PMI Switzerland Chapter Newsletter April/May, 2019

Editorial

Author: Carlos Martinez Arteaga, PMP

Dear members and newsletter subscribers,

"A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life" - Charles Darwin.

I turned 41 not long ago, and it was not until about now that I have started to think how precious time is. I have always liked being on time, taking time to do things correctly, and taking time to do nothing, but now it is all different, time has become very important for me, and I am very conscious about it.

In the end I suppose all sayings are really there because they contain a truth, for this case at this stage of my life "Time is Gold".

I have mentioned also in the past that I am the father of 3 kids aged all below 7, and for those who are in the same boat and can relate, then you know how time can fly away without having done anything. As a father of 3, I try being more efficient so that everything takes less time to get done, this requires concentration and being constantly on.

For me time, from not even thinking about it at all has become a weighting scale, where I value what is worth doing and when, this has helped me to prioritize and to avoid rework, as I am only engaged in that which is important at that point of time and that I know is ready to be done.

Being conscious of time, and knowing that it is now or never, has helped me to take a step forward and make decisions in a way that I can take control on my path. For example in the past I might have thought that I could attend an event next time, now I evaluate if it is worth going at all, and if it is and there is nothing else burning, I do it.

It sometime comes to my head a movie in which time becomes a currency and the rich are those who have the most and the poor are those who struggle to know if they will be able to see the sunrise, in a way I now see it like that.

At work, I am sure you have been in the position where there is always someone who robs our time. It is important to create relationships at work, thinking if they are genuine or not, and how we can get the most out of that relationship, in the case of relationships that we know are none existent and that any effort in it, I think that not without being polite, that the time spent on these should be minimized.

Then when in a team, we should identify who is robing the team’s time, these people should be immediately shut down, assigning them a specific task which they have to complete, therefore keeping them busy, and avoiding that they lose the focus and the team’s focus.

Going back to our personal life, invest time with those which matter and genuinely care for you, doing what you and they most like, no matter what, always find time for things that make you feel happy to be alive.

Time is the coin that you will pay with, and that I am sure they will treasure when they realize that there is no more valuable currency than time.

"You may delay, but time will not" - Benjamin Franklin.

Take it easy,

Carlos
Copy Editor

Members Update

Author: Alp Camci, PMP

40 new members joined our Chapter, bringing the active membership to 1708 as at the end of February.

A warm welcome to all !

Congratulations also to the members who obtained certifications in February: 11 PMP, 1 PMI-PBA and 2 PMI-ACP

The following members provided information about themselves: Amélie Salin, Leo Dijkhuizen and Daniele Stefanini.

Message from the Board

Author: Agata Czopek, PMP

Social Good Team in action

PMI Switzerland Social Good Team has been working with local communities since February 2018. We are a group of 8 volunteers covering 2 major economic regions: French Romandie and Zurich. Our aim is to magnify the power of Non-profits and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) supporting children and youth. We help them in delivering their missions through the application of project management.

Last year we succeeded in organizing free project management workshop for Medair - humanitarian organization supporting world’s most remote and devastated places (you can find more details here: link).

We have also seen interest from young people pursuing career and looking for relevant resources on project management, so we have partnered with ETH Zurich to organize workshop for students. We have set PMI Chapter stand (booth) during career days organized in EPFL in Lausanne (May 2018) and in ETH in Zurich (March 2019).

In April 2019 we organized workshop for NGO – Life Science Zurich Young Scientists Network. We covered topics related to pm fundamentals (communications, leadership, stakeholder management, team work, problem solving techniques).

If you know NGO supporting children and youth that is willing to receive free basic project management training please let us know! We want to serve our community better and are always looking for new ideas and new volunteers!

And if you know students willing to develop project management skills direct them to PMI Educational Foundation website to apply for scholarships:
https://pmief.org/scholarships
Scholarships range from US$1,000-$7,500 depending on the type of scholarship and eligibility.

Stay tuned! More for students and youth will come this year!

Agata Czopek, PMP
VP for Social Good
agata.czopek@pmi-switzerland.ch

Event Report - To a person with a hammer, all challenges look like nails on March 21, 2019 in Basel

Author: Geetanjali Bhat, PMP

“To a person with a hammer, all challenges look like nails”. What a thought-provoking quote on our perspectives. At this evening’s event, speaker John Carton shared great insights on how we can face challenges with different perspectives. "Think and Analyse" is the need of the hour!

Generally, people learn a technique that they use for all problems. Sometimes we see only different solutions to fix the problem rather than actually analyse the problem.


If we are compelled to do something, then we do it out of conviction and not because its required to be done. We go further and we do an extra mile when we are convinced about something.

He spoke about NEMAWASHI decision-making to actually “go around the root” of a problem. NE means “from root” and mawashi MAWASHI means “to go around”. When we analyse our decision-making techniques and take on a different route, we can achieve a better solution. Read full article here

Post-Kerzerslauf 2019 impressions

Author: Julia Posselt, PMP

The Kerzerslauf is THE idyllic spring run for the season opening. The PMI Running Team was there, and we enjoyed the beautiful nature reserve in a sunny atmosphere. Together with thousands of running enthusiasts we start into the 5, 10 or 15 km long course.

Only a few hundred meters after the start in the village centre we leave the village on a long gradient.

Afterwards it goes over country lanes through dense forest area. At the halfway point we reach the Aare and then follow the idyllic reservoir near Niederried. Up to Golaten we overcome a steep climb, which demands everything again Read the complete article here.