‍October 2021 Newsletter Content

Editorial‍

Once again, your newsletter is full of helpful articles, event information and much to convince you to be involved, contribute and volunteer with your PMI Switzerland Chapter.

Claudia Rassalski, the Chapter's VP Finance, shares valuable advice to remind us of the critical importance of Project Status Reports. We’re also delighted to bring you an update from past President Martin Härri about our Chapter’s Swiss Corporate Networking Group.

With two articles this month we offer a focus on Open Spaces, PMI Switzerland’s unique online knowledge sharing platform, highly valued by participants for its innovative format for answering key questions collectively. With in person meetings now also reappearing on our schedules, this month’s newsletter offers a retrospective for a groundbreaking Basel event on the subject of Agility.

Don’t miss six profiles of new members, and if you always wanted to write an article in our Newsletter, read our call for submissions that opens the door with guidelines and suggestions.

Enjoy your October Newsletter and don’t forget to connect with your peers on our PMI Switzerland social media channels to keep up with all of our highlights about the Chapter.

Philip Springuel, PMP

PMI Switzerland Copy Editor

‍Message from the board

PMI Switzerland deeply values our volunteers. It is thanks to the volunteers’ dedication and sense of responsibility, that the Chapter continues to thrive. We are always eager to meet new volunteers who may like to join us in the effort to promote all varied aspects of the Project Management profession.

I would like to take this moment to invite you to consider joining the Finance team at PMI Switzerland. At a minimum, the role is suited to someone who enjoys routine, and can be available consistently for a few hours a month. In my opinion, the most attractive part of the role is gaining insight into most aspects of the Chapter and learning how each department contributes to realising the vision for PMI Switzerland.

Please contact me if you are interested in taking a role in my team: [Click here].

I look forward to hearing from you.

Claudia Rassalski, CA, PMP, PMO-CP

PMI Switzerland Chapter VP Finance

The Switzerland Chapter’s “best kept secret” – The Swiss Corporate Networking Group

The main target audience of PMI and the PMI Switzerland Chapter has always been project practitioners. There are also activities for academia, schools and social good organizations, but companies have never been a main target audience of our activities, apart from the Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3), which died a quiet death some years ago.

On a global level, PMI maintains the Global Executive Council (GEC), which is composed of about 90 elite organizations, and advises PMI on its strategy. The GEC was also the inspiration for creating the PMI Swiss Corporate Networking Group (SCNG) in 2009. Here, the members are not project practitioners, but managers in charge of project management in their organizations, i.e. head of PMO, head of portfolio management, head of project community, etc. The kickoff was in January 2010 at the prestigious Swiss Re Centre for Global Dialogue near Zurich, with about a dozen participants, and since then the group has grown to 20 companies plus one university and has held more than 30 meetings all over Switzerland...

Enjoy the full article: [Click here]

The Case for the Project Status Report

The status report is crucial to the successful governance of any project. Done right, the status report is written with the purpose of engaging the audience. It not only describes progress, it supports informed decision making and urges action. More importantly, this is an opportunity to control the narrative around the project, ensuring the status report is the “go-to”/central source for key project information.

At a basic level, it seems easy to jot down the facts, variances, analysis and next steps. Then again, in the midst of busy meticulous day to day project work, it can be difficult to pause, take a broader view, and articulate a meaningful status. Sometimes it helps to remember why the status report is important. Read on for a few of my chosen reasons...

Enjoy the full article: [Click here]

Retrospective of the Basel event - Agility: What's really behind the buzzword?

After attending virtual events for more than a year, I was very excited when I saw the invitation to the in-person event held 31 August in Basel.

Agile - and how to make it work in different company environments, certainly relates to many project management professionals. One pain point was addressed straight at the beginning with a fitting Dilbert comic; Agile has become a hip business buzzword, but typically, not everyone involved is aware of its philosophy and methodology.

Presenters Anna Nestorova, PhD, PMP and Steffen Keller, PMP have hands-on experience at LIVEsciences AG, which focuses on helping organizations define if - and where, agile methodology implementation makes sense, followed by aiding its implementation in a tailored fashion...

Enjoy the full article: [Click here]

‍Members Update

A warm welcome to all new members that joined our Chapter.

Congratulations also to the members who obtained certifications in August for PMP, CAPM, PMI-RMP.

The following members provided information about themselves: Jonathan Brünggel, Thiago Di Matteo, Alessandro Gadaleta, Brendan Hanley, Ethel Mendocilla Sato, Nicolas Robatel. 

A gift from ALVISSION for PMI Switzerland members and volunteers

Hello dear volunteers and members of PMI Switzerland,

Unfortunately we could not be present at the 20 Anniversary Celebration on 5 September 2021 in Bern, but we have a great surprise to offer as a present!

We send you our best wishes for the 20th Anniversary and thank all volunteers for the countless hours of voluntary work and the development of PMI Switzerland.

As an authorised training partner of PMI and the PMI Switzerland Chapter, we have reserved a limited number of places in our open Live Online Classroom trainings for PMI Switzerland members at very special rates.

"For your 20th anniversary, we are giving PMI Switzerland members a 20% discount on our open ALVISSION trainings until 31 December 2021 [Click here]. As the only provider of Disciplined Agile Training in Central Europe, we are looking forward to the next 20 years of PM Switzerland and continued great cooperation.”

Discover all the details: [Click here]

Open Spaces offer free knowledge sharing about infinite questions

In 2020, the PMI Switzerland Chapter launched a new series of virtual events called ‘Open Spaces’ with the aim to connect Project Managers and allow them to share their knowledge and experience around Project Management.

‘Planning for success in Agile delivery’, ‘Stakeholder and Team management’, ‘Conversation around the theme of Project Management tools’ are just a few of the Open Spaces topics that took place to date.

After having joined a number of Open Spaces, I am happy to share my experience hoping you can find valuable insights and maybe inspiring you to join the next Open Space. If so, we are certainly going to meet there...

Enjoy the full article: [Click here]

Retrospective for Open Space 7 and invitation to Open Space 8

On Tuesday 17 August 2021, our 7th PMI Switzerland Open Space took place on Zoom. In Open Spaces, each participant is able to freely ask questions and/or share his or her expertise and opinion.

The topic of this online event was "Planning for success in Agile delivery". The topic was presented with great talent by our volunteer Pia Henzelmann. On this occasion, 20 project managers joined from different sectors such as banking, food processing, IT consulting and more.

Different "virtual rooms" of 10 minutes each were created during the event in order to have various exchanges on themes of the participants’ choice. These virtual rooms were each managed by a facilitator to encourage engagement and ensure the best experience for everyone...

Enjoy the full article: [Click here]

Call for PMI Switzerland Newsletter and website contributions

We are collecting articles, pictures, audio and video submissions for upcoming PMI Switzerland Newsletters and the website. Content we favour must be original, relevant to the PMI community, ideally addressing the Swiss context, and should be authored by recognised project management practitioners commenting on their own behalf or authorised to publish for the organisations they represent.

Newsletters are published at the start of each month (typically the first Monday of each month). The deadline for submission is the 20th of each month. Contributions may be sent and will be reviewed for potential publication on a rolling basis.

To submit a contribution, please fill out the following form at this link.

Enjoy the full article: [Click here]

What's‍ new on your Youtube channel?

The PMI Switzerland Chapter has developped its own Youtube channel. Every month you can watch interesting topics about project management and all around.

Discover the last 3 videos posted on the channel:

‍The PMI Switzerland Chapter is a non-profit professional business organization, and is a chartered chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI), Newtown Square, PA, USA.

Views and opinions expressed in the newsletter are those of the authors and, unless otherwise stated, do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the chapter or PMI or imply partnership.

© Copyright 2021 Project Management Institute Switzerland Chapter. All rights reserved.

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