Auteur: Thando Dube, MBA, PMP

Open Space Forum: Le prochain événement à venir, le 25 Janvier 2022 “Gestion des risques projets en période de COVID”

Après le succès d’Open Space n°8, qui a eu lieu le mardi 2 novembre 2021 en live via Zoom, sur le thème « An Open Space around PMBOK 7 », et afin de bien débuter l’année 2022, nous préparons d'ores et déjà un nouvel événement sur le thème de la gestion des risques projet en période de pandémie. Cerise sur le gâteau, ce premier rendez-vous en ligne de 2022 sera organisé en français pour mieux répondre aux attentes de nos adhérents suisses romands. Chaque mois, nous organisons un événement pour vous aider à développer vos connaissances en gestion de projet, pour découvrir de nombreuses idées pratiques, gagner des PDUs pour entretenir vos certifications et vous permettre de rencontrer vos pairs.

Dans la gestion d’un projet, tout ne peut être anticipé et les changements sont donc inévitables. Pour y faire face, le chef de projet doit savoir s’adapter au changement. La pandémie de Covid-19 a été un élément déclencheur de changements majeurs qui aura largement amené les professionnels de gestion de projets à modifier leur approche de la gestion de risques et à s’adapter aux nouvelles conditions d’évaluation du risque.

Et pour vous ? Quel a été l’impact de la pandémie sur votre façon de gérer les risques ? Avez-vous des expériences personnelles à partager ? Souhaitez-vous tout simplement vous informer sur la manière dont d’autres chefs de projets professionnels ont fait évoluer la gestion des risques projet ? Si tel est le cas, cet événement est fait pour vous. Au cours d’une séance interactive (et non un webinaire), chaque participant sera libre de venir avec ses propres exemples, ses questions, ses idées, afin d'échanger ouvertement avec les autres participants sur la gestion des risques projet. Chaque sujet sera pris en considération et pourra être traité en petit comité dans des salles de réunion virtuelles créées durant l'évènement, afin de promouvoir l’interactivité, le dialogue et les échanges directs entre participants.

Vous souhaitez agir proactivement et augmenter les chances de succès de vos projets en faisant évoluer votre approche de la gestion des risques ? Rejoignez-nous, inscrivez-vous à notre prochain évènement Open Space qui aura lieu le mardi 25 janvier 2022, en ligne, via Zoom, sur le thème «Gestion des risques projet en période de Covid-19». Pour recevoir l’invitation, ainsi que vos accès à l’évènement en ligne, vous devez vous inscrire. Inscriptions ici ou via le lien suivant :

https://pmi-switzerland.ch/index.php/events/events-list/gestion-des-risques-en-periode-de-covid

Retrouvez également toutes nos offres d’évènements en cliquant sur le lien ci-dessous :

https://pmi-switzerland.ch/index.php/events/

Vous êtes chef de projet professionnel-le, étudiant-e, retraité-e, en recherche de nouvelles opportunités, ou simplement avide de découvrir, d’apprendre davantage sur la gestion des risques projet : nous nous réjouissons de vous retrouver le 25 janvier 2022 !

Thando Dube, MBA, PMP

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Author: Nikola Goran Čutura, PMP, DASSM

We did it! :-)

December 1st 2021 saw the first live on-site event in Lausanne after almost 2 years break! Even with the strict anti-COVID measures, we hope not to wait 2 more years till the next one - stay tuned! 

The event took place in Espace Dickens, about 5 minutes walk from Lausanne train station, in a room that accommodates 30 people for a conference. It was quite comfortable for the group of 8 participants that joined to share and improve negotiating skills, so important for a project manager.

The format for this knowledge sharing event was an interactive game based on the popular italian game “Mercante in fiera” (Merchant at the fair). Basically, each participant tends to maximize the gain and minimize the loss by managing risks (threats and opportunities). However, interaction between participants is encouraged so players may trade for the items they want or team-up and try to mitigate the risks and share the profit. And thus, negotiations started!

The game was introduced and facilitated by Joachim Dehais, PMI Switzerland Board Member, who offered his expertise in this domain of coaching/mentoring project managers. At the start, a simple short version of the game was played to understand the rules and set the context and then a more complex and involved version was played. With great facilitation and explanations throughout the game, Joachim gave us a memorable experience useful not only in professional work but also in any other activity. 

After 2 hours of “intensive negotiations”, the winning team received a bottle of local bio red wine (Domaine de la Capitaine) and the runner-up received a memorial card :-)

And then a networking apero took place, which is always a good opportunity to exchange contacts, ideas and experiences.

As the whole event was held in an excellent atmosphere, first impressions were very positive. These first impressions were then confirmed two weeks later in a survey sent to the participants. All in all, an interactive event of 2 hours with little theory and lots of practice is well perceived (a small workshop) and should be continued. If you have more ideas for this (or other) kinds of events, do not hesitate to contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Hope to see you soon,

Nikola Goran Čutura

Author: Valérie Pierre, PMP

When was the last time you attended a professional event in which you enjoyed every single bit of it? On 25 November 2021, Rodrigue R.R. Brugger, Head Global HR Case Management and Core Member Task Force Corona SIX, alias “Senior project manager” of the Taskforce, captivated the full attention of his audience in Six’s convention center while telling his report from 1 ½ years of Six’s Taskforce Corona. 

First, let’s review what was the starting position: in January 2020, an infectious disease outbreak evolved into an epidemic in China and the World Health Organization (WHO) proposed the name COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) for it. It is interesting to note that Six, as Switzerland’s systemically important financial market infrastructure responsible for the uninterrupted access to mission-critical financial systems, had the first consultation of SIX Pandemic Advisory Group as early as the end of January 2020, to discuss the current situation and immediate measures for COVID-19. 

The taskforce which was constituted faced several challenges. None of the members knew what was approaching and what tasks they’d have to do. However they all expected the volume would be demanding and were committed to the mission. There was no end in sight for the planning and the project work.

What’s probably one of the most important pieces of the strategy was the organizational chart of the taskforce, who’s responsible for what, who’s the back-up person, etc. Here are a few elements of that diagram that stuck in my mind. An intelligence/situation cell was created to extract from the news what was relevant to Six. A contingency planning group was in charge of thinking about the future. The role of logistics was of course so essential, creating new building security measures, delivering masks, etc. Information and communication was also key, just to name a few of the teams. And none of this would have worked without the support of the CFO. 

The method and tools were clarified beforehand, so that in case of a crisis quick action can be taken as well as a lot can be worked off. REDCON levels and risk heat maps were used. REDCON is short for Readiness Condition and is used to refer to a unit's readiness to respond to and engage in combat operations. The level was continuously assessed and re-evaluated as the situation changed. The level 5 was reached during 2 periods, and as of November 25th 2021, level is back at REDCON 3.

While this approach corresponds to a waterfall type of project management, Agile methods were also used, and above all “Agile thinking”. In the times of a pandemic, you can’t plan, nor be really prepared. Tthe key competence is the ability to react to changes at any time and to adapt your approach in a flexible manner.

It was very interesting to review the “Golden leadership rules in challenging times”. Most of those are probably applied in other companies, but possibly without being formalized. If there’s one that naturally stands out and that probably resonates for each one of us:  “Accept the new situation. You cannot change it.” To read more on those, check out Rodrigue’s slides.

Overall, we learned from this insightful retrospective overview not only how the Taskforce operated, but also how much almost two years of intense collaboration strengthened the bonds between the Taskforce members. 

The power of human connection is what you could feel when joining the #Apero after the presentation. On this #Thanksgiving2021 day, stories were buzzing around. My thanks go to the PMI organizing team, Prasanth Nair, Ethel Mendocilla Sato, Christopher Ziemba, Six team, Rodrigue R.R. Brugger, Martin Härri and everyone else who was there or helped make this in-person event happen.

#thankful #openminds #supportingthecommunity #supporteachother #inspireothers

Author: Adi Muslic, PMP

A recent study shows that over 70% of large-scale transformations fail and transformation risk continues to be a top concern for most executives. This global problem is why PMI invested in world-class research from top transformation experts to create the new Organizational Transformation (OT) Series: https://www.pmi.org/organizational-transformation

There are 3 self-paced courses: Foundation, Implementation and Orchestration. Each completed course will award you with 10 PDUs. You can earn a micro-credential badge for each one upon successful completion of the course exam.

In this article, I will tell you a bit more about the first course, Foundation.

The course is made for project leaders, but anyone interested in transformation can easily follow it. It is well organized, with interactive modules and engaging exercises. You even get to actively drive a transformation in a family-owned company in crisis.

You start with an overview of Organizational Transformation and its benefits, the Brightline Initiative and contributors. The second module is about change, what is causing change, and why there is the need for change.

The next module is Transformation Fundamentals, where you learn about transformation definitions, transformation in business and common challenges. In the Transformation Building Blocks module, you get introduced to the Brightline Transformation Compass - a comprehensive system for transformation. 

The five building blocks are:

The North Star - A crisp, inspiring articulation of the vision and strategic objectives for the transformation.

Customer Insights & Megatrends - Embedding a deep understanding of the customer in every change you make, and in every employee

The Transformation Operating System - A flat, adaptable and cross-functional organizational structure that enables sustainable change.

Your Volunteer Champions - A mechanism to harness many thought-leaders from across your organization to drive transformation.

Inside-Out Employee Transformation - A set of tools to make the transformation personal for your employees.

Logically, this is followed by the Transformation Lifecycle module, where you learn about the Three Step Methodology: Inspire-Mobilize-Shift.

The last module is about Project Leaders in Transformation, summarizing what it takes to be a transformation leader.

My takeaways are:

• There are plenty of additional resources to read, analyze, listen, and watch. Estimated time to complete this course can be easily doubled or even tripled depending how much you want to learn.
• There are three key areas that can help all businesses improve strategy implementation:
  • prioritization of strategic initiatives
  • speed in decision making and execution of processes
  • empowerment of teams

I learned a lot from this course, and my intention is to continue learning. I recommend you to put this course on your to do list. It is a good value for money. The course is not tablet or smartphone friendly, so you will need a laptop or desktop computer to complete it.

Next month, I will tell you more about the Implementation course.

If you have questions or would like to get more info, simply get in touch with me. You can find me on LinkedIn or you can write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Best wishes,

Adi Muslic, PMP