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PMP

Both Michélle and MJ recently passed their PMP exams! PMP is the certification for proficiency and competence in the discipline of Project Management, issued by the Project Management Institute based in the USA. Michélle wrote a blog post about what the process of obtaining this certificate entails. Michélle: “It’s not easy, but it’s worth it! - Never-mind the difficulties and challenges - Why is it worth it? Because I learnt so much, and understand many aspects of project, business and life management better, with a good feel of what to do when.”

Positioning ourselves in Johannesburg

We are proud to list SAB Miller as an esteemed client. We have engaged in a number of projects with SAB Miller since April. We are also pleased to announce that a multimillion Rand commercial farm group has chosen us to assist with business structuring for growth. More about this interesting project soon. Along with the South African Post Office where we started a second project in March, following the successful delivery of the new SAPO Organisational Structure, we are on track with our plans to operate both in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Does strategy follow structure or does structure follow strategy?

That was the main question that was addressed in the Microsoft Round Table in Johannesburg, on the 8th of May. Marietjie Lancaster (Group Executive, Group Strategy, SA Post Office) and Michélle presented the SA Post Office case study ‘Achieving Strategic Goals Differently’. The case study highlights SA Post Office’s need for an implementation strategy and technique for the new business model to pursue growth. To deliver SAPO’s business goals within this new business model, the optimum organisational structure or organogram was needed. This organogram was developed with Pétanque, applying VizPro®. “Process mapping drove strategy and improved performance. These colourful, easy-to-use process storyboards transformed our proposed business model into a well-thought-out, high-level plan to implement the new model.” (Marietjie Lancaster, Executive, Group Strategy at SAPO) Read more about the case study here, and view the Microsoft Round Table presentation here.


Managing the schedule

By MJ Fick

Early in my project management career. I spent a huge amount of time (rightly so) on planning the work breakdown structure and the schedule and to get everything perfect in the project scheduling software package that we used. Building the schedule is a bit of a science and an art and of course I made mistakes but that wasn’t my weak spot. It was in managing the schedule after it was published and agreed on. It was in managing the very people I so desired to manage! It was hard for me to manage people and effectively deliver the schedule. Team members can make all sorts of excuses for not delivering on time and as a junior PM, I took it all personally. I missed a task that should have been planned for, I under-estimated the effort... it was all my fault! Fact is that the PM should indeed take responsibility, but the team should also understand their role and take responsibility for delivery.

Involve your team when you build the WBS and the schedule. Involve experts, have a look at previous projects of a similar nature! And then you must manage that schedule. Make sure that each team member is committed, knows what is expected of them and give you accurate and timely feedback. One lesson that I’ve learnt is to NEVER, EVER accept a “percentage complete” feedback. Project scheduling software typically shows progress as % complete but that does not mean team members can give you that percentage. How can they tell this accurately? Always remember that %complete is a calculation – the actual duration as a percentage of the planned duration. So get your team members to provide you with actual start dates, actual completion dates and if a task is running late, revise the planned dates with them and see if you can get tasks back on track. If you cannot, get the team member to commit to revised dates and assess the impact on your schedule.

And remember, managing the schedule and specifically slipping tasks is never about who is to be blamed – it is all about taking appropriate action and re-planning to get back on track!

MJ Fick started her IT career as a Programmer when she joined Sanlam in 1982. She joined BP Southern Africa in 1988 where she filled various positions as Analyst, Systems Designer, Project Manager, Management Information manager and Information Architect. In 1998 she became an independent consultant and Project Manager, working in the Oil and Insurance industries. She has extensive experience of systems development, data warehousing, data migration and ERP system implementation projects. MJ is a director of Pétanque.


Visit from Germany

Rodolfo Casabonne, a TenStep Global Partner visited us to experience VizPro® as a process architecture methodology. Rodolfo Casabonne is Managing Partner of TenStep España, TenStep France, and TenStep Deutschland, offering Project Management; Project Management Office (PMO); and Project Portfolio Management, as methodology, training, consulting, and support. He is also a lecturer of project management at the post graduate MBA programs of the Reutlingen University, the Furtwangen University (Germany) and the Jones International University (Colorado, USA). Rodolfo particapted in a couple of SAPO workshops, and is eager to start applying VizPro® / ProcessStep in projects in Europe soon.

 

BWA Business Achievers Award

Michélle is one of the finalists for the Business Achievers Award, in the Entrepreneur category! The Business Women Association in Cape Town organises the event to recognise remarkable women who are at the top of their fields. The Gala Banquet will take place in June so we’ll soon find out if Michélle will walk away with this award.

Business Process Management Congress 2008

IQPC is presenting a 4 Day event (2 day conference and 2 day workshops) that will address a range of components of Business Process Management and when and how to implement it.
The event offers case studies and other knowledge sharing from highly experienced practitioners. Some of the topics that will be addressed:
   • The implementation of BPM
   • Its integration with SOA, Six Sigma,
      Lean Manufacturing and EA.
   • Business Process Mapping

Pétanque contributes to this event, next to SAP, Oracle, Deloitte, PWC, Microgen, IQ Business group, Dake solutions, Ascent, DST international, Microsoft, View Point, Software AG, Metastorm, Tibco, Lombardi Software and Work Point.

SAP, Oracle, Deloitte, PWC, Microgen, IQ Business group, Dake solutions, Ascent, DST international, Microsoft, View Point, Software AG, Metastorm, Tibco, Lombardi Software and Work Point.

. Michélle will present with Marietjie Lancaster (SAPO GE: Group Strategy) the SAPO Process Mapping VizPro® project as a case study at the conference. We will also be exibiting at the Expo.
The event takes place from 2-5 September 2008, at the Gallagher Estate, Johannesburg, South Africa. Go to the event website for more info

Who’s writing about us …

Doc. ing. Arnošt Katolický, from Plzeň, in the Czech Republic bought ProcessStep (VizPro® is internationally branded as ProcessStep) and is now exploring the methodology, lecturing on it. Arnošt is a lecturer at two Czech universities, and he wrote about us on his blog. Unfortunately we’re not able to read the full content of his blog, as apparently he’s very experienced in process management and has a wealth of knowledge to share.

John Caswell, Chairman and Founder of Group Partners (UK) wrote an article at his blog to address the cry from his clients “please explain in simple terms - what needs to be done, by whom, how and when”. He quotes Michélle in the post, as VizPro® deals with exactly the same matter: ‘getting stuff done’.

Michélle’s blog post about the PMP certification is republished twice: by PM Hut and ProjectSmart. Both sites offer good value for those interested in project management.