PMI NJ NEWS · 2019-02-26 · resume to executive decision-makers, resume screeners, and third-party recruiters. Each of these groups has its own hiring motives. • Executive decision-makers

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B Y : C A T H Y C A S S I D Y & P A U L A K . M A R T I N , M A R T I N T R A I N I N G A S S O C I A T E S

When I train, I always tell my participants “In order to have effective execution, you need to spend time on planning.” Then, I wait and watch everyone roll their eyes and I follow up with “Now, let’s focus on things work in the real world.” As project leaders we know that planning is critical. Without it, how would we know what we need to do, how many resources we need and when does everything need to happen? But with pressure from management saying “Do it faster and for less money”, you often find yourself moving through the planning stage faster than you would like. If you’ve fallen into to the “do it faster” routine and find yourself facing issue after issue when

you are executing your project, you probably need to go back and evaluate what you missed from planning and then do it. Easier said then done, right? You’ve already finished planning, you can’t figure out what you missed. Well now you can by doing a Project Planning Checkup. To complete a project planning checkup, review the questions below and answer “Yes’ or “No”. For each question with a “No” answer, complete the Activity required with the team before mov-ing the project any further along. Remember, if your project has subprojects, run through the list and a planning checkup for each team as well.

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Last Spring, we held our 2005 symposium. In the Fall, the Chapter co-hosted a special seminar featuring Dr. Kerzner on Best Prac-tices. And now we are preparing for the 2006 symposium.

Theme for 2006: “Project Management in

the Global Economy” The 2006 PMI/NJ Re-gional Symposium team has selected Project Management in the Global Economy for its theme. The logo symbol-izes the delicate balance of increased globaliza-tion in the hands of the

project manager. There are many aspects to the theme: • How is project management different in

various parts of the world? • What challenges are unique to regional

and multinational projects? • What skills are needed for project man-

agement excellence in these situations? • There are many scenarios to be consid-

ered, from multinational technology im-plementations to Non-Government Organization projects for disaster relief or development. We have three exciting key-note addresses: Irene Dec from Prudential Financial


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B Y A I T A S A L A S O O , V P S Y M P O S I U M , P M P

P R E S I D E N T ’ S M E S S A G E B Y J O H N B U F E , J R . , P M P

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Happy New Year! The Board hopes you had a great Holiday season and are ready for another challenging year. This year we did not send Holiday cards to the membership. We elected to contrib-ute to the Hurricane victims from the drastic season last year. The PMP certification continues to be a standard for professionalism. Recently, the exam was changed. After several months, PMI analyzed the results and determined that the test had not produced the results expected. In the analysis, they had several options to insure that quali-fied project managers would pass the test and become certified. Their solution was to lower the passing grade and allow an equivalent per-centage of applicants to achieve cer-

tification as would have with the prior exam. The initial perception was devas-tating to m a n y

PMPs (especially those who had made significant efforts to be tested with the prior exam). The board has sent a letter to PMI expressing our concerns of the perception. This will be another year that the chapter will provide training, educa-tional programs, networking, and the annual symposium. Watch the website for additional details for our programs. (I am looking forward to the new location for our symposium – see additional details in this news-letter.) This is an election year. According

to the by-laws, a nominating com-mittee will be chaired by Ed Miller (our past president). To be a candi-date for election, the following must be met: • Must be a PMINJ member in

good standing for at least 3 years prior to the election.

• Must be a NJ resident for at least 1 year prior to the election.

• Must be a PMP. • Must have served as a volunteer

in PMINJ for at least two years during the 3-year period prior to the election.

• Must have expressed a commit-ment to fulfill the duties of the applicable office and demon-strated knowledge of PMINJ’s operations, as judged by the Nominating Committee.

• Must be an active partici-pant at PMINJ programs, by attending at least half of t he boa rd m e e t i n g s , monthly pro-grams and / or symposium of the previous 12 months prior to the election.

Peter Drucker, a management vi-sionary often called the world's most influential business guru and whose thinking transformed cor-porate manage-ment in the latter half of the 20th century recently

passed. Central to his philosophy was the belief that highly skilled people are an organization's most valuable resource and that a man-ager's job is to prepare and free peo-ple to perform. Likely, our chapter is an organization of highly skilled project managers and our goal is to enable our members to perform. We have developed plans and actions to accomplish that goal. But according to Drucker, Plans are only good in-ventions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work. That hard work involves our members. Put your plans into action, be a part of the chapter, provide insight to the actions that will free us to perform.

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P M I C E R T I F I C A T I O N S A U G U S T 2 0 0 5 — N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 5

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Abburi, Shrikanth Ackerman, Daniel Ahmed, Yousuf Aiden, Jasmeet Alawi, Mazen Alessi, James Alessi, Joseph Allada, Girish Allard, Heather Leigh An, Yi-Kang Anandan, Seemesh Anderson, Kevin Arancio, Joseph Arena, Joseph Arun, Sangeetha Ashenden, Karin Ayyala, Laxmi

Babiak, Johanna Bae, Jinhee Bagen, Lorraine Bagga, Sanjeev Balasubramanian, Ramesh Banerjee, Siddhartha Banfield, Jane Bansal, Parveen Banta, Douglas Baratta, Richard Barber, Rebecca Barker, Richard Barrett, John Barrett, Peter Barrows, Philip Basavanagoud, Rajashekar Basiak, John

Bass, Paul Basu, Abhimanyu Batra, Shailendra Becker, Susan Beltrani, Michael Bendre, Hemant Bennett, Tammy Benson, Candice Benson, Michele Berg, Glen Bhansali, Tushar Bhargava, Poonam Bhat, Vidya Bhatia, Manu Bisesti, Michael Bjellquist, Elizabeth Blanda, John

Bokil, Amit Bonadies, Emil Borman-Allen, Grover Borris, Jeanette Bowden, George Bowen, Patricia Bradford, Anthony Brahmachari, Shuvobroto Brandwene, Martha Brennan, Michael Brewster, Samuel Brown, H. G. (Gordon) Brown, Jennifer Brown, Michael Browne, Lori-Ann Brundage, James


The Chapter congratulates the following 664 PMI NJ Chapter members who achieved PMP certifications or recertification between August 2005 and November 2005. Of our 4,122 active members, 2,336 are PMPs (57%). We strive to provide the opportunity for the members to renew certification through participation in programs or actively serving the chapter. Remember that articles for this newsletter also qualify.

As a career coach and professional resume writer, I'm often asked "How important are cover letters to my job search?" My answer is, "It depends on how long you want to search for your next job." If you are in no hurry to get interviews, then don't worry about your cover letter. The fact is I've never met a job searcher who wants to have a painfully slow job search. The whole point of sending out re-sumes is to get multiple interviews as quickly as possible. But many job seekers still unwittingly sabotage their efforts by using substandard cover letters. Instead of helping you, your cover letter may actually be hurting your job search. For fast job search results, make sure to avoid these top three cover letter mistakes: 1. Not understanding the hiring motives of your audience There are three basic audiences that a job seeker sends his/her resume to executive decision-makers, resume screeners, and third-party recruiters. Each of these groups has its own hiring motives. • Executive decision-makers are looking for candidates who

will have a significant impact on bottom-line initiatives, such as time saved, income generated, revenue built, etc.

• Resume screeners are searching for candidates who di-rectly match the lists of qualifications in the job descrip-tion.

• Third-party recruiters are looking for selling points to help position you as a top candidate.

Knowing these hiring motives will help you craft your cover letter specifically to catch the attention of your particular hiring audience. By appealing directly to the reader, you are creating an immediate bond that will make you a stronger candidate. 2. Repeating rather than introducing your resume Repeating the exact same things you wrote in your resume is one of the most common cover letter mistakes. No one wants to read the same thing twice. By the time most people have finished writing their resume, they feel that they have run out of ideas and just cut and paste to create a cover letter. Instead, the cover letter should be what sells the reader on your skills. Like the jacket-cover introduction to a good book, the cover letter should give the reader a taste of the great things to come and encourage them to read more.


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If you are don't have any idea what your top skills are and how they will help the company, neither will your reader. Take the time to craft the right words and statements to make your skills shine. 3. Overuse of the word "I" A cover letter that begins nearly every sentence with "I" is as boring as a conversation with someone who only talks about himself. That kind of person one avoids at all costs. Is that the way you want your reader to see you? Focusing all the attention on yourself may seem like a good way to sell your skills. But it can also reflect lack of interest in the company, in the job, and in making a real contribution to that workplace. There's a good balance to be drawn between selling yourself and selling what you can do for the company. Creating variety in the sentences of your cover letter is an easy way to show your interest without being self-centered. By shifting the emphasis to the recipient/company-and away from yourself-you can prove that your main interest is not just in winning the job but also in doing it effectively. Try to rewrite

sentences that start with "I," "me," or "my," to start with "You," or "Your." Show how you can make a difference for them. A cover letter that is poorly written may cause your resume to be ignored. But a well-crafted cover letter will invite and en-courage the reader to take a closer look at your resume. You'll make a positive first impression before your resume is even opened. Rather than making your cover letter an afterthought, take the time to really consider the type of presentation your cover let-ter will make. If your resume isn't winning you job interviews, consider hiring a professional resume writer to help. It's true what they say: You never get a second chance to make a good first impression. ************************************************* Deborah Walker, CCMC Career Coach ~ Resume Writer Read more job-search tips and resume samples at www.AlphaAdvantage.com Email: [email protected]

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A V O I D T H E T O P T H R E E C O V E R L E T T E R M I S T A K E S ! ( C O N ’ T )

Do you have an extra pair or two of used eyeglasses that you no longer need or use? There are needy people all over the world who could benefit from the “vision” your used eyeglasses could bring to them. In the United States, it is against the law to recycle used eye-glasses for use in the United States, but these used eyeglasses can be recycled and sent to poor and visually impaired people in other parts of the world. The Lions Clubs of New Jersey operate an Eyeglass Recycling Center (located in the Katzenbach School for the Deaf in West Trenton) that collects and prepares used eyeglasses for ship-ment to visually impaired people outside the United States. When used eyeglasses are collected in a recycling center, vol-unteers first sort the eyeglasses by type (single vision, bifocal,

sunglasses or clear glasses etc.) and then the eyeglasses are sterilized. Next, the prescriptions of the eyeglasses are read on a special machine, and the eyeglasses are further sorted by specific prescription. Each pair of eyeglasses is then placed into an individual, clear plastic package that is labeled with the prescription. Lastly, eyeglasses of like prescription are packed into cartons for shipment to destinations where eyeglasses are needed by people who cannot afford to buy eyeglasses. These donated eyeglasses enable visually impaired adults and children to see well enough to read, go to school, and to work. If you have a pair of used eyeglasses you no longer need, please bring them to the next New Jersey PMI meeting and your used eyeglasses can be recycled to bring sight to some-one in need.

R E C Y C L E E Y E G L A S S E S

Please remember to update your mailing address at www.pmi.org.

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on “Managing the Global Playground Rules”, Yvonne Bornstein on “Kidnapped in Russia, Rescued, and Mov-ing On! A True Story”, and Joan Knutson, renowned PM author, with “Project Management: Following the Sun”. and on our In addition, we have three tracks of additional speakers on focused project management topics. We will have several poster presenters, vendors, PMI Special In-terest Groups (and SIGs)/, and their local affiliates (LIGs) including our networking group to participate in this event, aimed at expanding all of our horizons about the various shapes, chal-lenges, and solutions that PM(??) the global econ-omy entails. New Location for 2006! There is a new location for the 2006 symposium at the Ocean Place Resort and Spa in Long Branch, New Jersey (see www.oceanplaceresort.com). This is a scenic and spacious location with easy access via the Garden State Parkway or NJ Transit to Long Branch station and a shuttle from there. The breakout rooms are large. The vendors and posters will be centrally located with plenty of room for networking. There are indoor and outdoor lounges and areas for informal exchanges with your pro-ject manager colleagues, some even with gorgeous views. If you choose to get a relaxed, early start with the fresh sea air the day before, there is a discounted accom-modation rate at the resort. There is plenty of free park-ing. Three calls for action! First, it’s not too early to register online for the sympo-sium! This year, the 2006 symposium will be limited to an audience of 500 attendees – don’t miss out! http://www.pminj.org/nj_smp-r.htm Second, if you have a globalization or global economy project story (or another project management lesson learned) to share, please consider submitting a poster to the s ympos ium. h t tp : / /www.pmin j .o rg/06-smp/065smpt.htm. Finally, if you would like to volun-teer for the symposium planning team, please contact Barbara Borgman at [email protected].

Lessons Learned from 2005 Symposium The 2005 Symposium Planning team reviewed feedback received from attendees and participants and this will be used to improve next year’s event. Some highlights fol-low: • The programming content was well-received, rein-

forcing our relentless search for high quality presen-tations tailored to our theme.

• Repeat performers will not be put in keynote posi-tions to allow more choice.

• We will communicate more effectively via the chap-ter web site, both in the area of expectations to speakers, poster presenters, vendors, and attendees, as well as for PDU redemption and access to presen-tations.

• Attendees asked for more interactive workshops and advanced topics.

Two administrative items: • Missing information from people’s badges. This in-

formation comes from the PMI national database to our chapter at the time you register online. So miss-ing company or certification information may mean your personal data was not current with PMI when you registered or the information changed between registration and the event. Please take the time to verify your information at the Member area on the www.pmi.org web-site regularly. Faxed, mailed, and e-mail registrations provide the only information for the badges.

• The vendors would like to receive e-mail addresses of attendees as part of the attendee list. The Board has held the position that the chapter will not contrib-ute to unsolicited e-mails from other organizations. The Board has maintained their position on this item.

Finally, there was considerable feedback about the loca-tion for next year. As a result of that feedback, we will be planning a Monday only event and we will be trying new facilities in New Jersey to meet your comments about parking, food, rooms, and more. Stay posted for more news on the symposium! Mean-while, think global, act local!


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Project Administration Reduces Cost and Improves Productivity at Pepsi Cola

At the September 2005 PMINJ chapter meeting, John El-lingham, Senior Manager, Pepsi Cola and Ed Mahler, PMP, President, Project Administration Institute and PMI West-chester Chapter presented a talk on the benefits of imple-menting Project Administration at Pepsi Cola. John described the fast paced, complex environment of do-mestic and international beverage development and launch, focusing on the Project Management function for commer-cialization and launch. John described the need for a formal Project Administration function to help the eighteen project managers in the commercialization team to produce consis-tent plans with integrity and standardized status reports. Ed described the approach used for centralized Project Ad-ministration which included: • A customized tracking spreadsheet for monitoring the

status of all projects and the deliverables of associated

Project Managers • Constructing formal project plans in MS Project using

the input provided by the Project Managers incorporat-ing internal and external dependencies

• A robust and accessible communication system com-posed of shared drives / public email folders to status both the project teams and management

• A standardized format for reporting on project status John and Ed stated that the implementation of Project Ad-ministration has improved plan integrity, ensured data in-tegrity, provided tracking metrics and enabled consistency in communication. The improved plan integrity has re-duced the risk associated with task slippage, resulting in estimated cost avoidance of $400K per year. In addition, Project Administration has provided an estimated 10% in-crease in the productivity of the Project Managers.


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T H E P R O J E C T P L A N N I N G C H E C K U P ( C O N ’ T )

Question Activity Required Did you receive clear direction for your project? Do you know what the sponsor expects from the project?

Complete a Charter

Does the customer or sponsor know what will be produced by the project? Does the team know what it will produce as the final deliverable of the project?

Write a Scope Description

Do you know how to ensure the quality of the final deliverable? Did you break the final deliverable down into more manageable chunks?

Define Interim Deliverables

Is everyone clear on what is the responsibility of the project and what is not the responsibility of the project? Is clear as to where the project begins and where it ends?

Define Scope Boundaries

Have you structured the project? Have you made sure every part of the project work has been assigned to someone?

Do a Subproject Work Breakdown

Do you know how to avoid potential problems from occurring? Do a Risk Assessment

Do you know who outside or inside the project team needs to review or approve interim deliverables before they are issued/delivered?

Make a List of Reviews and Approvals Re-quired

Do you know what type of status reports the sponsor, customer and other stake-holders required to stay informed on how the project is progressing?

Make a List of Status Reports Required

Do you have the right people on the team? Do have all stakeholder interests represented on the project?

Review Team Composition

Do you know when to communicate what the overall schedule (big picture) of the project will be?

Do a Milestone Schedule

Do you have a way to track the progress of the final deliverable? Do you know when the hand-offs from one person to another will occur? Can you be assured that the customer’s requirements will be met?

Create a Deliverables Schedule

Do you have experienced people doing the work of the project? Is this a project that you have done before?

Create an Activity Schedule

Do you know how much staff effort (internal effort) will be required to com-plete the entire project?

Do a Staff Effort Estimate

Can you track staff effort during the Execution phase of the project? Do a Staff Effort Forecast

Do you know how much money will be spent on the project? Do a Spending Estimate

Can you track expenses during the Execution Phase of the project? Do a Spending Forecast

So, if you’re finding your project team stalled or doing too much re-work – stop and do a Planning checkup. You’ll be able to diagnosis what’s wrong and put your project back on track. And when you’re getting grief from management about the time spent on planning, just remind your sponsors that “a minute invested in planning is an hour saved in Execution.”

**************************************************Martin Training Associates (MTA) specializes in project man-agement, change accountability and matrix management. See our website for information on our new Quick Guide series, the first of which is titled: Sponsoring a Project. For more infor-mation call 866-922-3122.

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Brzezinski, Steffan Brzycki, Frances Bubinak, Janette Bucknoff, Jerry Buffa, Richard Burgess, Diane Burke, Patrick Bush, Vernon Butler, Michael Butler, Stephen Caivano, Evan Campbell, Andrea Canney, Sandra Carey-Rock, Yvette Carfagno, Elizabeth Casella, Michael Cassidy, Matthew Castro, Juan Cauvery, Rishwie Cavanaugh, Thomas Cedeno, Edward Cenicacelaya, Ignacio Chakraborty, Gourab Chakrapani, Laxminarayan Chandra, Sushil

Chang, Shih-Lung Chatterjee, Jayanti Chazin, David Chen, Ping Cheriath, Krishna Chidambaram, Krishnamoor-thy Chiddarwar, Avinash Chirco, Jan Chitre, Sandeep Chivukula, Bhanu Chivulescu, Niculina Choi, Edwin Chrepta, Michael Chung, Jane Cignarella, James Class, Juan Clauhs, Brian Clemente, Joseph Coelho, Maria Cohen, Lawrence Collins, Richard Comeau, Steven Coneys, John Conforti, Chris Copell, Ellen Cornine, Matthew

Correa, Pradeep Crawford, Diane Crickenberger, Christy Cross, John Cruz, Melvin Cullinane, Michael Daly, Timothy Gerard Daniels, James Dasari, Anuradha Dasbiswas, Kaushik Dawes, Al Dayal, Sandeep de Boer, Robert De Rugeriis, James de Vries, Boris DeCicco, Lisa Del Valle, Fernando Delgrosso, Donald Dellarobba, Joseph Devendran, Mahendran DeVenuto, Louis DiBello, John Dick, Lois Dighe, Omkar Dillard, Shirley Dimond, Michael Dolan, Andrew

Dolan, Sean Donohoe, Jennifer Dorah, Neil Dorward, Jennifer Dorward, Leslie Duckworth, Nigel Duddy, Kevin Duppatla, Raju Duran, Peter Duran, Ted Dussek, Frantz Dutta, Subir Dwyer, Linda Dwyer, Radcliffe Echols, Linda Eckelman, Jeffrey Eden, Pamela Einthoven, Nicoline Ekeland, Richard Elmendorf, Thomas Espildora, Cristobal Fairchild, Russell Faizullah, Safiullah Fasano, Joseph Fay, Edward Fecko-Curtis, Elizabeth



P M I C E R T I F I C A T I O N S A U G U S T — N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 5 ( C O N ’ T )

Awakening Joy, Meaning and Commitment at KeySpan In the October 2005 PMI/NJ chapter meeting, Mr. Kenny Moore, former monk and present day Corporate Ombudsman/ HR Director at KeySpan, presented the talk, “An Alternative Leadership Model for the 21st Century: Keeping Your Sanity, Sense of Humor, and Soul in the Workplace”. Combining dead-pan humor and a plethora of stories from his personal and cor-porate experience, Kenny, whose avowed goal is to awake Joy, Meaning and Commitment at KeySpan, discussed several im-portant business principles. Leaders who can manage to “close their mouths and listen” have a better chance of being heard, believed and followed. Kenny discussed how he was able to arrange skip-level meetings be-tween KeySpan employees and the President of KeySpan in which the President listened to the Positives and Negatives in the work environment in a non-judgmental fashion. Kenny dis-cussed how the simple act of listening and the apology from the President to a worker who had been improperly treated could greatly change the dynamics of such meetings. Kenny talked about four levels of energy of workers: Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual and the need for companies to

engage all of them in order to be successful. In order for work-ers to engage fully, they need to trust the management. He fur-ther pointed out that unlike compliance, trust and commitment can only be invited and not mandated. He gave the example of the creation of the company vision statement by KeySpan man-agers at an unorthodox event he orchestrated. In the friendly and informal cafeteria setting, the managers overcame their initial misgivings about the exercise and participated enthusiastically - they explained their vision in words that was transformed into a mural by a graphic artist! The vision mural turned out to be enormously popular and generated serious discussion both among the management and workers as they prepared for the enormous changes such as deregulation that faced KeySpan. Kenny emphasized that key executive skills are: listening, ask-ing questions and allowing people to exercise their creative powers. He concluded with the Zen saying: Poor Leaders – People Hate Good Leaders – People Praise Great Leaders – People Say We Did It Ourselves

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B Y D R D A V I D H I L L S O N , P M P F A P M

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As a PMI member you know the member Code of Ethics. One of them is: “I will continually seek to enhance my professional capabilities.” So what are you waiting for? Did you know that the New Jersey Chapter has over 1000 mem-bers that still haven’t been PMP® certified? Take the Alpine PMP® exam course and then take the exam. Project Managers always plan ahead! Ask about our corporate discount. Call (973) 847-5988 or visit us at www.alpinecareer.com

“The future is another country; they do things differently there”, to adapt the opening words of L P Hartley’s novel “The Go Between”. A large part of the risk management process involves looking into the future and trying to understand what might happen and whether it matters. One important quantitative technique which might help is decision tree analysis. This has been neglected in recent years but is enjoying something of a revival. Some peo-ple feel it should be reserved for strategic decisions, and others regard the technique as complex and difficult. But at heart it is really quite simple, and can be applied to many different uncertain situations. The decision tree approach recognizes that there are two major factors which affect the future – choice and chance. And in evaluating these we need to consider two parameters – costs and consequences. These four elements form the basis of decision tree analysis. The first step in building a decision tree is to identify the choices we must make in trying to achieve our objectives. These choices form

the branches of the tree. For example “make or buy”, “in-house or out-sourced”, “fast-track or traditional”, “innovative or proven approach”, “supplier A or B”, “low or high priority”. Each of these decisions leads to different outcomes, which are reflected in the decision tree using the other three elements. The simplest factor associated with alterna-tive choices is cost, including both imple-mentation cost and opportunity cost. In some cases this may be negative, reflecting a sav-ing. But it is important to accept that making a choice is rarely a zero-cost action, and an estimate of this must be included against each branch of the decision tree. Chance is also an important variable associ-ated with different decision options. Each alternative could have a range of possible outcomes, though some choices could lead only to one certain result. For example differ-ent technology options may have different chances of success, or alternative contractors may be more or less reliable. Where there is uncertainty over the result of a decision, this

must be identified and assessed, including the estimated probability of each outcome. And some chance events might also open up the possibility of new choices, producing a series of nested branches within the tree. Finally the decision tree must address conse-quences. If a particular decision option were to be taken, incurring both cost and risk, the final result must be estimated, which is usu-ally the payoff for implementing that deci-sion. This is typically expressed in financial terms, though other measures can be used. The decision tree structure describes the pre-dicted outcome of each choice/chance combi-nation, representing the leaves at the end of each branch. Having built the decision tree from these four components, it can then be analyzed to deter-mine the most favorable choice, taking into account the related costs, chances and conse-quences. First each possible forward path through the tree is followed and its value is calculated by accumulating the costs and


Did you know that PMI has a Professional Awards Program that “honors those projects and practitioners that set the highest standards of performance, thereby raising the bar for us all.” Here is a quick summary of these awards as stated on PMI literature. For more information, check out www.pmi.org/info/AP_AwardNominations.asp. (Note: Due Dates are shown in parentheses.) • Research Achievement (Jan)

Honors an individual(s) who has significantly advanced the concepts, knowledge and/or practices of project management through professionally con-ducted and authored project management research.

• Community Advancement Through Project Man-agement (Jan) Honors a particularly significant achievement or sus-tained performance, in the following categories Individ-ual, a PMI Component, and an Organization, that im-proves the well-being of a community by completing a project, multiple projects or by applying project man-agement principles to the pro bono delivery of goods and services.

• Project of the Year (Jan) Honors the accomplishments of the PMI Project of the Year (POY), and the project team involved, for superior performance and execution of exemplary project man-agement.

• PMI Fellow (Apr) PMI's most prestigious award presented to an individ-ual-honors PMI members who have made sustained and significant contributions to the Project Management Institute and project management for more than a dec-ade.

• Linn Stuckenbruck Person of the Year (Apr) Honors one PMI member for outstanding contribution(s) to the development and advancement of the project management profession and recognition to the Institute.

• Distinguished Contribution (Apr) Award Honors a particularly significant achievement for sustained performance by an individual who con-tributes to the advancement of the project management profession or the Project Management Institute.

• David I. Cleland Project Management Literature (Apr) Award Honors the best project management literature published during the previous calendar year.

• Professional Development Product of the Year (Apr) Honors exceptional professional development instruc-tion and/or training material for project management students, trainees or practitioners. This award may be given to a PMI Component, Corporate/Government! Association, Individual! Business and Academic Insti-tution, responsible for the creation and production of the instruction.

• Professional Development Provider of the Year (Apr) Honors a PMI Component, Corporate/Government! Association, Individual/Business and Academic profes-sional development provider(s) who have demonstrated exceptional skills in the delivery and implementa-tion of a professional development program in project man-agement.

• Eric Jenett Project Management Excellence (Dec) Honors an individual who makes outstanding contribu-tions to the practice of the project management profes-sion through an act(s) that demonstrates leadership and initiative while advancing project management con-cepts, techniques, practices or theories.

• Distinguished Project (Dec) Recognizes successful projects that have advanced pro-ject management concepts, techniques, practices, or theories through the effective application of project management techniques.

P M I P R O F E S S I O N A L A W A R D S ( D I D Y O U K N O W ? )

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D E C I S I O N S D E C I S I O N S ( C O N ’ T )

payoffs from beginning to end. Then using these path values and working backwards from the end of each branch, the “expected value” of each choice is calculated, taking probability-weighted consequences when chances occur. The branch with the highest expected value becomes the recommended decision option. There are several challenges in using decision trees effectively, including the practical limi-tation of the technique to analyzing a small

number of decision options with a limited range of possible risks. The typical project involves many decisions at different levels, each with a wide range of associated risks, and trying to reflect this in a single decision tree could result in a massive and unusable model. The technique also require all factors to be represented quantitatively – cost and consequences are usually expressed in finan-cial terms, and probability must be estimated for all chances. And decision tree analysis also assumes a “risk-neutral decision maker” whose choices are based on highest expected value – which is rarely the case.

Despite these limitations, decision tree analy-sis presents a powerful quantitative technique for assessing possible futures, taking into account the effects of both choice and chance and estimating both costs and consequences. ************************************ To provide feedback on this Briefing Note, or for more details on how to develop effective risk management, contact the Risk Doctor ([email protected]), or visit the Risk Doctor website (www.risk-doctor.com).


“Wanting to help address a real need is one thing, but fig-uring out all the moving parts to do so can sometimes be daunting.” As project managers we all know and appreciate this. In the summer of 2005, Ingrid Feustel, an 8th grader from Bridgewater, New Jersey, and a Cadette Girl Scout with Roll-ing Hills Troop 648, embarked on her Girl Scouts Silver Award, and looking back on it, this is one of her learnings. Ingrid started with having to find a problem she cared about and define a doable solution. “Doable” needed to be con-strained by resources, mostly time and cost. She needed to be able to finish the project in no less than 40 hours of her own time and to find the help and other material resources herself. Ingrid loves reading and when she heard that in the same state she lived in there were schools without a library where stu-dents who wanted to read but did not have access to books like

she did, she found her project goal. Ingrid de-cided to run a book drive by asking students and their families in the Bridgewater-Rari tan school district where she goes to school to donate new and gently used books that she could then give to schools in the Newark school district. At a troop meeting, her troop had been given some information from the PMI Educational F o u n d a t i o n (www.pmief.org) to

help middle and high-school students manage projects and this turned out to be helpful. Ingrid made a list of tasks and put them in order. She asked for her adviser and her parents to review it. She fixed it. She decided how many books she wanted and how many schools she should canvass. The project needed to be done by the Spring, so she started working back-wards to figure out when things should happen. As a result, she was sending letters to school principals describing what she wanted to do and asking their permission in the summer, think-ing this would be groundwork for then designing flyers and posters, getting boxes to collect the books in, culminating in a 3-week collection period. Then the unexpected happened. Some school principals

wanted the Superintendent of Schools to approve the project and others indicated they could not allow the project to move forward. After discussing this with her parents, Ingrid wrote to the Superintendent and included the flyer she wanted ap-proved. She got more help than planned from the Superinten-dent – he approved the project and forwarded his approval to all the schools in the district – many more than originally planned. Ingrid found out the impact when calls started com-ing. “We have 400 books here to be picked up. When can you come?” The drive had started much earlier and had grown much larger than planned! Ingrid rallied with help from her family, her girl scout troop, and other girl scout friends. She learned that many people will help when asked. Examples were that Borders donated many used book boxes for the project, that her adviser offered to help deliver the books, and that some principals made their own copies of the flyer and promoted the book drive in their schools independently, leading to extraordinary results. Overall, Ingrid collected over 8,000 books for students rang-ing from Pre-K to Grade 8. She counted, sorted, and packed the books for delivery. They were delivered to two targeted schools and from there to other final homes. Ingrid visited the schools she helped and got a feel for the difference her efforts had made! At Maple Ave-nue School, she met with 4th graders in the reading club, and they compared favorite books. The literacy coach told her that the day after the delivery, she had students asking for specific books, having heard there were new books at school. The prin-cipal of Hawkins Street School took Ingrid on a VIP tour of all the classrooms in the school so she could see how the books were already being appreciated. The student council leaders at Hawkins and Ingrid were excited about the upcoming Harry Potter movie as they walked through the hallways. As a result of the book drive, the books have moved about 30 miles east, to new, loving homes, and many students have more opportu-nities to read! When Ingrid was asked how she felt about all this, she said: “It was a lot of work, but it was definitely worth it! It’s amaz-ing what a difference a school principal or teacher can make! Some people really went out of their way to help.” She didn’t like keeping track of things as she went along, but when it came time to know what she had accomplished and to thank the school principals, Ingrid acknowledged she couldn’t have done it without the record keeping! What’s next? Ingrid is thinking about her Gold Award project and getting on with eighth grade in the meantime.

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S T A R T I N G O U T W I T H P R O J E C T M A N A G E M E N T : A G I R L S C O U T ’ S S I L V E R A W A R D P R O J E C T E X P E R I E N C E

B Y A I T A S A L A S O O , P R O U D M O T H E R , C O - O P G I R L S C O U T T R O O P L E A D E R , & P M P

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P M I N J M O N T H L Y M E E T I N G S : N O V 2 0 0 5


Risky Business: The Multiplying Dangers of Doing Busi-ness Overseas Ms Elaine Carey, Senior Vice President, Control Risks™ Group presented at the November 2005 PMI/NJ chapter meet-ing. Elaine set the stage by outlining the various types of dan-gers that plague global businesses including: Political and So-cial Instability, Troubles from Scarcity of Resources, Corrup-tion and Fraud, Supply Chain Pilferage, Intellectual Property Theft, Kidnap and Extortion, and Terrorism. Control Risks™ practice areas include risk assessment, fraud investigation / due diligence, response to kidnap and extortion, and managing se-curity. The traditional political risks revolve around confiscation, ex-propriation or nationalization of assets, profit repatriation, war/ civil disturbance and non-payment for goods/services. It is very important to assess these risks and have mitigation plans. Global corruption and Fraud costs nations $1 trillion or more and costs companies 6% of the bottom line. Due diligence as-sessment followed by appropriate controls is essential in con-

trolling corruption and fraud. Supply chain security is another major issue, and it is estimated to cost US firms $300 billion annually. Elaine recommended that the companies fully under-stand their supply chains, reduce the number of intermediate players and mitigate against single-source dependency. The most chilling statistics of the evening were those related to Kidnap and Extortion. Elaine presented a world-wide regional breakdown of these troubles for the past several years. The first 48 hours after the kidnapping are generally considered the most difficult. It was estimated that 95% of the victims sur-vive the ordeal. The key is to prevent being kidnapped to the extent possible , but in the event it happens, negotiate to ensure the survival of the victim. In summary, for successfully doing business globally, Elaine explained the need for a thorough risk assessment and the de-velopment of a crisis management plan that should be tested periodically. A key message from Elaine was - you can work any where in the world, you just have to be smart about it.

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Irene Dec, vice president and head of International Operating Man-agement for Prudential’s Interna-tional Division, is presently lead-ing Prudential’s International Common People Reporting Plat-form Project. The purpose of this initiative is to identify and imple-ment a platform that will perform consolidated and timely human resource reporting across Pruden-tial Financial’s International busi-nesses. Highlights from Dec’s career include successful manage-

ment of Prudential’s Year 2000 compliance efforts, 24 years with Prudential, Mathematics and Computer Science teach-ing at Montclair State University, and recipient of the Eric Jenett Excellence Award in 2001 by the Project Manage-ment Institute. She has been recognized with numerous other awards, and has been a speaker and consultant for ma-jor U.S. companies, government agencies, and the media.


U P C O M I N G P M I S Y M P O S I U M K E Y N O T E S P E A K E R B R I E F

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Fecteau, Donald Feeney, Terence Feist, Stephanie Felice, Eduardo Feliu, Marilyn Ferro, Norma Fink, Kenneth Fiore, Darren Fischer, John Flach, Geraldine Flaherty, Kathleen Flamberg, Patricia Florendo, Jose Fogarty, Maria Foley, Mary Folina, Matt Foster, David Frank, Joel Frank, William Franklin, Gerri Frapaul, John Freeland, Celeste Froozan, Farhad Furness, Sandra Gale, Michael Garber, Shawn Garcia, Martin Garwood, Jeffrey Gesualdo, Philip Gibson, William Giordano, Andrew Goldberg, Michael Good, John Goodman, Carmen Goteti, Saiprasad Grabowski, James Gramp, Robert Gravatt, Donald Green, Cheryl A. Greer, John Grier, jocelyn Griffin, William Grossman, Ari Grybowski, Eugene Guardascione, Anthony Gudipati, Venkata Gupta, Pradeep Gupte, Sumedh Guttormsen, Eric Gyure, George Hall, Hugh Hall, LaTonya

Hampton, Michael Hanlon, Joseph Harding, Russell Hare, Barbara Hari, Bhavaniprasad Hartelius, Diane Hayes, Robert Hegde, Deepak Herd, Bonnie Hess, Linda Hewel, Carol Higgins, Mary Hilgart, Mary Hill, Mary Ellen Hiremath, Basavaraj Ho, Theresa Hochenberger, Robert Hodges, Leonard Holden, Mary Horbacewicz, Michael Hospes, Scott Hou, Julie Howard, Walter Hsia, Shirley Hudak, Kelly Ann Hunt, Paul Husk, Arthur Hwang, Andy Israel, Yael Jacke, Patricia Jackson, Amber Jagarlamudi, Sreenivasulu Jain, Vikas Jalili, Fahimeh Jana, Ravi Janakiram, Balakrishnan Janusko, Scott Jao, Yeelok Jayaprakash, Cheruvelil Jenison, Brett Jeschke, Kari Johnson, Brenda Johnson, Christoph Johnson, Karen Kalra, Poonam Kandalgaonkar, Sachin Kanth, Pankaj Kapoor, Beenu Karri Venkata, Siva Reddy Karur, Hema Kasthuri, Raghunathan Kasuba, Asma Kaur, Bapinder Kavi, Srinu

Kealy, Gloria Kearns, Henry Kearse, Nakia Kedalagudde, Kumaraswamy Kennedy, Annmarie Kent, David Kerr, Stephen Khanduri, Rohini Kim, Christian Kimberlin, Drew Klose, John Knight, Beatrice Kogut, Karen Kohli, Rajiv Komaravolu, Padmanabham Kommajesula, Harisha Kommareddy, Vikram Konrad, Mykola Koons, Michael Kos, Peter Kosiorek, John Kozlov, Leonard Kozlovski, Dmitri Krenzien, Brian Krijger, Peter Krishnamoorthy, Natarajan Krishnan, Raj Krishnapillai, BijuKumar Krysa, Theodore Ku, David Kuker, Kristine Kumar, Atul Kumaran Nair, Kiran Kumaravelu, Sridhar Kundgol, Bipinchandra Kunjoor, Jyothi Rao Kuperschmid, Jordan Kwan, Nancy Kwasney, Steven La Rocca, Anthony Lad, Uday Lala, Susan Lam, Jeffrey Lanchoney, Daniel Lange, Michael Lankalis, John Lavelle, Stephen Lavish, Jennifer Lazar, Lois Le Saux, Jean-Francois Leahy, Michael Leard, Ronald Lebedev, Rimma Lee, Timothy

Lee, William Lees, Sharon Leggemann, Karin Lemay, Lisa Lesch, George Levy-Shabi, Reuven Lewandowski, Stanley Lewis, Akissi Lewitt, Benjamin Li, Yongan Lifson, Anita Lin, David Litvak, Anatoly Litvinchuk, John Liu, Kathy Lockitt, John Lomker, James Lopez, Sandra lopez, scott Louie, James Lovrich, Michael Lowes, Richard Lu, Zheng Luppino, Stephen Lusardi, Terence Luzzi, Stephen Lyu, Mi-Sun Macauley, Alim MacDonald, John Macrina, John Maddali, Kalyan Maggipinto, Carol Maizel, Ryan Malevar, Manish Malone, Michael Manaois, Ramon-Lorenzo Maneeramkandath, Mohandas Manera, Steven Mansour, Hisham Marini, Marc Mario, Diana Mariolis, Michael Markewicz, Drew Marowitz, Eric Martin, James Martin, Richard Martino, Christopher Thomas Mastin, Ann Matrisciano, Vince Matthews, Art Mavis, Ralph Mayer, Abby McAliney, Peter



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McCaughey, Tanja McCrea, Dawn McCullough, Justin McDowell, Gregory McGagh, Kevin McGlynn, Marion McKeegan, James McKenzie, Keith McMahon, Laura McPherson, Andrea McTaggart, Lynn Meagher, Blondine Medley, Michelle Medley, Robin Mendelson, Irene Mendez, Lina Mendez, Maria Mendler, Roland Mendonca, Arthur Menon, Nita Menon, Umesh Merkovsky, Michael Mietlicki, Mary Mikkelsen, Kenneth Milani, Jacqueline Milbut, Anthony Milesnick, Scott Milko, Marlene Mishra, Shiva mitra, shipra Moore, James Morren, Mary Morris, Sandra Moss, Terris Munyon, Michele Murphy, Christopher Murthy, Raji Musto, Sara Muthusundararajan, Rajesh Myles, Cheryl Nadelson, David Nagasuru, Dayal Nair, Anil Nakka, Lakshmi Srinivas Narayanaswamy, Narendra Navlani, Narendra Nayak, Priyu Nehra, Amit Nelson, Roger Nemecek, Georgina Neri, Mark Nichols, Robert

Nidamarti, Seshagirirao Nieves, Albert Niro, Donna Noboa, Pablo Abraham Noe, Karen Noller, Amy Normandia, Andrea Northrop, James ODriscoll, Brian Olszewski, Joan Oraedu, Godson Ordinario Tran, Cynthia OSullivan, Daniel Ott, Frank Overacre, Kathy Palasamudrum, Balaram Pando, John Panek, Joseph Papson, Peter Parikh, Jayesh Parsons, Kathleen Partel, Marilyn Pascal, Jeffrey Pastirik, Heidi Patel, Avani Patel, Kiran Patel, Pankesh Patel, Rajesh Patel, Shilpa Pawar, Rajesh Payne, Leslie Pearlman, Peter Pellizzi, Patrick Pelosi, David Pena, Janet Pepper, Steven Perkowski, Arlene Perna, Anthony Perrette, William Perrine, Christine Perrone, Francis Perumal, Raman Petercsak, Diane Pfeiffer, Henry Pfister, Edward Pittman, Irma Plappert, Anna Podany, Lawrence Pollin, Carol Porowski, Russell Pourhamidi, Siamak Power, Theodore Powers, Francis Pressner, Sharon

Psak, Andrew Pu, Sufen Pushman, Mark Quansah, Kofi Quaranta, Ronald Quinn, Rachel Rabah, Nidal Rabbe, Steven Rachapudi, Ranga Ragunathan, Venkatesan Rainey, Tyleisha Rajaram, Lakshmi Rajendran, Manoraj Ramakrishnan, Balasubrama-niam Raman, Balamurugan Raman, Rajan Raman Nair, Ramesh Ramanathan, Anand Ramanathan, Vidya Ramarathnam, Balaji Rao, Arun Rdesinski, Diane Reid, Paula Rensburg, Marcelino Richey, Gary Rivera, Anthony Rivers, Maria Robinson, Carl Robinson, Wayne Rochlani, Anurag Rombom, Irina Ronde, Hermanus Roseberry, Kim Rosenberg, Marah Rosenshine-Watson, Andrea Roth, Alice Roussos, Wil Rumolo, Joseph Russo, Elizabeth Russomano, John Ryali, Mohan Ryan, Mary Rymwid, Yvonne Saksa, Christian-Peter Salem, Cindy Salerno, John Sammis, Maureen Sampson, Patricia Sanford, Richard Sant, Mohit Saporito, Laurie Saunders, Michael Saxena, Mini

Sayre, Debbie Schade, Eric Schantz, Lowell Schein, Shaun Schindel, Mary Schlater, Terri Schultz, Dennis Schwartzbach, Monica Sears, Barry Sekar, Otreeswari Sendelsky, Kenneth Victor Sethi, Naresh Shah, Atul Shahabuddin, Johara Shahid, Tanvir Shankar, Venkatapathy Sharma, Ashish Sharma, Usha Sharma-Jaitly, Ranjana Sheehan, Karen Shehadeh-Grant, Fatimah Shekhar, Srini Chandra Shelton, Marc Sherman, Samuel Sheu, Chieh Shirley, Tito Shrivastava, Vineet Siddananjappa, Latha Siddiqui, Imran Siddiqui, Riffat Siegler, Christopher Silakoski, Robert Silva, Elizabeth Simon, Selina Simos, Jennifer Sine, Andrew Sivamurthy, Sadhu Skelly, Timothy Slavin, Judith Smith, Daryl Smith, George Smith, Gregory Smith, Patricia Smith, Robert Smith, Stephanie Snyder, Michele Sperber, Mark Srinivasan, Ari Stanley, Robert Stanton, Jeffrey Stasyshyn, Nancy Stehr, Jessica Steinberg, Kenneth



P M I N J M E M B E R S H I P N O V 2 0 0 5 : M E M B E R S : 4 , 1 2 2 P M P : 2 , 3 3 6 ( 5 7 % )

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Stobie, Gavin Stocker, Michael Struse, John Subbarao, Manjunath Subramanian, Sandhya Sun, John Sutich, Mark Swofford, Christine Tabor, Colette Taduran, Belen Tankhiwale, Kaustubha Tavargeri, Dilip Taylor, Jeffrey Tejuja, Tushar Telemaque, Patrick Teuchtler, Laura

Thiel, Randy Thomas, Susan Thorsen, Lorraine Thottipalayam Easwar, Raja Tolochko, John Totin, Virginia Travers, Laura Trostler, Seth Tseng, Iue-hua Tsukamoto, Atsushi Turner, Mark Ureta, Allen Vacchiano, Sarah Vasudev, Hiranmayi Vasudevan, Srijitkumar Vellanki, Malathi Venkataraman, Ramkumar Videlova, Snejana

Virgil, Diane Voorhees, Sara Wachtel-Gershon, Adit Wagoner, Dolores Walker, Rhonda Walsh, Suzanne Wan, Gary Wang, Chiahui Wang, Conred Warren, Kenneth Wegrzyniak, Michael Wein, W Scott Weiner, Jan Wendell, Charles Whaley, Brian White, Robin Williams, David Williams, Paul

Williams, Theodore Wilson, Angela Wiss, Ellen Wojtowicz, Randy Wojyn, Gregory Wood, Lea Ann Woodford, Gary Wurch, Janet Yadav, Yogesh Yazid, Zoubir Yessis, John Young, Richard Zabolotsky, Elina Zaitz, Jed Zimmer, Gary Zubrickas, Joan


500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

4,500

9/00

12/00 3/0

16/0

19/0

112

/01 3/02

6/02

9/02

12/02 3/0

36/0

39/0

312

/03 3/04

6/04

9/04

12/04 3/0

56/0

59/0

512

/05

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

55%

60%

Members PMP# PMP%

U P C O M I N G P M I S Y M P O S I U M K E Y N O T E S P E A K E R B R I E F ( C O N ’ T )

Irene Dec will be the morning keynote speaker at the PMI NJ Regional Symposium on May 1, 2006. Her presentation is entitled “Managing the Global Playground”. She will fo-cus on rules, project structures, how to succeed, why pro-jects fail and how to manage risks relative to truly global projects.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear an eminent local expert in global project management – sign up for the symposium now at www.pminj.org!


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