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Project Management presentation to the Australian Computer Society

16 February 2010 By AussiePM Leave a Comment

As part of a Tasmanian strategic partnership between the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM) and the Australian Computer Society (ACS)  I will be giving a presentation to the ACS Tasmanian Chapter on Wednesday 17 Feb 2010 at 5.30pm. The presentation is titled “A Project Manager’s View of the Project Team” and will cover topics such as:

  • My project management journey
  • Real life examples of IT staff opportunities in Tasmania
  • Career progression within commercial IT projects both here and interstate
  • How IT resources are used within projects
  • The IT resource and Project Manager relationship
  • Positions within commercial IT Projects, their roles and responsibilities from my point of view
  • The real life IT project lifecycle, from bid to closure
  • Quality versus Speed, the classic worker versus manager dilemma
The talk will be based upon my own experience of leading IT projects both within Australia and overseas.
So if you are in Hobart, please feel free to drop in and watch the presentation.
To find out more and to register, please go to the ACS website here.

Filed Under: Project Management 101, Teams Tagged With: ,

Free Introduction to Project Management Workshop (free as in free beer!)

14 August 2009 By AussiePM Leave a Comment

Recently our eldest daughter provided us with a tremendous example of leadership, generosity of spirit and self sacrifice that we are very proud of. Instead of receiving birthday presents for her recent 9th birthday party, she asked her guests to donate money towards the Haemophilia Foundation Australia, as her cousin has Haemophilia and it was her way to try and help someone else.

Now a nine year old selflessly saying no to birthday presents is pretty special in my book, and yes she is a pretty special girl, as are both our daughters.

However, this got me thinking. I take leading by example seriously in our house, so I thought about what I could do to help as well. So I thought that I have some time on my hands during the week, why don’t I give something back to society and help raise a few dollars towards the Foundation as well.

So here’s my idea, how about I run a FREE half day workshop on the fundamentals of project management for anyone who wants to come along, with a particular emphasis on attendees from non-profit organisations, government policy and IT areas and private sector change management and IT companies. Ideally targeting new-comers to project management or people who have found themselves in charge of running a project without any training or experience in doing so.

So firstly I’m giving something back to the project management fraternity through providing information to help build project management capacity and secondly, if I charge a gold coin donation for attendance that money can be donated to the Haemophilia Association. Lastly, I’m leading by example for my children. That’s what I’d call a win/win/win situation.

So, what do you think? Would you be interested in coming along to a half day workshop to learn a bit about the fundamental aspects of project management, such as managing time, cost, quality, human resources, quality, risk, and procurement in exchange for a gold coin donation to the Foundation?

If you would be please click here and leave your details. When we’ve collected 20 expressions of interest, I’ll go ahead an organise the event and let you know the details. The event will be held in Hobart, so if you are elsewhere, I can’t see why we can’t record it in a podcast and post afterwards.

If you’d like to help in some way, or would like to make any additional comments or suggestions, either leave a comment to the post, or use the additional comment field in the expression of interest form.

EXPRESS YOUR INTEREST TO ATTEND HERE

Filed Under: Cost, Leadership, Procurement, Project Management 101, Reading, Teams, Time, training Tagged With: , , ,

Just enough performing to get the job done.

26 January 2009 By AussiePM 1 Comment

Hello all and all the very best for the New Year. I’m back at work now and powering on for a very successful 2009.

For me this week, it has been another day and another airport. I’ve been contracted to deliver Project Director services to a client in Canberra and find myself commuting from Hobart to Canberra each week. This type of life has its ups and downs obviously, one of the ups is being able to work with absolutely amazing and committed people, professionals who just want to get the job delivered with a high degree of quality. When you work with people like that in a project, it’s not about developing motivation and drive, it’s about controlling it and directing it to be used for good instead of evil. I’m not sure which job is easier, but the latter task is definitely not boring.

The project I’m on has had, it would be fair to say, its share of challenges. It’s about 12 months behind where it was planned to be, so there is a fair bit of work to get through until we see the light of day and can get it to performing stage.

I’m a firm proponent of Tuckman’s Stages, what I like to call the theory of teams.  Forming, storming, norming and performing phases of team development is absolutely fundamental team theory that every aspiring and experienced project manager should either have an awareness, if not a total understanding of, as it can help identify and attribute cause to some of the behaviours witnessed within the full lifecycle of projects. In my humble opinion of course.

I know that most projects don’t get to the utopian level of performing, but its still possible to have a successful project without a high level of performing. This project won’t ever reach utopia, but it will raise to a level of performing that is sufficient for it to be delivered successfully and reach a good outcome for the customer and vendor. On some projects, that’s the best that can be achieved.

Anyway, I’ll write more later, this post is just about getting up and going again and to say hello for 2009.

Filed Under: Teams Tagged With: ,