Welcome to PMI Silicon Valley

President's Newsletter - September 2018

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Fellow Chapter Members,
 
Warm welcome to the new members, volunteer leaders and greetings to all PMISV Chapter members. In the Month of September we had a very successful Active Volunteer team building event at Avaya Stadium in San Jose.
 
We are encouraged by the number of confirmed participants to date for the PMISV Annual Symposium -- Theme ‘Strategic Leadership for Enterprise Agility’. The registration is open and will be closing soon. We encourage you to register since we do not accept at-the-door registration.
 
Save the date for Symposium October 22 and 23, 2018.
The registration link for participants is open athttps://pmisv.org/register-now-for-the-2018-pmisv-symposiumWe the PMISV Board of Directors seek your help to register and make the event a great success. Chapter members from other PMI Chapters can register at PMISV Chapter member price. If you are a student or a veteran, please email memberservices@pmisv.org to get the instructions to register.
 
Active Volunteer Leaders :Save the date for Active Volunteer Leaders workshop on SAFe, Saturday Nov 3, 2018
 
We are pleased to inform you that the Chapter will be offering the first PgMP boot camp for PgMP certification in the month of December. Please visit www.pmisv.org for details.
 
This Month, I am happy to bring to you the volunteer experiences from our PMISV Fremont and Foster City event Directors.
 
Anju Saksena – PMISV Fremont Event Director:
Many of you have taken advantage of the resources the Chapter offers and as PM Insight-Fremont Event Director I am pleased to share that attendance for PM Insight-Fremont has gone up from the last year. Our volunteer team has also increased. So we are glad to take this opportunity in the Presidents Newsletter, to thank our membership and volunteers for their continued participation in making this event a success. Our new location has proven successful with attendees from both organizations participating actively in discussions and round-tables with speakers. PM Insight strives to keep members current with the latest in project, program and portfolio management methodologies that gives its members the edge to learn, adopt, adapt and get ahead of the competition.
 
PM Insight Fremont invites speakers that educate in the different areas of PMI’s Talent Triangle as we strive to make PM Insight-Fremont your resource for a well-rounded offering of PDU’s across the Talent Triangle. Our invited speakers are from the field that they present in so come on in and hear it from real practitioners who are also highly respected in their respective fields. In 2018 we brought you topics in the Business and Strategic Management Category such as Blockchain and IoT; in Technical Management Category topics included Organization Change Management, Scaled Agile; and in the Leadership Category topics include Agile Leadership, Cultivating an Agile Mindset and Meeting Facilitation.
 
Up ahead in the 4thQtr. 2018 PM Insight-Fremont is pleased to continue to support our membership by offering talks in the different categories of PMI Talent Triangle. So come on in and network with your peers and earn those last minute PDU’s in Leadership category by attendingMeeting Facilitationin September andCultivating an Agile Mindsetin December. In November earn PDU’s in Business and Strategic Management by participating in our Nov eventTrends in Angel Investing: CannabisTech.
In 2019 we promise you another exciting year guaranteed to bring you the latest and greatest in Project Management. So come on in, meet your peers in social networking, earn PDUs and join in with our highly interactive speaker presentations. Remember PM Insight-Fremont meets first Wed of each month unless there is a holiday! We look forward to seeing you on a Wed evening at PM Insight-Fremont!
 
Eugene Chen PMISV Foster City Event Director about the July event:
Software Is Eating the World, but AI Is Going to Eat Software", said by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Today machine learning and data science is impacting everyone's job at every corner. Project Management is no exception. On July 24th, PMI SV invited Mr. Andrey Baskov, CEO and founder of Metric.ai, to come to our Foster City Insights meeting, and shared his knowledge and experience with our members. Andrey kindly shared his vast experience in applying the state-of-the-art data science to project management, and helping organizations to achieve better estimate of project schedule, and even recommending a better team structure for a particular project. Andrey also shared his experience with various software products in the market which helps project managers to do a better job. This is just one of the examples of the unique learning opportunities at PMI SV Insights meetings. To be an effective and productive project manager, every PMI SV member should not miss these great opportunities!
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We are constantly looking for fresh graduates / students join the Chapter Next Gen Leadership program. If you have ideas or would like to part of the Next Gen Leadership Program please contact me at president@pmisv.org
 
Please encourage veterans and active-duty personnel in your network to take advantage of the opportunity to register for the Chapter evening events at no cost. To make this more effective, we are looking for a Veteran to lead this opportunity. Please drop an email to vp_operations@pmisv.org
 
We continue to see improved attendance at our Chapter events in 2018. Thank You for all the volunteers who are constantly striving hard to put up events that provide value to our members and Project Management community in the Bay Area.
 
I encourage all Chapter Members who wish to be a Chapter Leader to apply to enroll in the Leadership program and take advantage of the resources. If you are interested, please send an email to vp_strategy@pmisv.org
 
I encourage all Chapter Active Volunteers to actively consider nomination for the Board for 2019. If you are interested please feel free to reach out to me at president@pmisv.org
 
I would also like to take this opportunity to request you to join us at our Chapter Events and encourage your Project Management friends to join the Chapter and volunteer.
 
We are constantly looking for new volunteer leaders and encourage you to submit your application under the “Get Involved” tab on our website’s home page, once you’ve logged in. 
 
I hope to see you at a Chapter event soon! Volunteer with Passion. Happy Volunteering!
 
 
Sincerely,
 
Bhanu M Viswanadha PMP, PMI-ACP, CSM, SASM
President PMI Silicon Valley Chapter
 
 
Useful links:

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President's Newsletter - July 2018

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Fellow Chapter Members,

Warm welcome to the new members, volunteer leaders and greetings to all PMISV Chapter members.

In the Month of June, we have announced the PMISV Annual Symposium Theme ‘Strategic Leadership for Enterprise Agility’ and sent out communication ‘call for papers / presenters’. Please submit or encourage friends in your professional network to submit the proposal using the link https://pmisv.org/symposium-2018-call-for-presentations

Save the date for Symposium October 22 and 23, 2018.
The registration link for participants is open at https://pmisv.org/register-now-for-the-2018-pmisv-symposium We the PMISV Board of Directors seek your help to register and make the event a great success. Chapter members from other PMI Chapters can register at PMISV Chapter member price. If you are a student or a veteran email memberservices@pmisv.org to get the instructions to register.

I encourage all Chapter Active Volunteers to SAVE THE DATE Saturday August 18th for the Q3 Leadership Forum.

We are constantly looking for fresh graduates / students join the Chapter Next Gen Leadership program. If you have ideas or would like to part of the Next Gen Leadership Program please contact me at president@pmisv.org

Please encourage veterans and active-duty personnel in your network to take advantage of the opportunity to register for the Chapter evening events at no cost. To make this more effective, we are looking for a Veteran to lead this opportunity. Please drop an email to vp_operations@pmisv.org

We continue to see improved attendance at our Chapter events in 2018. Thank You for all the volunteers who are constantly striving hard to put up events that provide value to our members and Project Management community in the Bay Area.

I encourage all Chapter Members who wish to be a Chapter Leader to apply to enroll in the Leadership program and take advantage of the resources. If you are interested, please send an email to vp_strategy@pmisv.org

I encourage all Chapter Active Volunteers to actively consider nomination for the Board for 2019. If you are interested please feel free to reach out to me at president@pmisv.org

I would also like to take this opportunity to request you to join us at our Chapter Events and encourage your Project Management friends to join the Chapter and volunteer.

We are constantly looking for new volunteer leaders and encourage you to submit your application under the “Get Involved” tab on our website’s home page, once you’ve logged in.

I hope to see you at a Chapter event soon! Volunteer with Passion. Happy Volunteering!
Sincerely,
Bhanu M Viswanadha PMP, PMI-ACP, CSM
President PMI Silicon Valley Chapter


Useful links:

Chapter website

Chapter Events calendar

Become a Volunteer

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pmi chapter silicon valley logo

PMISV Chapter Board of Directors

Election Nominations

Dear Members,
 
 
It is again time to conduct the elections for the Chapter’s Board of Directors. Based on our chapter’s current Chapter Bylaws, we need to nominate individuals who will serve in our Chapter's five member Board of Directors:
 
1) President: The role of the President is to be the chief officer of the Chapter.  The President chairs Board meetings, is the principal point of contact to PMI.org, and is responsible for the overall health and direction of the Chapter.  The President is responsible for educational and community outreach, Marketing and social media, and Member Services.

 

2) Vice President Administration: The VP Administration keeps the records of all Silicon Valley PMI Chapter business matters (except those relating to finance), interfaces with the PMI GOC, and manages the reporting of chapter business metrics.  The VP Administration also manages core IT infrastructure and Volunteer Services.

 

3) Vice President Finance: The VP Finance oversees the management of funds and financial matters for the Chapter. 

 

4) Vice President Operations: The VP Operations leads the operations of the Silicon Valley PMI Chapter. This position oversees Program and Workshop events, Event website Marketing, Operations Process Improvements, Speakers Bureau, and Event Facilities management.
 

5) Vice President Strategy: The VP Finance ensures continuity and sustainability of operations and overall transition of activities across PMI-SV board members between two calendar years. 

 

The above five officers will serve on next year’s PMI-SV chapter's Board. All the Elected officers will have a term that begins on January 1, 2022, and ends on December 31, 2022 except VP-Strategy, whose term will run from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023.

All PMISV members in good standing are eligible for self-nomination. Members who are PMP certified and those having prior volunteer service within the chapter are preferred. Certain Board positions (such as President, Finance, Strategy) have specific requirements. Final slate of eligibility conditions regarding volunteering, etc. will be decided by the Nomination committee in accordance with the chapter by-laws.  If you are interested in serving the chapter next year as a member of the board, please log into the membership area of the chapter website to review the 2022 Election Process description. The online nomination form, position descriptions and other useful information are located there. If you wish to be considered for more than one role, please fill out a form for each. Nominations are open now, and will remain open until Friday, October 14th 2021.
 
General qualifications: All nominees are required to have the following experience and education:
  1. Three (3) continuous years of chapter membership, as an active volunteer, in a chapter leadership position(s) in PMI-SV, and is a current PMI member of good standing
  2. Must hold a 4-year college degree.
  3. Must have 4,500 hours of leading and directing projects.
  4. Must have 35 hours of formal project management education.
  5. Must reside or work within the area of PMI-SV’s core operations, defined as within a 25-mile radius of Mountain View, CA.
  6. Must not travel greater than 20% of the normal workweek.
  7. The President must be past Board member of PMI-SV, serving at least one full term of office
  8. Must not have been subjected to any sort of disciplinary action by PMI-SV; PMI or any of the PMI Chapters
 
Specific officer qualification: Each position has its own specific requirements, which have not been included in the name of brevity. The Nominations Committee will provide them, if you express an interest.
 
Click here to access the online Nomination Form.
 

As with our elections for 2021 board members conducted in 2020, we will be conducting this year's elections also electronically. Watch for voting information in the next several weeks!

Thanks,
 
Thiru Varadadesigan
VP-Strategy
2021-22 PMI-SV Board member 

 

Last Date for submitting Nomination is extended until "today": 11/04/2021

There was a day when you could write your own ticket if you were a project manager, had your PMP designation and if you knew something about technology or telecom.   Ah, the good old days.

 

uniqueToday, the world of PMs, with their PMP and with technology experience is very crowded.  Sorry folks… I know you are really good at what you do, and that you have incredible experience in your subject matter and that you have great references.   But so do many, many others around you.  The playing field is quite crowded.

 

So, what can you do about it?  How can you get noticed – get your resume or profile close enough to the top of the pile to get an interview?

 

Remove those blinkers.  The days of “Build it on time, on scope and on budget” are gone.  These days, you have to do all of that PLUS more. You need to show value above and beyond the norm.  You need to be much more than just being a good or great project manager.

 

Here are 3 ideas on how you can be more then just the ‘same old’ – how you can stand up and get noticed.

 

  1. Understand business value. Dan Watt of RBC Financial Group did a great presentation at ProjectTalks Toronto on the importance of project managers understanding business value.  What is your project doing for your customer?  What value is being provided.  When we start to think about our projects in terms of business value, we start to make better decisions within the project process – ones that are tied to project value.
  1. Understand strategy – I have written on this topic many times in this area. Strategic plans feed our project work – or so they should.   A smart project manager knows the plan and understands how the work he/she is doing is tied to that strategic plan.  This connection feeds performance, feeds better decisions (as with #1 above) and feeds happier and more engaged team members.
  1. Understand the CxO language. Great project managers know how to relate to the senior management team in terms that they understand and live with everyday.  This includes a thorough understanding of the financial reports, terms like ROI, asset management and shareholder returns.  Our senior team is not interested in the minutia of our project plans but they are interested in how that plan will affect the bottom line. Learn to talk their talk.

These three things can start to set you apart from the crowd.   These are things that employers and customers are looking for – along with someone who can deliver on time, on scope and on budget.

 

Image courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net

Have you ever worked on a project that was critical to you and your stakeholders – but it seemed that your team did not care?  How hard was it to motivate people to get the work done on your project when it seemed they were more motivated to work on something else?

This is a scenario that seems to play out in our project management lives more often than we would like: varying levels of commitment across our projects.  This is not unusual, as we are having to work with cross-functional teams throughout the organization with little, or no, authority and often a lack of familiarity with the players.

So, what can we do to motivate and inspire the people who work on our projects when we are faced with so many obstacles?

You need a plan. As is so often the case with leadership strategies, you just can’t wing it.

Here are suggestions for that plan.

  1. Assess your audience to understand, as best you can, what drives them, both positively and negatively. Our driving forces, or our motivational buttons, are so different from one individual to the next and one department to the next. Money, lifestyle, fun, challenges and growth opportunities are just some of the drivers that we will come across. You need to assess each unit that will require a unique motivational effort.
  2. Define your motivational strategies appropriate for each target. Without the previous step, this is just a shot in the dark.  Hopefully, with a fairly good understanding of the audience, you can develop a strategy for the whole group, sub groups and individuals. Preparation is critical here.
  3. Don’t forget to communicate your expectations to the audience. We are motivating others to achieve some level of performance or desired outcome. These outcomes need to be clearly defined and communicated to our audience. With a very clear set of expectations, our motivational plans become easier to achieve.
  4. Establish a feedback loop. It is very difficult to stay motivated when the expectations were clearly set, but there was never any follow-up. We need to set up a system to provide feedback regarding progress, or lack thereof, towards the desired outcomes.
  5. Provide coaching, mentoring and training to avoid any obstacles that are limiting success. This will help to ensure motivated resources, regardless of the outcomes of past projects.
  6. Motivation requires some kind of recognition or reward afterwards. A simple “thank you that was an awesome job” can be motivation enough for some but not others. By circling back to your assessment of the audience at the beginning, you should be able to develop an environment of recognition that suits your audience from one side to the other.
  7. Motivating also requires a set of consequences for continued underperformance. People need to see that there is a cost to non-performance.

Many of us leave the motivation to others or believe that it’s just something that happens organically.  This is not the case and not good leadership behaviour.

As we see, there is a process here with elements that we should consider at all times.

Motivation builds strong teams and strong project managers.