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IPM Day 2022, Geneva

Author: Patryk Nosalik, PMP

Patryk Nosalik

 

IPM day is celebrated in PMI Switzerland with Agile centred events in both Geneva and Zurich. For more info about the event; click here

In Geneva, our speaker – no – this is an interactive event – so guru – no, don’t call him a guru – so guest facilitator, is Dr Serge Schiltz PMP. He is going to share some interesting knowhow and insights on agile project and business delivery. There is the misconception that Agile projects are wonderful: No scoping, no requirements analysis, no specifications, just evolutionary solution building and feedback. And as a client, you don't even need to know what you want! Well really..? So to explore Agility in project management, and to reach out to our networks on Linkedin, I ended up having a bit of a Q&A session with him under one of the posts promoting the event, which I share a version of here:

  • (Patryk Nosalik) if pure Agilists do away with PM's, why should a PM on IPM day come to an event promoting Agile methods? 
    (Dr Serge Schiltz) So-called pure agilists tend to ignore the fact that even the Agile Manifesto does not suggest to completely omit formal structures and documentation, the authors just “prefer” for example human interaction and working software over excessive structure. And the fact is that projects are financed by management or by clients who have a need to and are entitled to knowing how the project is progressing and what it is doing. This is a project manager’s job. His way of functioning may be different in an agile context as he must include flexibility in his management style, for example by allowing teams to self-organize and thus work with tolerances instead of clear and precise work package definitions. But this role is as important as ever.

  • (PN) in the event description it says "Changing an organization to become agile" in your experience what influence do PM's really have on this?
    (SS) Project managers can provide arguments for organizations to become agile. They have to make it clear that agile projects can be efficient and effective only if the organization is prepared in consequence. If an organization does not build and maintain the organizational knowledge such for example in the form of an enterprise architecture, each and every project will have to establish it’s subdomain knowledge by itself, which will prevent agility in these projects.

  • (PN) what were some of the reactions at the PMI Conference that make you want to repeat the experience in Geneva?
    (SS) I felt that for many of the participants at the PM Conference, the session was an eye opener, not just a theoretical exercise. They discovered the conclusions I was making through the case study even before I could express them. We had so many interesting discussions!

  • (PN) what will be different here?
    (SS) Kirsten’s and my experience for example. We did this for the first time in Zurich. A few adjustments, but no major changes. However, one should not underestimate cultural differences: Geneva is not Zurich. I expect development of discussions to be different.

  • (PN) if everyone's heard of agile, what could possibly be counterintuitive? /could you share a sneak preview of something that may be counterintuitive?
    (SS) Well intuitively, people think that agile is without structures or documentation. How could anyone think of building and maintaining such a big thing as an enterprise architecture in an agile environment? Well, it is a requirement! And that is very counterintuitive.
  • (PN) let me know a little of your background that should draw PM's to our event.
    (SS) Hm, I first studied mathematics and physics in Luxembourg, moved to Switzerland and changed my minor physics to information system to finally switch major and minor (smiles). So I first graduated in information systems, then mathematics, followed by a PhD in information systems in Fribourg. After a brief episode as a database expert for an international insurance company, I caught interest in the needs of business and moved to project management. After an MBA, I was able to change to the international business unit of the insurance company and specialized in project management. After the PMP and an MSc in Project Management, I fully specialized in this discipline.  After a number of years, I specialized even further in the business process management topic. Eight years ago, I founded my company processCentric, which – as the name says – is focused on BPM. I of course still do project management to deliver my client’s projects and somewhat for fun, I continue to teach project management courses: PMP, PRINCE2, PRINCE2 Agile, HERMES.

So if you’re in the Geneva environs on 3rd November,  come to this counterintuitive event where we’ll onboard you at our fictitious “creditCentric Bank'', which has recently started an agile project to digitize its mortgage approval process. It will be your responsibility to make this project a success, run by Dr. Serge Schiltz and Kirsten Hauck who've proved how good they were at the recent PMI Conference!

2022 Volunteer’s Day in Luzerne

Author: Ganesh Gopalan, PMP

Ganesh Gopalan

 

 “Volunteers don't get paid, not because they're worthless, but because they're priceless”- Sherry Anderson

The above adage holds fit, as could be seen on Volunteer’s Day held on October 8th, 2022, in the beautiful city of Luzern. PMI Switzerland Chapter treated its volunteers in a very special way. It was a full day program neatly chalked out that started with a ship ride from Lake Lucerne to the foothills of Mt. Pilatus. The one-hour ride was marked with a lot of selfies, great networking, serious discussion, and friendly banters amongst the volunteers. From there, we took the Cog train to the top of Mt. Pilatus. What an amazing climb over the steep mountain, that was! From there, we further trekked to the peak and were stunned by what nature has to offer it to us. We were literally on “top of the world” 😊. Such breath-taking views, with the mild fog, light drizzle – volunteers munching chips, snacks with a lot of “Camera, Action” – the experience was truly amazing. In fact, the weather went out of way to support us by not raining heavily and spoiling the show! After spending a good amount of time, we stepped down to the beautiful restaurant for lunch.

The restaurant was spacious, and we treated ourselves to a sumptuous gourmet meal. Over “innocent” chit-chat we discussed Project Management, Agile, PMI etc., and made new friends across the table. The return was on a different route with another new experience. Yes - we returned via Cable Car and needless to stay, it was one of the best experiences ever. We got to see lush green trees shedding their autumn leaves in hues of green and red, followed faintly by the jingling of bells far away from the herding of Cows. We equally admired the architectural marvel of installing heavy poles for the Cable Cars in such rugged mountains, years ago! We reached the last stop at ground level in Luzern and quickly rushed to the venue for a workshop on “Speaking with Impact”.

“Speaking with Impact” workshop was conducted by Mr. Damien Gauthier, a well-known actor, director, TEDX speaker and an UX lead and team manager. These were the key take-aways from the session:

1.     Enunciating with presence (physical)

2.     Conveying a clear idea (intellectual)

3.     Being attentive and open (relaxed posture)

4.     Intonations and body posture

5.     Delivering a pitch talk perfectly

6.     Pre-exercises before attending an important meeting – In-person or Online

Several tips and hacks were taught to us on how to make ourselves more presentable in a group, how to ensure our ideas get across the audience and how to be as effectively as possible to win over in a discussion. Lot of emphasis was laid on clarity of thought and communication and the sync between them and its nuances. The 4-hour session was interspersed with real time scenarios, anecdotes, and several foods for thought. The instructor answered all our questions patiently along with a few video visuals to point out the general flaws made while talking in public and how to overcome them with great ease. The workshop was highly satisfying to all the volunteers and a special thanks to PMI Switzerland President, office bearers and more importantly to VP Volunteers – Joachim Dehais for organizing such an event impeccably under his guidance. Joachim was instrumental in ensuring each of us were well taken care of and the event went smoothly without any glitch.

Overall, this was one of the best events of the year and we look forward to more such great events in future. Thanks to all those who participated and gained out of this event.

 

Looking for volunteers in the Newsletter team!

Author: Daniel Rodellar, PMP

Publications Director

Daniel Rodellar

Dear readers,

As seasons go by, also our team members get new challenges, new opportunities or just move. Change is a constant on our lives. Sometimes little changes, sometimes huge impactful ones, all of them are making each day different.

For the months to come we want to fill out new positions on the Newsletter team of the Project Management Institute Switzerland Chapter. Having new people onboarded on the team will help us in many ways, for example the external view of the ones discovering our processes, for example new skills on design or on writting, or for example energy and passion, or just by enabling the rest of the team to have time off.

We need an optimal in terms of resources and tasks to be done, not too little, not too much. Equilibrium is a vision that we never achieve on an always changing world. We will never get there, but that's OK. Nature shows us that when we are close to equilibrium, things get easier, and life gets "easier". So we will tend to it by increasing contributors to the Newsletter team.

We have several roles on the team, and the main ones are played by what we call Copy Editors (currently by Shalini Krishnan and Philip Springuel) and what we call Technical Editors (currently Thierry Altenhoven and Thando Dube). Historically, we called Technical Editors the ones that coded on HTML the newsletter edition, but we have evolved into a no-code version, and current tools are basically handling the technical part, while the Editors are concentrated into providing the best design and adjusting the content to make it beautiful!

We also have a special section called "get to know", where Alp Camci is managing the introduction of new members to all of us. We consistenly get new members joining and willing to present themselves to our comunity. And there are other sections, as you noticed, like Message from the Board, to keep you updated on the latest news and impactful decisions of the Chapter, and the Editorial, written by the Copy Editor of the month, because they collect and review all the content, so they can present you the menu of what comes next.

Here is the team

   Alp Camci  Shalini Krishnan  Philip Springuel  Thando Dube  Thierry Altenhoven 

They work hard every month for you to receive this newsletter, package all the content that may interest you, and format it on a digestible way to be as appealing as possible for you. Send them a note or a warm encouragement at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. !! They will love to hear from you!

We have many other roles inside the team, as graphical designers, proof reading reviewers, article authors,.... and journalists. Being both a volunteer and a journalist is a great opportunity to get to meet all the event participants, for free, and also get the PDUs on volunteering. Anyone can be a journalist, you just need the time to attend the events and the time to write the article. When writing, you also get PDUs on "sharing to other" category, even if you are not a volunteer.

Would you like to join us? Does these roles are something you would like to develop? Do you want to be famous as a journalist? Would you like to contribute as an Editor?

Let us know at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

Looking forward to enlarge our team to improve our dynamics and increase the value for all of you!

Daniel

 

 

 

 

Editorial PMI Switzerland Newsletter October 2022

Author: Philip Springuel, PMP

Philip Springuel NEW 100x100

Dear colleagues,

Your Chapter newsletter for October 2022 offers a retrospective on one of the year’s most important events: PMI Switzerland’s own 11th PM Conference, attended by 130 participants from many diverse sectors. In a related interview, Marc Lahmann, the Program & Project Portfolio Management and Core Platform Transformation Practice Lead at PwC Switzerland, explains how a new generation of data engineers will help companies get an edge in the future of AI-assisted project management.

Read from PMI Switzerland Vice President Adi Muslic who gives us an Introduction to the Organizational Transformation CoP. Also in your newsletter this month, an article from Agustin Diaz Salvadores reminds us that organizations with a high level of Project Management culture will define a future of significantly improved project success rates.

Read on to meet 8 new PMI Switzerland members, and don’t forget to follow and check our social media channels for all the latest news and events from PMI Switzerland.

Philip SPRINGUEL, PMI Switzerland Newsletter Copy Editor

Introduction to the Organizational Transformation CoP

Author: Adi Muslic, PMP

VP Sponsors & Partners

Adi Muslic NEW 100x100

Welcome to the Organizational Transformation Community of Practice (CoP). This is an open community. You do not need to be a PMI member to participate. It’s a safe place for collective and collaborative learning. All community members are active participants who share their experience and challenges. Members encourage and support each other. 

We talk about change and transformation. It can be a small or a big change. It can be one team or a corporation-wide change. In today’s world, organizations are struggling to navigate the tension between running and changing their business. Project managers equipped with the right set of organizational transformation skills can help organizations to steer successful transformation projects.  

 

Do you want to be part of transformation change makers? Do you want to share your experience? Do you want to participate in collective and collaborative knowledge sharing and learn from others? 

Then this is the right place. Come and meet us. Let us tell you more about our community and how you can participate.

You do not need to be a PMI member to participate. You just need to be a passionate change maker.

Join us to improve your transformation skills and knowledge, brainstorm together, solve problems and discuss training resources.

Register here: https://cutt.ly/xVdNJpJ

Looking forward to meeting you.

Adi