington, USA ................................... 47
Luxoft, New York, New York, USA .................... 48
Maven Training, London, England ...................... 35
Messer/TMG,
Louisville, Kentucky, USA ..................................... 40
NIIT Technologies,
Atlanta, Georgia, USA ............................................ 46
Norton Healthcare,
Louisville, Kentucky, USA ..................................... 40
Out There Media, Vienna, Austria ...................... 28
Ovum, Montreal, Quebec, Canada ..................... 46
PMT Group, Trento, Italy ....................................... 62
Projectplace, Stockholm, Sweden ..................... 35
Serrador Project Management,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada ...................................... 48
T-Impact, Abingdon,
Oxfordshire, England ............................................. 35
UADE (Universidad Argentina de la
Empresa), Buenos Aires, Argentina ................. 36
The Vargas Group, San Diego,
California, USA ........................................................ 56
WMS, Chicago, Illinois, USA ................................ 62
Yahoo!, Bangalore, India ........................................37
Your Project Office, Cohasset,
Massachusetts, USA .............................................. 58
Zahn Consulting, Wallingford,
Connecticut, USA .....................................................59
ORgaNizaTiONs PagE
US$2.9 million
The amount the
project was delivered
under budget
38
PMN1210 26-51.indd 25 11/15/10 11:24 AM
26 PM NETWORK december 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
PMN1210 26-51.indd 26 11/15/10 11:44 AM
december 2010 PM NETWORK 27
by Sandra a. SwanSon
illuStration by matt kenyon
hail
chief
to the
theres a big gap between
the executive suite and project
managersand thats where
chief project officers can help.
PMN1210 26-51.indd 27 11/15/10 11:24 AM
28 PM NETWORK december 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
ne of the lesser-known
additions to the alphabet
soup of executive titles
is gaining traction. The
CPO, or chief project
officer, is becoming a
common fixture amidst
the respected ranks of
CEO, COO, CIO and
the like.
Not long ago, no one
had ever heard of a chief
project officer, says Chris
Vandersluis, CEO of HMS Software, a
project management software provider,
Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
But its becoming more and more
common in large organizations as the
value of managing projects becomes
more mainstream, says Mr. Vander-
sluis, who also teaches advanced project
management at McGill University in
Montreal.
Part of the credit goes to the wildly
chaotic business landscape.
The need to adapt to changing
requirementsand a world that is
always moving fasteris increasing,
says Alexandra Deutsch, CPO at Out
There Media, a mobile phone advertis-
ing company headquartered in Vienna,
Austria.
With a shifting array of options like
offshoring and cloud computing, com-
panies want to know what will work.
And CPOs are there to help.
The more diverse business options
become, the more critical it becomes
for someone to bring it all together
and help executives understand what
needs to be decided in order to remain
aligned with strategy, says Dave
Glowacki, vice president of product
engineering at LexisNexis Risk Solu-
tions, a division of the research database
provider, Boca Raton, Florida, USA.
Although he doesnt have the CPO title,
Mr. Glowackis responsibilities include
strategic alignment, and the program
management office reports to him.
For the CPO, its not only about
delivering projects on time and on
budget. Companies want someone who
can optimize project delivery in times
>>Friends in HigH Places
With a CPO in the executive suite, project management often receives an
elevated status at an organization. That wont automatically guarantee buy-in
for projectsbut aligning with the CPO can be a smart career move for project
managers.
And it shouldnt be too hard to get his or her attention.
The big thing project managers have is information, says Dave Glowacki,
LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Boca Raton, Florida, USA. They have all this macro
and micro information that the CPO needs and that really nobody else has. Provide
information that helps the CPOs ability to pick out and see the key issues.
To forge a relationship with CPOs, project managers have to be able to articulate
how their projects align with strategy.
They must learn to adapt to different business priorities within the organiza-
tions hierarchy, says Cludio Kindl, Clip Engenharia, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Project managers face the challenge of knowing how to travel from the details
needed by the operational levels to the macro vision required by the CPOs and
CEOs day-to-day, he says.
O
PMN1210 26-51.indd 28 11/15/10 11:24 AM
december 2010 PM NETWORK 29
of scarce resources and ensure the trans-
parent prioritization of projects, Ms.
Deutsch says.
And those project professionals who
can deliver are moving into the once-
elusive upper echelons of management.
carving Out a niche
Although companies increasingly rec-
ognize the need for CPOs, some have
an exaggerated vision of their mission
to put it mildly.
Companies expect the naming of
a chief project officer to ensure that all
projects will now be completed on time
and on budget, Mr. Vandersluis says.
Obviously, its not that easy.
The real effect of having a project
officer at the top level of the company
is to surface the challenges that project
managers have experienced for time
immemorial, and to help negotiate bar-
riers to getting projects selected and
then completed effectively, he explains.
Being a part of the executive suite
does give CPOs the power to make
meaningful changes in their organiza-
tions.
A CPO can be instrumental in
introducing project selection think-
ing and methods for senior executives
to choose projects that have a better
chance of delivering business value to
the organization, Mr. Vandersluis says.
Part of that can be helping to imple-
ment project management guidelines
and methodologies that foster business
success, though their importance will
vary based on an organizations needs.
Training processes rank high for
Cludio Kindl, CPO at Clip Engen-
haria, a civil construction firm in Belo
Horizonte, Brazil.
In the industry where I workcivil
constructionthere is a lack of workers
qualified with management skills, he
says. Training procedures drive more
results than all of the others. The most
important quality for an effective CPO
concerns being a teacher of teachers.
The process entails spreading knowl-
edge about project management as well
as related subjects, such as business,
management and technology. Proj-
ect management is multidisciplinary
work, Mr. Kindl says.
guiding Light
CPOs often make powerful ambassa-
dors for raising the visibility of the orga-
nizations project management culture
to the very top levels of management.
In some organizations, project
management has not had to weave itself
into the corporate structure, says Mr.
Vandersluis. But the existence of a
The need to
adapt to changing
requirements
and a world
that is always
moving faster
is increasing.
Alexandra Deutsch, Out There Media,
Vienna, Austria.
PMN1210 26-51.indd 29 11/15/10 11:24 AM
30 PM NETWORK december 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
CPO brings project management into
the mainstream business thinking.
To play that guiding role, though,
CPOs require more than conventional
project management know-how and
tools. They also need a macro view of
the business.
You dont have to be an expert in
every business vertical, Mr. Glowacki
says. But you do need the expertise to
understand how resources interplay, for
example. A lot of my role is about set-
ting the table for senior executives so
they can make the decisions to ensure
that were effectively executing on the
strategy, he says.
CPOs should help their fellow upper
managers comprehend what the most
relevant project management issues
arewithout a lot of technical jargon.
The biggest mistake I see people
make is that the information passed up
to senior executives is way too compli-
cated, Mr. Glowacki says.
Its an understandable misstep
because project management thrives
on attention to detail. But that minutia
isnt necessary at the executive level.
CPOs must focus on distilling key take-
aways for an executive audience.
LexisNexis Risk Solutions will
deliver probably 300 to 400 projects
in a year, Mr. Glowacki says. And
literally, for all the business verticals, Ill
give them enough information on four
pages of paper.
This report offers a visual portfolio
view that reveals the projects progress,
followed by a summary of the key
points.
A CPO must also know when to
raise concerns about a project andjust
as importantlywhen to take a wait-
and-see approach.
There may be situations when
somethings gone red, and youre meet-
A CPO can be
instrumental in intro-
ducing project selection
thinking and methods
for senior executives
to choose projects
that have a better
chance of delivering
business value to the
organization.
Chris Vandersluis, HMS Software,
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
>TIPcPOs can ease the tension that often exists in a matrix
organization. The organizational structure and the project or work structure can find
themselves at odds. At a software company, for instance, a project manager must go
through a laundry list of departments, including design, programming, quality assurance,
documentation and marketing.
Matrix organizations are inherently at conflict, says Chris Vandersluis, HMS Software,
Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and it is the most popular organizational structure for com-
panies in a wide range of industries. A CPO can help balance the pull from both sides of
that matrix.
For example, a CPO should negotiate resource conflicts and create processes so the
resource side of the matrix knows how to prioritize what the project side of the matrix
requires, and vice versa. The CPO can establish and foster lines of communication
between parts of the organization, such as department managers and project managers,
who might otherwise not have any direct contact, he adds.
PMN1210 26-51.indd 30 11/15/10 11:24 AM
december 2010 PM NETWORK 31
ing with the owner of that business
to talk about it and you both decide,
Weve got a good handle on ittheres
no need to share that. And if it doesnt
turn around in a week or two, then well
share it, Mr. Glowacki says.
Its all part of keeping things simple
at the top.
A lot of things get vetted below, he
explains, and thats how you want it.
You only want the critical stuff coming
up to the executive level.
To truly be in tune with business
strategy and the executive mindset, Mr.
Glowacki cautions project professionals
not to look at process in a silo.
I find that escalation occurs when
you look at problems individually and
you say, Were going to fix this by add-
ing a process. Then the next problem
comes up, and you fix that one by add-
ing a process, he says.
Troubleshooting in this manner can
lead to process overload. Before you
know it, theres so much process that
you may be perceived as just slowing
everything down, Mr. Glowacki says.
You lose value.
Executed correctly, though, the role
of a CPO takes project management to
the next level, bridging the gap between
the executive suite and project teams.
Make room at the conference table.
The CPO is here is stay. PM
>>The ROI Of CPOs and PMOs
Some CPOs are also in charge of the project management office (PMO).
Dave Glowacki runs the PMO at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Boca Raton,
Florida, USA. While he doesnt have the official CPO title, he performs many of
the same responsibilities, including helping senior executives tie strategy to the
project portfolio.
We looked at our PMO and said, If there were four things we wanted everyone
we work with to take away from the PMO, what would those things be? he says.
The decided on the following:
n
Partner. Team up with technical management on one side, and the product
management and business unit on the other. This is opposed to a throw it
over the wall kind of approach or even a subordinate type of relationship,
Mr. Glowacki says.
n
Focus. Provide clearly defined goals for the organization through controlling
scope creep, driving the priority setting, and choosing the number and type of
projects requested across the organization in alignment with its strategy.
n
Urgency. Drive the organization and the various deliverables aggressively. For
LexisNexis, time to market is critical.
n
deliver. Follow through on what the PMO has committed to.
His team has taken to calling these strategic elements PFUD.
PFUD is the essence of what we strive to achieve in the PMO. How we operate
and evolve is centered around these four descriptors, Mr. Glowacki says.
Im not crazy about the term, he adds, laughing, but its definitely memorable.
In fact, those who work for the PMO wear that credo on their sleevesliterally.
They have polo shirts with PFUD embroidered on the arm.
That helps drive home the point for the rest of the company.
The message is clear, Mr. Glowacki says. This is what were about, and if we
dont do these four things, then were not doing our job.
PMN1210 26-51.indd 31 11/15/10 11:24 AM
32 PM NETWORK november 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
got
talent?
Companies around the globe are hiring again.
Project managers without experi ence or
standout skills need not apply.
b y S i mon K e n t
PMN1210 26-51.indd 32 11/15/10 11:24 AM
november 2010 PM NETWORK 33
talent?
Companies around the globe are hiring again.
Project managers without experi ence or
standout skills need not apply.
PMN1210 26-51.indd 33 11/15/10 11:24 AM
h
34 PM NETWORK december 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
Hope is on the horizon. After more
than a year of tight budgets and proj-
ects that were delayed or cancelled, job
opportunities are appearing for project
professionals. Whats more, there is
now a real drive toward creating and
exploiting untapped markets and push-
ing new products and services.
In some regions, project managers
on the job hunt will be able to ride the
crest of the revived economic wave. But
wherever project managers are required,
the demand for high-quality skills fol-
lows in the wake. To get hired, it helps
to have delivered projects across mul-
tiple countries, and to have helmed
projects that key into an organizations
strategic aims and deliver substantial
ROI. Furthermore, many organizations
are requiring project managers to hold
a credential.
Check out our regional breakdown
of where practitioners can expect to see
job growth this year:
The middle easT
Still recovering from the effects of the
global recession, most of the Mid-
dle East continues to engage in proj-
ect activitiesalbeit cautiously. The
United Arab Emirates GDP is forecast
to expand by 3.2 percent this year,
buoyed up by crude oil prices, accord-
ing to Minister of Economy Sultan bin
Saeed al-Mansouri.
Demand for project management
skills is higher than average, with a
number of megaprojects going on in
the region, says Craig Jordan, Dubai,
United Arab Emirates-based business
development regional manager at ESI
International, a project management
consultancy.
In Abu Dhabi, developers and execu-
tives are reviewing large-scale construc-
tion initiatives like the MGM Grand
Abu Dhabi hotel and Sowwah Square
business district to ensure that the proj-
ect plans align with the citys economic
realities.
Look to a couple of standout nations
in the region for burgeoning opportu-
nities for project professionals. The
United Arab Emirates was at a peak of
economic activity prior to the recession
period, says Hemanshu Joshi, project
manager at Global Information Tech-
nology, an IT software development
and consulting company in Dubai,
United Arab Emirates. Now economic
activities have shifted to Qatar and the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
But the job market in the Middle
East heavily favors experienced project
managers over beginners.
Its a boom time for well-qualified
project managers, but its not the mass
market for project managers that it was
a couple of years ago, Mr. Jordan says.
A lot of underqualified resources have
been driven out, so the overall quality of
people is better.
And theres no time for training or
learning on the job, Mr. Joshi adds.
This region has preference for experi-
enced project managers. Environment
and competition demand direct usage
of skills, he says.
africa
Africa experienced a GDP
growth of 1.6 percent in
2009, but this year has
proved much more promis-
ing. The continent is expect-
ing its GDP to grow by
4.3 percent in 2010, accord-
ing to the United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa and the African
Union Commission.
In the northern part of the continent,
Libya plans to spend US$500 billion
over the next decade on an array of
projects to improve housing, hotels, hos-
pitals, education facilities, infrastructure,
In Tanzania, foreign investment
rose by 8.5 percent
to US$700 million in 2010.
PMN1210 26-51.indd 34 11/15/10 11:24 AM
december 2010 PM NETWORK 35
ports, airports and security, providing
numerous employment opportunities
for project and program managers.
Farther south, in Tanzania, for-
eign investment rose by 8.5 percent
to US$700 million in 2010, thanks in
part to the removal of import duties on
construction materials. The increased
foreign funds are expected to boost
infrastructure and mining projects in
the East African nation. Already, two
large hotels are being refurbished, and
gold, uranium and iron ore mines have
begun operations.
During the recession, many contracts
were terminated or not renewed, put-
ting numerous project managers out of
work. That has left the African market
flooded with applicants, says Johann
Swart, PMP, project manager, Airports
Company South Africa, Johannesburg,
South Africa.
As confidence builds throughout the
continent, companies will start spend-
ing money again, he says. That means
more projects and more career oppor-
tunities. As in the Middle East, hiring
managers want candidates to have some
on-the-job experience. Now is not
really a good time to start a project
career, Mr. Swart says. There are still a
lot of experienced project managers out
there looking for jobs.
Organizations can be picky about
who they recruit and currently are
targeting project managers who can
offer specialized skills in areas such as
enterprise resource planning, finance
and banking, he adds.
europe
Despite some economies in Europe
coming close to collapse, the European
Commission increased its GDP growth
to 1.7 percent in 2010, a slight bump
from earlier predictions. Faced with a
huge budget deficit, though, the United
Kingdoms new coalition government
has made drastic cuts to spending, thus
ending the perception of the public
sector as a lucrative and safe area for
project work.
Projects in the regions
private sector have moved
from delivering efficiency
to delivering revenue. Its
about finding new routes
to market and generat-
ing new customers, says
Melanie Franklin, CEO
of Maven Training, a
project, program, change
and risk-management
consultancy in London,
England. Organizations
have done cost efficien-
cies and are now looking
at the external picture.
While there have been
noticeable increases in projects that
require skilled project managers, its
too early to say if the effects of the
recession have passed, says Russ Bore-
ham, project management recruitment
partner at T-Impact, a project manage-
ment and business process management
consultancy in Abingdon, Oxfordshire,
England. The recession has left many
hiring managers with the lasting view
that top-quality resources are available
at rock-bottom prices, which simply
isnt the case anymore, he says.
There are trends emerging in the
European project management job
market, says Mattias Hllstrm, direc-
tor of research and development and
cofounder of Projectplace, a project
management software and collaboration
company in Stockholm, Sweden. The
use of lean management techniques,
the end of command-and-control lead-
ership and the increased influence of
behavioral science all have emerged as
powerful new influencers. Project man-
agers are also using social networks such
as Facebook and LinkedIn to find work.
These and other project manage-
ment skills are more recognized in
Europe than they have been in previ-
ous years, attests Mark Westcombe,
program director of the project man-
agement degree program at Lancaster
University Management School,
Lancaster, Lancashire, England. Job
Organizations
have done cost
efficiencies
and are
now looking
at the external
picture.
Melanie Franklin, Maven Training,
London, England
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36 PM NETWORK december 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
seekers with a project man-
agement background or
certification are more attrac-
tive than business managers.
The terms project and proj-
ect manager are being used
everywhere, he says. This
shift is due to recognition
of the diverse elements proj-
ect managers must account
for within their positions.
They are not just deliver-
ing an objective. They are
accounting for the reaction
of numerous stakeholders
and taking responsibility for
an initiative that could last
for many years, he says.
North AmericA
An 8.8 percent jump in the United
States GDP from January 2009 to Sep-
tember 2010 seemed to indicate that
the worst was over.
In October, the U.S. government
emphasized its commitment to infra-
structure projects that will help improve
the economy and create jobs for project
managers and team members.
We need a new plan for Americas
roads, rails and runways for the long
term, U.S. President Barack Obama
said at a press conference. Over the
next six years, we will rebuild 150,000
miles (241,402 kilometers) of our
roads, enough to circle the world
six times. We will lay and maintain
4,000 miles (6,437 kilometers) of our
railways, enough to stretch coast-to-
coast. And we will restore 150 miles
(241 kilometers) of runways and
advance a next-generation air-traffic
control system, reducing delays.
There has been a definite upturn
in demand for project managers, says
Erika Flora, PMP, PgMP, principal at
Beyond20, an IT service management
firm in San Diego, California, USA. In
the last few months, I have personally
seen an increase in the number of proj-
ect management opportunities that have
come across my desk, she says. Nearly
all of the opportunities mention the Proj-
ect Management Professional (PMP)
credential. Although some opportunities
may say PMP preferred, in the current
economy, PMP certification is becoming
a must-have rather than a nice-to-have.
Organizations are also narrowing the
scope of what theyre looking for in a
project manager. More and more oppor-
tunities ask for specific areas of focus,
particularly within IT, Ms. Flora adds.
LAtiN AmericA
The region is rebounding impressively
from the effects of the global recession,
according to a report by the Organisa-
tion for Economic Co-operation and
Development. Despite a 3.6 percent
GDP decrease in 2009, forecasters
expect substantial growth this year.
Moreover, those countries that have
opened themselves up to international
competition over the past decade have
actually been more resilient in the face
of the global downturn.
Plenty of opportunities for project
professionals have cropped up.
The level of demand is high, says
Ral Bellomusto, PMP, freelance con-
sultant and professor of project manage-
ment at UADE (Universidad Argentina
de la Empresa), Buenos Aires, Argen-
tina. Without a doubt, the main sector
is IT, he says. The consultant industry
is in a good place, as is the set-up of
project management offices and project
recoveries.
In Chile, demand for PMP creden-
tial holders is about 3,000 in a country
where there are only 260 or so profes-
sionals with the qualification, estimates
Pablo Lewin, IT project consultant at
the chemical company BASF in San-
tiago, Chile. Ive seen telecom com-
panies hiring project managers from
Argentina, Colombia and the United
States because of experience and certifi-
cation, he explains.
The country and most industries
have realized that project management
is a profession and not a specialization,
Mr. Lewin adds.
Theres no
substitute for
real experience
that comes
only with years
of solving
complex
problems.
Tathagat Varma, Yahoo!, Bangalore, India
PMN1210 26-51.indd 36 11/15/10 11:24 AM
december 2010 PM NETWORK 37
Although the economic crisis hit the
IT industry hard in 2009, organizations
began to make serious investments in
technology again around the middle of
this year.
AsiA PAcific
While other parts of the world are cau-
tiously optimistic about the economic
recovery and consequent job prospects,
Asia Pacific is full-steam ahead. In fact,
some business leaders in India have to
be reminded that the rest of the world
has been experiencing a recession, says
Tathagat Varma, senior director of busi-
ness operations of Yahoo!, Bangalore,
India. Still, there is a serious short-
age of qualified and well-experienced
project managers across all industries,
he says. Theres no substitute for real
experience that comes only with years
of solving complex problems.
Projects are in the works across
India in IT, infrastructure, real estate,
utilities, hospitality and travel. More-
over, the country is moving away from
simply being seen as an efficient loca-
tion for outsourcing. Businesses are
now taking on the high end of the
problem set, according to Mr. Varma.
As they initiate more strategic and
challenging projects, theyre seeking
out a greater level of project manage-
ment talent.
There are a multitude of sectors that
we see as growth areas, including tele-
communications, banking, finance and
manufacturing, says Nancy Dewhirst,
Asia Pacific operations manager for
portfolio and service design at the Brit-
ish telecom company BT, Singapore.
Demand for talented project man-
agers is very high and increasing all the
time in Asia Pacific, she adds. There
is specific demand around technology
experience as well as the ability to inter-
face effectively with customers.
Other highly coveted skill sets for
project managers include business Eng-
lish and local language capabilities, in
addition to a high level of experience
and certifications.
Cancelled projects in the region are
being restarted. In some cases, organiza-
tions have raided other companies for
talent, luring employees away with high
pay, bonuses and other incentives.
Clients, particularly in the banking
sector, are being precise with their per-
sonnel demands, adds Bill Neuguth, an
independent project management con-
sultant in Hong Kong. There is a lot
of demand with very specific
skills, and project managers
are routinely brought in from
overseas, he says, though,
probably 98 percent of posi-
tions are filled locally.
There is strong demand
for project management skills
across sectors, says Angela
Brown, general manager and
consultant at Bright Umbrella,
a project management con-
sultancy in Wellington, New
Zealand. Organizations are
still developing new products,
offering new services, heading
off competition, becoming
more efficient, cost-cutting,
amalgamating and so on.
There is plenty of activ-
ity across the health sector, city and
regional councils, exporters, manufactur-
ers, banks and financial areas. Even the
construction sector is starting to call for
project managers after going very quiet
during the recession.
While many industriesand unem-
ployed project managersare still feel-
ing the effects of the recession, theres
a marked increase in demand for the
profession around the globe. Regions
most affected by the economic crisis,
such as Europe and North America,
continue to straggle. Other parts of the
world, including Latin America and
Asia Pacific, have recovered earlier.
As the need for project profession-
als increases, however, hiring managers
are raising their standards for the skills,
experience and credentials they expect
from their candidates. PM
An 8.8 percent
jump in the United
States GDP from
January 2009 to
September 2010
seemed to indicate that
the worst was over.
>> Find your
next job at
CareerHQ.
pmi.org.
PMN1210 26-51.indd 37 11/15/10 11:24 AM
38 PM NETWORK DECEMBER 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
HEALING A COMMUNITY
A healthy dose of communication helps
a team bring in a hospital construction
project right on time and
US$2.9 million
under budget.
from left, Stephen A. Williams; Janet Yackey, PMP;
Doug Winkelhake; Teresa Stroud; Janice Weaver, PMP
PMN1210 26-51.indd 38 11/15/10 11:40 AM
HEALING A COMMUNITY
BY B. G. YOVOVI CH / / PHOTO BY NATHAN WEBER
P M I 2 0 1 0 P R O J E C T O F T H E Y E A R F I N A L I S T
PMN1210 26-51.indd 39 11/15/10 11:40 AM
40 PM NETWORK december 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
The eastern part of Jefferson County in
the Louisville, Kentucky, USA metro
area had experienced rapid growth, and
it became clear that the community
needed a new medical facility. A home-
town healthcare giant offered a remedy:
the citys first new hospital in 25 years.
Norton Healthcare has a network of
five hospitals and 11 immediate-care
centers. But executives at the not-for-
profit organization were determined to
make this project unlike anything that
came before.
In the past, hospitals were designed
primarily around the healthcare pro-
cesses and the convenience of the hos-
pital staff and physicians. The design
frequently is not the most conducive
to the patients, families and guests they
serve, says Stephen A. Williams, presi-
dent and CEO of Norton Healthcare.
We wanted an entirely new-concept
hospital that was designed and built on
new thinkingfrom what the patients
and guests optimally wanted in a health-
care experience, to what the physicians
and staff desired in functionality and
maximally efficient work processes.
The entire initiative was a tremen-
dous challenge in that we would not
allow the planners to bring any tradi-
tional designs, programs, job descrip-
tions or work processes to the job, he
explains.
One such innovation is the emphasis
on peace and quiet. Theres no tradi-
tional overhead paging system; instead,
staff communicate via wireless devices.
In addition, carpeted hallways help
reduce noise.
Like any project sponsors, though,
the Norton executive team also wanted
the project delivered on time and within
budget. With funding approved in
2005, the team set to work combining
construction, IT and training expertise.
In Sync
Messer/TMG, a local firm, began con-
struction on the 298,000-square-foot
(27,685-square-meter) Norton Browns-
boro Hospital in July 2007.
A construction project of this nature
usually takes 30 months to complete,
says John Megibben, senior project exec-
utive at Messer/TMG. The hospitals
schedule was accelerated to 23 months.
At the same time that the construc-
tion was heading down its path, we also
had the staffing of the hospital heading
down its path, says Janice Weaver, PMP,
who led the US$146.3 million project.
>>Cost Cutters
Norton Healthcare went in with a bold vision of a cutting-edge hospitalbut it
had to do so with a fixed budget of US$146.3 million.
The first construction cost iteration was over-budget, says John megibben,
Messer/TMG, the Louisville, Kentucky, USA commercial construction company
working on the hospital project.
The team scrutinized all major aspects of the building, taking out the nice-to-
havessuch as a clear cover over the rooftop garden and Italian wall tilesand
downsizing other features to keep the price down.
For example, the parapet was originally designed to be 36 inches (0.9
meters). To reduce costs, the parapet was changed to 18 inches (0.5 meters),
with the understanding that workers would need to take special precautions
when working on the roof for safety, Mr. Megibben says.
t
PMN1210 26-51.indd 40 11/15/10 11:25 AM
december 2010 PM NETWORK 41
On the technology front, the facility
was being equipped with IT systems
used in other parts of the Norton net-
work, as well as 12 new systems, says
Ms. Weaver, associate vice president of
Norton Healthcares enterprise program
management office (PMO).
The staffing, training and IT sub-
projects proceeded along their own
trajectories and timetables. Still, they
needed to come together and go
through integrated testing to make sure
that everything would work when the
hospital opened its doors, she says.
And that really kept me awake at
night.
Given how tightly the subprojects
were interwoven, the team realized it
didnt do any good to finish ahead of
schedule.
When you are opening a healthcare
facility, and the marketing department
is putting up billboards that say it is
going to open on August 26, it does
no good to open on August 20, Ms.
Weaver says. It has to be on schedule,
and it is important for everyone to fin-
ish together.
A mAtter of trust
For all the pieces to come together,
effective communications and trust had
to be established right from the start.
From our very first meeting, we
talked about how we work together as
a team, Ms. Weaver says. We had to
make sure that when issues came up, we
would nip those things in the bud. Any
type of issue, if left on its own, could
become a major roadblock. And we
could not allow that. We did not have
time for it.
Ms. Weaver implemented manda-
tory, weekly project-integration meet-
ings for all 15-plus members of the
project leadership team.
If someone couldnt attend, he or she
would be teleconferenced inbut the
strong preference was that they physi-
cally attend in person, Ms. Weaver
says. Yes, you can hear people on a
conference call, but the personal rela-
tionship is fuller in an in-person meet-
ing. You can read body language and
find out about concerns that you might
not learn on a phone call. It makes it
easier to ward off a problem.
When trust is established, project
leaders dont have to micro-manage
and can let project managers and team
members work autonomously.
I had a wonderful person who was
responsible for the technology infra-
structure, she says. I had total confi-
dence in that project manager, so I did
not go and look after her work. The
same thing with construction. I felt
totally comfortable with our construc-
tion company. I literally trusted my life
to those people.
>>Healing Regime
december 2005 ............... Funding approved
september 2006 .............. Program manager assigned
december 2006 ............... Construction contract awarded
february 2007 ................. Subject matter experts solicited
Design planned
July 2007.......................... Groundbreaking ceremony
August 2007 ..................... Interior design approved
November 2007 ............... IT requirements discussed
february 2008 ................. Hospital processes defined
April 2008 ........................ IT subprojects launched
June 2008 ........................ Staff training and education planned
september 2008 .............. Construction and operational
schedules integrated
december 2008 ............... Medical equipment begins arriving
April 2009 ........................ Employee training starts
may 2009 .......................... Monthly departmental readiness
assessments begin
Nursing units placed on IT system
July 2009 ......................... Construction complete
IT integration testing
August 2009..................... IT infrastructure and staff training
complete
26 August 2009 .............. Norton Brownsboro Hospital opens
>> the search Is on
Know of a particularly
impressive project?
Nominate it for the
PMI 2011 Project of
the Year Award. Learn
more at PMI.org.
PMN1210 26-51.indd 41 11/15/10 11:25 AM
42 PM NETWORK december 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
Ms. Weaver didnt rule with an iron
fist. Instead, she offered support and
made herself available to the team.
Project managers knew that they
could come to me to be a resource in case
they hit a roadblock that they could not
resolve on their own, Ms. Weaver says.
Part of the trust she had in her team
was based on prior work together.
Most of the team had already been on
a project that we had managed, so they
came into the project knowing what to
expect, she says.
One of Ms. Weavers most impor-
tant relationships was with Janet
Yackey, PMP, director of enterprise
project management at Norton
Healthcare.
Janet was a lifesaver, says Ms.
Weaver, who cast Ms. Yackey as her
personal backup. When Ms. Weaver
required back surgery less than three
weeks before the project was slated to
close, for example, Ms. Yackey stepped
in to wrap up everything.
In the earlier stages of the project,
Ms. Yackey also proved her mettle,
leading a group walk-through of the
entire facility every Tuesday morning.
The walk-throughs enabled us to
make little corrections as they were
happening, when it was less expensive
to make the change, Ms. Yackey says.
They also helped avoid major prob-
lems that easily could have caused
significant costs and project delays. In
one instance, Ms. Yackey recalls try-
ing to schedule the vendors to install
the patient-monitoring equipment in
the nursing stations. She realized shed
need a new plan when the walk-
This is the largest, most
complicated project with
which I have been involved.
It all came together when
everyone walked across
the finish line and
we opened our doors. It
was just awesome.
Janice Weaver, PMP
>> Watch our video for an inside look at this project.
Only on PMI.org/PMNetwork
PMN1210 26-51.indd 42 11/15/10 11:25 AM
december 2010 PM NETWORK 43
through revealed that the station coun-
ters werent in placewhich obviously
meant the monitoring equipment
would have to wait.
Working in a sector rife with regu-
lations also added some wrinkles. For
example, the team had to obtain certifi-
cates of need to make many of the numer-
ous adjustments and scope changes that
are common in a project of this size. The
Cabinet for Health and Family Services,
a state government agency that adminis-
ters programs to promote the mental and
physical health of Kentuckians, requires
these certificates to manage services and
costs of healthcare.
You would not believe all of the
agenciesdozens and dozens of
agenciesfrom whom you have to get
approvals for changes, Ms. Weaver says.
Putting in Face time
Once staff training began in Janu-
ary 2009, the teams weekly meet-
ings evolved to include stakeholders
such as new directors and managers.
Stakeholder participation in meetings
helped ensure a smooth transition
from the project close to operations.
In too many projects, Ms. Weaver
says, if you get the business owners
involved at all, it usually is at the end.
Three months before launch, she
had the hospitals new managers fill
out a readiness assessment. Based on
their answers, she could gauge how
comfortable they were with all of the
deliverables, including staffing and IT
issues. The form asked for one of three
easily identifiable responses:
n
A sad face: I am totally unhappy.
n
A neutral face: Its getting there.
n
A smiley face: I am ecstaticits
done, and we are ready to go.
I knew that 90 days out, I would see
a lot of unhappy faces, but it was a great
way to get the business owners involved,
and when they had an issue, it was docu-
mented and could be addressed, Ms.
Weaver says.
She also knew she had to keep gov-
ernment officials in the loop, which
meant flagging monthly project reports
as high priority for her team.
I explained to my team that it is
not just a matter of me wanting the
report, Ms. Weaver says. I need it
to create the overall program progress
report that goes to all the key stake-
holders, which includes our vice presi-
dent of strategic planning, who has to
report to the state every six months.
The combination of monthly
project reports and weekly integra-
tion meetings provided the sufficient
amount of communication structure
that I needed to feel comfortable that
things were under control, she says.
crossing the
Finish Line together
The Norton Brownsboro Hospital
project was delivered on time and
US$2.9 million under budget. The
acute-care facility, with 127 beds and
eight operating rooms, opened at 6 a.m.
on 26 August 2009.
This is the largest, most compli-
cated project with which I have been
involved, Ms. Weaver says. It all
came together when everyone walked
across the finish line and we opened
our doors. It was just awesome.
The goal was to have 85 percent
of the nursing and ancillary positions
filled by the time the hospital opened
its doors. The project team surpassed
this benchmark, with 98.5 percent of
the nursing staff and 98 percent of the
ancillary employee slots filled.
The medical center wasted no time
proving its value to the community:
The first surgery patient showed up for
a bilateral total hip replacement, and an
emergency patient arrived at 11:48 a.m.
And Nortons CEO, for one, knows
it couldnt have happened without
project management.
Simply put, the project would
have been impossible to have been
achieved without our project manage-
ment staff, Mr. Williams says. They
achieved a result which exceeded
everyones expectations. PM
700
The number of
employees to be hired
and trained before the
hospital opened
US$146.3
million
The project budget
US$2.9
million
The amount the
project was delivered
under budget
PMN1210 26-51.indd 43 11/15/10 11:25 AM
44 PM NETWORK december 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
tiger
PMN1210 26-51.indd 44 11/15/10 11:25 AM
december 2010 PM NETWORK 45
by Sarah FiSter Gale >> illuStration by Stephanie Wunderlich
tiger
and dragon
taking on the
Outsourcings reigning powers face fierce
new competitionthough their upstart
rivals come with some very real risks.
PMN1210 26-51.indd 45 11/15/10 11:25 AM
t
46 PM NETWORK december 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
The iron grip that China and India
have held over outsourcing projects is
looseningand fast.
For one thing, neither the tiger nor
the dragon is as cheap as they once
were. In India, the brutal competition
for talent helped send the cost of labor
soaring over 100 percent in 2008, says
Don Jones, international tax partner at
global accounting firm BDO, San Jose,
California, USA.
Rising costs combined with politi-
cal discord in both India and China
have given vendors in more obscure
locations their big shot at luring in
budget-conscious clients. With still-
high unemployment rates, even the
United States is emerging as an option
for some North American companies
looking to keep projects close to home.
Since the economic drop in 2008,
many companies are rethinking their
outsourcing strategies, Mr. Jones says.
Vietnam, Mexico, Egypt and
Ukraine are just a few of the more
promising upstarts. Yet Mr. Jones
has heard many cautionary tales of
companies that have moved all their
outsourcing projects to one of the up-
and-comers, only to watch them floun-
der due to poor project management
and a lack of experienced talent.
They eventually gave up and went
back to the traditional outsourcing
locations like India, he says.
Such failures are why many of the
outsourcing companies in India and
China arent worried about these new
global players, says Lalit Dhingra, the
Atlanta, Georgia, USA-based president
of NIIT Technologies, a global IT
services firm. Everyone has technol-
ogy, but its the companies that bring
deeper knowledge of an industry that
add value, he says. Because at the end
of the day, even if you get a lower price
from a new vendor, if youre not getting
the work done right, it still costs you
more. Smart CIOs know that.
Thats not to say companies should
patently reject new outsourcing desti-
nations. Rather, they have to proceed
with caution, says J. LeRoy Ward,
PMP, PgMP, executive vice president
at ESI International, a consultancy in
New York, New York, USA.
Most companies outsource projects
to save money, he says. However, out-
sourcing can carry hidden costs, and
those must be included in any analysis.
It is therefore important to define your
overall business objectives first and
identify what you expect to save or
achieve in outsourcing. You are then
in a much better position to assess the
benefits and risks of each destination.
The first step is to evaluate the orga-
nizations risk tolerance around issues
such as political instability, inexperi-
enced talent pools or less-developed
infrastructure.
You have to balance your need for
cost savings against your willingness
for risk to the investment, says Peter
Ryan, Montreal, Quebec-based lead
analyst for business process outsourcing
at Ovum, a global research firm head-
quartered in London, England.
In many emerging markets, com-
pany employees may be facing physical
danger, for example. Executives are
a target for kidnapping, Mr. Ward
notes. If you are going to send your
people back and forth to such high-
risk locations, you have to be extremely
careful and provide the necessary secu-
rity and protective measures to ensure
their safety.
riding on brazils
coattails
With Brazil ensconced as a major
player in IT outsourcing, other parts
of Latin America are looking to make
their mark.
The people are well-educated,
there are strong technology-focused
colleges and universities, and the time
differences often arent as great as in
other outsourcing destinations such as
Eastern Europe, India or China. This
makes it much easier to do business for
certain types of outsourced projects,
Mr. Ward says. All of those factors are
PMN1210 26-51.indd 46 11/15/10 11:25 AM
december 2010 PM NETWORK 47
>>Group Decision
Choosing an outsourcing vendor should involve individuals far beyond just the project
team, says Kurt Kohorst, Seattle, Washington, USA-based director of business process
management at insurance company Liberty Mutual Agency Markets. The goal is to
find an organization you can build a relationship with. The cornerstone of this should
be the ability to structure the relationship so there are common goals around out-
comes, even though the motivation behind attaining the outcomes may be different.
When Liberty Mutual chooses key outsourcing vendors, Mr. Kohorst brings in the
troops:
>> IT security addresses data-access policies.
>> IT operations ensures the necessary systems are available when the project team
needs to work.
>> Audit and corporate risk-management teams make sure the provider sites meet
standards.
>> Human resources assesses the vendors hiring practices.
Nearly the entire organization is touched by decisions to outsource, especially if
you are offshoring, he says.
By involving key people up front, companies can mitigate risks as well as ensure
their outsourcing choices align with the organizations larger strategic goals.
Mr. Kohorst saw first-hand the dramatic effect a shift in corporate vision can have
on outsourcing projects.
He also managed business outsourcing programs for Safeco Insurance before Lib-
erty Mutual purchased the company in 2008. Safecos primary goals for outsourcing
reflected the organizations desire to be nimble and to leverage third-party vendors to
assist its journey to be faster and cheaper than the competition. Focusing on those
objectives, Mr. Kohorst had his team outsource a number of projects to India, where
they could tap into low-cost talent and build relationships with mature vendors.
After the buy-out, however, the corporate vision changed.
Rather than outsourcing to offshore vendors, Liberty Mutual wanted to create jobs
in the communities where we do business, Mr. Kohorst says. In addition, in many
cases the ongoing expense wasnt justifiable, and the decision to fix a process or a
system was a better choice.
That led Mr. Kohorst to move several business process outsourced projects back
in-house and onshore, and focus other outsourcing initiatives on regions where Lib-
erty Mutual operates.
In making the shift, Mr. Kohorst benefited from the relationships he had forged
with his vendors.
If we had just been about cost savings and not about building partnerships, they
might not have been as inclined to help us, he says.
Instead, his Indian vendors provided access to their development teams, offered
to help with training and resource transition, and supported frequent site visits. Mr.
Kohorsts team is currently two-thirds of the way through the transition of a major
back-office support development project to Liberty Mutual internal operations at sev-
eral locations in the United Statesand has had no service disruptions to date.
Some vendor relationships are more like going on a datethey are limited in
duration and relatively low-risk, he says. Outsourcing is a partnership more like a
marriage. Its a long-term relationship, and you need to work on that relationship or
it wont last.
>> What new
outsourcing
hotspots have
you discovered?
What are the pros
and cons? Discuss
in the PMI Service
and Outsourcing
Project Manage-
ment Community
of Practice at
soa.vc.PMI.org
PMN1210 26-51.indd 47 11/15/10 11:25 AM
48 PM NETWORK december 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
helping IT vendors pull in more com-
plex projects.
Brazil remains the powerhouse
because of its size and talent supply, but
Mexico is gaining appeal with its highly
trained work force and large English-
speaking population. Colombia also
shows potential as more vendors open
up shop and keep prices relatively low.
One downside is that project leaders
have to worry about safety, particularly
in Mexico, which has seen a jump in
killings and kidnappings.
Many of these new outsourcing
destinations, including Mexico and
Colombia, are doing little in terms
of government initiatives or social
change to allay fears about their safety
as an outsourcing destination, says
Doug Brown, principal of outsourc-
ing research firm Brown-Wilson Group
Inc., Clearwater, Florida, USA.
AsiAs UntApped mArkets
Amidst Asias next generation of
economic power players, Vietnam is
worth checking out for sheer cost sav-
ings. Outsourced projects cost from
30 to 50 percent less than in India
or Russia, says Roman Trakhtenberg,
managing director of Luxoft, an IT
outsourcing company in New York,
New York, USA.
The talent pool is growing, and
there is huge potential for this destina-
tion in the future, he says. Vietnams
an untapped market.
Its also one thats trying to make a
name for itself in the global outsourc-
ing community. After several years
honing their skills on basic projects,
along with investing in infrastructure
and talent development, Vietnams
tech companies are looking to take on
higher-value projects.
The vendors are interested in
more challenging projects, which cre-
ates some interesting opportunities for
cost-conscious companies, says Crowe
Mead, PMP, vice president of technical
operations for Calico Energy Services,
an energy management consultancy in
Seattle, Washington, USA.
For all those pluses, though, Viet-
nam still has a relatively inexperienced
talent pool. Approximately 40 percent
of the population is 23 or under,
according to Oxford Analytica, which
limits the kind of projects a company
may be willing to send there.
You wouldnt hire a 22-year-old to
lead a multimillion-dollar project, says
Pedro Serrador, PMP, president of Ser-
rador Project Management, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada. If its a simple proj-
ect and you dont need the most senior
people, then it may be worth trying a
Outsourcing is a change
process, and you cant
neglect the people side
of things. If you have
cultural differences,
issues are more
difficult to resolve.
Brigitte Cobb, BMI Healthcare, London, England
PMN1210 26-51.indd 48 11/15/10 11:25 AM
december 2010 PM NETWORK 49
new lower-cost destination. But if you
are outsourcing a complex system, you
need people with experience.
When Luxoft first considered mov-
ing projects to Vietnam, it began with
small internal pilot projects around
applications development and mainte-
nance to see if the outsourcing team
could handle the work.
We started slowly with projects
that werent customer-facing, Mr.
Trakhtenberg says. Gradually, we
increased the complexity of the proj-
ects we sent to make sure the quality of
the deliverables was the same as other
locations.
AfricA emerges
Outsourcing projects to Africa often
means accepting high risks. Organiza-
tions must be prepared for the possibil-
ity of graft, internal strife and safety
issuesalthough government and
business leaders in many of the nations
are fueling change. Kenya and Nigeria,
for instance, have both invested heavily
in education and building broad-based
telecom infrastructure while staying
competitive on price, Mr. Mead says.
However, there are some locations
that offer enticing benefits to offset risk.
South Africa is clearly the conti-
nents economic star, making it an
attractive spot for outsourced projects.
Project management is well-
embedded in the South African busi-
ness community, and English is widely
spoken, Mr. Ward says. From a Euro-
pean standpoint, its within roughly
the same time zone, easing commu-
nications.
In northern Africa, Morocco has
become a low-cost hotspot for French-
speaking companies. Egypt, mean-
while, has been aggressively building
its reputation as a global presence with
major backing from the government.
In late September, Egypts IT min-
ister, Tarek Kamel, said the North
African country is looking to grow its
burgeoning outsourcing industry to
US$10 billion by 2020.
Many people believe Egypt is
unsafe and that it has a negative view of
the West, but that couldnt be further
from the truth, Mr. Ryan says. The
vendors are eager to work with U.S.
and European companies.
The continent also offers great
opportunities for investing in corporate
social responsibility projects by sup-
porting struggling communities, Mr.
Mead adds.
Despite the outsourcing success sto-
ries, Africa is hauntedfairly or not
by lingering perception problems.
The talent pool is
growing, and there
is huge potential for
this destination in the
future. Vietnams an
untapped market.
Roman Trakhtenberg, Luxoft, New York,
New York, USA
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50 PM NETWORK december 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
Africa is an extremely large
untapped resource, Mr. Ward notes.
Unfortunately, due to civil unrest and
outright war in certain areas, low levels
of education and pervasive corruption
in many countries, it can be quite chal-
lenging to do business there.
eastern europes
expertise
Although costs arent as low as other
emerging outsourcing hotspots, East-
ern Europe offers competitive pricing,
along with some of the most highly
skilled project talent in the world.
Russia, for example, has a long his-
tory of investing in science and math
education, and its universities produce
more than 1 million programmers a
year, notes Mr. Trakhtenberg. Luxoft
views Russia as a top destination for
high-end complex outsourcing initia-
tives, he says.
Ukraine offers similar benefits, with
a strong educational system focused on
IT, as well as tax incentives and visa-
free travel for E.U. companies.
The Ukrainian government is tak-
ing this industry very seriously, says
Mr. Trakhtenberg, who estimates the
countrys labor costs are 15 to 25 per-
cent lower than Russias.
Romania is another rising leader,
particularly in telecom projects. Sie-
mens, Alcatel, Microsoft and Oracle
currently have captive outsourcing
arrangements in Romania in which
they use remote resources for the deliv-
ery of functions close to their core
business while retaining operational
control. The country offers a large
number of professionals who speak
German, Italian and French as well,
Mr. Trakhtenberg says. Its harder to
find that level of diversity in Russia or
Ukraine, he says.
Poland has a less-developed market
than Russia or Ukraine but is develop-
ing a niche by targeting its services to
financial services companies. In Sep-
tember, IBM, for one, opened its sec-
ond service delivery center. Located
in Wroclaw, it focuses on providing
IT and business process outsourcing
services to its clients. Anna Sienko,
general manager of IBM Poland, said
that the company chose the site for its
highly educated and experienced pro-
fessionals, language skills and a favor-
able business environment.
decisions, decisions
Wherever the destination, project exec-
utives need to invest the same time and
energy in choosing an outsourcing ven-
dor as they would in putting together
an in-house team, says Balazs Fejes,
the Budapest, Hungary-based CTO of
EPAM Systems, a software engineering
services provider.
Just looking at the bottom line is
not the most productive way to make
a decision, he says. Youve got to
look at outsourcing as a partnership
and be open about what you hope to
accomplish.
Too often, companies enter out-
sourcing agreements with unrealistic
expectations, such as assuming theyll
find specific business domain expertise
in a still-emerging market.
In the beginning, both parties must
discuss their goals, issues and concerns,
and everyone has to be honest, Mr.
Fejes says.
Otherwise, delivery goals will never
be met.
If its a simple
project and you
dont need the
most senior
people, then it
may be worth
trying a new
lower-cost
destination.
But if you are
outsourcing a
complex system,
you need people
with experience.
Pedro Serrador, PMP, Serrador Project
Management, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
PMN1210 26-51.indd 50 11/15/10 11:25 AM
december 2010 PM NETWORK 51
You have to consider whether
the vendor has worked in your
industry, who will be on your team
and whether that team is committed
to the success of your project, Mr.
Dhingra says.
As organizations assess vendors,
they shouldnt overlook cultural
nuances, either, adds Brigitte Cobb,
a London, England-based indepen-
dent consultant currently working
with BMI Healthcare.
Outsourcing is a change process,
and you cant neglect the people side
of things, she says. If you have
cultural differences, issues are more
difficult to resolve.
Once a vendor is chosen, Mr.
Dhingra suggests a multilayered gov-
ernance process:
n
Senior leaders should perform
quarterly reviews of major projects
and vendor relationships.
n
Project sponsors should participate
in monthly progress evaluations.
n
Project managers from both the
client and vendor sides should have
daily or at least weekly updates
to ensure tasks are being accom-
plished and to identify issues that
need to be escalated.
That level of governance is so
important, he says. It gives clients
an objective tool to evaluate the
project and the vendor relationship.
Companies may also want to imple-
ment weekly or biweekly deliverables
along with daily access to system data
to track project progress from afar, Mr.
Fejes suggests. Frequent deliverables
benefit both parties, he says. They
build trust, create a rhythm and ensure
everything is on track.
No matter where an organiza-
tion decides to outsource projects, it
must be realistic about what it hopes
to achieve.
There are no magic formulas for
choosing outsourcing vendors, Mr.
Ryan says. But if you are precise about
what you expect to gain, there will be
fewer surprises down the road. PM
0082_EMBRY-RIDDLE_SOME_THINGS.pdf 1 9/20/10 10:30:27 AM
PMN1210 26-51.indd 51 11/15/10 11:25 AM
a closer lo ok
Ipreo, New York, New York, Usa & epaM sYsteMs, kIev, UkraINe
from left, Arkadiy Dobkin,
Dmitry Maizet, EPAM
PMN1210 50-72.indd 52 11/15/10 11:54 AM
a closer lo ok
Ipreo, New York, New York, Usa & epaM sYsteMs, kIev, UkraINe
A financial software company
discovers a newfound faith in outsourcing.
december 2010 PM NETWORK 53
PhOTOs by RyaN dONNEll
F
Four years ago, Jonathan Meyer was ready to
give up on outsourcing. The CTO of global finan-
cial software provider Ipreo had tried outsourc-
ing a few projects to India, with only marginal
success.
Mr. Meyer had experimented with a well-
known vendor, a small boutique vendor and even
a captive team of his own employees sent to
work in India.
but none of his projects delivered much value
because teams didnt always want to write code
or build solutions. It was always a struggle,
he says.
Following an influx of employees and acquisi-
tions, Mr. Meyer had to rethink his outsourcing
strategy. several of the new hires hailed from
Eastern Europe and encouraged him to look in
that region for an IT vendor.
he was skeptical.
In India, you know who the big vendors are,
but in Eastern Europe, I had no idea where to
begin, he says.
a colleague suggested EPaM systems, a
U.s.-based IT outsourcing services provider with
development teams across Central and Eastern
Europe.
First the outsourcing team had to prove it
knew how to handle security concerns around
sensitive financial data. security is of massive
importance to us, Mr. Meyer says.
Technical skills werent enough, though
Ipreo needed to be able to communicate effec-
tively. The fact that senior team members spoke
English fluently boded well.
but the proof would ultimately come in the
results. Mr. Meyer gave EPaM a project to test
the waters: a sophisticated data-analysis tool
that his in-house team had already tried, and
failed, to build.
PMN1210 50-72.indd 53 11/15/10 11:54 AM
It was one of those projects that had
a lot of complicated code, and at first, they
didnt want it, he says.
EPAM eventually agreed to tackle the
project, and delivered it on time and to
specification.
Since then, all of Ipreos major engineer-
ing projects that cant be handled in-house
go to EPAM, and Mr. Meyer has come to rely
heavily on the company.
I dont think of it as outsourcing. I think
of it as co-sourcing, he says. Just as we
have a New York office and a London office,
I think of EPAM as our Kiev office.
Ready foR the Big time
Based on the success of the initial projects,
Mr. Meyer outsourced a major overhaul of
Ipreos flagship product, Bigdough, to the
Eastern European team in April 2007.
Bigdough provides contact and owner-
ship data on 50,000 capital markets profes-
sionals. The original version was built using
ColdFusion, a programming application Mr.
Meyer found to be too limited. People loved
it, but it didnt scale up, he says.
Ipreo wanted to make the software
more robust and scalable, but the company
didnt have the resources or expertise
to manage the redesign. So Mr. Meyer
brought the project to his outsourcing
partner.
The fate of the mission-critical project
would depend on how well the two teams
could collaborate, says Dmitry Maizet,
director of technology solutions at EPAM
and account manager for Ipreo.
The most critical aspect of how we
work with any client is about the relation-
ship, he says. We take shared responsibil-
ity for the outcome, and we have a project
management process that prioritizes com-
munication and transparency.
Before launching the project, Mr. Mey-
ers in-house engineers established the
code style and methodology they wanted
the EPAM team to follow. They also brought
the lead engineers from Kiev to New York
to discuss the projects goals and how the
database would be used.
We never want people making assump-
tions about the project if there are knowl-
edge gaps, Mr. Meyer says. Unless you sit
down and talk with your team about how to
build it and what you want it to do, it wont
come out right.
54 PM NETWORK decemBeR 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
PMN1210 50-72.indd 54 11/15/10 11:54 AM
To avoid the out-of-sight, out-of-mind
problem, Mr. Meyer set frequent milestones
for the EPAM team and established a daily
10 at 10 call, when the two teams talked
for 10 minutes about the project. Its a way
for them to build their knowledge about us,
and for us to be comfortable with what they
are doing, he says.
To further foster trust, EPAM granted
the Ipreo team full access to project data
through a web portal and sent daily status
notifications. They dont need to ask us
whats happening in the project environ-
ment, Mr. Dobkin says. They can see for
themselves.
Upon project launch, EPAMs team
immediately started churning out pages of
code that Mr. Meyers team members had
struggled to build on their initial upgrade
attempt.
Fueled by their success, EPAM devel-
opers began making suggestions to
improve the technology and evolve the
design rules.
There is no subordination between the
client and the vendor team, says EPAM
co-founder and CEO Arkadiy Dobkin. Our
people feel like they are a part of the team,
and they are not shy about pointing out
problems when they see them.
The redesigned Bigdough program was
released in January 2009. Now EPAM is
working on an upgrade that will integrate
the database with salesforce.com, a cus-
tomer-relationship management cloud-
computing platform. Its scheduled to go
live this month.
Ipreo has faced a few challenges work-
ing with an Eastern European vendor, but
no more than you would have with any
company, Mr. Meyer says.
Because of Ipreos security concerns,
for example, it doesnt give the EPAM team
access to any data used in the tools it devel-
ops. Even Skype is verboten, as its able to
bypass firewalls, and any application that
allows file transfers, instant messaging or
voice that cant be monitored or archived has
risk of viruses or worms. Although EPAM
commonly uses Skype, team members are
forbidden to use it on any Ipreo project.
The strong relationship forged between
the two organizations has also given Ipreo
the confidence to work with EPAM on
a time-and-materials basis rather than a
fixed contract.
The move marks a huge organizational
shift, Mr. Meyer says, allowing Ipreo to
adjust project goals based on changing
marketplace needs without worrying about
pre-defined specifications.
It takes a gigantic amount of trust, Mr.
Meyer says. If we miss our dates, its our
risk, not theirs.
But its a risk worth taking, he says:
Working this way makes us both more
nimble.
Companies shouldnt give up on out-
sourcing, Mr. Meyer believes. But they do
need to invest the time and due diligence
required to develop trust. When you view
outsourcing as a partnership, wherever
your vendor is, thats when you get the best
work, he says. Sarah Fister Gale
december 2010 PM NETWORK 55
>>There is no subordination between the client
and the vendor team. Our people feel like they
are a part of the team, and they are not shy about
pointing out problems when they see them.
Arkadiy Dobkin, EPAM
PMN1210 50-72.indd 55 11/15/10 11:54 AM
A
BY RACHEL ZUPEK
Choose your projects. Pick up
experience across sectors. Sounds
tempting, but going independent
also means worrying where your
next gig is coming from.
A few years ago, Marcelo Andrade, PMP, was a full-time IT
project manager at a manufacturing company in Brazil. Then
he got a glimpse of life on the other side.
Having worked intensively with a team of consultants for
more than six months on a project, I became interested in the
dynamics of their work, he says.
One year later, he received a job offer from one of the
consulting firms on the project. He took the plunge and
made the switch, eventually starting up his own project man-
agement consulting firm, Eficia Consulting in Uberlndia,
Brazil. I came to the conclusion that, in the worst case, I will
be adding a rich experience to my career, he says.
For any practitioner, launching a career as an indepen-
dent consultant is a gamble. Striking out on your own
means wondering where the next paycheck will come
from and constantly drumming up new business. It cer-
tainly comes with its advantages, thoughlike choosing
which projects you take on and working across a variety
of industries.
You can gain exposure to a wide range of business mod-
els, products and industries, says Pattie Vargas, PMP, princi-
pal of The Vargas Group, a management consultancy in San
Diego, California, USA.
Consulting often proves to be a project management
crash course.
You can learn as a consultant in a few months what
you would take years to learn by working in just one
company, Mr. Andrade adds. You are put to the test
SO, YOU WANT TO BE A CONSULTANT?
SO, YOU WANT TO
SO, YOU WANT TO SO, YOU WANT TO
PMN1210 50-72.indd 56 11/15/10 11:54 AM
DECEMBER 2010 PM NETWORK 57
CAREERTRACK
SO, YOU WANT TO BE A CONSULTANT?
SO, YOU WANT TO
SO, YOU WANT TO SO, YOU WANT TO
PMN1210 50-72.indd 57 11/15/10 11:54 AM
58 PM NETWORK december 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
with more intensity than the corporate
environment, so its like accelerated
professional development.
Consulting also gives project managers
added legitimacya definite advantage in
a profession that all too often lacks official
authority, says Charles Ryder, PMP, direc-
tor of Kennedy Ryder, a project manage-
ment training and consulting group in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Working within a corporation, I felt
that although I had a lot to offer, my voice
was not being heard, he says. Consul-
tants are more likely to be listened to, have
their recommendations acted upon and
have access to more senior people than
full-time employees.
On YOur Own
Of course, a lucrative career as an indepen-
dent consultant doesnt happen overnight.
Too often, project managers take the leap
without proper preparation.
Many consultants dont have a fully
defined business plan before they launch
out on their own, Ms. Vargas says.
Investigate the market to understand the
likelihood of employment, have a firm
financial plan for how to manage your
business and cash flow, and clearly define
your service offering so you can do better
target marketing.
Do your research. Look at websites,
attend workshops and pose questions on
professional bulletin boards to see what
other consultants are doing.
Put together some marketing materi-
als and then get input from hiring manag-
ers, she adds. Ask if they would hire you
for the services you are offering, and, if
so, what they would expect to pay. Solicit
input on your message. Ask hiring manag-
ers if your value proposition is clear and
compelling.
Being an independent consultant
means understanding how to run a small
business.
You will be your own bookkeeper,
marketing department, office supplier and
scheduler, Ms. Vargas says. All that work
that got done by others at your previous
employer will now be done by you.
That can be the greatest shock when
transitioning from the corporate envi-
ronment to working independently, says
Lisa DiTullio, principal, Your Project
Office, a project management consultancy
in Cohasset, Massachusetts, USA. The
first two years were full of surprises as I
fumbled around with tasks I never had to
manage in my prior existence.
With self-management must come
discipline.
There isnt necessarily a boss holding
you accountable, Ms. Vargas says. If time
management is a challenge as an employee,
it will be worse as an independent.
And time management becomes all
the more complicated with consulting
gigs. The project managers schedule is
constantly in flux, Mr. Andrade says. It
is very difficult to establish a normal work-
ing schedule.
Devise a systemand be sure to con-
sider work-life balance. Have family and
private time, Mr. Ryder advises. You will
be a better consultant for it.
Although project management consul-
tants put in some long hours, your time is
your own. Even if you are working a full-
time contract, you can take time off here
or thereprovided the work gets done on
time, Ms. Vargas says.
marketing mOde
Although companies looking to cut costs
will frequently hire consultants, competi-
tion remains fierce. To attract clients, you
must clearly demonstrate what sets you
apart from other consultants.
You have to sell your personality. Cus-
tomers must like you and see that you
can adapt to fit into their culture, says
Carl Godell, PMP, owner and director of
operations at CJL Communications Inc.,
a project management services company
in West Bloomfield, Michigan, USA.
I must keep adjusting to meet those
unique individual customer needs, listen-
ing to what the customer needs, finding
the pain, fixing the pain and accepting
some of the risk, he explains.
And while one of the perquisites of
being an independent consultant is that
I realize I
can never be
complacent
or sit back
and assume
business will
always come
my way. It is
a constant
search for
the next new
opportunity.
Lisa DiTullio, Your Project Office,
Cohasset, Massachusetts, USA
caREERtrack
PMN1210 50-72.indd 58 11/15/10 11:54 AM
you get to pick your own clients, you also
have to find them.
As a consultant, you can never rest
on your laurels, Ms. DiTullio says. My
mind runs 24/7, constantly brainstorming
new ideas, ways to create visibility and
channels to land new business. I realize I
can never be complacent or sit back and
assume business will always come my way.
It is a constant search for the next new
opportunity.
Sometimes you dont have to search
very far. Consulting jobs often come from
current clients, so consultants should try
to leverage their connections.
Every client you deliver the expected
results for is another part of building a
professional network, members of which
will eventually remember the value of your
work, Mr. Andrade says.
Nearly all of Ms. Vargas business is
based on existing relationships.
They knew me and the quality of my
work, so they felt comfortable referring
me to their clients or colleagues, she says.
Those networks are crucial to gaining
new opportunities and making new intro-
ductions.
Online resources such as LinkedIn
and Facebook can certainly add to your
network, but never abandon in-person
networking, Mr. Godell suggests.
The computer is an amazing tool
for connecting throughout the world,
he says. But you still have to knock on
doors, shake hands and look eye-to-eye.
Manage networking as you would a
project. It should be targeteddont
spend time at networking events that dont
draw your target market or youll find it
to be a large time drain, Ms. Vargas says.
Likewise, there may be other consultants
who are eager to pick your brain about
ideas, opportunities and guidance. Just
as someone helped you, you should be
gracious to them, but beware of too many
meetings like that or your week will be
gone.
Ultimately, whether you get jobs will
come down to your performance. Fail to
live up to expectations, and you could find
yourself blacklisted.
Years ago when I was a project man-
ager full-time, there was a not recom-
mended list of consultants who we did
not want in our projects due to low com-
mitment and capacity to deliver them,
Mr. Andrade says.
As with any career, there will be some
trials and tribulations.
There is no perfect job, so make
sure you arent switching to consulting
to escape a bad job environment, Ms.
DiTullio says. While the switch can be
liberating, it requires dedication, persever-
ance and relentless energy. PM
How much is your time worth? For indepen-
dent consultants, its no philosophical conun-
drum. They need to put an actual monetary
amount on their workand it should account
for all of their expenses.
Simply taking your salary and dividing
it to get a daily or an hourly rate will rarely
prove to be an effective method for forecast-
ing your income or meeting financial needs,
says David Zahn, president, Zahn Consulting,
a strategic alignment and coaching firm in
Wallingford, Connecticut, USA.
It assumes that you will be at 100 percent capacity and
that none of the ancillary costs have been factored in, says Mr.
Zahn, coauthor of How to Succeed as an Independent Consultant
Fourth Edition [Wiley, 2004].
Those ancillary costs can add up very quickly, says Pattie
Vargas, PMP, The Vargas Group, San Diego, California, USA.
Once you go independent, youll be paying for healthcare, mar-
keting, advertising, office overhead, travel, legal fees, insurance,
accounting services, training and certifications.
And while project management consultants typically earn
more than salaried practitioners, they also have a heavier work-
load, says Marcelo Andrade, PMP, Eficia Consulting, Uberlndia,
Brazil.
To calculate fees, work under the general assumption that
you will be able to sell about 50 percent of your time, not
including weekends, holidays and vacations, Mr. Zahn suggests.
Choose a fee structure that will meet your annual needs, based
on only being booked half the time.
He suggests three possible methods to determine what to
charge for your services:
n
Per basis: Fees are calculated per time unit, per project, per
type of project, etc.
n
Prevailing rate: See what others are charging and choose to
be on par. Alternately, you can present yourself as a premium
provider or a value offering.
n
Value to client: What is the worth derived from the execution
of this particular work?
In the grand scheme of things, money is but one factor in
deciding to become a consultant. It just happens that, for many,
its the deciding factor.
>>Money Matters
December 2010 PM NETWORK 59
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60 PM NETWORK DECEMBER 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
the
PMN1210 50-72.indd 60 11/15/10 11:55 AM
BY CHAUNCEY HOLLINGSWORTH
Stakeholder vs. stakeholder.
Team member vs. team
member. Conflict happens
and its up to project
managers to ease tensions.
PMN1210 50-72.indd 61 11/15/10 11:55 AM
I
F
II
62 PM NETWORK DECEMBER 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
If your biggest workplace conflict con-
sists of telling the guy down the hall
to shut his door when hes using his
speakerphone, consider yourself lucky.
Slashed budgets, scope creep, per-
sonality clashes and office politics
can all fuel confrontation. Maybe
one stakeholder doesnt want to wait
around another week for the lat-
est round of bells and whistles that
another stakeholder simply cannot
live without. Perhaps a team member
is silently stewing over some per-
ceived slight in the morning meeting.
Even a simple desk rearrangement
can escalate into a major showdown
over disputed territory.
And more often than not, its the
project managers who must broker
the peace deal.
The best way to turn down the
heat on simmering disagreements is
to address them before they flare
upextinguishing potential tensions
when theyre little more than signal
fires on the horizon.
STAKEHOLDERS AT STAKE
It comes down to the physics of
project management: A project cant
go in two directions at once. Two
stakeholders with significantly dif-
ferent visions can, and will, cripple a
projectand it happens all the time.
Its a common dynamic on many
projects, says Ngozi Watts, business
developer at WMS, a video game
designer and manufacturer in Chi-
cago, Illinois, USA.
The ramifications of two proj-
ect stakeholders at odds with each
other cascade down, says Mary Oss-
wald, senior manager of asset opera-
tions and reporting at Kamehameha
Schools, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.
Clearly determining each stake-
holders vision for the projects final
destination is step one in curtailing
friction.
Sometimes we think we know
what those interests are, Mr. Watts
says. But the onus is on the project
manager to peel back that onion and
really understand at a very intimate
and detailed level what the interests
of the various stakeholders are. Then
go through the exercise of figuring
out where those interests may align.
Youll never completely compre-
hend a persons opinions and objec-
tives unless you dig.
A project manager needs to facili-
tate feedback from stakeholders, even
if it is not easy to get, says Mar-
cello Patrese, PMP, partner at PMT
Group, a project, program and port-
folio management consultancy and
training company in Trento, Italy.
Request comments on all corre-
spondence, he suggests.
And be vocal: If you give feed-
back, you get feedback, Mr. Patrese
says. Even if its not requested or
necessary, its still a lesson for the
stakeholder.
INTERNAL STRIFE
Sometimes conflict rears its ugly head
within the project team itself.
The discord can grow out of a lack
of understandingan inability or
refusal of the warring factions to rec-
ognize each other as working on the
same team for a common goal. Left to
fester, enmity between colleagues can
quickly escalate and halt a projects
progress.
Its an age-old problem that even
the finest minds in business have yet
to solve. Short of some new epiphany,
project managers just have to go in
and do whatever it takes to facilitate
a resolution.
You cant let your project fail on
a couple of people not getting along,
Ms. Osswald says.
On many teams, it comes down
to a battle between the old and new
guard, she says. People are, by nature,
averse to change and they dont neces-
sarily appreciate a fresh perspective.
New additions are often met with a
frosty skepticism. Theres an imme-
diately distinct view: You dont know
PMN1210 50-72.indd 62 11/15/10 11:55 AM
december 2010 PM NETWORK 63
how to do our job. You dont under-
stand what we do, Ms. Osswald
says. In this kind of cultural clash,
you need to foster communication
that focuses on the projects vision
and objectives. You need to bring
everyone to a shared understanding
of the expectations of the team and
each individuals role in the success
of the project and the organization.
The sub-context of this exercise is
to build trust.
It is almost always worth slow-
ing a project down by a few days to
take the time to assemble the project
teams and revisit the project goals
and objectives, she says.
Project managers must also find
ways to contend with passive-aggres-
sive behavior. Some team members
keep to themselves or dont speak up
when they should. Others run around
complaining about how the projects
going without recommending any
solutions to fix matters.
That can spiral out of control
really quickly, Ms. Osswald says.
You go to a meeting where nobody
will speak up or express an opinion,
so you leave the meeting thinking
that everybodys in agreement with
what the few vocal people have to
say. Then a week or two later, you
get a memo saying everything youre
>>Boons of Contention
It takes a massive geological force to create a diamond. Likewise, sometimes the conflict
among converging project elements can be used as a force for good:
build team cohesion.
Sometimes a conflict situation means a high level of stress and, in some projects, could
be very useful when you are in a hurry and need a strong and close team, says Marcello
Patrese, PMP, PMT Group, Trento, Italy.
secure different viewpoints.
Conflict can be good because you get the devils advocate position, says Mary Osswald,
Kamehameha Schools, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. Conflict usually comes because someone
doesnt want change or they dont agree with how youre making change. It certainly
inspires better conversation and more thought about whats being done and why its being
done. It forces the project to evolve.
air buried grievances.
If you have a project with no conflict, you might have just as much of a leadership prob-
lem as if you were experiencing massive conflict, Ms. Osswald says. Its very unlikely
everybody always agrees with how the project activities are progressing. If you have zero
conflict, my thought is youve got a bunch of yes men who are keeping their mouths shut
and simply doing what they think the leaders want. Maybe you dont have an open enough
environment. Thats possibly more dangerous. You risk implementing something thats not
going to work for anyone.
develop creative solutions.
Conflict from different interests and the expression of those interests sometimes create
the opportunity for creative solutions, says Ngozi Watts, WMS, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
However, the later conflict occurs, the less likely it is to create those opportunities. The
project manager has to identify conflict early on to really leverage potentially compelling
interests into a positive.
PMN1210 50-72.indd 63 11/15/10 11:55 AM
64 PM NETWORK december 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
TRADITION. ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE. ONLINE CONVENIENCE.
PMP, CAPM and PMI Registered Education Provider logo are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.
2010 All Rights Reserved. Made Available by University Alliance

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0062_USF_YOURE_RECOGNIZED.indd 1 7/20/10 4:58:19 PM
doing is wrong, and nobody sup-
ports it, and the project is completely
derailed.
To avoid such ugliness, project
managers must foster consistent com-
munication.
The one rule thats really impor-
tant to establish is that silence is
agreement, so if you dont say any-
thing during a meeting, were going
to assume that you agree, Ms. Oss-
wald adds. The meeting is your
opportunity to say I agree or I
disagree.
easy does It
When project managers see a poten-
tial conflict looming, they need to
convince their team of the best path
to takenot just impose change,
says Fbio Laranjeira Bernardes,
project management office leader at
CTEEP (Companhia de Transmisso
de Energia Eltrica Paulista), Sao
Paulo, Brazil.
When Mr. Laranjeira Bernardes
recently launched a new standard for
managing project budgets, he knew it
might set off an uprising among the
companys project managers. He had
to make the case, explaining both the
pros and cons.
A new budget control based on
deviations of executions would bring
more operational work to the project
managers, but it would also give more
analysis power to them, he says.
First, he secured buy-in from the
chief project officer and coordina-
tors, while also warning them of
the possible resistance. Mr. Laran-
jeira Bernardes then held a meeting
explaining the change to the project
managers. They were less resistant
to that new control, being convinced
to use it rather than being obliged,
he says. People who are convinced
become part of the solution instead
of being only part of the problem.
By taking the time to address team
member or stakeholder concerns, proj-
ect leaders can preventor at least
mitigateangry knee-jerk reactions.
A lot of times, project managers
are able to get ahead of the conflict and
guide those dynamics better than other
parties, Mr. Watts says. Theres often
a clear way for two parties to agree,
but its not obvious to them. A project
manager is in a particularly good posi-
tion to be able to identify a solution to
two parties potential areas of conflict.
Just add peacemaker to the project
manager job description. PM
Theres often a clear way for two
parties to agree, but its not obvious
to them. A project manager is in a
particularly good position to be able
to identify a solution to two parties
potential areas of conflict.
Ngozi Watts, WMS, Chicago, Illinois, USA
PMN1210 50-72.indd 64 11/15/10 11:55 AM
december 2010 PM NETWORK 65
PMN1210 50-72.indd 65 11/15/10 12:51 PM
66 PM NETWORK december 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
HELPDESK
>>tabLEt timE
Tablet computers are wildly convenient, but the project
management apps arent quite there yet.
Personal digital assistants (PDas) were holstered to the belt of
every rising business professional in the early 2000s. When you hooked
your Palm to your laptop, you didnt just update your calendaryou
hot-synced. Like a term from a William Gibson cyberpunk novel, the act
seemed to signify something beyond updating your appointments. You
were plugging into the streamlined, recalibrate-on-the-fly culture of the
project management jet set, business 2.0 on a double espresso and a
small monochrome screen.
Nowadays, tapping a stylus on a digital brick seems about as retrograde
as scratching a stone on a clay tablet. PDas have evolved, their capabilities
merging with mobile phones into touch-screen tablet computers, one-stop-
shop communications and scheduling platforms.
< Leader of the Pack
taking its place at the head of the digital device hierarchy is Apples iPad. as sleek
and sexy as the companys Newton Pda (rIP, 1993-1998) was clunky and slow, the
iPad is a game-changer. despite new slim netbooks and the much-hyped release of
hPs Slate 500 in mid-November, the iPad is currently the undisputed leader.
With prices starting at US$499, the iPad requires less of an investment than many
laptops and still has more than enough processor power to handle most project man-
agement software.
though much smaller than most computer screens, the iPad work area appears
cleaner and more spacious than a Pc desktop because top-of-the-screen menus are
largely absent. the setup creates an elegant look that makes you feel as if youre
navigating within a smooth flow of information rather than tinkering around from the
outside. and having your pick of vertical or horizontal orientation allows you to decide
which best suits the perusal of project details.
Like many technophiles, enterprising project managers were quick to explore the
iPads potential, but the current lineup of project management tools is a bit under-
whelming.
Straddling the line between casual and professional, the products enable quick
though simplistic overhead project surveying, but lack the greater depth of a more
robust software offering. as of press time, fewer than 40 project management
choices show up in the itunes app store, many of which are simple time-trackers or
education products rather than proper tools.
PMN1210 50-72.indd 66 11/15/10 11:55 AM
>>TABLET TIME
B Y C H A U N C E Y H O L L I N G S W O R T H
< STREAMTIME is offering an iPad version of its
project management software that allows client-server inter-
action identical to the companys desktop PC iteration. Scroll
through client lists by sliding your finger down the screen,
enter notes with a few taps and access project-wide commu-
nications with another touch.
But what about other project management tasks that
require heavier lifting, such as resource allocation variables
and critical path charting?
SG PROJECT 2 >
from FourthFrame Technologies
comes the closest to something
a project manager might find
truly useful. It accommodates
multiple projects, parent and child
tasks, and dependencies between tasks, with durations, ownership and
percentage-completed options for each. You can view tables and Gantt
charts in split views, and a few finger movements let you zoom in or out.
Data formatted in PDF or XML can be exported to exchange information
with Microsoft Project or provide team-wide status updates.
Like other iPad apps, the bonus comes down to cost savings: The
software is only US$9.99. For the price of a low-end PC software
license, an organization could outfit a couple dozen iPads.
Tablet computers are wildly convenient, but the project
management apps arent quite there yet.
DECEMBER 2010 PM NETWORK 67
THE VERDICT
Each product among the relatively small family of proj-
ect management iPad apps comes with significant
limitations. Some cant trade information with Project
and/or are dependent upon a local Wi-Fi network. Cus-
tomer reviews also reveal extensive bugsunsurprising,
given the rush to port existing applications into iPad
versions.
Project managers shouldnt despair. Toshiba keeps
promising a next-gen tablet, and the Omni Group has
been detailing its plans to bring OmniPlan to the iPad
since January. Plus, developers eager to exploit the
expanding market will presumably beef up their project
management offerings.
Only then can the iPad go from being a cool new toy
to a serious must-have tool for project managers. PM
PMN1210 50-72.indd 67 11/15/10 11:55 AM
Quentin W. Fleming and Joel m. Koppelman
Earned Value Project Management
Fourth Edition
BarBee davis, pmp
Quick Quizzes for Project Managers
Test your project
management
knowledge and
expand your
skills through
story questions
about situations
faced every day
by project man-
agers in the field. Every answer in this
handy book is followed by a short,
specific explanation that gives you
background detail on the topic and a
problem-solving approach you can try
in your own organization. Many of the
questions come from working project
managers around the world concerned
with issues they face in real projects.
Each tip is educationally sound and
consistent with the concepts and
terminology found in A Guide to the
Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK Guide)Fourth Edition
and other current PMI Standards.
project management institute, 2010,
isBn: 9781935589105, spiralbound, 218 pp.,
$31.95 member, $39.95 nonmember.
Kerry r. Wills, pmp
Essential Project Management Skills
Todays project managers can master
the essential skills of persuasion, self-
management, communication and
relationship management with help
from this volume. Its four sections
are enhanced with tables, diagrams
and case studies that illuminate each
skill and its impact. It offers tech-
niques that can be applied to master
these new skills and ties together the
evolution of the project landscape,
the challenges posed and the new
skills required
to manage
projects suc-
cessfully in the
modern world.
It also provides
a checklist of
the skills and
techniques in
the context of
different project
scenarios.
CrC press, 2010, isBn: 9781439827161,
hardcover, 220 pp., $66.45 member,
$69.95 nonmember.
stephen Jenner
Transforming Government and Public
Services: Realising Benefits through
Project Portfolio Management
Exploring a
number of key
themes fun-
damental to
a value-based
approach to
government and
public-sector
project portfolio
management,
this book
explains how to develop a business case
to achieve a desired end rather than jus-
tify a particular solution, create project
documentation that is technically rigor-
ous and gives users a clear understand-
ing of the project goals, treat projects
as investments rather than costs, and
plan for success rather than hold people
responsible for failure. It provides a
clear and applicable guide for those
working on complex projects in often
confusing and politicized environments.
gower, 2010, isBn: 9781409401636,
hardcover, 188 pp., $109.20 member,
$114.95 nonmember.
>>>pmimarkEtplacE FEaturEd books
elizaBeth harrin
Social Media for Project Managers
Communication is a key aspect of project managementand social media has become an essential
tool. Many companies that initially used social media to reach customers and build their reputa-
tions are now expanding its use to internal project management. This book shows how adapting
various types of social media to project management drives efficiencies. In addition, it reveals how
the most common forums used for socializing and connecting with team members help to improve
group communicationsteambuilding, networking, community bloggingopen forums for dis-
cussion and feedback, and shared best practices and lessons learned.
project management institute, 2010, isBn: 9781935589112, paperback, 153 pp., $31.95 member, $39.95 nonmember.
o
HOW TO ORDER Online: Marketplace.PMI.org Telephone: 1-866-276-4PMI
(U.S. and Canada) or +1-770-280-4129 (international) E-mail: book.orders@pmi.org
Marketplace.PMI.org
>>evpm allows more
effective decision-making,
which helps evaluate and
control project risk
by measuring an
initiatives progress in
monetary terms.
PMN1210 50-72.indd 68 11/15/10 11:55 AM
rganizations that follow the
principles of earned value
management (EVM) create an
environment that allows teams
not only to successfully operate but also
thriveeven in the face of challenges that
could negatively impact their projects.
Earned value project management
(EVPM) is a methodology used to mea-
sure and communicate the real physi-
cal progress of a project by taking into
account the work completed, the time
taken and the costs incurred to complete
that work. As a result, EVPM allows
more effective decision-making, which
helps evaluate and control project risk
by measuring an initiatives progress in
monetary terms.
In the first two editions of Earned
Value Project Management, Quentin W.
Fleming and Joel M. Koppelman provided
guidance for project management prac-
titioners already familiar with EVPM, as
well as those who were new to using this
technique. The third edition expanded
the information available on EVPM for
medium and smaller projects while still
being relevant for larger projects.
There are two approaches to EVM
discussed in an important addition to
Earned Value Project Management
Fourth Edition. Both are valid, but one is
better-suited to the management of major
projects, while the other is appropriate for
use on all projects. The authors cover the
pros and cons of each, with a bias in favor
of simple, broad-based EVM for use on
all projects.
Project Management Institute,
2010, ISBN: 9781935589082,
hardcover, 231 pp., $39.95 Member,
$49.95 Nonmember.
QueNtIN W. FleMINg aNd Joel M. KoPPelMaN
Earned Value Project Management
Fourth Edition
december 2010 PM NETWORK 69
>>>pmimarkEtplacE FEaturEd books
elIzaBeth harrIN
Social Media for Project Managers
Communication is a key aspect of project managementand social media has become an essential
tool. Many companies that initially used social media to reach customers and build their reputa-
tions are now expanding its use to internal project management. This book shows how adapting
various types of social media to project management drives efficiencies. In addition, it reveals how
the most common forums used for socializing and connecting with team members help to improve
group communicationsteambuilding, networking, community bloggingopen forums for dis-
cussion and feedback, and shared best practices and lessons learned.
Project Management Institute, 2010, ISBN: 9781935589112, paperback, 153 pp., $31.95 Member, $39.95 Nonmember.
o
HOW TO Order Online: Marketplace.PMI.org Telephone: 1-866-276-4PMI
(U.S. and Canada) or +1-770-280-4129 (international) E-mail: book.orders@pmi.org
>>eVPM allows more
effective decision-making,
which helps evaluate and
control project risk
by measuring an
initiatives progress in
monetary terms.
PMN1210 50-72.indd 69 11/15/10 11:55 AM
University of Management & Technology
www.umtweb.edu
1-800-924-4883
PMP, PMI Global Accreditation Center logo and the PMI Registered Education Provider logo are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.
Academic Programs in Project and
Program Management Lead to:
tDoctor of Business Administration
tMaster of Science in Management
tMaster of Science in Information
Technology
tMaster of Public Administration
tMaster of Business Administration
admission@umtweb.edu
Online Courses and Certicate
Programs for Project and Program
Management Professionals:
http://pmsui te.umtweb.edu
tProject Management Suite
TM
More than 30 courses in project and program
management
tExecutive Certicate in Project
Management
tExecutive Certicate in Acquisition
Management
training@umtweb.edu
UMT courses are online and self-paced.

0008_ PMI_ONLINE_SERVICE_AD.indd1 1 1/19/09 11:42:23

0062_PM_EDUCATE_GET_PDUs.indd 1 7/19/10 9:45
Earn Credit
Accred|led oy T|e l||er learr|r Corr||or ard a reroer ol l|e |orl| Cerlra| Aoc|al|or ol Co||ee ard Sc|oo| WWW.rca||c.or 800o217440 8e||evue ur|ver|ly doe rol d|cr|r|rale or l|e oa| ol ae. race. co|or. re|||or. ex.
ral|ora| or||r. or d|ao|||ly |r l|e educal|ora| prorar ard acl|v|l|e |l operale. PVP | a re|lered cerl|l|cal|or rar| ol l|e Projecl Varaererl lrl|lule. lrc.
Real Learning for Real Life
13705 8/10
ONE UNIVERSITY awards you CREDIT
for college credits already earned and
helps you earn PDUs. So you earn your
bachelors degree sooner and get the
credit you DESERVE at work, too.
PkEPAkE FOk THE PMP

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800-756-7920
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$EE HOW CLO$E OU AkE NOWl
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ONLlNEl
0071_BELLEVUE_UNIVERSITY_PREPARE.indd 1 8/23/10 9:41:13 AM
ServiceSDirectory
Statement of ownerShip
company, place
challenge: manage a 10-year,
$1 billion improvement project
Solution: Unifier, Skire Inc.,
menlo park, california, USa
www.skire.com
roi: easier tracking of multiple
projects and funding sources,
1. publication Title: PM Network
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is another benefit of
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PMN1210 50-72.indd 70 11/15/10 11:55 AM
University of Management & Technology
www.umtweb.edu
1-800-924-4883
PMP, PMI Global Accreditation Center logo and the PMI Registered Education Provider logo are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.
Academic Programs in Project and
Program Management Lead to:
tDoctor of Business Administration
tMaster of Science in Management
tMaster of Science in Information
Technology
tMaster of Public Administration
tMaster of Business Administration
admission@umtweb.edu
Online Courses and Certicate
Programs for Project and Program
Management Professionals:
http://pmsui te.umtweb.edu
tProject Management Suite
TM
More than 30 courses in project and program
management
tExecutive Certicate in Project
Management
tExecutive Certicate in Acquisition
Management
training@umtweb.edu
UMT courses are online and self-paced.

0008_ PMI_ONLINE_SERVICE_AD.indd1 1 1/19/09 11:42:23

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To order a reprint, contact the Project Management
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PMN1210 50-72.indd 71 11/15/10 11:55 AM
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
The top five reasons why companies lack an
adequate IT security contingency plan:
1 Lack of training
2 Incomplete plan
3 Delay in implementation
4 Lack of management support
5 Lack of partner cooperation
Source: 2011 Global State of Information Security Survey, CIO, CSO and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Results based on a survey of more than 12,840 global executives and directors of IT and security
conducted in February and March.
metr1cs
72 PM NETWORK december 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG

40%
23%
63%
SocIal SecurITy
The portion of global executives and IT directors who have
implemented security technologies supporting Web 2.0 tools such
as blogs and social networks
The portion who have security policies that address the use of Web
2.0 technologies
The portion of respondents who either dont have an IT security
contingency plan or say the one they have doesnt work
Source: 2010 BPM Pulse, BPM Partners. Results based on a survey released in June of
more than 500 corporate executives around the globe.
73
percent
of corporate executives have business
performance management projects,
such as initiatives to measure key
performance indicators (KPIs), planned,
in progress or completed in 2010
mIndSeT ShIfT
21
percent
The [survey] seems to indicate
we are still hung over from the
economic woes of the last 18
months, but many companies do
realize that business performance
management can help them
weather the storm while prepar-
ing for brighter days ahead.
Craig Schiff, CEO, BPM Partners
of companies with more than 2,500
employees spent over US$1 million
on business performance management
projects, up from 15 percent last year.
Business productivity and cost reduction
Business agility and speed to market
IT and business alignment
IT reliability and efficiency
Business process re-engineering
IT strategic planning
Revenue-generating IT innovations
IT cost-reduction
Security and privacy
Globalization
Source: 2010 IT Industry Trends Survey, Society for Information
Management. Results based on a survey released in September
of senior IT executives from 172 U.S. companies.
cauSe for concern
The top 10 concerns of CIOs, CTOs
and IT executives:
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