• Message from the President
• Victorian Chapter Events October - November 2007
  • Heinz Haselroither's (Victorian Chapter Councillor) Report on the National Conference
  • Taking Knowledge to the Bank  - the Value of Professional Project Management 2007 VICTORIAN FORUM
  • RegPM and New Members Night - 29 November 2007
• Project Management Professional Development Group (PMDG)
• Continuous Professional Development - A Councillor's Perspective
• Activities and Events Calendar 2008
• PMO Special Interest Group
• Newsletter Contributions
• Victorian Office Closure
• New Members
• New RegPM
• Upcoming Events
• Chapter Contacts

President's Message

Dear Members

In this our final newsletter for 2007, I wish to firstly, thank the Vic Chapter Council and a number of members who have congratulated me on being elected as Chapter President.I appreciate the vote of confidence and your ongoing commitment and support.Secondly, I thank Bill Young for his massive contribution to the Council over the years and congratulate him on his appointment as the National President of the AIPM.

I am convinced that Bill will focus on strategies that will enhance the services to members and consolidate the image of the AIPM - both nationally and internationally resulting in continued growth and development of the AIPM as a peak body institution.

In line with several national objectives, the Victorian Council has explored a variety of issues in terms of its focus and service provision to its members.To that end, we have adopted several strategic issues and agreed to explore the following as priorities for 2008:-

1.  Professional Development – It is incumbent on the State Council to assist members in accessing a range of professional, learning and development opportunities.

The Activities sub-committee under the stewardship of Nick Massie and Terry Campbell will develop an Activities/Events calendar that aims to enhance the intellectual and professional development of individuals. We will attempt to ensure that up-to 80 % of Chapter events and activities have a continuing professional development (CPD) focus.

A variety of events will be scheduled over the 2008 -09 calendar that will explore a range of the more traditional areas of project management, as well as some of those not often regarded or given a high professional development priority.  I refer to what is often politely referred to as ‘the soft skills ‘; areas that are a critical part of the project manager’s toolkit for effective and efficient project management.  These include:-  performance management, understanding team dynamics, conflict management, problem solving, project leadership (as opposed to management), facilitating and understanding stakeholder needs, emotional intelligence, exploring issues related to complex change management and the like.A number of these topics have been ‘work-shopped’ over recent years, but the responses received through the recent Members’ Survey clearly indicate that people would like to re-visit these critical themes.

Thank you to all those that responded to the Members’ Survey and we look forward to providing you with an exciting 2008 calendar and receiving ongoing suggestions/improvements on guest speakers etc from members in 2008. Feel free to add any ideas and suggestions you may have on the PD calendar:  Contact Olimpia Watkins on telephone 9369 2160 or email: vic_chapter@aipm.com.au

2.  Corporate Members – To enhance the relationship with current corporate members of the AIPM and to develop new relationships with Major Victorian based project manager user organizations.

A preliminary proposal has been prepared to conduct a series of corporate luncheons in 2008 to foster the Chapters’ relationship with its corporate members.The first of these luncheons will be held in February 2008 with remaining luncheons being held on a monthly basis for the 2008 year.

3.  Women Project Managers – Aims to understand and address the needs and issues of women in project management. Questions such as: Are their needs and issues different to a male in this profession? Why are women under represented in the Victorian Chapter and the AIPM generally? etc. These are critical questions that should be posed.

I seek your thoughts?

In early 2008 a small informal discussion group will be established to explore the above.  Watch this space if you are interested in voicing an opinion or participating.

The Vic Chapter Council looks forward to working with all its members to ensure your voice is heard and your needs are addressed.

As you may be aware, the Victorian Chapter of the AIPM is experiencing continuous growth and now has over 1700 members. 2007 has seen a large increase in the number of attendees at monthly events held by the Chapter and a very successful 2007 Victorian Forum and PMAA with over 100 attendees.

I would like to thank the Councilors of the Chapter for their continued contribution to the development of the Chapter and to all members who support and promote the activities of the AIPM.The Victorian Chapter looks forward to a year of continued growth and development in 2008.Finally, on behalf of the Victorian State Councilors, please take care over the Christmas – New Year period and have a drink (or two) for me.

Best wishes

Leh Simonelli

Victorian Chapter President

Victorian Chapter Events - October - December 2007

Heinz Haselroither's (Victorian Chapter Councillor) Report on the National Conference - 7-10 October 2007- 'Project Management - Setting the Standard'

Well, if you didn’t have a chance to go to Hobart, you missed what was generally called the best AIPM conference yet.                                                   

There will be detailed reports on the conference on the web page and in the magazine but until you catch up with that, here are a few of my personal recollections:

As one colleague said , “Hobart is beautiful one day and cold the next” and that theme followed the conference throughout. The welcoming get together on Sunday was exactly what it set out to do, it welcomed the delegates and a lot of old acquaintances were renewed and a few new ones made in the perfect surroundings of the ‘Grand Chancellor’, the most excellent conference venue.

You could not miss the start of proceedings on Monday morning, the beating of six large Polynesian drums vibrated right through and must have woken up everybody in the hotel. After that, it did not take long to get down to the business of Project Management, with the initial key note speakers setting the stage by updating us on the latest developments in their respective areas of  defence forces and asset service management.

Other keynote speakers throughout the conference were drawn from public life, the defence forces and support organisations. The presenters ranged from the ‘Auditor General’, two ‘Rear Admirals’ to the Manager for the ‘Australian Government Antarctic Division’ who all gave us an exceptional and unusually candid insight into what drives our community from mostly behind the scenes.

After the first mornings proceedings we split into four streams of separate sessions and as usual, the most interesting sounding papers were sited in the smallest rooms requiring the organisers to play musical chairs to keep us all sitting down. The subjects were diverse; ‘Project Triage’, ’The naked Organisation’, ‘Does one size fit All ?’,’Cleaning up the Rivers to cleanse the Lake’, ‘Animal Behaviour in Projects’ besides the traditional titles taken from the PM phrase book. Overall, the standard and mix of papers was excellent although some presenters delighted in stringing together sentences and paragraphs consisting only of buzzwords and acronyms which defeated the purpose on communicating the ideas as not even the most astute PM could understand some of  the intended meanings. There was a lot of PM jargon on display, a lot of talk about ‘maturity models’, ‘soft skills’, ’P3, M3’, etc and I am not sure if it all related to Project Management anyway.

On Monday afternoon we had the AGM, a quite sedate affair. One question about AIPM finances which was swiftly disposed off by our old president and the CEO, acceptance of the ‘New Constitution’, HURRAY, and a smooth transfer from the old to the new National and Vic chapter presidents; Congratulations to Bill and Leh.

Having participated in the local & national judging, one of the highlights for me was the national PMAA on Tuesday evening. A ‘beautiful and cold’ boat ride to the Hobart landmark Casino preceded the evening’s festivities. Hosting more than 500 delegates and partners, it was a well organised event, a familiar TV face MC and a ‘fake hypnotic’ musical interlude kept the evening’s award presentations at a most entertaining level.Congratulations to all the winners.

The conference close was dominated by the most interesting presentation from Dr.Keith Suter of TV fame, who gave us an insight into his particular analysis of the business culture and an idea where the future of PM could lie.

Finally, Bill Young sent us on our way with his ideals for the next two years in the AIPM : good governance, openness and expansion of internal and external services. All AIPM officials as well as the event organisers associated with this conference  are to be congratulated on a job exceptionally well done.

 Heinz Haselroither - Vic Chapter Councillor 

Back to Top

'Taking Knowledge to the Bank  - the Value of Professional Project Management' - 25 October 2007

Nicolas West – Director of Educational Services for the Australian College of Project Management gave a breakfast presentation on 25 October 2007 at the Naval & Military Club based on a recent case study.

 Nicolas West provided an interesting and interactive session about the value of project management. Initially beginning with dividing the attendees into four groups to identify ‘what makes a good project team’, each team was then requested to identify the top 4 attributes of a project Team. What Nicolas highlighted was that ‘no matter what industry you are in, the same traits /attributes apply to any successful project’.

 Nicolas also presented the following formula for consideration:

 C = K x S x RC x M

Capability = Knowledge, Skills, Role Clarity, Maturity.

 With greater than expected numbers attending, the breakfast was complimented with positive feedback from attendees.

 Thank you for your continued support to the Victorian Chapter of the AIPM,

 Merry Christmas

 Trevor Alex, Victorian Chapter Secretary

Nicolas West presenting at the Naval & Military Club - 25 October 2007	Teri Foster, Monash University, presenting on behalf of one of the four work groups	Helen Costa, Rekha Taylor, Adam O'Keefe and Loka Sampagiram - ANZ

 Back to Top

RegPM and New Members Night - 29 November 2007                                                                

The Chapter held its annual RegPM and New Members Night on 29 November at the St Kilda Road Parkview Hotel.  The evening is designed for New Members to meet colleagues and for those who have completed their RegPM in 2007 to receive their award.

Also presented at this event, was the Donal Lenihan Bursary,  awarded in memory of Donal Lenihan to a student who has shown outstanding achievement in the application of project management principles and techniques during their course.  This year Sheree Brooks from RMIT University and Mary Likar from Victoria University were the joint recipients of the award. 

The Chapter would like to extend a special thank you to Roseann Lenihan and her family for making the award possible and for attending the evening to present the award. 

Sheree Brooks, Roseann Lenihan and Mary Likar	Recipients of the RegPM Awards 2007	Sebastian Immaraj, Terry Campbell (Councillor) and Nicholas Pelham

 Back to Top

Dear ‘Reg PM’ colleague

Having participated in the AIPM Conference in Hobart two month ago, the experience brought home to me the importance of “keeping up with it”.

Project Management, like most other professions, is continuously evolving and unless you keep up with developments, your knowledge base will deteriorate.

Being an AIPM member provides you with the opportunity and tools to remain in the forefront of changes in your chosen profession. The AIPM’s ‘Reg PM’ certification sets the benchmark for professional competence and you have already spent time and resources to obtain your certification  so it should be just as important to spend a little effort to maintain your professional competence level current.   And it is really only a little effort that is required.  

Have a look at the AIPM web site under Certification & CPD, it provides information on the background to the CPD and the methods for keeping your certification valid. The basic parameters of the CPD program require you to re-new your certification every three years and whilst there are various alternatives of achieving re- certification, the simplest way is to collect points along the way when participating in AIPM or other approved activities which further your PM knowledge.

The CPD program started on the 1^st July 2007 and to give an example of a ‘little effort’ , since July I participated in three local AIPM events as well as the conference and the points credited for these activities already count for more than half the of the  point requirements for retaining the ‘Reg PM’ certification.   So come and participate in our events, collect your CPD attendance certificates and log the accredited points on the AIPM web page.    After accumulating the necessary points you can apply and will be granted re-certification three years from the date of your original certification. The CPD administrator in the national office will be happy to provide any help and further details on the full CPD program.

H.Haselroither.       

Back to Top

Project Management Professional Development Group (PMDG) - Special Interest Group

Following on from our last article in the VIC Newsletter we have continued to develop the group with interesting presentations and lively discussions.

Please check out our “PM Professional Development Group (PMDG) SIG” page and forum on the AIPM WEB site with meetings listed in the Events Calendar. The meeting minutes and presentations are posted on the forum, I encourage members to review this information and post questions and discussions on topics presented as this will help us all develop outside our normal areas of expertise. Presentations by members and guests are intended to provoke thought and for the consideration of members and are not recommendations of the AIPM.

Recent Meetings:

Topics presented and discussed in recent meetings have been:

• Guest Speaker: Alex Caldwell on 'Collaboration Technology Enabling PM Teamwork and High Performance Outcomes'

Alex led a hands on session with the collaborative technology, using 12 keyboards in groups of two or three were able to type answers to the questions Alex posed in a mock collaborative meeting. On the big screen all inputs were displayed in separate boxes during the input stage and then during the discussion stage listed in order of entry. It was very interesting to see how quickly everyone took to the system. Alex has provided a copy of the raw input collected during the session, in a formal session this would be analysed and formatted.

• Member Presentation / Discussion: Mark Lucey, Project Manager, ASIC Project Office - 'PRINCE 2 methodology used at ASIC - tailored it to suit ASIC purposes, what works, what doesn't andany lessons learnt.'

Mark gave a background of how ASIC came to establish a Project Office and the path they travelled to their current project management methodology. They found the full PRINCE 2 method too cumbersome for smaller projects but elements have provided good structure and approval milestones. 

A key message was that “A portfolio project management approach” allows an organisation to manage resources and identify conflicts in scope and outcomes for the benefit of the company not just the business unit.

• Guest Speaker: MAJ Craig Byrne on behalf of Land 907 Project Office - AIPM Vic PMAA winner – DMO Tank Replacement Project

Craig began with a brief video which was prepared for the PMAA Award presentation, this gave some reality to the project with photo’s and video’s of the Tanks, Recovery vehicles, Support equipment and conditions they operate in. The presentation then worked through the details of the project and considerations the team included in scope. While we may consider injury in our risk assessments this project had the more extreme aspect in product selection of “survivability considerations”.

 It was interesting to hear about such a successful project and the insights shared regarding team strengths and lessons learned.

• Member Presentation / Discussion: Richard Lewis (Victorian TAFE Institutes MIS Project) to lead a facilitated session on: "Dealing with interpersonal conflict in projects"

A very interesting and stimulating discussion of causes and strategies for preventing or resolving conflicts was led by Richard with great input provided by members in attendance.

Richard will prepare a brief on the results of the comments logged and post this on the forum for further comment and discussion. I would like to repeat his point on the benefit of avoiding conflict being better than resolving it with his example: If you have been stabbed and are bleeding, putting the knife in a locked draw will only limit further damage but you are still bleeding, so better to look for the signs of conflict and address them early than to let them get out of hand.

The minutes and copies of the presentations are posted on the PMDG SIG Forum  AIPM > Services > Discussion Forums http://forums.aipm.com.au/forum/ 

AIPM > Services > Special Interest Groups http://www.aipm.com.au/html/pm_professional_development_group.cfm 

Mission Statement: To meet with like minded people to develop our skills, share experiences and learn from others in the pursuit of good project management.

 PMDG Aims: 

 *Meet approximately every six weeks

 *Discuss topical issues

 *Invite Guest speakers to Present / Lead Discussions on PM related topics. This could include PM Methodologies, PM Software, Financial topics or other Professional Development topics.

 *Develop PM resources to make available to AIPM members.

 *Service needs of sole practitioners in outer areas by:

 o        Meeting after hours (6-8pm)

 o        Meeting in a central location (CBD)

 o        Providing regular networking opportunities(soundingboard)

 Meeting format:

• Introduction 
• Guest Speaker
• Break and networking
• Member Presentation / Discussion
• AIPM events / Announcements, General Business

The meeting schedule will be published in the events calendar.

Attendance: All are welcome, we encourage experienced Project Managers to share their knowledge and developing Project Managers to research and lead discussions in areas of expertise for the benefit of all. Meeting cost is free.

General: As a rule we plan to have two member presentations / discussions ready for use each meeting. This will allow a fall back position in the event of something preventing either the guest speaker or the primary member presenting. Without it being a hard rule the secondary presenter would normally become the primary presenter for the next meeting. 

Interested members please submit any of the following:

• Leads or offers to arrange guest speakers.
• Suggestions for member topics.
• Volunteers to Present / Lead on topics.

Member presentations may be:

• Presentations for Stakeholders / Sponsors on Project Scope, Project Status, Progress, Earned Value Analysis, Project Implementation Review, Etc previously given or to utilise the groups experience and input before the project presentation.
• From the topic list or your own topic:
• On a subject you have experience.
• On a subject you research to help develop the general knowledge of the group.

I’d like to thank Mark McGregor - Talent2 for hosting our meetings this year.

The group meetings will re-commence in February 2008 and will be posted on the AIPM Calendar of events.
 
For further information contact vic_chapter@aipm.com.au
 
Best Regards

 David Kernke (PMDG SIG Chair)

Activities and Events Calendar 2008

2008 Victorian Forum - 28 August 2008 - The Point Albert Park

"Project Management is easy …people make it hard"

For further details please refer website: http://www.aipm.com.au/html/080828_vic_forum_2008.cfm

2008 PMAA Awards Night - 28 August 2008 - The Point Albert Park

Start working on submissions now to secure your place at this event!

November saw the last PMO SIG meeting for the year, hosted by Fiona Dunn at the Department of Sustainability and Environment.

The group took the opportunity to review the year and discuss a range of possible activities to organise in 2008.

• Fiona Dunn, of Department Sustainability & Environment
• Fiona Park, of Australia College of Project Management
• Craig Pope, of Bijingo
• Peter Sexton, of KPMG
• Mark Taylor, of Aurora Energy (Tasmania)

Newsletter Contributions

Calling all project managers!

Do you know of any interesting projects, initatives or developments being undertaken in 2008? 

Would you like to present at one of the AIPM forums during 2008?

Do you have any interesting articles that you would like appear in the AIPM Newsletter?

Do you wish to advertise in the Vic Chapter AIPM Newsletter? 

The Vic Chapter  would like to hear from you!  Please contact Olimpia Watkins vic_chapter@aipm.com.au or telephone 03 9369 2160 or Leh Simonelli on 0411225657.

Back to Top

To all Victorian AIPM Members and families

The Victorian Chapter of the AIPM wishes you a Merry Christmas and wonderful 2008.  The Chapter office will close on Thursday 13 December 2007 and re-open on Wednesday 23 January 2008.  If you require assistance during this period, please contact the AIPM National Support Office on  telephone: (02) 8288 8700.                                    

With my best wishes for a safe and restful Christmas and New Year period. 

See you in 2008.

Olimpia Watkins, Victorian Chapter Co-ordinator. 

New Members

Welcome to the following new members for the period September - November 2007:

September

Josh Annells, Amit Arora, MillieBech, Alistair Burke, Michelle Burns, Daniel Chivell, Nicole Christison, Andrew Counihan, Daniel Davis, Paul Duncan, Gordon Findlay, Libby Gordon, James Groessler, Anna Hoban, Stacey Holding, Emma Hunt, RodKomesaroff, Sten Lindeberg, Keith Lutman, Kristin Lynch, JarrodMcCartney, TimothyMcCue, Anthony Morgan, BrettNan Tie, PeterNemtsas, Mark Nolan, Mathys Otten, Ashley Parkinson, Ramanan Rajamanikkam, Mark Ransom, DavidReeves, JonathonRiddett, DarrenRogers, Glynn Stringer, Craig Templeton, Daniella Urbino, LintonWales, Amy Walker, Damian Woodruff, George Yacoub.

October

Patrica Abernethy, Mohammad Arif, Karla Arrieta, David Ashe, Leah Barker, John Barnett, Michael Bennett, Giacomo Bonotto, Katherine Borg, Stephen Brooks, Sam Brunetto, Carlos Calado, Jacqui Carney, Jane Collyer, Kieran Connell, Con Constantinou, Lesley Cowan, Daniel Dobrosak, Roger East, Adam Emera, Teri Foster, Paul Gosling, Paul Goss, Pam Guy, Lance Hancock, John Hartley, Gary Howell, Meral Karakurt, Nada Koneski, Nick Martin, Shona McArthur, Fiona McCallum, Paula McCann, Richard McNulty, Timothy Monagle, Trevor Murphy, Paul Oehme, Keith Paul, Stephen Perera, Paul Ridder,Melissa Ritchie, Brian Tucker, Graham Watkins, Ronald Webber, Evon Weir, Trent Wilson, Janusz Zak, Jing Zhang

Back to Top

New RegPM

Congratulations to the following who were awarded their certification during the period September - November 2007:-

MPD

RPM

Back to Top

Upcoming Events

Back to Top

Chapter Contacts

Back to Top

Back to Top