This is my first year attending the PMI Global Congress - North America, October 21-24 2006 at the Seattle Washington State Convention & Trade Center. Needless to say, I learned a lot and met some interesting people. It was my chance to meet project managers outside of the software development/ IT fields. There were project managers from many fields
including: aerospace, defense, architecture, automotive, aviation, bio-technology,
civil engineering, construction, criminal justice, education & training,
financial services, government, healthcare, human resources, information technology,
telecommunications, life sciences, manufacturing, marketing & sales, metrics,
new product development, oil, gas & petrochemical, pharmaceutical, retail,
sports, utilities.
On Friday I arrived at the Roosevelt Hotel in the afternoon. I was hoping there was time for me to make it over to the Science Fiction Museum, at the Experience Music Project
before it closed at 6 pm. Unfortunately, the Seattle Monorail was broken, so I had to figure out a different way to get over to the Seattle Center. I tried a taxi, but we went approximately 1.5 blocks in about half an hour. (The conversation with the driver on nanotechnology
and biotechnology was interesting, though.)
No way was I going to make it before the museum was going to close. So I had to bail on that idea and go shopping at Nordstrom instead. Later I ducked out on the "Simply the Best" PMI Awards Ceremony to go check out the Science Fiction Museum. Pretty good trade-off. I really enjoyed the museum which had a lot of interactive and video features.
Saturday, my first official PMI Congress related event was put on by Microsoft (surprise!). The Puget Sound chapter of MPA, Microsoft Project Association, mentioned a new Microsoft Project certification program and gave us a chance to meet some big wigs within the organization. I haven't seen the announcement myself, but apparently they had a press release party during the conference. The main "behind the scenes" news we heard was that MS Project is included in the long term MS Office strategy, which is about half of Microsoft's income.. Neither of my SIGs, Diversity or New Product Development, met on Saturday, so I sat in the Consulting SIG. I used to belong to that one, but nothing ever happened other than the LinkedIn group.
Sunday was a very long PMI Research Program Working Session. The first part of the day was when the PMI Research Program got together with academia, represented by
Start here to finish- Countdown To Leadership - Mike Mullane
- Cross Culture Project Management
- Build Your Team with People-Savvy: Overcome the Five Team Dysfunctions
- New Directions and Innovations in Metrics-Based Project Management
- The Lens and the Mirror: Viewing Project Management as an Outcome or as
a Set of Processes? - Motivations and Blockades in International Project Management Work
- No-Nonsense Leadership Tips for Promoting Project Success - Neal Whitten,
Strategic Portfolio Management at Hydromax: Converting Strategy into Action
and the Strategic Importance of Project Execution - You Too Can Do Earned Value Management, Understanding the Basics of CPM
(Critical Path Method) Calculations: What is Scheduling Software Really Telling
You? - Successfully Manage Your Projects and Your Client's Expectations - Consultants'
Secrets
