PMI Tampa Bay Chapter

 Dear ,

In this Issue:

Symposium 2012

- Sarasota Meeting Update

- Project Risk Management - July 13th

- PMI-Tampa Bay ACP Class Registration Closing Soon

- E-reader: Lessons in Project Management — Second Edition

- A Risk Management Implementation

Submitted by Christine DiMarco, Director of Sarasota meetings

  This month we announced a new Director of the Sarasota meetings. Our meeting last night at the Meadows Country Club (June 20th), generated lots of networking as we mingled in the bar/reception area before proceeding to the dinner and presentation in the board room. Everyone at the meeting stood and introduced themselves with a brief background; this was well received by all, as it lays the foundation of building relationships in our small, and growing, group. Several guests joined us from USF. This was terrific, as we aim to cultivate a partnership with USF to grow an intern program for project managers, in support of our PMI mission to give back to the community.

  Our featured speaker, David Land, gave us an overview of IT Risk Management principles. He also provided an update on our community outreach program (project management for non-profit organizations in the Sarasota/Manatee County area). More information on this program will follow in future web-site updates and newsletters.

  We ended the meeting with announcements of the near-future Tampa Bay PMI education and networking events, and the completion of questionnaires by the attendees. A drawing for a $10 Starbucks gift card was held for everyone submitting a questionnaire. Bill Nemanick was the lucky winner!

  We have a dynamic speaker lined up for our July meeting – Pamela Kerstetter, with Prudential Insurance. Her topic will be applying project management principles to our personal lives. This will be a great event with more networking opportunities and fun. It will be a good chance to connect with new contacts in the Sarasota, Manatee, South Hillsborough, and Charlotte County areas.

  We look forward to seeing you all at our next meeting. Please come and join us.

For more information, please contact Christine DiMarco at dir-sarasota-meetings@pmi-tampabay.org.

Photo 1 retrieved from: http://sarasotabayrealestate.com/the-meadows-country-club-real-estate/

  Tampa Bay has partnered with Roeder Consulting to bring you a comprehensive course on Project Risk Management.

  We all like to say that we understand the value of risk management. The major risk that we run, time and time again, is that we don't execute on the less obvious benefits of enlightened risk management.

  When your projects are planned and executed without a strong risk management approach, you do more than put your project at risk – you are also risking your career and the professional health of your team members. You will find that a structured approach with a strong focus on mutual clarity can help. We also incorporate the communications within the risk management processes that can be used to increase the understanding of the value of your team's work and your leadership to the organization.

To read the article: Click here

Submitted by Sundara Moorthi, PMP, VP Professional Development

  Over the last couple of weeks I sent you several messages about PMI's new Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP) certification ... and this is the last one, I promise!

  The messages you received answered a number of questions, but here is the point I was trying to make. You are more qualified than you think you are, and the ACP is going to be powerhouse career-building tool!

  Why do I say that? Well, with all due respect to the Scrum Masters out there, being one means you know one framework. The ACP covers three major frameworks – Scrum, LSD, and XP – and a number of tools, so it is not Scrum-only. An ACP is not a "one-trick pony," because its practitioners have validated real qualifications and passed a real exam. And employers recognize that!

  If career opportunity matters to you, and PMI's research shows 67% of organizations are using Agile, then it should make you glad (and maybe proud?) that PMI took the time to get it right when deciding how to approach Agile Project Management certification.

There are still a few seats open in the ACP Exam Prep class on Thursday and Friday, June 28th & 29, if you want to accelerate your professional growth in 2012!

  You get 21 hours of instruction and 21 PDUs! But you want to hurry because registration closes on Tuesday, June 19th...or when sold out. Be sure to use the PMI-Tampa Bay Member's coupon code "pmi062" for an extra $150 off!) You can get more info at our website http://www.pmi-tampabay.org/ or go to http://www.gr8pm.com/events--class-registration to sign up.

  The PMI-Tampa Bay Board is committed to giving you every possible career advantage. We hope you'll join us for these great seminar!

Extracted from PMI.org

 Authors: Tom Mochal and Jeff Mochal

  Here's an easy-to-read analysis of real-world problems in project management with examinations of the solutions. The table of contents labels each chapter with a description of the challenge addressed so you can easily target the advice you need from this extensive resource.

  Members can enjoy the full contents of books and media on project management and business. Use eReads & Reference anytime you're online.

Go to eReads & Reference to locate this title.

Submitted by Gareth Byatt, Gary Hamilton, and Jeff Hodgkinson

As program or project managers, we have our hands full with the day-to-day management of our initiatives, and it is difficult enough to keep a lid on all the tactical actions that are taking place, let alone plan for the future. Nonetheless, we all know that planning is a key element to success. Most successful program or project managers are effective because they simultaneously balance the immediate challenges and demands facing them with future needs, opportunities and risk-avoidance. In particular, they are able to do so because they identify and communicate these elements at the right levels throughout the organization. How do successful program and project managers remain successful in their day-to-day work while spending only the minimum amount of effort directed towards long term ends?

The focus of this article is a specific risk management strategy which we believe is simple to implement and can directly help to improve one's ability to identify, manage, and effectively communicate risks.

What are "Risk" and "Risk Management"?

What are risk and risk management? According the PMBOK®, Risk is an uncertain event that can be either positive or negative. Additionally, risk management is, "... the systematic process of identifying, analyzing, and responding to project risk." Risk management incorporates various processes. Models differ – one example is Risk Planning, Identification, Qualitative Analysis, Quantitative Analysis, Response Planning, and Monitoring and Controlling. While risks are "uncertain" events that have not yet occurred, an Issue is an event that has already transpired. A trigger is an indication that a risk is about to or has occurred, and is usually based on parameters that have been "set off". This brings us to the following diagram, which depicts Issues arising from Risks.

Before we delve into the details of Risk Management implementation, we want to discuss a few aspects of risk. First, by definition, projects are the creation of a unique entity; therefore, a certain amount of risk will always be present. Secondly, one must acknowledge that risk is not bad and, as we have discussed in a previous article (RISK – the PM's Best Friend), when managed effectively, risk control can yield positive outcomes for the program or project manager and their program/project. While some consider "risk" to be intrinsically negative, risk outcomes can be positive. Such positive risks, or opportunities, as they are commonly referred to, are the events you seek to act upon to create a net positive impact on your project.

When our goal is the identification of project risks, it is helpful to categorize them; when does this risk arise and where is likely to have impact? For instance, is the project risk sourced within technical, quality, schedule, or resource aspects of the project? Balancing risk categories can help provide greater assurance that one is being effective when examining various areas of the project.

A Specific Risk Management Implementation

For years, each of us have used and practiced a similar Risk Management implementation (process and tool) which has proven to be quite simple, yet effective.

The specific implementation discussed here includes a tool and its associated processes. The tool or Risk Register (in our case a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet) provides a mechanism for capturing project risks and issues, yet also covers all of the PMBOK® KPA processes, with the exception of Risk Planning. We suggest Risk Planning can be covered within one's Project Management Plan. The planning component within the Risk Management plan can be relatively short (summarized within a couple of paragraphs) by referencing the self-contained Risk Register, identifying the methods for updating the Risk tool, and communicating the Risks and Issues from the Risk tool.

As can be seen, each of the processes is included within the spreadsheet (or Risk Register), with the exception of risk management planning. The idea is that each horizontal entry represents one Risk or Issue. If it is a risk, the format for capturing it is in a specific format: "IF BY THEN ." Because risks are uncertain events, it is useful to state them in this format so that the point at which this Risk may become an Issue is clear. Note: not all risks become issues; that is part of their inherent uncertainty.

As part of Risk Identification, we also capture the date on which the risk was identified and the category to which the risk belongs. Risk identification has been shown to be a significant part of risk management in that it makes one aware of potential events or issues that may impact the group.

Following this, we want to quantity and qualify the individual risk itself. Many organizations use a "risk matrix" to control this (e.g. magnitude and likelihood). The mechanism employed here multiplies the probability of risk (value between 0.0 and 1.00) by the Impact of the risk if it were to become an issue (values range 1 to 100). This produces a REN or Risk Event Number, a way of ascribing a value (1 to 100) to each risk. Depending upon your organization's preferences, you may consider color-coding the REN cell (clear, yellow, red) as a means of drawing attention to high-probability, high-impact risk.

Additionally, this mechanism enables us to collectively sort all of the risks, allowing us to recognize at any point how close any particular risk is to turning into an issue. It also allows users to sort and compare project risks.

Continuing left to right, the next field is labeled "Mitigation." Within this field, we want to capture our Risk Mitigation Plans. This requires that we look ahead, consider and plan as to what we will do to manage our Risks and their potential progression to becoming Issues. We find that having multiple plans in place helps to maintain a balance as to how we'll manage our Risks. To this end, we prefer to categorize the plans as either MITIGATE, MONITOR, ENCOURAGE, or ACCEPT.

The last two fields include the Risk Owner (who is primarily responsible for the Risk) and a running status of the risk. The latter should be updated each time the risk status is changed, so that one has a history log for all the risks.

Maintaining and Reporting

Through the process of periodic evaluation and review of the Risks (e.g., PM to review Risk Register with entire team on a monthly basis) and updating Issues and Risks individually when necessary, the Risk Register becomes a "living" record. This includes the current potential for a Risk becoming an Issue (via REN), as well as its current owner and status.

Additionally, reporting top risks (via sorting of highest value REN) allows your audience (e.g., team members, customers, and senior staff/sponsors) to quickly notice potential issues that could impact your project, as well as develop plans to deal with associated risks and issues (via the Risk Mitigation Plan section).

Conclusion

This article has provided an overview of a specific Risk Management implementation that can be adapted to most projects. While risk management is far more than maintaining a Risk Register, the tools for making decisions are essential. As a result, it is the hope of the authors that you will find these tools and their implementation useful for providing a framework in which you, too, can be a successful manager of program and project risk.

PMI Tampa Bay Chapter is not responsible for ideas expressed by the authors.

www.pmi-tampabay.org

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Mid Year Strategic Update Board Meeting 

06-23-2012

PMP Exam Prep Class (Jun 26-29 Suncoast Chapter)

06-26-2012

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06-28-2012 - 06-29-2012

Project Risk Management 

07-13-2012

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07-19-2012

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Fall PMP Prep Course - Oct 20/27, Nov 3/10

Proj Mgmt Across the Bay Networking Event

 Thu 07-19-2012

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PMI's library

PMI's library of global standards is grouped into foundational standards, practice standards and frameworks, and standards extensions. These categories reflect the expansive nature of project management, and will continue to grow and evolve along with the profession.

1. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) — Fourth Edition

2. Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3®) — Second Edition

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Welcome

New Chapter Members

(05/23/2012-06/19/2012)

1. Ann Marie Munno

2. Apolinar David Fernandez Lagares

3. Babu Thomas

4. Christopher McCall

5. Dan Crowley

6. David Ellis

7. Dominic Black

8. Don Adams

9. Douglas Dahlquist

10. George Marakas

11. James Henneberger

12. Joel Pineiro

13. Jose Gutierrez

14. Karen Laughlin

15. Karen Mibus

16. Kathleen Herrygers

17. Kristyn Bara

18. Michael Spencer

19. Paul Rogers

20. Robert Hendrickson

21. Steve Stanford

22. Terrance Trott

23. Wayne Ransom

Congratulations New PMPs

1. Apolinar David Fernandez Lagares, PMP

2. David Ellis, PMP

3. Paul Rogers, PMP

4. Terrance Trott, PMP

PMI Tampa Bay Board of Directors 2012

President Jeff Walters, PMP

Past President Brian Sayers, PMP

VP of Finance Farzin Zafaranian, PMP

VP of Professional Development Sundara Moorthi, PMP

VP of Technology Michael Goscinski, PMP

VP of Programs Demetrios Yannakopoulos, PMP

VP of Member Services Len Terranova

VP Marketing Scott McCance

VP Operations & Administration Mary Dahm, PMP

VP Finance/Open

VP of Communications Don Moore, PMP

VP of Strategic Projects Janice Murray, PMP

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