Blog-type posts and other content written by our members
If you missed Professional Development Days, September 22/23, 2017, you missed a great event!
Over 200 participants had the opportunity to learn from 19 industry experts over two full days of sessions and earn up to 13 PDUs, meet
our sponsors and build their professional networks.
Come and hear from Brett in person at PD Day South 2017!
Brett Boghigian wears many hats at Indigo. Chemical engineer by training and current Head of Project Management, a position that puts him in charge of the stage-gate process from product inception through to final delivery, Brett also serves as Facilities and Operations Manager, and hence has been instrumental in the relocation and renovation of company headquarters in Boston.
Did you attend the Career Advancement Clinic sponsored by PMI Mass Bay? If not you missed a lot! So, what did you miss?
The goal of obtaining the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is a worthwhile, yet challenging pursuit each project manager must decide on obtaining. You might wonder, “What’s the point of getting the PMP? I’m dy working in the field? Why go through the effort?” My answer to those questions can best be addressed with an illustration. Suppose you need to go to the doctor’s office. You schedule an appointment with a receptionist and she asks if you’d like to see either the doctor or a board-certified doctor? Without hesitation, you would most likely select the board-certified doctor.
Why? Being certified implies one is more official, has sought industry training, and has the expertise in the field. It is for those reasons why the PMP certification is so important for project managers to obtain.
This is part of an ongoing series that will look at different industry verticals and what is needed to be successful as a Project Manager.
TODAY’S FOCUS: MARKET RESEARCH AND STRATEGY CONSULTING
When you think about Project Managers, what is the first thing that comes to mind? In many cases we think the people who manage information technology, Agile or large infrastructure projects. Some people will immediately think of the phases of a project as described in the PMI PMBOK.
One of the most common questions about project management we hear from candidates is “why do employers require specific industry experience when recruiting for their PM roles? – Aren’t PM skills transferable to all industry verticals?”
What you missed at the PMI MassBay Career Advancement Clinic in Boston
Thursday, November 17 was a night of learning, networking, and opportunity. PMI MassBay hosted a Career Advancement Clinic at Suffolk University Law School for 200 participants. Our friends at Suffolk provided an entire floor presentation and networking areas that were perfect for this style event. The event brought together people from all experience levels. Graduating students and junior and senior Project Managers and Business Analysts attended the event.
We recently conducted a survey of Project Management leaders in the Greater Boston Area for a series of articles on PM adoption. One of the questions we ask is “How did you start your career in Project Management?”.
These surfaced as the top 5 ways to get noticed and secure a role.
In the ideal world, 100% of our employees will adopt a change immediately. That rarely happens, of course. And, of course, we rarely get 100% of employees even after a while. To get as close as possible to 100% adoption of change, you must have a plan!
I have been an ardent advocator of teaching the basics of project management, leadership, and emotional intelligence throughout my training and teaching career. In one of the recent classes that I was fortunate to facilitate, I used the example of Apollo 13 motion picture (Grazer & Howard, 1995) to illustrate to the class about the practical realities of how risks and quality can severely turn the happy path scenarios around. It was a revelation for the class as the various teams related to the emphasis of the "unknown unknown" risks on the management reserves, the criticality of risk identification and management strategies on contingency planning, influence of leadership on the conflict resolution and negotiation, etc. Synthesized in this blog are the major lessons that evolved from the class. When used effectively, the use of movies can become an effective tool at both academic and practitioner settings.
