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Abstracts

Speakers and their abstracts (alphabetically listed). See also the moderator timetable

Analysis of issues in international development projects - Kamrul Ahsan

The purpose of this research is to explicate issues in international development (ID) projects. The study looks at ID project knowledge and practice, particularly project characteristic, performance, management and implementation issues. The basis of the study is secondary data from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank post project reports. By analysing several projects this study proposes an ID project life cycle and compares it to the generic project life cycle of PMBOK. It investigates overall project size in terms of budget and duration, reasons for slow implementation, procurement policies and lessons learned. Overall, this paper gives an impression of the ID project situation, with emphasis on life cycle, project processes, implementation risk and cultural issues. The paper also focuses on current good practice in ID projects. This study could be extended to incorporate impressions of the host country, as the ultimate customer of the ID project.

M Kamrul Ahsan, PhD is senior lecturer of operations and project management in the Faculty of Business, AUT University, New Zealand. He is a regular member of Project Management Institution, has good publication record in the project management area and has presented his work in international conferences. He has experience of working in International Development Project.

Implementing KiwiSaver - Neil Annenberg

An insight into how Inland Revenue has project-managed the implementation of KiwiSaver, with a focus on those aspects that make the programme unique, including:

• High profile government initiative with keen interest from three Ministers in particular, driving a multi-layered internal and external governance & QA process.
• Extensive external relationship management and partnering with financial sector, employers, payroll providers and employees.
• Partnership with numerous agencies from a delivery and accountability perspective, e.g. MED, Government Actuary, Retirement Commission, Treasury.
• Scope changes throughout the legislative process and inter-related initiatives, e.g. Taxation On Investment Income, and in the May 2007 Budget.
• Intense media interest and scrutiny.
• Significant scale and complexity of effort in both systems development and business operations design, introducing new capability to IR and challenging our ability to absorb the change effort.
• Classic challenge of managing time, scope and budget.

Neil Annenberg is a Programme Managers with IRD

The business case - the key to your project's approval - and its delivery - Grant Avery

The Business Case is more than an argument for funding. It is a living document providing a single view of the project's scope, costs, benefits, and risks, its interdependencies with other projects, and the structure and accountabilities of its governance. It should be referenced by the project's sponsor, steering committee, and key stakeholders to inform and support all high-level decision making and major project change requests.

What should the business case contain and how should that information be presented?

This paper commences with an overview of the key components of a business case, and then discusses six areas which are too often poorly developed, understood, or presented.

The paper discusses the importance, development, and presentation of:

1. Articulating the need - the burning platform
2. Semi-quantitative comparison of alternatives - choosing between options
3. Benefits management and realisation - painting a picture of success
4. Quantitative Risk Analysis (QRA) of costs - the difference between probability and likelihood (or a key reason projects over-run their budgets?)
5. Governance ? incentivising success
6. Stage-1 and Stage-2 business cases - important differences

The presentation provides examples of good practice and bad practice in each of the above areas.

Grant Avery leads a team at the State Services Commission responsible for the monitoring and quality assurance of major IT-enabled business projects in government. A two-stage Business Case approval process currently forms the basis of Government's major IT-enabled business project monitoring regime. Grant has managed major IT-enabled business projects in the Ministry of Defence and for the Government of Fiji (MFAT funded.) Grant is a regular speaker on the topics of project risk and quality management, has been a PMI registered PM-Professional since 2001, and has an MBA (with Distinction) from Victoria University.

Realising the benefits from public sector projects - Lesley Bentley

This paper reflects on a project manager’s experience and learning gained during implementation of a major policy change within a New South Wales (NSW) Government agency. Successful accomplishment required complex Information System (IS) changes together with multiple business changes. A collaborative approach was adopted to manage the work required between the project manager acting as facilitator and program managers from the functional areas of the organisation.

Project management practice was applied within an adapted Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) framework (SSPMA). This proved effective in establishing a basis for shared understanding of the problem situation, thereby informing the choice of project management methods and tools to be applied. It supported a systemic approach to problem solving and provided the conceptual basis for a collaborative approach to benefits realisation. A benefits realisation project was established within the program framework to ensure realisation of intended business benefits. Key personnel and stakeholders were engaged through facilitated sessions. At these sessions problem solving occurred through a process whereby problem issues were subjected to vigorous debate. The issues of concern in effect became translated into projects and the stakeholders became project team leaders. This approach to engaging stakeholders was founded on the experiences of a University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) research team working in collaboration with various NSW Government agencies in applying project management theory and practice to strategic change projects.

Martial art of project recovery - Ad Blankenstein

Completing projects on time and budget and delivering the outputs as per agreed requirements and quality is key to the business success of an organisation.

Research in the USA in the nineties on the performance of software development projects showed that 31% of projects will be cancelled before they even started and a staggering 52% of projects costed 189% of their initial estimates and the average time overrun was 222% of the original time estimates.

In order to keep projects on track the ability to identify the symptoms of project failure and understand the underlying causes and subsequently formulate and implement effective remedial measures are therefore invaluable skills, contributing to an organisation's business success.

The film "martial art of project recovery" shines a light on projects and provides a toolset to detect unreported troubles and show a way forward to turn things around and make changes for the better.

Ad Blankestein (PMP) has over 15 years project management experience in the ICT industry in New Zealand and offshore. Over the years he specialised in project recovery and is a member of the PMI's "Troubled Projects Special Interest Group". Since 2003 Ad is providing project management services through his company "Advalue Management Services".

Collaboration: romance or adventure? Lessons from the construction industry - John Boon

For most of the second half of the twentieth century project management in the construction industry has typically been conducted in an environment of conflict and non-cooperation. This has inevitably led to projects suffering time and cost over-runs and being delivered to poor quality standards. In recent years the industry internationally has succeeded in turning this situation around and achieved significantly improved project performance as measured by the key indicators of time cost and quality. This has been achieved substantially by using project structures that either encourage or require collaboration such as partnering or alliances.

This paper based on an industry study tour of the UK in 2006 together with observations of NZ projects will look at the various procurement methods that encourage or require collaboration and examine how successful they have been in practice.

It then debates whether the approaches that have been successful in the construction industry might also be used in other industries.

John Boon has thirty years experience in the construction industry mainly in New Zealand as a quantity surveyor, construction manager and property development manager. He is currently at Unitec in Auckland where in his role as associate professor he teaches project management to undergraduate and post graduate students. In his role of Vice President Development he is responsible for managing projects that support Unitec's ongoing development, particularly system development and change management projects.

John was Project manager for PMI conferences in 2002 and 2005 and regularly presents to conferences and industry seminars.

Independent Quality Assurance (IQA) "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" - Kevin Bryant

"Management is pushing for an ambitious target; which has set the same tone of expectation with the sponsor. The Project Manager is maintaining an optimistic view about it. Should Independent Quality Assurance agree with everyone or stand up for the abuse?"

Despite what best practices say, in most cases success of projects/programmes cannot be accomplished solely through structured logical planning and implementation. This may be attributed to various elements ranging from business decisions to ambitious targets that are influenced by external, business and internal drivers. As a result, projects and programmes are forced to compromise and adapt to such elements.

The core attributes of IQA supported by real life case studies with will be presented to demonstrate what IQA is all about and how it works with links to best practices.

Kevin Bryant is a Director of Gemtech Solutions. Since 2005 he has provided Programme/Project Quality Assurance advice to many NZ Government Departments and private sector organisations. Prior to Gemtech, Kevin ran PricewaterhouseCoopers, Wellington based QA practise as a Director for 5 years.

A practitioner in both operational and programme/project management over the last 25 years both in NZ and offshore, Kevin has accumulated a vast array of experience and knowledge as both a customer and supplier. He now shares this knowledge and experience with his clients".

Seven things you can learn from Star Wars (or Where did Darth Vader go wrong) - Una Catley

Growing up as part of the Star Wars generation these movies had a big impact on our psyche. Sometimes our projects can feel like living in an adventure movie full of alien creatures with bad guys around every corner.

Through brief clips of the movie and a special guest appearance, this presentation will explore the lessons to be learned from the movie on what to do and what not to do on our projects.

Areas to be explored include:

• Project Scope
• Risk Management
• Human Resources
• Communications Management and
• Quality Management

Growing up we always wanted to be cast as the hero. As project managers we want to be the hero that delivers a good project. This presentation may just inspire you to achieve that with a new perspective.

Una Catley is a contract Project Manager with 20 years experience in IT working in Testing, Business Analysis and Project Management. Una has been a trainer for 15 years and currently trains for ESI International. Based in Te Puke, Una works all over New Zealand.

Do less, achieve more- Chin-Ning Chu

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Portfolio planning - a simplified approach - Bryce Day

This presentation aims to discuss portfolio management techniques and share an experience of portfolio management with other project managers.

We make a clear distinction between decisions by separating them into the following stages:

1. Opportunity Identification
   Identifying potential projects within the organisation, though seemingly trivial sets the scene to allow clearly defined opportunities to pass through the rest of the framework with minimal problems.
2. Prioritisation based on Organisational Strategy
   We look at the role of organisational strategy when identifying projects.
3. Prioritisation based on Return on Investment
   We will look at projects from a long term sustainability view verses a short term operational view and how this can significantly affect the realisation of any identified benefits to the organisation.
4. Implementation planning
   We will briefly discuss what we have termed 'bundling', but better know as programme management and will address some of the business capability issues that may arise.

Bryce Day is the Managing Director of Catch Limited, a Business and IT consulting company based in Auckland, New Zealand. He is PMP certified and has been an Expert Reviewer for the Foundation of Research Science and Technology in the field of IT and communications since 2004.

Dynamics of stakeholders in project management - a New Zealand case - Arun Elias

Analysing the positions and interests of stakeholders is important in effective project management. The management of stakeholders in project management becomes complex when the positions and interests of stakeholders change with respect to time. This paper attempts to analyse the dynamics of stakeholders in terms of their changing positions and interests over time. The paper reviews the literature related to stakeholders and their dynamics in management literature. It also presents the results of a study relating to a New Zealand transport infrastructure project where the positions and interests of stakeholders have kept on changing during the life of the project. This study plots the changing positions of some of the key stakeholders, towards this project. Finally, the paper proposes a framework to analyse the dynamics of stakeholders in project management.

Dr. Arun Elias is the Director of Postgraduate Programmes in Management at the Victoria University of Wellington. He teaches subjects like Systems Thinking, and Operations Management in the MBA, post graduate and undergraduate programmes. His research interest includes stakeholders, systems thinking, and project management, and has published widely on these topics.

Techno Queen communications - Annette Garcia

Is your sponsor left pining for information? Are your team members' needs for information going unrequited? Are your project managers over-burdened with communication tasks? Should you be lured by the romance of intranet technology solutions to these problems?

Microsoft Project Server is tightly integrated with Share Point intranet document libraries and information distribution functionality. This case study covers some successes and some failures with using the technology for project communications.

The presentation aims to help project managers and administrators understand some of the risks and issues of using intranet technology for project team communications, especially for projects which are not IT projects and do not have many IT experts on the team.

Annette Garcia, Sealord Group Ltd, has a long background in the IT industry but for past three years has been managing general business process re-engineering projects and projects to install new manufacturing plant and equipment.

Outsourcing: A global survey on sourcing today - implementing the lessons learnt - Anthony Hafoka

A recently released KPMG survey titled "Strategic evolution: A global survey on sourcing today", which included more than 650 organisations worldwide (and 30 from New Zealand), debunks the often held view that outsourcing is failing. However it also highlights the fact that there is significant room for improvement in how outsourcing projects are being managed across the full sourcing project and operational lifecycle.

Key points taken from the survey are that:

• The common myth that sourcing is a 'failure plagued' phenomenon is untrue ? sourcing is here to stay; however
• Monitoring and management of sourcing benefits is often sub-optimal;
• Sourcing service provider selection process is often unwieldy and takes too long; and
• The importance of involving the 'right people' and aligning the cultures of the organisations is critical.

This presentation will include a summary of the lessons taken from the survey from both a global and New Zealand perspective and address practical strategies for integrating those lessons into outsourcing projects from a project planning and benefits management/realisation perspective.

Anthony Hafoka is a Director in the KPMG Risk Advisory Services team with a focus on IT Advisory and leads the Sourcing Advisory service line for KPMG New Zealand. He is an experienced professional with a history of delivering successful projects through team management, operational management, project management and directorship and IT consultancy delivery

Project mentoring - keeping the relationship alive! - Jehan Hyder

With more project-based work being carried out in organisations, growing new Project Managers makes good investment sense. Project mentoring can form a significant portion of the learning experience for many Project Managers who have attended basic project management training and have a toolbox to work with. It is the focused approach that builds the capability of the individual and reinforces culture change within the organisation over a period of time.

The overriding objective of project mentoring is to get the knowledge and support to Project Managers when they need it. Ultimately the outcomes that we are driving towards include:

• Building the internal project capability
• Reinforcing project management training
• Reinforcing internal standards and methods
• Developing more focused individuals who understand the benefits of applying project management principles

Jehan Hyder is a senior Project Consultant at Simpl in Auckland. In her more than 13 years with Simpl, Jehan has worked on various projects in the capacity of Project Manager, Project Consultant, Project QA, Project Management Trainer and Project Mentor.

Tell a different story, get a different result - Mark Jamieson

As Shakespeare says:

This presentation explores how we, as human beings, live in a psychological drama with ourselves in the starring role. Depending on the story we create, this can help us our hinder us in our role as project managers. The presentation introduces the concept of Health Realization, or innate mental health. In the Health Realization model, all psychological phenomena, from severe disorder to glowing health, can be understood as manifestations of three operative "principles" first identified by Sydney Banks. These principles are "Mind," "Consciousness," and "Thought."

• "Mind" is the name given to the universal energy that animates all of life, the source of innate health and well-being.
• "Consciousness" is the name given to our ability to be aware of our lives.
• "Thought" is the name given to the sum total of our mental activity.

"Mind" has been likened to the electricity running a movie projector, and "Thought" to the images on the film. "Consciousness" is then like the light from the projector that throws the images onto the screen, making them appear real.

According to HR, we experience our reality and our circumstances through the constant filter of our thoughts. Our Consciousness makes that filtered reality seem "the way it really is," and we react to it as if this were true. But, when our thinking changes (as it inevitably does, through the activity of Mind), reality seems different, and our reactions change. Thus, we are constantly creating our own experience of reality via our thinking.

In our role as Project Managers, we deal with results. But results stem from behaviours, which in turn stem from our thinking. By understanding how we think, the results will follow.

Armed with a degree in Psychology from the University of Otago, Mark Jamieson joined IBM as a graduate trainee. Departing on his OE, he ended up in England, where he managed implementations across Europe on behalf of the Ford Motor Company. He joined Ernst and Young as a Management Consultant and found himself still in his twenties dispensing advice to European corporations with all the authority that only youthful arrogance and ignorance can engender. He gained a Master of Business Administration degree from City University, London, combining his continued interest in Psychology with the demands of business management.

Returning to New Zealand he continued to treat the business world as his laboratory, results of psychological experiments being judged against the triple constraint of .time, cost and scope, and became more and more convinced that it is the human factors that lead to success or failure of projects.

In New Zealand and Australia he has held senior project management positions in such companies as IBM, Carson Group, PeopleSoft and Oracle, implementing business change and information systems for such companies as Air New Zealand, Allianz, NZI and Fonterra, including running projects across multiple countries, cultures and competencies.

Portfolio management and architecture - always the twain should meet! - Mike Lowe

Recent studies have shown that over 50% of waste in Information Technology is attributable to the wrong decisions being made at the Investment Analysis stage.

The lack of Strategic Alignment, lack of an appropriate decision framework and the inability to accurately rank investments, has contributed over the years to hundreds of millions of wasted dollars.

Increasingly, organisations are adopting Portfolio Management as the discipline needed to improve investments decisions. However, on its own Portfolio Management may not be enough to address the issue.

The key principle to achieving success with regard to your investment decisions is striking a good 'balance'.

The presentation will describe the complementary disciplines of both Portfolio Management and Enterprise Architecture and the value they can deliver when you're engaged in enterprise, project and service management planning.

Mike Lowe; Director - Activate New Zealand Limited. With over 26 years as an IT professional, Mike has held senior management roles in Development, Projects and IT Service Management for major public and private sector companies in New Zealand including; ANZ Bank, New Zealand Police, Arthur Andersen. Mike believes the time is right for the leaders in our industry to be pro-active in helping New Zealand business succeed at a global level.

Talented men move. Dead wood doesn't - Rashed Mirza

How can organisations and managers retain their talented employees in a tight labour market?

The most precious possession of your organisations is the people you have working there, what they carry around in their heads, and their ability to work together. Organisations incur huge loss in replacing key people in addition to the hidden costs incurred through the lost business opportunities.

Organisation's policies, systems and culture have an impact on managers' ability to keep talented people, and managers' relationship with employees is the key to their satisfaction and decision to stay or leave.

This paper will focus on what organisations and managers do wrong that causes staff to leave. The paper also discusses the type of working environment that needs to be created and the policies, steps, and actions that could be implemented to retain talented people and ensure their contribution in achieving the organisation business goals objectives.

Rashed Mirza is a Civil Engineer and a PMP with over 20 years of experience in project management. During his career he has been exposed to many facet of engineering and managed major projects for (i.e. Roading, Railways, Construction, Water Supply, Wastewater and Stormwater Reticulations).

The theory and practice of Project Management Maturity - a review of OPM3 Case Studies - Steven Mitchell

The theory of project management maturity indicates that assessing and improving organizational project management processes will lead to quantifiable benefits such as reduced costs, improved customer satisfaction, better quality and more predictable schedule and cost performance. This paper will examine case studies based on the OPM3 model of project management maturity in order to analyse the intended and actual benefits as well as areas and issues that may not be adequately addressed by the model in practice. Insights drawn from this analysis will highlight the gaps between theory and practice in order to provide practical guidance to meet the challenges of applying maturity models to the management of projects.

Steven Mitchell, PMP is a Principal Consultant with Primavera Australia. He is a sessional lecturer in project management at the University of NSW. Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) and has co-authored international conference papers or articles. Steven has a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master of Business Administration (Executive).

Managing emergency programmes 'in the midst of the unknowns' - Belatchew Nadew (Abby)

Emergencies have been around for more than thousand years and will continue to thrive as results of natural occurrences, our own doings and nature's reaction to that. Some can be predicted though many remain of unknown trigger even with all the technological advancement we currently enjoy. If we look back to the not so far past, in the last two decades alone, most part of the world were forced to deal with countless emergencies caused by nature and man himself. This includes but not limited to global spread of pandemic and biological threats to many countries.

Even though New Zealand's geographical location long isolated in a vast ocean, has so far kept it free from many pests and diseases that exist in many other countries; it still remains exposed to various natural occurrences as well as biological threats.

Two recent real life scenarios will be used to illustrate the main theme of the paper to present the unique nature of Managing Emergency Programmes "in the midst of the unknowns" as compared to conventional Programme Management practices.

Belatchew Nadew PMP© recently migrated to New Zealand. He comes with wealth of experience in consultancy specialising in: project and programme management; organizational development; strategic formulation, development, planning and management practices; and relationship management with knowledge and expertise in building strategic alliances and cooperative agreements in multinational and global organizations across all sectors in Australia, Asia Pacific, Eastern and South Eastern Africa.

Spotlight on project benefits realisation - Brett Ormsby

It's time to put the spotlight on 'Project Benefits Realisation'. In KPMG's 2005 IT Project Management Survey we found that benefits are poorly defined/measured:

• 59% have no, or an informal, benefits management process
• 18% of those with a formal process stringently enforce it

At KPMG, we believe benefits realisation deserves the spotlight. Achieving benefits ? keeping commitments ? is now the key determinant of project success. The identification, monitoring and measurement of benefits is a fundamental part of achieving project success.

How serious are we about managing benefits realisation in our projects?

The session is intended to be interactive and generate discussion - a panel of KPMG project management professionals will draw from their practical experience and generate discussion from the audience. The panel discussion will be preceded by a summary of the key findings from KPMG's 2005 IT Project Management Survey in relation to project benefits realisation. The intention is to highlight the impact of poor benefits realisation and present the benefits of implementing a formal benefits realisation process.

Brett Ormsby is an Associate Director in the KPMG Risk Advisory Services team with a focus on project advisory and leads the capital management service line for KPMG New Zealand. He is an experienced professional with a history of delivering successful projects as a project manager and has been involved in major change management projects.

Rupert Dodds is a Partner in KPMG's Risk Advisory Services team and is Lead Partner of KPMG's project advisory services. Rupert provides project advisory services to major New Zealand public sector clients including assessing project governance, providing project assurance through health checks or targeted assessments, project risk assessments, post implementation reviews and business benefits realisation reviews.

Gina Barlow is a Senior Manager in KPMG's Risk Advisory Services team who specialises in IT Advisory including risk management and is the national service line leader for KPMG's project advisory services. Gina's broad experience has been gained in central government, health, telecommunications and consumer markets.

Anthony Hafoka is a Director in the KPMG Risk Advisory Services team with a focus on IT Advisory and leads the Sourcing Advisory service line for KPMG New Zealand. He is an experienced professional with a history of delivering successful projects through team management, operational management, project management and directorship and IT consultancy delivery.

Adventures in change - lessons from the Argus Cycle Tour - Jürgen Oschadleus

People are impacted by, and respond to, change in different ways; understanding these differences is essential to obtaining their buy-in. Using the analogy of the Cape Argus Cycle Tour, this paper outlines key principles in managing the change introduced by projects and the transition through which people must pass.

Attendees at this light presentation will:

• Recognise that people deal with change in different ways
• Identify the stages of the change and transition processes through which they and team members are going, and the barriers they may encounter
• Plan to deal with obstacles that will arise
• Discover the power of influential communication to sell change in a positive way
• Discover the unique spirit of one of the world's premier cycling events

The content will suit all project managers and team members who have to deal with the implications of change in their organisations.

Jürgen Oschadleus, director of ActKnowledge and Valense, is a speaker, writer, trainer and project manager. He regularly addresses global conferences and executive summits, challenging clients to improve their individual and organisational effectiveness. He facilitates various project and supply chain management courses and wrote Heart of Influence.

Restoring grip car 3: a challenging project! - Colin Perfect

Learn about the planning and implementation tasks that contributed to the successful, award-winning restoration and display of the historic 104 year old, Wellington-built grip car, formerly used on the Kelburn cable tramway in that city.

Visit the myriad of challenges presented by the work including fund raising; deciding on the period and appearance of the restored car; preparing a conservation plan for the work; locating a suitable contractor; getting familiar with, and using, rare or disappearing artisan skills; managing the restoration contract; and the logistics of moving a veteran, and valuable, vehicle between sites.

Understand the importance of the car's display space in the Wellington Cable Car Museum as well the value of the interpretation material on the restored grip car and how each adds to the heritage significance and value of the car to New Zealanders and tourists.

Colin Perfect is a registered architect and heritage consultant specializing in the conservation of historic buildings and vehicles. He is a long-serving board member of the Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand, a former head of the Post Office's architectural team and a past national president of Toastmasters International.

Giving the right cues - lessons in remote project management - Matt Phillips

The presentation will describe the challenges of managing projects across multiple sites and / or time zones. Using real life examples, it will suggest how to overcome these challenges through the implementation of best practices.

CHP Consulting is a global provider of software and consultancy and has managed projects with teams spread across the UK, Australia and the US. The presentation will link this broad range of practical experience to the project management recommendations in the PMBOK.

The presentation will focus on communications and culture, describing how properly managed communications are vital for the success of projects running across multiple sites and / or time zones. It will introduce some common communication errors, and demonstrate how the effects of these errors are amplified when working with remote teams. The presentation will also discuss how project culture must be geared to prioritise and understand the importance of effective communication.

Matt Phillips PMP BA(Hons) MA MNZCS MBCS. An experienced project manager, Matt has worked for CHP Consulting in New Zealand, Australia, the UK and Sweden. Matt has worked with a number of blue chip clients to deliver successful projects. In 2006 he achieved the PMP credential, and is a member of PMI, NZIM, NZCS and BCS.

New director in the chair - Dirk Pons

Congratulations: you just got the job of Director! The only problem is the previous director walked off the set, leaving a film that is nearly, but not quite, complete. And did anyone mention that the financial backers have reservations about the relevance of the whole theme? But no doubt you have this all in hand, and know all about project closure under difficult conditions. So everyone is looking to you to close-out this movie and ensure the best possible outcomes.

Dirk Pons has a background in mechanical engineering, and a PhD in engineering design. He is a long standing user of project management methods, and teaches the topic at CPIT. His research interests naturally include project management, and also extend to engineering design, risk, and reliability, and he has several publications in international journals. He is a professional educator and a frequent contributor to the PMI conferences.

"The Action Hero" - Protecting projects from failure - Chris Pope and Ron Shaw

While statistics show that a staggering number of projects fail, the irony is that the majority of project that fail do so, not because of complex or unforeseen problems, but rather through neglect of the basics. As consultants who have rescued troubled projects across a variety of industries, Chris Pope and Ron Shaw have identified practical things project managers can do to "failure proof" their projects.

However, knowledge is not enough to make projects successful. It takes leadership! This presentation goes beyond simply educating the audience to motivating project managers to stand strong as leaders in their organizations. Join us as we discuss top ways to failure proof your projects, helpful hints from the speakers' project rescue experience, and an opportunity to hear ideas from other PMI members.

Chris Pope, PMP, has led complex IT and business projects in New Zealand and the United States, and is the Director of The Valde Group

Ron Shaw, CMC, is the Director of Great Project Outcomes. He is an experienced Project Manager, Management Consultant, Facilitator, and Team Developer.

The benefits of aligning tool vendors such as Microsoft to the PMBOK - Daniel Queva – A discussion with Microsoft, Hosted by Youssef Mourra, PIPC

Microsoft recently launched a new credential program designed to set a new standard of quality in the use of its tools. Microsoft’s Office Project 2007 certification is aligned with PMI’s PMBOK, enabling project managers that build on this foundational work to translate their skills directly to their day-to-day activities. Youssef Mourra, from PIPC, a Microsoft partner and a PMI member will host a discussion with Daniel Queva, Director at Microsoft, on the rationale behind this new credential program and Microsoft’s commitment regarding the project management community.

As Director of the IW Category Products for APAC, Daniel Queva is responsible for the business strategy and sales execution of Microsoft Office Project, Visio and SharePoint in the region. Daniel Queva has worked for Microsoft in the United States for the last seven years, of which, three were spent on the Project business. In the Project business group, he was responsible for the overall partner strategy, and for designing and launching the new Project credential program.

Implementing a project portfolio management tool - Andrew Smith

If you are considering implementing a Project Portfolio Management or Enterprise Project Management tool, there are a few considerations that will be worthy of note:

• Have you got a mandate for change?
• How mature is your current organisation?
• Do you have manual processes already in place that will transition into the new tool?
• Is there a centralised point of ownership of the tool?
• What are the expectations of the users ? Project Managers, PMO, Senior Managers, Resource Managers, Team Members?
• Do you gather enough data about your projects to produce the outputs that you want?
• Are your stakeholders and users committed to changing?

Ignore these at your peril. Some organisations see these solutions as the silver bullet to improve resource utilisation or improve portfolio optimisation. These benefits will only be gained through a well delivered project that takes a thorough approach to the implementation.

Andrew Smith is the Manager of the Project Capability team at Simpl. Andrew has worked in many different locations around the world and has helped many New Zealand organisations improve their Project Management practices by delivering training, managing the implementation of PPM solutions and introducing frameworks and methodologies.

A few good project managers - Marcel Thompson

What steps must all project managers take, when clarifying a sponsor's expectations? How do you retain a sponsor's confidence, and enlist their support? How do project managers match their team's capability and capacity, to meet their sponsor's demands?

One important step to successfully answering these questions lies in the timely preparation and execution of sound communication management plans.

Communication Management plans can provide structures that will support stakeholder management.

This presentation considers a few well-known scenarios each with its own unique twist; in each case, the build-up and outcomes will surprise and challenge many project managers.

Marcel Thompson, BSc. CPIM MBA is a project manager based in Australia. His project management career has included roles in new product development, manufacturing, supply chain and CPG trade promotions, focusing on the liquor and FMCG industries. More recently, Marcel has expanded his services scope to include work in the continuous processing, and hydrocarbons industries.

Show me the money - Paul Willyams

Jerry Maguire; http://godamongdirectors.com/scripts/jerrymaguire.txt

This paper addresses a thorny problem: how do you develop a business case for an IT project that “shows me the money”? How can you when most of the benefits fall uncomfortably and immeasurably under the heading of Intangible Benefits?

We look at some tools and techniques that can be used to show the money. We also discuss some concepts that help put IT investments and business cases into context. This information should enable you to answer the Board’s demands to put cash on the table.

This presentation is based on client case studies, recent academic research, Deloitte knowledge and personal experience. The focus is on IT projects, because the benefits can be particularly difficult to quantify and value, but could apply to other investments.

Participants will enjoy a mix of concepts and practical tools. No Information Technology or accounting knowledge is required.

Paul Willyams is an Associate Director with Deloitte, based in Christchurch. He has a background in financial and IT management consulting and teaching, and is a Chartered Accountant and Project Management Professional. He has extensive experience with business case development from the perspectives of a financial controller, project manager, software vendor and consultant. Last year Paul presented to the PMI conference on Accounting for IT Projects.

The Director - Karl Wixon

Whether on set, or in the boardroom, Directors are the espousers of vision charged with ensuring it is successfully articulated and compelling enough to engage others in its realisation.

Karl Wixon recounts his recent experience as Project Director and Manager of 'Awatoru', a national Growth and Innovation Pilot Project. The project developed a design led model to increase NZs export income through harnessing the untapped potential of Māori assets and translated this into a new post-graduate education programme.

The presentation provides analysis of the dynamics encountered in navigating uncharted territory in this challenging strategic project that necessitated a strong focus on communications and close management of stakeholder engagement, inputs, expectations and understandings across disparate sectors.

It explores the role of 'Project Director' working between strategic, business, creative and cultural processes, within a project management framework.

Karl Wixon specialises in developing and managing strategic projects for Māori organisations ? walking a fine line between PMI and cultural practices. His design background, PMP® credential and certificate in company direction, enable him to function at governance level facilitating the development and implementation of innovative strategies for growth and development.

NZ Project Managers in Action - a national survey, cross-country and cross-industry comparison - Dr. Ofer Zwikael

This presentation analyses the results of the first vast project management national survey in New Zealand, that has been conducted in 2006-7. This presentation compares the practices used by project managers and organisations during the planning phase of projects. Results to be presented include the comparison among different New Zealand regions, industries, project managers' gender and with other countries. Management styles were evaluated on the nine classical project management knowledge areas, as defined by PMBOK, and on the organisational support practices required for a proper project management infrastructure.

The presentation includes:

1. international comparison with regards to project success,
2. international comparison with regards to the amount of effort project managers and senior managers put in different project management processes,
3. a cross-industry comparison within New Zealand, and
4. regional comparison within different New Zealand cities.

Dr. Ofer Zwikael, PMP, is a senior lecturer at the Victoria Management School, Victoria University of Wellington. He has led projects and program groups in dozens of organisations. He has previously presented in PMI conferences in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.