Author: Sangamitra Prayaga PMP

AGILE – more than a software development methodology or tool kit. In this VUCA world, being AGILE is a corporate imperative. It needs to be a mindset of all employees. An organizational culture. And who better than PMs to promote it? With their inherent understanding (hopefully!) of the significance of: Knowing the organizational context

Stakeholder identification & management – both internal & external Continual evaluation of risks and opportunities.

The application of principles of PDCA – Plan, Do, Check & Act – in everything that we do.

The AGILE journey in Credit Suisse (CS) started in 2019 which was presented in a PMI Event “Agile Transformation at CS” and soon embraced by the “complete business”. Credit Suisse formally outlined its intention to support business divisions to implement an agile operating model.

AGILE OPERATING MODEL.

No longer “Agile software development”. Restricted to the “techies”.

This is where the story starts. In the Swiss Bank IT, a transformation program called ‘AURORA’ was established. The Swiss Bank COO, Stephanie Hoogenbergen is leading and orchestrating this program.

Join this event to hear the extraordinary story directly from her.

IPM Day 2022, Zurich: Agile is simple. It just isn't easy. Story of Credit Suisse SB IT journey
03-11-2022 18:00 -21:00
Credit Suisse - Hagenholzstrasse 20/22 - Zürich

https://pmi-switzerland.ch/index.php/events/ipmd22-zurich

Agile. We have all heard of it. But how does one make it a success in a Swiss Bank?

Find out about the challenges,lessons learned and success from the COO of Credit Suisse's Swiss Bank IT.

Author: Shalini Krishnan, PMP

 
Dear Members and Subscribers,

The days are getting shorter and the morning air is getting chillier, yet the Swiss sun continues to shine bright - just as our PMI Switzerland Chapter volunteers do! 

This month's newsletter recaps a successful Volunteer Day in Lucerne on October 8, as well as encourages YOU to join our small but mighty Newsletter Team.

Among other networking events, we also invite you to join an International Project Management Day event on November 3 in either Geneva or Zurich. 

We hope you enjoy this month's lineup; happy reading and happy November :)

Author: Adi Muslic, PMP

VP Sponsors & Partners

Our aim is to enlarge the Swiss community of project managers and change makers. This is why we have been engaging with other professional associations and non profit organizations.

This time, I would like to tell you about our renewed collaboration with SMP - Société suisse de management de projet. While this collaboration is mostly related to the French speaking regions of Switzerland it can still generate benefits for all our members and volunteers. The knowledge and experience sharing are very enriching and as result our organizations can provide better services and more value to the whole community.

The next big SMP’s project management event will take place in April 2023 in Lausanne. As the event partner, we are calling all interested speakers (presentations in English are welcome too) to submit their applications by the end of November. For more information please click here.

Author: Florian Puschmann, PMP

I recently came across one of the classic reads on change management: Switch – How to change things when change is hard by Chip & Dan Heath. Picking up the book was both enjoyable and instructive. 

The Heath brothers' framework consists of three elements: 

1. The driver - the rational mind
2. The elephant - the emotional side
3. Shaping the path - providing explicit instructions on how to implement the change

This simple framework is highly instructive as it is a powerful reminder that providing facts alone won't convince anyone. It is even less likely to lead to the needed or desired change. As put by the author and entrepreneur Seth Godin:

"No spreadsheet, no bibliography, and no list of resources is sufficient proof to someone who chooses not to believe. The skeptic will always find a reason, even if it's one the rest of us don't think is a good one. Relying too much on proof distracts you from the real mission – which is emotional connection."

One of the many compelling examples provided by the Heath brothers is an executive at a large manufacturing company who identified a significant opportunity for cost saving through the procurement process harmonization of various items used by the company. 

Frustrated by not getting any traction by appealing to the driver only or, more explicitly, making the case with numbers, tables, and forecasts to his peers, he changes his approach. 

First, he tasks a summer intern to pick one item procured by all company sites, which turns out to be protective gloves.

Next, the student physically tracks down all 424 gloves procured from various suppliers. 

Finally, for every glove, the student tracks down the price paid and labels each glove with a price tag. 

As it turns out, many of them are the same glove, sometimes sold for $5 or $17 by different suppliers. 

The next time the executive makes the case to his peers, he invites them to the conference room. He covers the entire conference table with all 424 gloves informing his colleagues that, yes, these are all the different gloves at drastically different prices that the company is procuring. After he allowed his peers to wander around the table and pick up and evaluate this "glove shrine" in disbelief and shock, he finally engaged their emotional side, "the elephant." This enabled him to get commitment and buy-in for the path he shaped on how to initiate and realize a procurement change initiative to capitalize on the saving opportunity in front of their eyes. 

Personally, I experienced this effect of building an emotional connection to the change many times, driving innovation or improvement projects for customers. Although it typically always made sense “running the numbers”, the most effective way to get the project underway was to bring all key stakeholders into one physical place and let them hands-on experience the new innovation or problem to build an emotional connection. Only then did most projects get buy-in and traction.

However, what does this all have to do with sponsoring? In a world with fierce competition for attention, sponsoring opportunities big and small offer a great sponsor a great platform to emotionally engage project managers in various industries to initiate or drive change. 

Examples of such opportunities are the events scheduled throughout the year and the yearly hosted PMI Switzerland conference. And normally, the story would end here but … We realized that sponsoring was not only about events. It can be much more. 

Our sponsoring strategy, designed in 2021, is based on numbers, tables and forecasts. Making sure the “driver” is on board matters, of course. However, to drive engagement, we decided in 2022 to also focus on the elephant - the emotional side. We started developing relationships with other partners interested in project management and fueling change in line with our vision to build an engaged community. Today we are a team of 12 (and growing) working on developing engagement with for-profit corporations and non-profit organizations such as NGOs or universities, allowing communities to build their power skills further. 

Thus our 2023 sponsoring strategy will continue the focus on both the driver and the elephant to enable members to thrive in the environment of change at an ever-increasing rate.

If you are interested in getting involved either as a sponsor or a partner or as a member of the team supporting our various sponsors and partners, please reach out to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..