Projects throughout the state of Arizona make a difference in this world and improve people’s lives. Whether it is constructing buildings, designing advanced power plants, launching rockets, or developing vaccines - the ways in which project management affects the communities around them are boundless. A new program hopes to recognize that.
The Arizona Project of the Year program raises the visibility of organizations and teams supporting the very best projects throughout the state. Projects of all sorts are considered eligible for this award. Regardless of whether it is a public or private project; and regardless of industry, your project could be considered. We anticipate that companies like APS, Intel, or Banner Health would have an interest in competing; as well as leaders in state and local government organizations.
Don’t wait - the Deadline is on 5/31/2020.
April 2020
Dear Members,
Our world might be shaken up, our routine changed but there is one constant, to strive to be our best self. Typically, our community service team organizes an event for us to collectively give back. While that is not possible at this time due to crowd gathering constraints, I still challenge you to serve. What can you do as a highly-skilled professional compassionate human?
I found something; our neighborhood has organized a library to share material to keep our boredom at bay. So, I encourage you to find a little something that you can do to contribute and stay positive.
What’s Happening?
Check out our calendar. Events are scheduled virtually to accommodate the national and state executive stay at home orders. You can pick morning, evening, or on-demand events to fit your schedule and to keep your PDU and education journey going without impact.
Want a certification class? New classes have been scheduled virtually for the ACP, PMP and PgMP exams to meet the application education requirements. Turn the absence of commute time into an educational opportunity.
If you do not see the event you were looking for, let us know so we can explore options. Continue to submit surveys, they are actioned and appreciated. It is your voice and your chapter.
Cory Smith, MBA, PMP, CSM
President
PMI Phoenix Chapter
Every year the PMI Phoenix Chapter holds an election for rotating offices on the Board of Directors. The PMI Phoenix Chapter Board of Directors is responsible for adhering to the chapter mission and vision. The Board works to grow project management talent through professional development and volunteer opportunities. It also delivers quality educational and networking opportunities and maintains high quality technology through the website, newsletter, virtual access and audio/visual presentations. The Board is also responsible for marketing the Chapter to earn new members, and create strong external business and academic partnerships. Finally, the Board has the responsibility to achieve the Chapter’s financial goals as a non-profit, and conduct appropriate administration to ensure proper Chapter governance in alignment with PMI Global.
Serving on the Board does take time and dedication but is also very rewarding. Each Board member has the opportunity to expand their own skills and professional network while also impacting the strategic direction of the Chapter. You also will earn PDUs.
The Board positions up for election are listed below; each position requires a two year term:
- President Elect
- Vice-President of External Relations
- Vice-President of Technology
- Vice President of Programs
- Vice President of Remote Locations
Details of roles & responsibilities can be found here in the Board of Directors Roles and Responsibilities pdf document.
How do I know if I qualify?
In order to run in the election, a nominee must:
- Be a Chapter member in good standing at the time of the election
- Receive at least three nominations
- Agree to serve in the position for which he or she is nominated
Additional FAQs:
- Any Chapter member in good standing may nominate another member
- A Chapter member may nominate him or herself as one of the three nominations
- Nominations are submitted by clicking Nominations Form
What is the process for 2020?
- Call for nominations starts May 1, 2020
- Nominations Committee evaluates the nominees May 1 through June 30
- Nominee’s agreement to be on ballot
- Resume submission
- Leadership questionnaire to be filled/submitted
- Panel Interview from Nomination Committee
- Evaluation may include the following:
- Nominations Committee confirm nominees and requests presentations June
- Ballot announcement July 1, 2020
- Nominee's presentation by Webex in July
- Elections open - August 1
- Elections close - September 1
- Results Presentation at September Evening Chapter Meeting
- Transition Period (Outgoing Board ===> Incoming Board) September - December
In case of any questions, please email
The PMI Phoenix Chapter has partnered with IIL to bring you an early bird discounted registration fee to their Agile and Scrum conference. PMI Phoenix Chapter members will receive a 40% off by using the registration link below until April 30th. The event goes live on June 4th and will see Scott Ambler from PMI/Disciplined Agile as a keynote speaker. Participants can earn up to 26 PDUs and SEUs. Attendees will also receive Free access to one of IIL's most popular on-demand courses, Virtual Agile Teams (value $850), which is particularly useful during this time.
Click here to REGISTER.
We will be migrating our website to new servers starting at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 8th at 8 p.m. MST. There should only be a short window of a few minutes when the server may not be available during the migration. This move is to improve the performance and security of the website.
Questions or concerns can be addressed to
Yes, the sky has officially fallen. People all over the world have adopted a new way of living. Social distancing and remote work have become the norm within a few weeks’ time. Organizations went the distance by stress-testing their remote work capabilities and encouraging their employees to work remotely. The coronavirus was able to impact the world order in a stunning manner that no one had ever predicted.
As dwindling queues at the airport and canceled reservations at hotels signal an impending change in the fortunes for many industries, organizations are taking a fresh look at options to improve team productivity, which seems to be affected by the lack of personal interaction. Projects are built on one key aspect: people!
It’s no surprise that organizations are viewing the progress of their projects and programs with concern as their employees adopt a new working model that currently has no end date. This new model could be a long-lasting one that can bring about life-changing impacts and, at the same time, new opportunities for project teams to deliver value to organizations.
Remote Work
According to statistics released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 26 million Americans work remotely, at least part of the time. That constitutes 16% of the workforce in the United States. Between 2005 and 2015, the number of employees who worked remotely increased by 115%. That is a whopping jump indicating the confidence in remote work technologies—and a positive shift in organizational attitude toward remote work.
According to an Owl Labs State of Remote Work survey, companies that support remote work have 25% lower employee turnover than companies that do not promote remote work arrangements. Further, employees felt greater work/life balance when remote work was offered by organizations.
However, the same survey also indicates that the respondents felt that remote work made them less attached to their teams and experienced challenges in maintaining relationships at work. Remote workers with onsite managers experienced 25% less career growth conversations overall than average.
However, the takeaway from this survey is that managers did not report any substantial change in performance between remote and on-site workers. This fact alone can help organizations form decisions that will affect the current remote work guidance offered to their employees. After all, certain types of projects can still hope to achieve their results with a substantial remote workforce.
Disaster Recovery
Most organizations should rely on tapping into some part of their already established business continuity and disaster recovery plans during this difficult time when project teams are not readily available for business-critical operations.
While most of these emergency plans are built on the premise of infrastructure disruption due to unavoidable circumstances like natural calamity, the current situation offers organizations the opportunity to update the processes and remediations to address the real crisis of the workforce not being available onsite.
Current disaster recovery plans can be viewed from the angle of assessing what key aspects of business are affected due to worker unavailability or due to quarantine procedures mandated by the local government bodies. That may involve distributing protection apparel and implementing safety-handling procedures to help employees execute their tasks without fear of contracting infections.
Business continuity plans help organizations keep the operations going in the event of a disaster. Organizations will be able to execute their current plans with some modifications to keep the business operations intact. The challenge will be the dependency on remote locations to keep the lights on when most locations will probably be equally affected by the health situation.
New Initiatives
Project teams are entrusted to deliver new capabilities that enhance the business operations of organizations. A disruption from the norm affects many organizations’ capability to effectively reach time to market.
While a total incapacitation may not be brought about by the current situation, project governance bodies will find it challenging to project capacity, quality and timeline. When many critical projects are affected by onsite worker unavailability, capability projections need to be re-evaluated so that realistic expectations can be communicated to stakeholders and leadership.
It’s tempting to offer guidance to not start any new initiatives that require onsite worker presence. However, even during this new norm, businesses cannot hope to survive if new projects are not initiated. The need of the hour is to settle on a “middle ground” approach where business priority planning needs to occur with a view of the new reality.
It’s even possible to increase productivity in certain types of projects where unessential site work can be substituted with remote tasks, thereby offering enhanced business capabilities in some areas.
Team Health
Even during dire conditions, successful organizations pay attention to overall employee health, both psychological and physical. The current pandemic health situation offers opportunities for organizations to promote project team health—thus ensuring successful recovery plan executions, leading to prioritized business results.
Project governance and execution teams should partner to assess team health while projecting project capacity and deliverables. While employees’ physical well-being will be challenged during a health hazard, it is also paramount to pay attention to the psychological aspect of employee health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), depression and anxiety have a significant economic impact—and the estimated cost to the global economy is US$1 trillion per year in lost productivity.
It’s no surprise if the productivity loss gravitates to higher plains during the current stressful times. A recent WHO-led study estimated that for every US$1 put into scaled-up treatment for common mental disorders, there is a return of US$4 in improved health and productivity. A proactive approach to address psychological and physical health during times of distress can be a productive plan for organizations.
Difficult times offer the most challenging phases to organizations and people in general. As the English Poet Robert Frost wrote, “Even in difficult times, one thing remains true-life still goes on.” Projects, programs, and organizations must find innovative ways to tread forward. That may require a peek into the past—as well as the willingness to be outrageously creative.
This article by was originally published on ProjectManagement.com. on
Jiju is a project manager who takes on projects that need help. He likes a challenge put in front of him to be solved in a fixed amount of time. Because of this trait, he was fortunate enough to be called upon for completing projects in distress. Through detailed analysis and designing mitigation strategies, he is able to turn distressed projects into successful ones.