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PM NETWORK
PMNetwork
MARCH/APRIL 2020 VOLUME 34, NUMBER 3
®
POWER & PARITY
PAGE 44
MARCH/APRIL 2020, VOLUME 34, NUMBER 3
WORKWEEK
REIMAGINED
PAGE 7
EYE ON
ACCESSIBILITY
PAGE 20
AGILE RESOURCING
PAGE 38
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20
30
38
44
Kathryn Rutkowski, PMP,
Atlassian, Sydney, Australia
Features MARCH/APRIL 2020 | VOLUME 34, NUMBER 3
20 Proactive
All Access
planning will 38 Thinking
Agile Capacity
fast and flexible 52 Maintaining
Keeping the Flame
keep teams focused on will solve resourcing motivation requires

accessibility. challenges. leadership, empathy and
By Sarah Fister Gale By Novid Parsi strategic thinking.
By Tessa D’Agosta
30 APeak Energy
Danish team passed 44 Here’s
Power Moves
how six women
an uphill test to deliver project professionals are
a power plant with a ski building up their careers—
slope on top. and empowering others.
By Amy Wilkinson By Kelley Hunsberger
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Also MARCH/APRIL 2020 | VOLUME 34, NUMBER 3
THE EDGE
5 Marine Marvel A striking new whale-watching
center is underway in Norway.
6 Scanning the Horizon New projects are pushing

bar codes to the bleeding edge.
8 7 Time Change Project teams must prepare to adapt
to shorter workweeks.
8 Branching Out Banks are redesigning smart spaces

to keep customers invested.
10 An Instrumental Project The team behind the

world’s first guitar-shaped hotel hit all the right notes.
11 Vital Signs A PMI report examines six pressing

trends for project leaders.
12 A Tight Spot Teams navigate one of the biggest

obstacles for self-driving cars: parking.
6 10 13 From the Rubble Puerto Rico’s storm-battered

infrastructure needs a massive project investment.
14 Learning to Float Solar farms on water are making

a splash.
16 Fast Forward PMI’s 2020 Pulse of the Profession®

reveals how teams are adapting to change.
VOICES
58 Inside Track: Bridge to Innovation
Cordell Schachter, PMP, CTO and CIO, New York City
Department of Transportation, New York, New York,
USA
62 72 60 Project Toolkit Focus Group
62 Inside the PMO Disruption Done Right

By Abid Mustafa
63 Deliver IT Extended Influence

By Priya Patra, PMP
64 Culture Club Binding Authority

By Karen Smits, PhD
GETTING IT DONE: Project Management in Action
66 Erasing Boundaries
By Yasmina Khelifi, PMP
68 Power to Change
66 By Jess Tayel, PMP
ETC.
71 Good Reads From PMI
Real-world help with procurement
skills.
72 Closing Thoughts
Eigen Halpin, PMI-ACP, PMP, PgMP
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“Right here on the edge of
the ocean, we will be making
a mark in a magnificent and
ancient landscape.”
—project architect Dorte Mandrup, in a statement
Marine
Marvel
Andenes, Norway is poised to
become a worldwide whale-
watching destination—and not just
because it’s located near a migra-
tion path for the mammals. There’s
PROJECT
also going to be a spectacular new The Whale
structure.
LOCATION
IMAGES COURTESY OF DORTE MANDRUP A/S
Dorte Mandrup’s winning design Andenes, Norway

mimics the surrounding landscape,
BUDGET
appearing as a giant rock outcrop emerging from sive: The uniquely shaped roof touches the ground Competition
the coast and evoking a whale’s tail. The parabolic at three corners of the building, creating a large, requirements limited
roof offers visitors panoramic views of both the column-free interior that reduces material needs. the total project budget
sea and surrounding landscapes. To ensure the The airy, 48,400-square-foot (4,500-square-meter) to US$17.9 million.
building’s longevity, project plans call for stone interior will feature full-glass walls facing the sea for BUSINESS LURE
and other materials that will withstand the cold, whale-watching, as well as exhibition space, offices, a The museum is
expected to boost
humidity and salt spray of the environment. cafe and a shop. Rocks that might be disturbed dur-
tourism to the remote
Sourcing materials locally is intended to limit the ing the project’s construction phase will be embed- village, which already
project’s overall carbon footprint. ded throughout the center’s floors, visible to visitors. draws 50,000 whale
Both engineering and aesthetics are impres- The project is slated to be completed in 2022. watchers annually.
MARCH/APRIL 2020 PM NETWORK 5

theEdge
Scanning the Horizon

Better bar codes are finally on the way. Although information to be stored. But the limited scanning
it has revolutionized how the world does business, range and higher price tag of QR codes mean they
bar code technology has changed little since it haven’t eclipsed the demand for traditional bar
arrived in 1974. United Airlines’ mobile ticketing codes. So teams are focused on adapting conven-
platform, UPS’ overnight delivery system, the Mayo tional bar codes to today’s hyperconnected world.
Clinic’s eCheck-in system, Toyota’s Kanban manu- In Atlanta, Georgia, USA, the startup LocatorX
“Let’s be wildly facturing process and Walmart’s supply chain has a product development project underway to
creative, but let’s logistics are just a handful of the many processes,
products and procedures that wouldn’t be possible
insert solid-state, miniature atomic clocks (like the
technology that powers GPS systems and satellites)
get feedback in without the bar code. into product labels. The new label doesn’t only
the process, so Now, though, project leaders are launching and share product information when scanned but also
we can deliver expanding initiatives aimed at delivering new and actively tracks a product’s location—making it a
more value to niche bar codes at the bleeding edge of today’s potential cornerstone of the burgeoning internet of
the customer.” technology. For example, in October, TruTag things, says Pat Pickren, CTO, LocatorX.
Technologies secured US$7.5 million in funding “As the product goes through manufacturing
—Pat Pickren, LocatorX, Atlanta,
Georgia, USA to ratchet up development of bar codes made from and distribution, all the way to a retailer, the pre-
nanoporous silica, an edible material that can be cise location tracking will be enhanced with the
placed directly onto products. The innovation atomic clock,” he says.
could be a boon for anti-counterfeiting efforts in An agile approach allows the team to develop,
the pharmaceutical, cannabis and food industries. test and iterate quickly—which is vital to first-of-
Such advancements mark the biggest shift for its-kind technology.
bar code technology since QR codes, developed in “When you’re building and delivering technol-
the 1990s, allowed for an exponential amount of ogy, you want to fail fast,” he says. “Let’s be wildly
creative, but let’s get feedback in the process, so we
can deliver more value to the customer.”
Scandit’s Teams at Scandit also adopted agile when devel-
augmented
reality retail oping its mobile bar code scanner that includes
inventory an augmented-reality overlay. That feature allows
management
scanner retail users scanning a product to, for instance,
quickly check stock levels. Likewise, healthcare
staff scanning patient bracelets can instantly see
medication instructions.
“When we see demand by multiple clients, or if
we have to tweak the core engine a bit for one cli-
ent, then those benefits flow into the overall product
development,” says Benjamin Hempel, an engineer
and solution consultant, Scandit, London, England.
The team’s spirit of iteration shows no signs of
PHOTO COURTESY OF SCANDIT
slowing, either. Mr. Hempel says projects could

one day allow people to use computer vision tech-
nology to scan whole products, rather than bar
codes or text. “Technology is advancing fast,” he
says. “In a year or two, let’s see what’s on the mar-
ket.” —Hal Conick
6 PM NETWORK MARCH/APRIL 2020 PMI.ORG

Time Change
Less might be more when it comes to workweeks. workers and find the right people. Experimenting
Organizations that have abandoned the standard with a shorter workweek is part of that,” says Linda
five-day, 40-hour-a-week template in favor of an Nazareth, a principal at Relentless Economics and
abbreviated work schedule are touting higher pro- senior fellow for economics and population change
ductivity, lower employee burnout, and an easier at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Toronto,
time recruiting and retaining talent. Ontario, Canada.
In late 2019, Microsoft Japan completed a pilot Ms. Nazareth notes that while truncated work-
In late 2019,
project to move select teams to a four-day week—and weeks have deep roots in certain professions, they’re
saw productivity surge 40 percent. Restaurant chain less common in project-based environments. But
Microsoft
Shake Shack rolled out a four-day week in select Las with the proper upfront planning, “it can work in
Japan
Vegas, Nevada, USA locations last year and now has project management,” she says. Here, some lessons
completed a
adopted the policy for roughly one-third of its outlets. learned from those who have tried—and thrived. pilot project
And when the New Zealand estate-planning com- to move
pany Perpetual Guardian concluded its trial of a four- Facilitate Focus select teams
day week, the results were so successful it adopted a Nearly half of full-time workers believe they could to a four-
32-hour structure permanently. do their job in less than five hours a day if they had day week—
Although companies with shorter work sched- fewer interruptions, according to a global survey and saw
ules are in the minority, the trend is growing. In by the Workforce Institute. The biggest takeaway: productivity
the United States, a 2019 survey by the Society for Employees want more than shorter shifts. surge
40%.
Human Resource Management found that 15 per- Work could be considerably more efficient if
cent of companies offer workweeks of 32 hours or “organizations took the time to streamline pro-
less—up from 12 percent in 2018. cesses, use automation to eliminate low-value tasks,
ISTOCKPHOTO
“Right now, companies are faced with a series

of challenges: the need to cut costs, upskill their Continues on the next page

theEdge
Continued from the previous page
and consider innovative scheduling, meeting and

email practices,” says Joyce Maroney, executive
director of the Workforce Institute at Kronos Inc.,
Lowell, Massachusetts, USA.
At Microsoft Japan, for instance, the pilot project
to test shorter workweeks included capping meet-
ings at 30 minutes each. “This practice might not
work for every organization, but it illustrates the
importance of evaluating your current work prac-
tices for productivity-improvement opportunities
before you make this switch,” Ms. Maroney says.
Clarify Expectations
Project and people managers are uniquely qualified
to usher in such significant change initiatives—and
have them stick. That’s because “they’re already
accustomed to articulating goals and timelines
and holding people accountable for meeting those
expectations. This skill set is even more important
“Working in a flexible work environment,” Ms. Maroney says.
longer While generating buy-in among employees for a
hours isn’t a
sustainable
shortened workweek might seem effortless, realizing
the enterprise benefits requires setting and enforcing
Branching Out
source of expectations. At Planio, a startup in Berlin, Germany Banks are launching tech-centric projects to transform
competitive that has adopted an abbreviated workweek, team the brick-and-mortar experience for customers in the
advantage. members are asked to sign on to a communication

plan that details both when work should happen and
digital age—and not a moment too soon. In the United
States, branch closures reached an all-time high of
But, almost why it might sometimes be necessary to work out- 3,023 in 2018, according to S&P Global Market Intel-
ironically, side those hours to meet a pressing deadline. ligence. And in the United Kingdom, banks closed
working more than a quarter of their branches between 2012
less is.” Solicit Feedback and 2017—a response to cost-cutting pressures and
—Jan Schulz-Hofen, Organization is necessary to kick-start the change, customers’ growing preference for digital channels.
Planio, Berlin, Germany but feedback is crucial to keeping it going, accord- Reviving branches is hardly a lost cause. More
ing to Planio CEO Jan Schulz-Hofen. than 40 percent of bank customers visit a branch at
Project leaders should regularly assess: Are team least once a month, and most customers prefer to
members stretched too thin on a high-stakes initia- open a new account at a branch rather than digitally,
tive? Are external stakeholders frustrated that the according to a 2019 global survey by Deloitte. The
company is dark on what would typically be a work- survey found that the branch experience—more
day? Problems aren’t a mandate to abandon the initia- than mobile or online banking—has the highest
tive altogether, but they do mean iteration is in order. influence on customer satisfaction.
And iterating can be worth it. As Mr. Schulz- “Branches are still very relevant to customers, but
Hofen wrote in a blog post to employees: “Working they are being used differently than they have in
longer hours isn’t a sustainable source of competitive previous generations,” says Joel Kashuba, director of
advantage. But, almost ironically, working less is.” innovation and design, Fifth Third Bank, Cincinnati,

Fifth Third Bank’s NextGen Physical Connection
branch model
Proportion of each generation that prefers to open a checking account at a bank branch.
64% 54% 48% 56%

Baby boomers Gen X Millennials Gen Z
Source: Global Digital Banking Consumer Survey, Deloitte, 2019
Innovation to create guidelines for the new design. The bank

Stations then tested those guidelines at each of the seven
branches.
CAIXABANK
The results of those tests helped the team make
Upon arrival,
customers place adjustments, such as placing ATMs so they didn’t
their phones intrude on the welcoming atmosphere it sought to
over a near-field create—modern, light-filled spaces with open kitch-
communications ens and dedicated play areas for children. Rather
device that lets
than facing a row of tellers behind an imposing
branch staff know
they should be counter, customers entering the space encounter
greeted. a tablet-carrying representative and a digital desk
where they can access online services—with or
BMO HARRIS without human help.
Customers can “We didn’t just change the look and feel of the
withdraw cash from branches, we changed the service model so that we
smart-branch ATMs take more time to welcome customers and sit with
by using a scannable
them in an open, transparent environment,” Ms.
QR code from
their mobile device Vanhauter says.
instead of a debit Fifth Third took a similar approach with proj-
card. ects completed last year, following extensive
Ohio, USA. “Today, it’s about a holistic customer feedback from customers. The bank’s NextGen
PHOTO COURTESY OF FIFTH THIRD BANK
experience—digital and physical blending perfectly HSBC BANK branches also eschew the traditional wall of teller
to meet customers’ needs.” A human-like robot windows. Instead, customers use tablets to access
allows customers to
Projects that deliver so-called smart-branch banking services while moving freely about the
ask questions via the
facilities bridge the best of both worlds. Teams interactive screen lobby or sitting at high-top tables, private booths
are exploring how technologies such as facial in its chest, then or enclosed meeting rooms. Bank representatives
recognition, video conferencing and interactive advises them on also are available.
screens can provide efficient and effective solu- banking products. “We wanted to provide an experience that sup-
tions for customers. For example, CaixaBank ports our customers’ digital experience and pro-
opened its first smart branch last year in Valen- NATWEST vides great service and advice,” says Valerie Garrett,
cia, Spain, featuring five ATMs equipped with An artificial- director of workplace design, Fifth Third Bank,
intelligence-
facial recognition software. Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
powered “digital
“There’s a need for digitization, but there’s also human,” which is Smart branches are good for the bottom line,
very much a need for the human touch within digi- based on the bank’s too. Fifth Third’s NextGen branches create a
tal spaces,” says Barbara Vanhauter, global lead of online chatbot, can smaller, less costly footprint. And ING’s new
human channels retail banking, ING, Amsterdam, roam the branch branches are driving increased employee satisfac-
and answer simple
the Netherlands. tion, according to feedback garnered during the
banking questions,
ING completed a pilot project in 2019 to test its helping to cut down pilot project via online, phone and in-person sur-
smart-branch design in seven countries. The team on customer wait veys. ING also found improved commercial results
studied customer experiences at bank branches times. at the participating branches—since customers
and other retail environments, such as Starbucks, now spend more time inside them.

theEdge
An
Instrumental
Project
In an era of statement architecture, how does a
building broadcast a rock-and-roll ethos? For the
team behind the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and
Casino expansion project in Hollywood, Florida,
USA, the answer was turning the hotel itself into
the shape of a guitar.
First floated nearly a dozen years ago, the con-
cept wasn’t formally commissioned until 2013.
Lead architect Steve Peck, associate principal at
Klai Juba Wald Architecture, warned project spon-
sors that such a challenging design would dra-
matically inflate the budget. But the idea struck a
chord—and they greenlighted the project anyway.
Late last year, the project was complete—to the
tune of US$1.5 billion. —Amanda Hermans
Piece and Harmony

Construction of the 638-room Gui-
tar Tower was scheduled to run con-
current with the rest of the property
expansion. The program called for
demolishing a music venue and
mall, erecting a 7,000-seat per-
formance space in their place and
completely refurbishing the original
hotel and casino. Because the guitar
shape couldn’t accommodate the
desired room capacity, an adjacent
tower was built to satisfy project
requirements.

Building Notes
The 450-foot (137-meter) hotel towers over its sur-
roundings. But the nearby Fort Lauderdale airport’s
flight corridor posed a constraint to the project’s
height—hence the lack of a guitar neck.
To fit as many floors as possible within the
height requirements, engineers planned for rela-
tively thin floor slabs (between 9 and 12 inches,
or 23 and 30 centimeters). The post-tensioned
slabs allowed for thinner floor plates, which in
turn accommodated the extreme curves of the Vital Signs
outer curtain walls. The plan for the unique shape
Transforming horizon-focused strategic visions
was unforgiving, and redone work was a real risk. into here-and-now reality can’t happen in a
But the project team’s precision vacuum. Instead, project leaders must cultivate a
meant it had to redo only two deep understanding of the business, technologi-
anchors for the curtain wall dur- cal, economic and geopolitical currents shaping
the world around them. Here are six big trends
ing construction.
driving The Project Economy, according to the
To evoke the guitar’s full shape
IMAGES COURTESY OF KLAI JUBA WALD ARCHITECTURE
PMI 2020 Signposts Report:

without exceeding the height
constraint, the project team opted 1. Africa and most of the developing world
for a novel tactic: Every evening, boast a new generation of talent eager to tackle
LED light cannons shoot 20,000 projects.
feet (6,096 meters) into the sky. 2. Climate change is an existential threat to
Engineers worked with a lighting civilization, but project professionals can play a
pivotal role in avoiding the point of no return.
designer and digital agency to
integrate more than 16,000 strips 3. Artificial intelligence is creating diverse op-
portunities—and a demand for the right blend of
of LED video fixtures along the facade, transform-
people and tech skills.
ing the reflective glass into a light show.
4. Globalization appears to be falling out of
vogue given the rampant protectionism. But for
many teams, it’s cross-border business as usual.
In Tempo
5. The global infrastructure gap between
“Completion of the development required needs and investment continues to widen. Proj-
meticulous coordination among all design ect leaders can close it with data-driven innova-
specialties,” William R. O’Donnell, managing tion—and good old-fashioned people skills.
principal, DeSimone Consulting Engineers, 6. A cross-disciplinary
said in a press release. The team was crunched cybersecurity culture
for time throughout the construction phase. across the enterprise is
needed to keep infor-
With just over a year allocated to top off the
mation safe.
tower, the project plan called for constructing
each floor slab in a matter of days. A stream-
Dive deeper into these
lined design helped mitigate the lean schedule: insights in the PMI 2020
Floor to floor, the end bays are the only pieces Signposts Report at
that vary significantly, and the cables and pmi.org.
reinforcements are fairly uniform.

theEdge
A Tight Spot
Automakers have long been focused on perfecting ment was key to obtaining that approval, says Ber-
the technology to move a car autonomously from nhard Weidemann, spokesperson for autonomous
Point A to Point B. Now, with fully autonomous driving and artificial intelligence, Mercedes-Benz
vehicles inching toward mainstream reality, car AG, Stuttgart, Germany.
companies are launching projects to tackle one of To that end, the project team hired an indepen-
the most formidable environments for self-driving dent company, TÜV Rheinland, to take a deep dive
cars: the parking lot. into the technology’s infrastructure safety, vehicle
Daimler and Bosch partnered on a pilot project safety, safety of the vehicle control unit and IT
to transform the parking garage at the Mercedes- security. Using these reports, the team was able
“What made Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany into one to proactively mitigate major technical concerns
this project a capable of driverless parking. The project was not regarding the operation of the automated valet
pioneer in the without challenges, namely unpredictable pedes- parking system.
trians, tight spaces, high volume and imprecise “What made this project a pioneer in the auto-
automotive GPS. The team installed intelligent infrastructure, motive area was that we had to certify not only a
area was that including sensors, along the driving corridor and vehicle but a whole system,” says Mr. Weidemann.
we had to its surroundings. Those sensors relay data to a “There is no standard or regulation in place that
certify not vehicle’s existing smart technology, which converts covers both vehicle and infrastructure aspects.”
only a vehicle the information into driving maneuvers. Project The lack of standards is a major obstacle to
but a whole metrics revealed that driverless parking can result scaling and replicating similar projects. At the
system.” in more efficient use of space, with up to 20 percent

more cars able to fit in a parking area.
Mercedes-Benz Museum, for instance, the parking
garage is only compatible with one brand of vehicle.
—Bernhard Weidemann,
First launched in 2015, the project received But a larger environment would require technology
Mercedes-Benz AG,
Stuttgart, Germany approval from the local government to open to the that can accommodate cars of many makes and
general public late last year. Rigorous risk assess- models—some autonomous, some not—and with
many differing variables.
The industry has conflicting views on how
to solve the parking problem, says Francesco
Borrelli, PhD, a professor who studies control
systems for self-driving cars at the University
of California, Berkeley, California, USA. Some
favor a vehicle-centric approach that focuses
on giving the car as much data as possible
so that it can safely navigate any environ-
ment, including parking lots. Others argue
that some level of coordination between the
vehicle and environmental infrastructure is
necessary.
“The biggest challenge is definitely the
PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBERT BOSCH GmbH
coordination-type maneuvers at a large

scale,” Mr. Borrelli says. “Imagine a sporting
event or theater show, where you have hun-
dreds of cars navigating a parking lot at once,
and maybe half of them are autonomous.”
Finding a scalable solution is a speed
bump, for sure. But it’s also imperative for
the future of self-driving cars to be fully
realized, he says. —Ambreen Ali

From the
Rubble
Puerto Rico’s infrastructure woes began long ago. But
a series of earthquakes this year coupled with hur-
ricanes Irma and Maria in 2017—which racked up
US$139 billion in damage—exacerbated the U.S. terri-
tory’s already underfunded and outdated system.
In its 2019 Report Card for Puerto Rico’s Infra-
structure, the American Society of Civil Engineers
(ASCE) gave the U.S. territory’s overall infra-
structure a “poor: at risk” grade. None of the eight
categories assessed in the report—bridges, dams,
ISTOCKPHOTO
Electrical workers in Puerto Rico

drinking water, energy, ports, roads, solid waste and attempt to repair power lines after
Hurricane Maria.
wastewater—earned higher than a “poor” rating.
Puerto Rico’s energy infrastructure earned the
report’s lone failing grade. In October, Puerto Rico left behind some 2.5 million tons of debris, and
unveiled a US$20 billion, 10-year plan to rebuild where it will go remains a major concern. In 2018,
and futureproof the island’s power network. Goals the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the
of the program include burying power lines, creat- island’s active landfills would reach capacity in less
ing systems that can withstand high-speed winds than five years.
and diversifying the energy mix on an island that is In order to sustain economic growth and com-
98 percent reliant on fossil fuels. petitiveness, the ASCE recommends Puerto Rico “I believe
“The energy infrastructure is in critical condition,” up its infrastructure investment by as much as we have an
says Héctor J. Colón De La Cruz, engineer and ASCE US$23 billion over the next decade—a gap that opportunity
Puerto Rico section president, San Juan, Puerto Rico,
USA. The most glaring issues? Poor resiliency, fre-
doesn’t include spending on hurricane recovery
projects. Yet as of November, Puerto Rico had
here to
quent blackouts, high rates and unreliability, he says. received only about US$14 billion of the US$42.5
make our
“It cannot withstand another hurricane.” billion appropriated by the U.S. government for island more
hurricane relief. Nonetheless, Mr. Colón De La resilient and
System Failure Cruz sees the ASCE report as a blueprint for a bet- sustainable,
Hurricane Maria decimated the island’s electrical ter future with improved quality of life—and a way improve our
grid, resulting in the second-largest blackout ever to attract infrastructure investment.
economy and
recorded. Emergency repairs to restore power as “This is an opportunity to reshape the way we
quickly as possible failed to address long-term sus- think and address our infrastructure,” he says.
be better
tainability. Puerto Rico’s fragile energy infrastruc- One way to ensure federal funds would be spent prepared for
ture “poses an immediate threat to public health, wisely is to show that project leaders will have a when the
economic development and global competitive- firm grasp on budget and risk. The first step is to next disaster
ness,” Mr. Colón De La Cruz says. Rebuilding it will create both short- and long-term, comprehensive strikes.”
require developing resilient grid operations, boost- infrastructure plans that adopt strong life cycle cost
—Héctor J. Colón De La
ing system capacity and revising design standards to analyses, Mr. Colón De La Cruz says. Those plans Cruz, ASCE Puerto Rico, San
comply with modern industry codes, he says. also will need to follow strict maintenance sched- Juan, Puerto Rico, USA
Water projects are needed, too. Despite signifi- ules and incorporate climate-resilient materials.
cant annual rainfall, many residents must ration “We have done what we can with the funds
water nearly every year. In part this is because an we have, but now we need the federal agencies
estimated 58 percent of non-revenue water—water to distribute the money as intended,” he says. “I
that is pumped but then lost or unaccounted for— believe we have an opportunity here to make our
disappears in an outdated system plagued by leaky island more resilient and sustainable, improve our
pipes and tank overflows. economy and be better prepared for when the next
Landfills also are overflowing. Irma and Maria disaster strikes.” —Jennifer Thomas

theEdge
Kyocera TCL Solar’s

floating solar plant on the
Yamakura Dam reservoir
in Ichihara, Japan
Learning to Float
Project teams are taking solar on a virtual boat more electricity than traditional solar panels,
ride, creating floating farms that gain maximum Oliver Knight, a senior energy specialist with the
exposure to the sun. In India, plans are underway World Bank, told Reuters.
“It’s an ideal for the government to set up a 1,000-megawatt In October, FPV company Ciel & Terre USA
completed a project to build a 4.4-megawatt FPV
floating solar park at the Indira Sagar Dam in Mad-
approach that hya Pradesh, India. Once built, it will dwarf the project at a water-treatment facility in Sayreville,
makes better current largest array (a 150-megawatt project in New Jersey, USA.
use of our Anhui, China) and nearly double the entire global “We entered into this project knowing that we
pretreatment floating photovoltaic (FPV) capacity in 2018. had limited land available for a solar installation
pond while The project is just one of a growing number near the water treatment plant, and the oppor-
dramatically that aim to take an early renewable-energy dar- tunity for a floating solar array has exceeded our
ling, solar panels, and put them on pontoons. The expectations,” Dan Frankel, the town’s business
reducing energy business case for such setups is bolstered by the administrator, told Solar Industry magazine. “It’s
costs and fact that floating solar panels don’t require vast an ideal approach that makes better use of our pre-
offsetting the tracts of valuable land. Instead, FPVs can drift treatment pond while dramatically reducing energy
town’s carbon on largely unused bodies of water, such as hydro- costs and offsetting the town’s carbon footprint.”
footprint.” electric dam reservoirs, wastewater treatment Even as floating arrays become larger and more
ponds or drinking-water reservoirs. A solar panel common, companies are pushing into deeper
—Dan Frankel, Borough of
Sayreville, to Solar Industry cover can also help prevent evaporation on these waters. For instance, in July, Belgium energy
magazine reservoirs, and floating panels tend to be more company DEME began exploring the feasibility
energy-efficient because of the water’s natural of developing the world’s first high-wave offshore
cooling effect. FPVs can produce about 5 percent solar farm. —Amanda Hermans

Making a Splash Submersed in Solar
400 2007: First FPV system, a 20-kilowatt-

peak (kWp) research prototype, is
gigawatts
installed in Aichi Province, Japan.
2008: A 175-kWp FPV installation at
Far Niente Winery in Oakville, Califor-
Estimated potential global floating nia, USA becomes the first commercial
photovoltaic (FPV) capacity system.
10
2010: The first tracking FPV system,
which can follow the movements of FPV installation
at Far Niente
the sun, is installed at Petra Winery in Winery in Oakville,
megawatts
Suvereto, Italy. California, USA
2013: The first megawatt-scale FPV

system is installed in Saitama Prefecture,
The amount of installed FPV capacity Japan.
in 2014 Swimsol’s platform
2014: Swimsol, the first FPV system in Baa Atoll,
1.1
Maldives
made for saltwater, is developed.
PHOTO COURTESY OF KYOCERA TCL
2016: An FPV installation in Fukuoka
gigawatts
Prefecture, Japan uses micro-inverters,
which can convert a direct current from
the panel into an alternating current.
The amount of installed FPV capacity in 2017: A project at Alto Rabagão Dam in
September 2018 Montalegre, Portugal combines floating
solar and hydro power in the same initia-
Where tive for the first time. The solar panel
FPVs Float installation increases the power plant’s
73% peak capacity by 220 kilowatts. FPV array in Anhui, China
China
2018: The world’s largest FPV array, at
16% 150 megawatts, comes online in Anhui,
Japan
China.
6%
South Korea October 2019: India’s principal sec-
retary of new and renewable energy
2%
Taiwan announces that work is expected to begin
by mid-2020 on the world’s largest float-
1% ing solar park.
United Kingdom
2%
Other Sources: Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore, World Bank, Scheuch Family Foundation, Renewable Energy World, Times of India
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PMN0320 A-FRONT.indd 15 2/25/20 10:25 AM

theEdge
PMI’S 2020 PULSE OF THE PROFESSION®
Fast Forward
Organizations and their teams will have to adapt—and quickly—if they want to maintain their competitive advantage, according to PMI’s
latest Pulse of the Profession®.
EMBRACING CHANGE
What does that look like? Executive leaders believe
these factors are most important to achieve project
success in the future:
35% Organizational agility
32% Choosing the right technologies to invest in
31% Securing relevant skills
29% CEO leadership
53%
28% Ability to close the gap between strategy and execution
25% Creating a culture of constant change
of organizations are emphasizing a 22% A well-functioning project management office

change-ready culture.
22% Forming relevant partnerships
21% Adequate funding
20% Becoming less risk averse, embracing change
To grow their project management capabilities, organizations are prioritizing:
68% 65% 59% 58% 50%

Technical skills Leadership skills Customer centricity Business skills Digital skills

PEOPLE POWER
The customer is always right? Debatable. But what’s not up for
debate is that organizations are emphasizing the customer’s
perspective to achieve benefits.
65%
of organizations expect the work
involving virtual teams to grow
70%
place a high
priority on
creating a
culture centered
on delivering
59%
report using
design thinking
at least some
of the time to
explore and
over the next five years. customer value. solve problems.
COMPETITIVE EDGE WASTE MANAGEMENT

These traits are what reveal champions when it comes to project management culture:
High performers: Low performers: 11.4%

The average amount
15x
High performers
80 percent or more of projects 60 percent or fewer of projects
are completed on time, on budget are completed on time, on bud- of investment wasted waste 15 times less
and meet business goals. They get and meet business goals. due to poor project money than low
also report high benefits realiza- They have low benefits realiza- performance. performers.
tion management maturity. tion management maturity.
81% 84%
PMO POTENCY
70%
66% of organizations have
a project management office
44% (PMO)—89% of which have
high or medium alignment to
28% organizational strategy.
6% 45% of organizations have

an enterprise PMO—91% of
Projects that Have high Place high priority which have high or medium
have active organizational on creating a alignment to organizational
sponsors agility culture receptive to strategy.
organizational change
Source: Pulse of the Profession, PMI, 2020 (Results based on a global survey of 3,060 project professionals, 358 senior executives and 554 project
management office directors/directors of project management in 2019)

POWERING THE PROJECT ECONOMY ™
Mark Your
Calendar!
Attend a PMI event to gain the
skills and capabilities you need to
turn ideas into reality.
2020
SeminarsWorld in Scottsdale | 24–27 February
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SeminarsWorld in San Antonio | 9–12 March

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SeminarsWorld in Washington, D.C. | 6–9 April

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SeminarsWorld in Pittsburgh | 18–21 May

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PMI EMEA Congress 2020 | 14–16 June

®
Prague, Czechia | Prague Congress Centre

SeminarsWorld in Prague | 17–18 June
®
Mega SeminarsWorld in Orlando | 22–25 June

®
SeminarsWorld in Chicago | 20–23 July

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SeminarsWorld in Boston | 3–6 August

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PMI Global Conference 2020 | 17-19 October

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Seattle, Washington, USA | Washington State Convention Center

SeminarsWorld in Seattle | 13–16 & 20–21 October
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©2019 Project Management Institute, Inc. All Rights Reserved. “PMI” and the PMI logo are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc.

Kathryn Rutkowski, PMP,
PMN0320 b-First Features.indd 20 2/6/20 4:40 PM

Proactive
All
planning will
keep teams
focused on
accessibility.
Access BY SARAH
FISTER GALE
PORTRAITS BY
GAVIN JOWITT

No
more
limits. That’s the battle cry on everything from construc-
tion sites to next-gen digital design as teams look
for ways to ensure projects accommodate people
completed a project that allowed the company to
incorporate voice-guided tech in its maps and navi-
gation apps to help vision-impaired users more eas-
with disabilities related to mobility, sight, hearing ily get where they’re going. Features include audio
and cognition. And the demand keeps growing: By and visual descriptions of their surroundings and
2050, 15 percent of the 6.25 billion people living in real-time updates on maintenance-related barriers
urban areas, or 940 million people, will have a dis- on streets and sidewalks.
ability, according to the United Nations. Organizations lagging in their compliance must
In New York, New York, USA, the Metropolitan play a costly game of catch-up. Last year, a U.S.
Transit Authority’s massive capital improvement court ruled that websites and mobile apps for
plan, unveiled in September, features a US$5.2 billion Domino’s Pizza didn’t comply with Title III of the
program to make subway stations more accessible, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)—a case
including adding new elevators and ramps at up to that stemmed from a blind man’s lawsuit against
70 stations. Stations serving more than 60 percent of the company. It wasn’t an isolated incident. More
riders will be accessible when the project is complete. than 10,000 ADA-related lawsuits were filed in
But in the digital age, there’s a deep need for inclu- 2019 in the United States, with another wave
sion beyond physical structures. Google recently expected in 2020.

The subway platform
in Vienna, Austria
has wide paths to
accommodate people
in wheelchairs and
tactile pavement to
help guide blind people.
Now more than ever, project owners and teams

By 2050,
MOBILESTOCK
must get up to speed on accessibility regulations and

prioritize customer requirements in project deliver-
ables, says Kathryn Rutkowski, PMP, senior program
940 million
manager, Atlassian, Sydney, Australia. “Accessibility
has to come from a top-down approach, not as a
people living
nice-to-have feature of a project,” she says.
To ensure her company’s software development
in urban areas
projects align with Australia’s anti-discrimination
laws and accessibility guidelines, Ms. Rutkowski
will have a
recommends that project teams partner with the
organization’s legal team and task one group of
disability.
Source: United Nations
team members on each project with overseeing
accessibility requirements. That person may have
a deep knowledge of requirements, or it may mean
creating extra time for that person to build knowl-
edge. Feeding that information into the project plan

Microsoft’s accessibility solutions
include, clockwise from top left:
color filters to customize the
screen for higher contrast and
color blindness; a research project
that uses audio technology to
enable people with blindness
or low vision to better navigate
new environments; personalized
viewing experience on screens;
and a screen-reading app that
includes image description.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MICROSOFT

from the start prevents teams from overlooking price tag. For example, Berlin, Germany is nearing
even the smallest accessibility details. completion of a €132 million project to make the last
“If a space doesn’t serve the needs of all of its 63 of its 173 subway stations barrier-free by the end
users, it is a wasted investment,” says Jade Paul, of 2020. Meanwhile, Paris, France has admitted that
principal landscape architect, Jacobs, Chicago, Illi- accessibility upgrades for its entire Metro service
“The longer nois, USA. are too costly. Out of 303 stations, many aren’t fully
accessible for wheelchair users. As a result, project
you wait to PROACTIVE PAYOFF teams will have to brainstorm less expensive work-
think about Making accessibility a priority from the outset helps arounds before Paris hosts the 2024 Summer Olym-
accessibility, ensure it is baked into the design and won’t cause pics and Paralympic Games.
the more expensive change requests and delays later, says Proactively identifying risks and requirements for
costly and Zeynep Özkan, PMI-ACP, PMP, director, Agile Berry, accessibility upgrade projects helps project leaders
complicated London, England. “The longer you wait to think make a convincing case for accessible design with
about accessibility, the more costly and complicated sponsors and other key stakeholders, says Steph
it becomes.” it becomes.” In some cases, fixing a site that didn’t Stoppenhagen, director of smart cities business
—Zeynep Özkan, PMI- development, Black and Veatch, Portland, Oregon,
incorporate accessibility features in the first place can
ACP, PMP, Agile Berry,
London, England cost more than the initial budget to build it, she says. USA. “It is not the first thing that comes up in plan-
Having a firm grasp on requirements is particu- ning meetings unless the client really nails acces-
larly mission critical for renovations of aging public sibility in the design specifications.”
infrastructure, where inaccessibility carries a big Planning for accessibility in the context of key

“If a space doesn’t serve the needs of all
of its users, it is a wasted investment.”
—Jade Paul, Jacobs, Chicago, Illinois, USA
performance indicators can help elevate the stra- flowers and trees for their heady fragrance and tex-
tegic value of inclusive spaces and environments. ture, or handrails that covertly feature Braille expla-
For instance, Ms. Stoppenhagen says projects in nations about the surrounding landscape. “These
low-income areas, which typically have a higher simple choices make these spaces stand out,” she
percentage of people with disabilities, need teams to says. “It’s interesting and cool, and it can become a
constantly monitor compliance from start to finish. differentiator for the project.”
Pilot projects and test spaces help teams root
BY DESIGN out surprises, iterate designs and anticipate future
Teams need to start viewing accessibility require- changes when it comes to accessibility. For example,
ments as an opportunity for innovation, says Bryce when Société de transport de Montréal launched an
Johnson, inclusive lead, product research and accessi- eight-year, CA$2.1 billion project to transform the
bility, Microsoft devices, PMI Global Executive Coun- public rail system in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the
cil member Microsoft, Redmond, Washington, USA. team went to extremes to test how the new trains
Mr. Johnson’s team embraces a “nothing about and stations would best accommodate people in
us, without us,” approach by gathering feedback wheelchairs. (It was a 2019 PMI Project of the Year
from accessibility advocates and hosting hack- finalist.) The team conducted boarding tests from 1
athons to inspire new accessible features and prod- to 4 a.m. to limit disruptions, then applied that feed-
ucts. He also includes people with disabilities on back to create a full-size mock-up.
design teams to gain insights into what the real need Sometimes even the smallest features of a prod-
is, Mr. Johnson says. “It’s easy to make assumptions uct or service can negatively impact usability for
about what a person can do,” he says. But watching someone with a disability, says Eva Sue, principal,
someone with a disability use a laptop or a game Woods Bagot, Perth, Australia. Applying universal
controller can generate eye-opening solutions for design to maximize accessibility is about more
project teams. “When you see the challenges people than wide doors and wheelchair-accessible bath-
face, you begin to realize the simple choices we can rooms, says Ms. Sue, who works on various airport
make to make things more accessible.” architecture and design projects globally. Project
When Microsoft brings in people with a variety planners must consider every decision through
of disabilities to talk about how they use their cur- the accessibility lens: Will it work for all users? For
rent products and what obstacles they face, the example, can someone using a wheelchair access a
company’s teams use these insights on public-facing service desk? Do patterns on the floor hinder way-
projects to define user scenarios and develop pro- finding for the visually impaired? “Universal design
totypes. They also invite Microsoft employees with should encourage and facilitate dignified service
disabilities to test them and provide feedback. and natural human behaviors,” she says. “That
“They all have different challenges, but they all begins by having empathy with your users.”
have the same goals—to be able to use the device,”
Mr. Johnson says. “When you solve for one, it ALL FOR ONE
extends to many.” Even the best accessibility project plans can’t
Ms. Paul has achieved success with similar user- achieve their goals unless all stakeholders stay
centric approaches. For parks her teams have cre- aligned. Problems can crop up when there is a lack
ated, visually impaired people have helped choose of communication between designers and contrac-

“Universal design should
encourage and facilitate dignified
service and natural human
behaviors. That begins by having
empathy with your users.”
—Eva Sue, Woods Bagot, Perth, Australia
tors, says Soojin Hur, PMP, architect and project

manager, CBRE Group, San Bruno, California, USA.
For example, if an indoor public space has to be at
least 5 feet (1.5 meters) in diameter but designers
fail to take into account the added depth from trim
or wall tile, it can fall short of minimum accessibility
requirements, she says.
Meanwhile, competing goals can create conflicts
that project managers must find ways to resolve. An
architect might design a dynamic outdoor public
space with tiered seating, sculptures, and meandering
walks to create an interesting and vibrant environ-
ment. But if not planned and executed carefully, it
can easily fail to meet accessibility standards. “There
are many requirements that are easy to miss if you
don’t have a thorough knowledge of or an experience
with accessible design,” Ms. Hur says. Adding an
accessibility expert to teams to review plans and spot
gaps can prevent some mistakes. “It’s important that
someone knows how to apply the standards correctly
and will advocate for them,” she says.
Making accessibility part of the project culture
is possible even on initiatives where sponsors don’t
initially see the value of creating spaces for every-
one. When faced with resistance, Mr. Johnson says
project managers should flip the script and ask how
many people the project is willing to exclude by not
addressing all accessibility issues. Such a challenge
“Accessibility
can provide a subtle nudge to shift perspectives and has to come
make accessibility a must-have goal for every project. from a top-
“Improving how customers access the products down approach,
of a company is absolutely the responsibility of the not as a nice-
people creating those products,” Ms. Rutkowski to-have feature
says. “By proxy, project delivery teams are respon-
sible for making sure everything they create is
of a project.”
—Kathryn Rutkowski, PMP,
accessible by the entire customer base.”

All-In
Advocates
Here are five ways project managers
can become accessibility champions
who educate themselves, raise aware-
ness and lead the way, says Kathryn
Rutkowski, PMP, senior program man-
ager, Atlassian, Sydney, Australia.
1
Immerse. Join the company’s
corporate social responsibil-
ity projects. It will serve as a
constant reminder of why accessibility
should always be on the project radar.
2
Study. Dive deep on acces-
sibility requirements. These
standards are free and available
on websites for both regional and
global rules.
3
Delegate. Designate at least
one team member to collect
feedback from customers who
are unable to access the organization’s
product or service. Doing so will help
expand the accessibility awareness on
the team.
4
Double-check. Make acces-
sibility part of your customer
experience. The design and
build phases should require accessibility
testing.
5
Crowdsource. Create focus
groups dedicated to accessibil-
ity. Be sure to include the most
vocal customers to help pretest new
features.

Open-
Minded
Strong feedback helps teams
What makes planning for accessibility more
complex today?
Ms. Haddock: Historically, visually impaired, hear-
ing impaired and physically impaired groups were
considered the audience. Now you’ve got people not
create better access and only in wheelchairs, but scooters—and there’s no
experiences. standard for how large those are, so it’s much more
difficult to determine spatial requirements.
BY HAYLEY GRGURICH Mr. Lindstedt: One area where project leaders
sometimes fall short is not truly understanding the
variety of special needs and the constantly growing
number of elderly people navigating public spaces.
Ms. Haddock: That’s right. With an aging popula-
F
our project professionals explain how teams tion, distances must be considered for the elderly.
can best navigate challenges to close the And patterns in flooring can be really difficult for
accessibility gap for the 21st century: people with dementia.
Mr. Cempel: Complexity also comes from an
n Carolyn Haddock, PMP, senior project
increase in competing expectations. For example, in
manager, Colliers Project Leaders, Calgary,
the United States, you might be trading off historic
Alberta, Canada.
preservation concerns with a need to meet Ameri-
She has worked on multiple public-facing
projects, including a massive library in cen- cans with Disabilities Act (ADA) demands. It’s
tral Calgary that straddles a light rail line. always possible to meet other competing demands
too—you just have to have enough time and budget.
n Erik Cempel, PMP, former program
manager, Amtrak, Chicago, Illinois, USA. How can teams compensate for
He recently managed the development complexity?
and design of a US$1 billion initiative to Mr. Lindstedt: Understanding the
renovate Union Station in Chicago.
needs of people with disabilities helps
ensure that you’ll design accessible
n Tuomo Lindstedt, project
manager, Finavia Corp., spaces and services. It’s vital to create
Vantaa, Finland. forums for people to join the design
He is working on a massive renovation of phase, test new facilities and give feed-
the Helsinki Airport. back.
Ms. Haddock: In past projects we’ve
n Aurélien Ludovic Kilama, PMP, build-
found it’s worth it to develop 3D ren-
ing and infrastructure manager, Bureau
derings or mock-ups to help advocates
Veritas, Douala, Cameroon.
reviewing our plans get a true sense
He helps teams at his organization navigate
new accessibility regulations in Cameroon. of the space. For construction
projects, consulting with
experts who can read and

interpret multidimensional drawings helps. “Using Ms. Haddock: The ADA requirements in the U.S.
Mr. Cempel: You also need to use experts who have design- and Canada are now the bare minimum. Now project
successfully designed accessible public spaces and thinking sponsors, especially city and provincial governments,
services that are similar to your own project, and if want and need to go above and beyond to show they’re
possible with extensive experience designing them
principles good stewards of the public. That desire provides
locally. Local context is key for understanding unique
is a great an opportunity to build in community engagement,
challenges in your city. For example, treatments in a way to consultations with advocates and experts, and con-
warm climate may not work as well in places with start.” tingency funds to address anything your plans may
extensive ice and snow. —Aurélien Ludovic have missed.
Kilama, PMP, Bureau
How can project managers build buy-in and Veritas, Douala, What’s your biggest lesson learned on acces-
Cameroon
ensure strong benefits? sibility?
Mr. Kilama: Using design-thinking principles is a Ms. Haddock: You’ve got to add in time to consult
great way to start. While collecting information with the right members of the community. You
to define requirements and stakeholders, have should ask the design team to come up with a list
the project team meet and interview people of things they might consider to be a concern from
with disabilities. The expert on accessibil- a design perspective, such as information desks,
ity should be someone with those chal- restrooms, lobbies. Then note in your schedule
lenges. The team should even make a site that you’ll need time to consult with experts on
test with that person. those issues.
ISTOCKPHOTO
Mr. Lindstedt: Designing with acces- Mr. Cempel: You definitely need strong relation-
sibility in mind is how to know if ships with outside groups. For example, Amtrak
something’s missing from your plans. has its own ADA group, but Amtrak also works
Making spaces as flexible as possible with groups at the state and city levels to ensure
and, if possible, having a contingency compliance with all standards. Doing so allows the
budget for propositions outside the orig- organization to leverage a broader range of experi-
inal scope, is critical. ence and expertise to create more comprehensive
plans from the beginning.
Mr. Lindstedt: Another thing
that tends to get over-
looked is that many of
the solutions that are
designed to be acces-
sible are in many cases also easier and more
intuitive to use for people without reduced
mobility. Having more space, straighter routes
and fewer level changes is good for everyone.
When you think about accessible solutions this way,
it’s an opportunity to make a better design from the
beginning. PM


PEAK
ENERGY
A Danish team passed an uphill
test to deliver a power plant with
a ski slope on top.
BY AMY WILKINSON

“H
edonistic sustainability.”
That’s how Bjarke Ingels,
founder of architecture firm
Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG),
describes the newest Dan-
ish waste management facil-
ity, CopenHill. Completed in
October 2019 in Copenha-
gen, Denmark, the facility is far from typical.
At the base of the structure, also known as
Amager Bakke, is a state-of-the-art waste-to-energy
plant, capable of converting 440,000 tons of waste
into energy each year (equivalent to electricity and
heating for 150,000 households). At the summit
is a lush recreational park, featuring a 450-meter
(1,476-foot) dry ski run and hiking trail as well as
an 85-meter-high (279-foot-high) artificial climbing
wall, reportedly the tallest in the world.
The design isn’t just about fun and games for
local residents—it’s also built to push the Danish
capital into the new frontier of sustainability. Proj-
ect sponsor Amager Resource Center hopes the
new US$670 million facility will serve as an integral
step toward Copenhagen becoming the world’s
first carbon-neutral capital city—a goal it hopes to
achieve by 2025.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF AMAGER RESOURCE CENTER


SLOPE SCOPE
Amager Bakke replaced the 50-year-old Amager interior in mind. Massive aluminum blocks—each
incineration plant, and plans for that switch stretch measuring 1.2 meters (3.9 feet) high by 3.3 meters
back more than a decade, with engineering firm (10.8 feet) wide—alternate with glazed windows,
MOE winning the engineering consultancy bid in creating a weave pattern that allows daylight to
October 2009. BIG came into the picture in 2011, stream deep into the facility, reducing the need for
winning an international design competition with overhead lighting.
its wedge-shaped structure and sloped green roof. With so much complexity, project plans allot-
“The major feasibility question for the proj- ted Mr. Nordestgaard an entire year to sketch and
“We had to ect team, as I remember, was the idea of having render the building’s superstructure in 3D before
people on the roof,” says Peter Madsen Nordest- sending out the plans for steel contractor tender.
answer: Is it gaard, technical director of steel structures, MOE, In order to keep things moving, the team divided
safe? Can the Copenhagen. “We had to answer: Is it safe? Can the work on the building into sections so that each
municipalities municipalities accept it?” compartment could be independently constructed
accept it?” But the design demanded a novel approach to the and puzzled together later.
—Peter Madsen Nordestgaard, interior as well. To achieve the desired slope, the “Our contractor from Germany could deliver
MOE, Copenhagen, Denmark team arranged all machinery and rooms inside by some of the first part of the building in the one
height. Visitors can ascend to the roof by platter lift end while we were still making detailed designs
or carpet lift. Or they can use an internal elevator of the connection at the other end for optimizing
with full glass panels that offer a glimpse at the inside planning,” Mr. Nordestgaard says. Involving the
operations: furnaces and turbines converting waste contractor early in project plans also meant less
to energy around the clock, as well as 10 stories of back-and-forth during execution, he says. “All con-
administrative offices, including an education center tractors have different ways of doing things, so it’s
for workshops and sustainability conferences. good to involve them before you’ve finished with
The team also designed the facade with the your detailed designs, so you can adapt.”

TAKING ROOT
From the beginning, the superstructure design team
had to account for the dense foliage along the mas-
sive ski slope of its roof—meaning the weight of
every last rock, bush and tree had to be tallied.
The MOE team worked with landscape design
firm SLA for the green space plan and developed
practical solutions for problems the steep incline
posed. For one, how would realistic topographical
elements be rooted in place without having them
slide right off the hill? The landscapers ended up
sourcing a special material for the hiking trails that
they could cast by hand, on-site, allowing them to
secure items directly to the slope. Another chal-
lenge: Would the design use real or fake trees? Fake
trees would weigh less, because they wouldn’t need
heavy soil to take root. Ultimately, the team stuck
with real trees, which helped achieve the project’s
larger strategic goals of promoting sustainability.
The team prioritized local plants to mimic the Nor-
dic wilderness, planting 300 pines and willows along October 2019:
with 7,000 bushes. CopenHill project is
As a first-of-its-kind structure, there were few complete
lessons learned to apply for teams tasked with rein-
forcing the parts of the superstructure that would March 2017: Power
carry the foliage and its surrounding soil. While the plant operations
team drew inspiration from other man-made slopes begin
around Europe, there was no escaping the project’s
groundbreaking nature. March 2013:
“You can collect something similar but not Construction begins
exactly like this,” says Sten Willer Christensen,
project director, MOE, Copenhagen.
January 2012: The government issues a stop-
work order to address recycling and water-
reuse regulations, causing a nine-month delay
BIG
January 2011: Bjarke Ingels Group
awarded design contract, and a 2016
initial completion date is set
LIFT October 2009: MOE

awarded engineering
contract

SKI INTHE SKY
The business case for a dry ski slope atop the facility porate safety features. Any waste management
wasn’t always certain, says Patrik Gustavsson, man- facility must include safety measures for on-site
aging director and CEO, Amager Bakke Founda- workers who might need to make an emergency
tion, Copenhagen. “Denmark has no real mountains exit during operations, but a broader mix of end
and little snow, and skiing on an artificial surface is users meant CopenHill’s design plans had to take a
something new,” he says. “This, together with the much wider lens.
uncertainties of the project, made building a busi- “We had to make simulations of escape routes
ness case a very concrete challenge. Would there be for ordinary people on the roof—not only for skilled
enough people deciding to go skiing? How would laborers and workers in the power plant,” Mr.
users react to the synthetic surface?” Christensen says. That meant adding escape routes
The Amager Bakke Foundation was established to and signage along the rooftop recreation area and
coordinate project funding and oversee ongoing oper- ensuring such paths could accommodate crowds.
ations of the site. To help build support and ensure To heighten safety, the facility was also built in
residents would engage such a way that if one part collapses, weight could
“It’s a project with a snow-free space, be distributed to other parts of the structure, allow-
that … requires Mr. Gustavsson researched ing enough time for a safe exit. “This has been a key
a holistic both the number of cus- parameter to ensure that the escape routes make it
approach to tomers at similarly sized ski possible to evacuate,” he says.
design and slopes and the number of
implementation. active skiers in the region.
The complexity A consultancy firm that

specialized in sports parks
has been was hired to conduct a spe-
tremendous.” cialized feasibility study.
—Patrik Gustavsson, Amager Based on that data, it was
Bakke Foundation, Copenhagen estimated that between
42,000 and 57,000 visitors might use the site annually,

which was enough to win over sponsors.
“A big challenge in the project has been to help
all involved stakeholders understand that this isn’t
an engineering or sports or architectural project
alone,” he says. “It’s a project that combines a multi-
tude of interests, which requires a holistic approach
to design and implementation. The complexity has
been tremendous.”
The team collaborated with Mountainworks, a
U.S. firm, to settle on the artificial trail’s design. To
create a smooth artificial slope, the team chose green
plastic (meant to evoke the strategic agenda of the
project) laid atop grass. The small blades of plastic
sticking out of the sheet are coated with silicone to
reduce friction, so skiers glide downhill easily.
Meanwhile, the team found subtle ways to incor-

PHOTO COURTESY GOTTLIEB PALUDAN ARCHITECTS
SETTINGA STANDARD
While discussions were underway in 2012 about
new goals for recycling, the government issued a
stop-work order. Nine months would pass before
final signoffs were granted, meaning the team had
to work double time to minimize impact on the
TALENT SPOTLIGHT final schedule.
Sten Willer “I had one to two months to increase our per-
Christensen, sonnel by approximately 20 skilled engineers,” Mr.
project director, Christensen says. “I used my contacts
MOE
Location:
all over Europe to get people I could
“With a bit
trust.” He also reallocated engineers
Copenhagen, from other projects within the firm to
of planning,
Denmark
help pick up the slack. most of
Experience: 38 years But that creative resourcing and the people
Other notable projects: adept project planning has paid off we used on
Piti Power Station, which
opened in 1999 on the
for future initiatives. After work on the Amager
U.S. island territory of
Amager Bakke wrapped up, MOE was Resource
Guam. able to quickly leverage lessons learned
around scheduling and project plan-
Center
Pro tip: Approach project
ning as it constructed a power plant
project could
proposals with a critical
eye from the start. “We next door. Launched in 2016 and on be transferred
start evaluating the tender pace for completion this year, BIO4 to this new
material and review the
scope in regards to the
will be one of the world’s largest wood- project.”
chip-powered plants, working in tan- —Sten Willer Christensen,
DPA PICTURE ALLIANCE / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
schedule and quality of

the personnel. We don’t dem with the Amager Resource Center MOE, Copenhagen
wait to be awarded a to deliver heating and power the city.
contract to get started, “It started even before the Amager Resource
because if you don’t look Center project was complete,” Mr. Christensen
at proposals through a says. “But, with a bit of planning, most of the people
project management lens
we used on the Amager Resource Center project
early enough, you’ll move
into trouble.” could be transferred to this new project.” A win for
MOE and a win for Copenhagen’s future sustain-
ability. PM

Agile Capacity
Thinking fast and
flexibly will solve
resourcing challenges.
BY NOVID PARSI
PORTRAITS BY MOTOHIKO HASUI
PMN0320 c-Second Features.indd 38 2/6/20 4:42 PM

Matthew Birken, PMI-ACP,
Future Colossal, New York,
New York, USA

Wrong
resources?
Right
resources
at the
wrong time? Both can cripple project momentum—and send
shock waves across the project portfolio, even
threatening the organization’s bottom line. And the
talent stakes remain high: 32 percent of CEOs point
to availability of key skills as a threat to growth,
according to a 2020 global PwC survey.
As more organizations embrace agile or hybrid,
there’s a common misconception that resource “At most
32%
allocation will be more challenging, says Matthew organizations,
Birken, PMI-ACP, experience producer, Future a resource is
Colossal, an innovation lab that provides immersive
not dedicated
of CEOs point to experiences, New York, New York, USA. “In agile,
to one project
availability of key skills you’re planning a few weeks ahead, deadlines are
as a threat to growth. broken into sprints and delivery is made every at a time,
two weeks, versus potentially months in a water- but partially
Source: 23rd Annual Global CEO Survey, PwC, 2020
fall system,” he says. But the greater emphasis on assigned
short-term needs can be a real strength, as teams to multiple
are primed for flexibility.
projects.”
To deliver stronger results through better
—Syed Waqar Hussain, PMP,
resource planning, consider these five insights from
TPS Worldwide, Karachi,
seasoned project managers. Pakistan

Forget Front-
Loading
Project managers might be tempted to load up on
resources to mitigate the risk of losing them later to
other projects. That can backfire, Mr. Birken says.
“If you’re constantly overestimating your resourc-
ing needs, that’s not a good plan because then
you’re creating inefficiencies, which wastes time
and money and could impact your deadline, or
worse, your end goal.”
Overestimating resources also takes a bite out
of the portfolio: “It’s important to look at all the
projects as a whole
Don’t Stop “If you’re

because my needs are
not more important
constantly
Iterating
than anyone else’s,”
Mr. Birken says. To overestimating
ensure the right bal- your resourcing
When mapping out resources, keep in mind that ance of resources, keep needs ... you’re
“at most organizations, a resource is not dedicated an eye on the burn- creating
to one project at a time, but partially assigned to down charts, which inefficiencies.”
multiple projects,” says Syed Waqar Hussain, PMP, show the work left to
—Matthew Birken, PMI-ACP,
senior project manager, TPS Worldwide, Karachi, do and the amount of Future Colossal, New York,
Pakistan. time left to do it. New York, USA
Mr. Hussain accounts for that in his resource At the same time,
plan, noting, for example, which developers might cultivate cross-functional teams when possible. A
have 30 percent of their time allocated to other ini- diverse skill set means greater flexibility to meet proj-
tiatives. He also builds in float time so that he can ect needs, “and that minimizes reliance on resources
adapt to external demands placed on his team. On outside the team,” says Noha Shaban, PMI-ACP,
a two-month project to deliver a financial mobile PMP, director and project manager, Value Driven
app last year, he added a half month of float time. Project Consultancy, Melbourne, Australia.
When a developer had to leave the project briefly to
address a production issue for the client, Mr. Hus-
sain had built-in time to spare.
The resource plan becomes a living document—
one that gets revised throughout the project. And
that plan tracks not only availability but also pro-
ductivity. For instance, if team members are avail-
able eight hours a day, they won’t be productive
that entire time. They’ll take lunch and other breaks.
ISTOCKPHOTO (2)
So their productivity might be 70 percent of their

capacity, and the capacity plan should indicate as
much.

ISTOCKPHOTO
Spike as
Needed
Because agile teams work in a self-organizing fash-
Thread the
ion, they can collaborate to determine the complex
or exceptionally large user stories that will have
greater resourcing demands. When a team spots
Needle those situations, it might decide to try a spike—a

test in which the team gathers information and
“Normally with agile projects, the main constraint is conducts research to find out what exactly it will
time,” Ms. Shaban says. When the schedule cannot need to deliver that sprint’s solution. In that way,
be budged, project managers can apply resource the team can determine its own resource allocation.
smoothing, or adding resources.
However, agile projects can face resourcing chal-
lenges when a particular skill set is not within the
agile squad and specialized resources are required,
either on the bench or through the client, she
says. In these situations, traditional approaches
of resource smoothing and resource leveling can
be applied. For instance, Ms. Shaban worked on a
project to implement a human resources tool for a
healthcare client. The project involved a legacy tool
“Use resource that the client had to decommission at a certain
smoothing time or else pay to renew it. There was an analyst
when you required, but they were not part of the agile team
have a time and had to be engaged through the client.

By contrast, project managers apply resource
constraint and leveling—or moving the work of limited resources
you cannot further down the timeline—when the project’s
change the schedule or feature delivery dates can be flexible.
milestone For instance, while working on a project for a
or release client in the education sector, there was a require-
schedule.” ment to integrate with its finance system. But the
client’s finance analyst wasn’t available when that
—Noha Shaban, PMI-ACP,
user story was scheduled. So Ms. Shaban discussed
PMP, Value Driven Project
Consultancy, Melbourne, the situation with the product owner, who decided
Australia that because the feature did not have to be released
to market at a particular time, the project could
accommodate the client’s resource and schedule
work on that feature later in the timeline.
“You use resource smoothing when you have a
time constraint and you cannot change the mile-
stone or release schedule,” Ms. Shaban says. “You
use resource leveling when you can be flexible with
timelines or release dates.”

Defend the Team Spirit
Demand In project management
parlance, “resource” can
mean anything from
At Future Colossal, project managers and produc- a person to a piece of
tion directors meet several times each week to machinery. But people
review their projects’ talent needs. “We’re a small aren’t robots—and both
their capacities and their
company so we all share talent and everyone has to
capabilities can be heav-
jump on different projects,” Mr. Birken says. ily influenced by things
When the talent needs outstrip the talent supply, like leadership styles and
Mr. Birken and his colleagues each have to make team dynamics.
their case. They present verbal and written docu- “As project manag-
mentation of their upcoming milestones and the ers, we assign resources
according to their capa-
resources they need to achieve them. “With con-
bilities, but we also have
strained resources, it’s always important to prove to care about the team’s
the resources you need and when,” Mr. Birken says. chemistry,” says Syed
“You have to stand up for your project’s needs. If Waqar Hussain, PMP,
you don’t say what you need, you won’t get it.” senior project manager,
TPS Worldwide, Karachi,
For example, on a project to deliver an interactive
Pakistan. “If they don’t
experience for a client, Mr. Birken explained to his have a good bond, they
production director that one of his key developers won’t deliver on time.”
had conflicting commitments: a weeklong vaca- On a project last year
tion, work for a vendor and another project dead- to deliver a QR code
mobile payment app to
“Stand up line. “I explained that if I don’t get an additional
a bank, Mr. Hussain’s
for your resource, the client can’t approve the project and the
team consisted of mem-
project’s install date will be delayed. Not getting an additional bers with varying levels
resource was not an option,” he says. Mr. Birken of agile experience.
needs. If ended up getting the resource his project needed. PM “The developers didn’t
you don’t understand the business
say what analysts, and the quality
assurance people didn’t
you need,
ISTOCKPHOTO
understand the develop-
you won’t ers,” he says. “They all
get it.” had different mindsets.”
So he asked the
—Matthew Birken, CEO to sit down with
PMI-ACP the team and deliver a
motivational speech on
the value of a cross-
functional team working
together to achieve
the project’s benefits.
That one executive-led
meeting made all the
difference. “For the next
few months, we worked
as one team toward one
goal,” Mr. Hussain says.

Power Moves
Here’s how six
women project
professionals
are building up
their careers—
and empowering
others.
BY KELLEY HUNSBERGER
ILLUSTRATION BY EVA VAZQUEZ


The fight for gender
parity continues
to dominate The Builder
conversations— Sarisha Harrychund, PMP,
from the
professional engineer (structures),
Hatch (Pty) Ltd., Durban,
South Africa
boardroom to the
G
ame-changing projects have defined Ms.
classroom. Harrychund’s relatively short career as a

structural engineer and project profes-
There is still work to be done. For example, sional. From 2013 to 2014, for example, she was part
representation of women at the manager level has of the team at engineering and project management
climbed just 3 percent since 2015, according to a consultancy Hatch that led the Umgeni Road Inter-
2019 report by Women in the Workplace, a collab- change project in Durban, South Africa.
orative research effort between McKinsey and Lean “It was the largest infrastructure project in Dur-
In. And there has been no drop in the number of ban at the time,” she says. “Being on the site was
women who feel that gender is a barrier to advance- stressful, exhausting and technically challenging,
ment or the number of women who experience but each day was also a fantastic adventure of not
microaggressions. only learning about bridges and gaining site expe-
Yet commitment to the cause has grown. In 2019, rience, but also seeing how various role-players
87 percent of the companies surveyed said gender engage on a project and understanding the political,
diversity is a top priority, compared with 74 percent social and economic factors that strongly influence
in 2015. Meanwhile, women around the world con- the construction industry.”
tinue to build careers that drive innovation, change The project helped Ms. Harrychund realize that
communities, shift companies, disrupt industries holding back wasn’t going to get her very far very
and, ultimately, impact the world. fast in her career. “I had to force myself to grow in
Many of these women are project professionals. confidence to voice my thoughts, to assume respon-
In honor of International Women’s Day, six proj- sibilities on projects, and to develop a more fearless
ect pros explain how they are making names for and agile personality,” she says.
themselves across the profession while helping to And grown she has. Since the Umgeni project,
establish the future of the project economy. Ms. Harrychund has been named an Accenture

The Connector
Madhu Fernando, PMP,
CEO, Innova Strategies,
Colombo, Sri Lanka
T
he first project Ms. Fernando worked on
was a doozy—and a major source of stress
for most organizations at the turn of the
21st century: preparing for Y2K. As a project
manager at telecommunications giant Ericsson,
Ms. Fernando was responsible for overseeing all
telecommunications system upgrades in the Asia
Pacific region.
“I was reporting to a global project manager who
was based in Madrid, [Spain] and worked with peers
from all around the world,” she says. “In addition to
the usual project management experience, I also got
Rising Star in construction and industrials, as well the opportunity to get to know peers from all over,
as a World Economic Forum Global Shaper. She and to travel and experience the way projects are
also has been part of award-winning project teams, managed in different places. As a
including the Tugela River Pedestrian Bridge proj- young project manager, it has set
ect, the first steel pedestrian suspension bridge in the best foundation for my life
“Empathy,
the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Prior in project management.”
working
to the bridge’s construction, community members Since then, Ms. Fernando estab- together,
could only cross the 150-meter (492-foot) river by lished her own consultancy and communication
swimming, with their valuables held in a bucket. has worked to advance the profes- skills, leading,
“The program sought sion in her homeland of Sri Lanka. coaching and
“I had to force to redress past imbalances She founded the PMI Colombo
mentoring skills
myself to grow to historically impover- Chapter in 2003 and a few years
will help you
in confidence ished communities by later helped establish the first PMI
build a strong
to voice my implementing infrastruc- Registered Education Provider in
career in project
ture in these communi- the country.
thoughts, ties that would improve Over the course of her career, management.”
to assume the quality of life,” Ms. Ms. Fernando says she has seen
responsibilities Harrychund says. the profession change dramatically, from a limited
on projects, When other women focus on scope, time and cost to a more customer-
and to develop project managers ask her centric endeavor to deliver “what the customer
a more fearless how they can build a proj- needs to meet today’s requirements or their dream
and agile ect career that stands out, for the future.”
she offers this advice: That continued evolution is going to require proj-
personality.” “No matter what the ect professionals to bring more people skills to the
situation, challenges or opportunities are, develop table, she says. “Empathy, working together, com-
the emotional resilience to always try and do your munication skills, leading, coaching and mentoring
best. Many years from now, you will look back and skills will help you build a strong career in proj-
realize that everything you have done has mattered.” ect management.”

The Change Agent
Evelyn Quek, head
of technical program
management, Patreon, San
Francisco, California, USA
M
s. Quek and her team are leading the
charge as Patreon scales up. In just
six years, the company has become an
influential crowdfunding source for the creative
class, helping everyone from podcasters and writ-
ers to comedians and actors to earn money from
their supporters. With more than US$1 billion to
its more than 100,000 creators, Patreon is set to add
new services such as merchandising options, and in
October, the organization announced it would open project management career, thoughts of failure
an office in Dublin, Ireland. “The would crawl in, causing her to question her abilities
“There is lots happening as the organization is important and chosen career path. But the possibility of failure
growing, and this adds to the day-to-day complexity thing is no longer scares her.
of ensuring that all stakeholders know what’s hap- whether I “I do struggle with impostor syndrome, and the
pening around product development.” am willing fear of failure creeps in,” she says. “But I remind
Much of her focus is on the international expan-
sion, as well as “ensuring that the program manage-
to take on myself that the important thing is whether I am
willing to take on the new challenge and the growth
ment function scales alongside our growth,” Ms.
the new opportunities it comes with. That’s my mentality
Quek says. challenge and when I’m going at a new thing.”
Turning that vision into reality will require man- the growth Instead of seeing all failure as negative, Ms.
aging change among Patreon’s growing army of opportunities Quek has learned to embrace it as another learning
employees. “The challenge is getting everyone to it comes opportunity.
understand why change is necessary as we grow and
with. That’s “Last year a mentor reminded me: ‘Always look
navigating that change with them. What used to back to see how far you’ve come, appreciate what
work yesterday may not work today, and we need to
my mentality you’ve accomplished, and let yourself enjoy the
be able to adapt to new ways of working together.” when I’m journey.’ As I looked back at how far I’ve came, I
Such maturation would mirror Ms. Quek’s own going at a am excited for the new challenges as they are new
transformation. When she was just starting her new thing.” growth opportunities for myself.”

The Accelerator
market over here because of the increase in online
Amanda Priestley, senior shopping. And we’ve got a great ambition to be the
project management
carrier of choice in the U.K.”
“Things
office manager, Hermes,
Meeting those ambitions requires fielding fre- can
London, England
quent—and often urgent—change requests as the change a
A
t one of the United Kingdom’s leading con- organization responds to market shifts and business lot in the
sumer parcel carriers, Ms. Priestley doesn’t opportunities. “Staying competitive means dealing project
have time to rest on her laurels. Her proj- with those change requests, while also delivering a very world.
ect management team is overseeing eight programs set change portfolio that’s established and known.”
She thrives in this environment, though. “Things
Don’t be
and more than 60 projects, ranging from front-end
customer changes to improve the company’s web- can change a lot in the project world,” she says.
afraid of
site and apps to major data migrations from one of “Don’t be afraid of that. The beauty of being in that.”
Hermes’ legacy systems to a cloud-based solution. projects and change is that you get a lot of variety,
“There is a need to move really quickly because you get to deliver exciting things, and you get to
of the nature of the beast of the industry that we’re experience lots of different businesses. It’s a really
in,” Ms. Priestley says. “It’s a really competitive transferable skill.”
Delete the Difference

How much a woman makes—and the level of gender parity she’s facing—depends on where she is in the world. Here’s
how salaries stack up across gender lines in the countries with the highest median salaries for project professionals.
Switzerland Australia United Kingdom Belgium Ireland New Zealand

Median salary: Median salary: Median salary: Median salary: Median salary: Median salary:
US$132,086 US$101,381 US$95,556 US$92,352 US$85,829 US$81,196
Male: US$137,392 Male: US$104,131 Male: US$102,586 Male: US$98,032 Male: US$90,211 Male: US$89,772
Female: US$130,044 Female: US$97,520 Female: US$88,410 Female: US$93,892 Female: US$82,937 Female: US$76,938
Median
salary
100%
Parity
40%
20 % 94.6% 89.9% 93.6% 86.4% 86.2% 84.3% 95.7% 98% 91.9% 88.2% 85.7%
United States Germany Netherlands Qatar United Arab Emirates

Median salary: Median salary: Median salary: Median salary: Median salary:
US$116,000 US$96,987 US$93,839 US$89,913 US$81,665
Male: US$123,853 Male: US$99,531 Male: US$97,023 Male: US$90,038 Male: US$90,883
Female: US$111,370 Female: US$86,036 Female: US$81,813 Female: US$88,314 Female: US$80,232
Source: Earning Power: Project Management Salary Survey—Eleventh Edition, PMI, 2020

The Visionary
Claudia de Moya Partiti my background in project management gives me

Ferraz, PMP, CIO, perspective for how I can help my project managers
Zaraplast, São Paulo, Brazil better manage their projects,” she says. “I know how
I can challenge them to deliver.”
M
s. Ferraz is in the eye of major IT She believes the transition from project manager
transformation at plastics company to the C-suite is a natural one. But making that tran-
“Sometimes Zaraplast. First, she’s overhauling the sition can still be fraught for women, she admits.
the mindset organization’s entire IT infrastructure. “The person “It’s less of a challenge than in the past, but still
is still: If a in this role before me was focusing on controlling a challenge for women to prove they are capable
female project the costs,” she says. When Ms. Ferraz came on of it,” Ms. Ferraz says. “I think that sometimes
manager gets board, she had bolder plans in mind. That included means getting assigned fewer good projects, not
pregnant, rethinking everything from the design of the entire getting the opportunity to show that you can
she’ll probably network and its security to replacing every server lead the project. Sometimes the mindset is still:
and defining new ways for the various company If a female project manager gets pregnant, she’ll
stay at home sites to talk to each other. probably stay at home and take care of the child
and take care At the same time, she and her team are build- for a while. And she will not be able deliver the
of the child for ing out the technology infrastructure for a new projects.”
a while. And 80,000-square-meter (861,100-square-foot) plant Such assumptions are frustrating and unfair, says
she will not that aims to use automation to accomplish the same Ms. Ferraz. But the best way for women to build
be able deliver amount of work as other plants with roughly half their career is to follow the same advice she would
the number of people. give all project managers, regardless of gender, she
the projects.” Her experience working as a project professional says: “Remain focused on delivering the project in
at GE, Dow Chemical and Accenture have prepared the best way possible and meeting all the milestones
Ms. Ferraz well for the disruptive onslaught. “I think in all your projects.”

The Rising Star
Yasaman Thompson,
senior technical project
manager, Acorns, Irvine,
California, USA
M
s. Thompson fell into a project manage-
ment career by accident. While working
as an engineer at Boeing, she started fill-
ing the role as project manager for concept projects,
handling defining requirements, technical writing
and internal integration.
“I discovered it was a lot of fun and I really
enjoyed it,” she says. “And I really wanted to focus a
lot of my skill set on project management.”
But rather than remain a small fish in a big pond,
she decided to make a move to a smaller company
where she could learn more—and move the needle.
Today, Ms. Thompson is a project professional at
fintech startup Acorns, working hand-in-hand with
the engineering directors and product owners to
develop new products and services for customers.
She sets objectives and key results to figure out
first if the space needs them, and second, to discern
whether they’ll be financially competitive. technical and working with our engineering direc-
“My job from inception to delivery is to make tors and really hammering things out,” she says.
sure that the whole thing works really well.” “I also like working with our product people and
Since joining Acorns in fleshing out the visions. And I love being able to
“Having a very late 2017, Ms. Thompson champion them along the way.”
strong female says she’s launched nearly Yet she remains frustrated by the lack of female
boss helps to 50 projects. “I’ve been at representation within project management, espe-
guide your bigger companies where cially in technical areas. “I think you see a lot more
career. It’s one apps take a really long female representation on the more operational side,
time,” she says. “It could whether that’s marketing, customer support or
of those unique take years for something to human resources.”
situations get out the door. You might Ms. Thompson is hopeful that deficit is closing,
where women not even be there by the especially with a growing number of women rising
can support time your app gets out the through the project management ranks. Inspira-
you in a way door. But here, we get that tion is close at hand: Ms. Thompson’s boss, a vice
that a male instant feedback, which is president in charge of the organization’s project
manager might really nice.”

While she cherishes the
management office, is a woman.
“Having a very strong female boss helps to guide
overlook.” technical aspect of her job, your career,” she says. “It’s one of those unique situ-
it’s the opportunity to build relationships that has ations where women can support you in a way that
kept Ms. Thompson in the profession. “I love being a male manager might overlook.” PM


Maintaining
motivation requires
leadership, empathy and
strategic thinking.
BY TESSA D’AGOSTA

Misery
Touch Base
During a recent change proj-
ect, we deployed a daily huddle in
which we got the entire team together and
loves
reviewed the previous day’s performance, cur-
rent targets and any impediments to reaching those
targets. We supplemented this with video calls to the
company.
regional teams later in the day. Everyone got the same
message: Those daily huddles reminded people of pur-
pose, need, what we’ve achieved so far and what we
can continue to achieve.
—Abhay Shah, business change project manager,
And there appears to be plenty to go around: One- South Asia, Middle East and Africa, Lloyd’s
third of employees feel undervalued, according to Register, Singapore
a 2019 TINYpulse survey. So it’s all but inevitable
that project managers will deal with team members
who appear lost, underappreciated or just plain
burned out at some point. To keep people moti-
vated, project professionals recommend custom-
izing strategies so they resonate with each team
member.
Lead
Guiding Force
Work to understand peo- by
Example
ple’s aspirations and help them
map those aspirations to the organiza-
tion’s goals. Support team members by
keeping a continuous tab on their progress.
A team with a clear picture of its goals and
its growth will always remain motivated.
—Rachna Singh, program manager, PMI
Global Executive Council member
Amazon, Bengaluru, India
Explicit
Direction
The most important steps to motiva-
tional leadership are:
All Ears n Leave no assumptions: Brief team members
Listen carefully. When team thoroughly at the project start.

members believe their voices have the n Be a leader, not a boss: Communicate effectively,
power to positively affect change, they can interact freely and support the team with words of
then develop the motivation to reach a com- encouragement.
mon goal. Collective knowledge is greater than n Execute: The entire team has to be aware of all
that of any one individual, and a culture of lis- expectations. A project planned well but not
tening taps into that shared knowledge base. executed well will fail.
—Andrew Arpin, CAPM, PMP, systems —Grace Ojiugo Emole, PMP, project
engineer, Bose Corp., Dayville, manager, Ironbrand & Quates,
Connecticut, USA Lagos, Nigeria

Personal Best Role Play
When used correctly and in It’s a two-way street, so
moderation, “I” statements allow team put yourself in the team member’s
members to express themselves openly and position. Having compassion and empa-
honestly, without putting the listener on the thy allows the project manager to under-
defensive, by focusing on the feelings and values of stand and adjust to the team’s competence
the speaker. This communication style encourages the and creativity. It helps to determine the unique
team to engage in problem-solving rather than play the work styles of the team and, ultimately, bring
blame game, thus fostering collaboration, promoting out the best in them.
happiness and motivating team members to learn —Sridhar Kethandapatti, program manager,
from their mistakes. CentriLogic, Mississauga, Ontario,
Canada
—Russell Chewning, PMP, IT project manager,
Helion Technologies, Fallston, Maryland,
USA High Praise
Motivation comes from the
project manager’s demonstrated
appreciation through positive feedback.
Saying “thank you,” “well done” or “we
couldn’t have achieved this without you” will
make team members willing to give more.
—Ramy Kassem, PMP, quality, occupational
health and safety, and environmental lead
auditor, Vertiv, Glenroy, Australia
Safety Net Human

Provide psychological safety. Touch
People should feel comfortable in See the team as people first, not
admitting failure and mistakes. Team resources. Figure out how each indi-
members should not judge or recriminate, but vidual feels appreciated, and do that with
instead use the failure to learn. Everyone should sincerity. Seek opportunities to celebrate
feel safe to share ideas openly and honestly, both team and individual progress creatively
enhancing communication, learning from each and on a regular basis. And write handwrit-
other and accelerating innovation. ten notes—it’s a lost art.
—Mark Howells, head of projects, Sanctuary —Kevin D. Martin, PMI-ACP, PMP,
Group, Worcester, England Give Thanks director, senior experience owner,
A handwritten thank you USAA, San Antonio, Texas,
USA
is a powerful way to
encourage the heart.
—Deirdre Spencer, PMP, senior
project manager, digital experience,
Simpson Strong-Tie, Oakland,
California, USA
Feeding Frenzy
If a last-minute meeting is nec-
essary and the only availability is at
lunchtime, or if the team has to pull an all-
nighter, feed them a hot meal. If someone has to
take his or her kids to school, avoid early morning Express
Empathy
meetings that require that team member’s presence.
And steer clear of project meetings after lunch on a
Friday—they’re unproductive and action items get
missed. The little things that show you care about
your people are reciprocated when it’s go-time.
—Jesse DuMars, PMP, IT infrastructure manager,
Antelope Valley Hospital, Lancaster,
California, USA

Sphere of
Influence
A lack of commitment to the organiza-
tion’s vision and strategic goals from senior
stakeholders can directly affect the morale of the
project team. It’s a “if they don’t care, why should
Spark
we?” mentality, and it’s human to fall for it. But con-
stant support from the company’s core stakeholders
can really move the needle with the team’s working
Empowerment culture. There’s a role to be played by everyone in

the company to ensure the vision is kept intact.
—Nakul Dhingra, PMP, senior project manager,
Tigerspike, Singapore
Voice
Control
A listening leader brings out the
best in a project team, as team mem-
bers know they have the opportunity to
speak up and express both project posi-
tives and areas for improvement.
—Michael Alcarde, PMP, program
manager, Teradyne, North Reading,
Massachusetts, USA
Nothing
to Hide
The project manager must com-
municate transparently with the team,
build trust, listen to their problems and get
them involved in decision making. It’s crucial to
share knowledge and responsibilities with team
members, not only to achieve project goals but
also to protect team members if and when they
make mistakes.
—Ramy Kassem, PMP, quality, occupational
health and safety, and environmental lead
auditor, Vertiv, Glenroy, Australia

Personnel Can I Get a
Accountability
My team and I have frequent discussions Thank You?
about continual improvement of process. They The outlook for employee morale is bleak
are stakeholders in their own work, and I want at organizations around the world.
81%
them to own that and feel pride in their accomplish-
ments. When things could have gone better, we docu-
ment lessons learned so the whole team can benefit.
When things go well, we celebrate by showcasing
accomplishments at team and department meet- of employees believe they have the right
ings, and with giving notes of appreciation. people on their team.
—Deirdre Spencer, PMP, senior project
9%
manager, digital experience, Simpson
Strong-Tie, Oakland,
California, USA
of employees think their average co-worker is

very happy.
Healthy
Outlook
It’s important to help the team under-
stand the greater good of the project and
33%
of employees feel undervalued at work.
who and what it benefits in the end. From a
1in 3
healthcare perspective, that’s the patients (even the
bad ones), the staff (including our project manage-
ment office) and the community at large. Reminding
the team that it’s not about us—it’s about all the employees say they were well recognized the
end users—is a great way to inspire. last time they went the extra mile at work.
—Jeremy Harlow, project manager, capital
84%
improvement projects, Hilo Medical Center,
Hilo, Hawaii, USA
of employees say they feel challenged at work

on a daily basis.
1in 3
employees strongly agree that they have the
opportunity to reach their full potential at
their organization.
Source: The 2019 Employee Engagement Report, TINYpulse, 2019

Voices
INSIDE TRACK
Bridge to Innovation
ILLUSTRATION BY CATERINA ZACUTTI

I
CORDELL n the digital age, maintaining transportation What one word best describes your role?
infrastructure in the world’s largest urban Innovation. My team and I execute information
SCHACHTER, areas goes well beyond building and repair- technology and innovation projects so all of the
PMP ing roads and bridges. Keeping millions of agency’s employees can better carry out their
TITLE: CTO and CIO people safely on the move at all hours also requires missions. For instance, during my time here,
robust and innovative technology projects. we’ve created two different street-inspection
ORGANIZATION: As CIO and CTO at the New York City Depart- management systems: first, a mobile PC-based
New York City ment of Transportation, Cordell Schachter oversees application, then a tablet-compatible application.
Department of more than 100 IT projects a year, about a third Field inspectors use this technology to record the
Transportation
of which are software development, with the rest conditions of the city’s streets every two years.
LOCATION: New York, rooted in IT infrastructure, such as data transfor- That information is then used to determine the
New York, USA mation and storage. prioritization of the resurfacing work to improve
With budgets ranging from US$20,000 to US$8 the condition of the city’s roadways.
million, those projects support all of the agency’s
5,500 employees, who are responsible for—most Can you describe a current innovation project?
notably—6,000 miles (9,656 kilometers) of road, In 2018, we launched a program to assess all of
12,000 miles (19,312 kilometers) of sidewalk, 800 the city’s sidewalk corners and access ramps so we
bridges, 1 million regulatory street signs, the can ultimately improve accessibility, particularly
Staten Island Ferry and a system that automates for pedestrians with disabilities. We could have
more than 500,000 street permits granted for used a legacy method of gathering the data—with
utilities work. inspectors literally on their hands and knees
PMN0320 d-Voices.indd 58 2/6/20 4:47 PM

If you waste US$1 million of taxpayers’ money,
no one’s going to commend you for not
wasting US$9 million more.
with rulers and levels. Instead, the IT organiza- fatalities and serious injuries by 2024. Communi-
tion achieved the agency’s agreement to use an cation is the most important ingredient to ensure
advanced surveying technology using high-resolu- we’re updated on the executive team’s needs and
tion imagery and laser-guided measurements. We they’re updated on our progress. Small Talk
recently completed the citywide data collection on What one skill should
schedule and on budget. What are the primary challenges you face? every project manager
There are never enough resources to do all the have?
Can you discuss your project delivery approach things that need to be done. New York is a very Communication—both
the ability to explain
and its benefits? large city with millions of people, but there’s only
what you’re doing and
We’re dedicated to a hybrid approach, so that as so much revenue and only so many people avail- the ability to under-
technologies change, we can adapt. We started able for projects. New York is a very competitive stand what people are
implementing agile in 2012, and now most of our employment environment. By some measures, IT telling you.
projects use agile. But in government, we can’t fail unemployment here is 0 percent.
fast the way they talk about elsewhere in software If not your current
career, what would
development. If the private sector has a large proj- How do you compete with the private sector for
you do?
ect budgeted at US$10 million and someone kills resources? I’d make movies. It’s
it after spending US$1 million, they might get Our trade secret is that we try to brainwash our something I’ve always
commended for saving the company US$9 mil- college interns into staying here forever. We try to wanted to do—use tech-
lion. But if you waste US$1 million of taxpayers’ convince them of the importance of our public- nology to tell stories.
money, no one’s going to commend you for not sector mission and the impact they can have on
What’s your biggest
wasting US$9 million more. the lives of New Yorkers as project managers or pet peeve?
So we have to do a lot of due diligence upfront developers here. That’s a very influential message, People confusing project
rather than rushing out with a minimum viable and we’ve had fairly low turnover. Still, it’s hard to schedules with project
product. We do a lot of research on the technolo- attract qualified resources. So we hire and recruit plans. Just because you
gies and the work processes using waterfall-like people with the latest skills, or we train them to have a schedule doesn’t
mean you have a plan,
approaches, which helps us ensure a very high like- have the latest skills.
and vice versa. You need
lihood of success. a plan that includes a
What does that training look like for your proj- schedule.
How do you collaborate with the executive ect managers?
team to ensure strategic alignment? We’re the only division in the Department of
I meet weekly with our commissioner, executive Transportation that has a dedicated training bud-
deputy commissioner, chief operations officer, and get, and we fought very hard for it. Each of our
the heads of the bridges, traffic operations, trans- team members has to get two weeks of training a
portation planning and management, and side- year, and they’re all evaluated on how effectively
walks and inspections management divisions to they complete it. If they’re project managers, they
discuss our most important projects and to react have to work toward earning PMI’s Project Man-
to events as they come up. We need to explain agement Professional (PMP)® certification. When
to the public what we’re doing to improve safety, I was hired in 2008, I was the first PMP® holder
in particular under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Vision here. Now, almost all our IT project managers are
Zero Initiative, which aims to eliminate all street PMP holders. PM

Voices PROJECT TOOLKIT
Focus
Group
We asked the project
management community:
How do you
establish an
environment
where everyone
stays on topic
ISTOCKPHOTO
during meetings?
ENFORCE THE AGENDA REMOTE CONTROL
I start by sending the agenda via email In virtual meetings, I share my screen so
or with a meeting invite, along with any team members can see me taking notes
supporting project documentation, which helps during the meeting. This helps keep their atten-
participants prepare. During the meeting, when tion. I send out an agenda ahead of time that
I detect divergent or skewed discussions, I diplo- identifies the topic, time allotment and owner or
matically bring the conversation back to the meet- speaker. I try to make it the team’s meeting, not
ing protocols and let people know that it can be the project manager’s meeting. It’s the simple
discussed later. If you know certain participants things that keep a meeting productive.”
are prone to talk longer or go off-topic, discuss the —Mary Bracciale, PMP, senior manager, The Chartis Group,
vital points with them in advance in an attempt Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
to limit their questions during the actual meeting.
Establishing a preset time limit can also help. If SET THE TONE
there are several points to discuss, I recommend When the team is new, there will be a consid-
allocating specific time to discuss each topic to erable amount of chaos, unease and divergent
maintain a focused discussion.” behavior, so team members must learn to collabo-
—Rajaram Chinnakkan, project manager, Lowe’s Cos. Inc., rate. How a new team gels and the cadence built
Bengaluru, India around team dynamics will help dictate how a typi-

Look, a Squirrel!
In a digital-first business world, staying focused is a problem that extends beyond meetings.
Here’s how devices can create workplace distractions:
TAPPED OUT DIGITAL CLUTTER
54% 56% 59%
have at least five use at least believe they are wast-

computer programs three different ing too much time
94%
of workers are using their
running at once. tools to
collaborate.
switching between
work-related apps.
mobile phones for personal ERROR OF WAYS

reasons during work.
The breakdown:
70% Browse social media
45% Shop online
57%
have sent an email to the
33%
have sent an email or chat
20% Dating apps wrong person. prematurely.
Source: GoTo, 2019
cal standup meeting is conducted. If the right rules outcomes and names of associated stake-
are set, the team will know the importance of time holders.
and the intention of these standups. They will prac- 2. Ascertain whether it’s possible to do an audio/
tice punctuality, state exactly what is needed, ask video conference or whether a physical meet-
what is appropriate and respect everyone else’s time.” ing is mandatory based on agenda points and
—Robins Jacob Varghesee, PMP, advisory project manager, availability of stakeholders.
IBM, Bengaluru, India 3. Share the list of agenda points and intended out-
comes—along with any other necessary materi-
MAINTAIN BOUNDARIES als or information—with relevant stakeholders.
The purpose of a meeting should be to 4. Begin the meeting on time, and start by
actively discuss the meeting topic. That announcing what’s going to be covered and
said, keep reports out of it and keep your attendee what isn’t. Facilitate discussions on agenda
list to only those who will contribute or benefit points one by one, keeping track of time and
from firsthand exposure. If it’s your meeting, desired outcomes.”
guide the conversation by calling on individu- —Sanjeev Sharma, PMP, deputy general manager, busi-
als with specific requests and summarizing key ness development, Greaves Cotton Ltd., Gurgaon, India
points to keep the purpose at the forefront of the
conversation. If and when a consensus is reached, WATCH IT
immediately show gratitude for people’s contribu- For standups, we use an hourglass to
tions, reiterate responsibilities coming from the remind the current speaker to stay on How do you
meeting and close it out. You’d be surprised how time. We have a five-minute limit, which helps bounce back
from project fail-
thankful everyone is to be in a concise meeting make sure the speaker doesn’t steer away from
ure—and how do
where their attendance was meaningful.” the subject. If anything irrelevant comes up, the you help teams
—David Mothersbaugh, PfMP, director of operations, PA host should take a note and then discuss it with rebound?
Solutions Inc., Greenville, South Carolina, USA the involved parties later. The goal is to create an Email responses
environment where people respect each other’s to pmnetwork@
BRACE FOR THE STORM time and opinion, so nobody interrupts or brings imaginepub.
com for possible
When it’s a brainstorm meeting, I take the up unrelated topics.”
publication in a
following steps: —Ferenc Csizmás, PMP, project manager, Asia and Pacific future issue.
1. Prepare a list of agenda points with intended region, NNG LLC, Budapest, Hungary

Voices INSIDE THE PMO
Disruption
Done Right
EPMOs can help digital transformations
spark cohesive change.
By Abid Mustafa
T
he digital revolution
can’t be stopped—but
it can stop organiza-
tions. According to
a 2019 global survey by Couchbase, 81 percent of app or a chat channel with existing processes.
enterprises had a digital transformation project Very little thinking goes into the business model
fail, suffer significant delays or be scaled back. or how the use of digital tools reinvents the
One upside to a competitive landscape littered customer journey. A crude analogy: The C-suite
with setbacks is that there are so many lessons to views digital akin to putting radio on television.
be gleaned. Before organizations launch complex Replicating existing processes and putting them
digital initiatives, they must examine the failures in the digital space are likely to lead to failure. The
across their respective industries. EPMO is well suited to spark ideas about reinvent-
As a neutral and avid observer of many such ing business models and customer journeys that
The EPMO attempts, the enterprise project management office achieve the right goals.
(EPMO) can help shape the debate around success-
should drive ful transition strategies. Here are three ways the ENSURE ADOPTION
the discussion EMPO can proactively foster executive consensus Many organizations do the hard work and succeed
to generate a for digital success. in adding new digital channels—only to fail in
unified view on attracting customer traffic. Why? The organization
what digital … BUILD COMMON GROUND put no thought into changing customer behaviors
means to the The C-suite often disagrees on what “going digi- to adopt the new digital channels. With its rich his-
organization. tal” means. A CFO sees a reduction in the work- tory in change management, the EPMO is ideally
force. The COO imagines paperless workflows and placed to develop an organizational framework for
greater process automation. The CIO envisions the customer adoption of digital channels.
faster deployment of automation to solve busi- It might seem logical to let external consultants
ness problems. And the chief strategy officer will develop the digital vision, then turn to the organiza-
unequivocally talk about a new online channel to tion’s experts to implement. But the EPMO should
sell products. With support from the C-suite, the be given responsibility for concept development and
EPMO can step in to erase confusion. The EPMO execution. With the right type of encouragement
should drive the discussion to generate a unified and support from the C-suite, the EPMO can help
view on what digital represents in its industry and the organization to reap significant savings and
what it means to the organization. simultaneously deliver complex digital programs. PM
MAP THE JOURNEY Abid Mustafa has worked with project manage-
ment offices for 12 years. His book In the Age of
Organizations too often rush to create online Turbulence: How to Make Executive PMOs Suc-
digital channels, such as implementing a mobile cessful is available in paperback and on Kindle.

Voices DELIVER IT
Extended Influence
Embracing the channel partner’s POV can forge a stronger project bond.
By Priya Patra, PMP
D
igital project teams often face a vast rience touch points, which we shared with the
and complex experience ecosystem. channel partners to help map the partner experi-
There’s no doubt that customers ence. By keeping the customer as the focal point,
and employees garner most of the this exercise helped us to understand experience
attention, but, as project professionals, we also touch points for the partner.
must prioritize the experiences of a vast array of
channel partners. That circle includes distributors, 2. ALIGN PARTNERS
vendors, retailers, consultants, systems integra- The partners were from multiple domains and had
tors, technology deployment consultancies and different cultures and goals. To get them on the
We set up
value-added resellers. same page, we started with a visioning exercise, a partner
Having a firm grasp of partners’ needs helps us which enabled every channel partner to under- management
connect missing links in projects or programs. stand the project purpose. It helped to clarify office to keep all
This was never more true than on my last digital how the project would benefit them and how partners up to
transformation project, implementing a system their responsibilities aligned to the big picture in speed.
for tracking heavy health care equipment. There the ecosystem. That alignment helped partners
were partners on logistics teams that delivered and achieve individual and ecosystem-wide goals.
installed the heavy equipment at the site as well
as those working in field servicing and the service 3. BUILD BUY-IN
representative center. To forge support from all partners, we started
Here are three ways I was able to keep my finger with a training program on how the application
ISTOCKPHOTO (2)
on the pulse of their needs and experiences: landscape would be digitally transformed. This
helped ensure the partners could advocate the
1. SIZE UP to-be digitally transformed product better with
We started by conducting a day-in-the-life exer- the customer. We set up a partner management
cise for our end customers using surveys, inter- office to keep all partners up to speed and used
views and finally face-to-face discussions to map regular app-based chats to measure the pulse of
experiences. The maps gave us the customer expe- partner engagement. We also offered rewards and
recognition and had the CIO address partners in
quarterly all-hands IT meetings.
With the rise of software-as-a-service distribu-
tion and the recurring revenue model, it is essential
that everyone in the experience ecosystem—par-
ticularly each channel partner—is treated as our
extended team, rather than vendors or service pro-
viders. Developing a stronger connection will help
transform our partners into project advocates. PM
Priya Patra, PMP, is a regular contributor to Project-

Management.com and a program manager in the IT
sector who lives in Mumbai, India.

Voices CULTURE CLUB
Binding Authority
Project managers and change managers need to strike the right balance amid disruption.
By Karen Smits
T
here’s no denying it: Change is constant. them to take a step back. I asked them to interview
But there’s fierce debate over who’s best stakeholders and learn about cultural aspects such
equipped to manage it: project manag- as artifacts, values and basic assumptions to explain
ers or change managers. Some insist the DNA of the project organization. Unfortunately,
that project managers are the ideal agents of change, all of the tasks I assigned to them were done with the
because they can maintain technical and rational goal of merely “checking the box,” rather than engag-
stability in the face of disruption. Others believe that ing with the purpose of the task and connecting with
a dedicated change manager is necessary, because the people side of change.
that person views change through the lens of behav- This team—and I have no doubt there are many
ioral science and with high levels of interpersonal others like it—needed a change manager who
skills, astuteness and sensitivity. could work in unison with the project manager to
So who’s right? I believe there is opportunity— help facilitate and implement significant behav-
and a clear need—for a fruitful collaboration ioral change. In reality, the project manager is
between project managers and change managers. often short on time and resources to fulfill all the
In a recent project, my role was to mentor a team change management activities needed to achieve
through the organizational change matters of a effective results.
project management office implementation. When Here’s how change managers and project managers
it became clear that team members were focused on can peacefully coexist and help their teams under-
the methodological aspects of the project, I urged stand what it takes to genuinely embrace change:

1. Create clear lines of work the change manager to a change owner, for
ISTOCKPHOTO
The project manager and change manager roles instance—while both roles are held accountable
and activities are relevant at different stages of the for the project’s outcome.
organizational project. Discuss how the project
I believe
management and change management disciplines 3. Support cohesion there is
will work together on a particular project and align The project management discipline might be inte- opportunity—
ownership for the particular activities. For exam- grated with the engagement focus and attention and a clear
ple, the project manager outlines the project defini- to people and culture of change management. need—for
tion and focuses on managing resources, people, Meanwhile, change management might come a fruitful
budget, schedule and risk. The change manager
develops an impact analysis and focuses on chang-
to understand the roles and relationships of the
project manager, the project team and stakehold-
collaboration
ing behaviors and organizational culture to achieve ers to supplement in areas beyond the focus of the
between
the goals. This arrangement also serves as a com- project manager. project
mon point of reference when disagreements arise managers
regarding areas where both disciplines have some After all, it’s a given that when teams work and change
stake and activities (e.g., stakeholder management, together, projects are much more likely to deliver managers.
communication, planning). benefits. So when project managers and change
managers agree to share the responsibility of adapt-
2. Share responsibility ing to organizational change, projects and their
The project manager and change manager should teams will be better equipped to define and realize
be at an equivalent level in the project organiza- success. PM
tion and together maintain responsibility for
project success. This type of arrangement might Karen Smits, PhD, is an organizational anthropolo-
be facilitated by separate lines of reporting—the gist working at Practical Thinking Group in Sydney,
Australia. She can be reached at karen.smits@
project manager reports to a program manager, practical-thinking.com.

Getting It Done PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN ACTION
Erasing
Boundaries
A
When projects s more projects have a global scope
span the and scale, it’s increasingly common
for project professionals to manage
globe, here’s
stakeholders around the world, jug-
how to keep
gling time zones, technologies, languages and
everyone on
other location-specific challenges. How can proj-
the same ect managers work most effectively in this diverse
page. and complex environment? Here are four tips to
By Yasmina improve global projects’ efficiency.
Khelifi, PMP
REALIZE REMOTE CONSTRAINTS
Understanding any limitations your remote teams
face from the start helps you tailor your requests
and anticipate problems. In-person visits are best:
While there, you can take part in your team’s
meeting with your home office to experience it
from their perspective. Being in their shoes will
give you insights about improvements to make.
If a visit isn’t possible, use videoconferencing or
instant message video (after checking that this is
acceptable) so you can learn more about your remote
team members’ environment. Is it busy? Do people
seem to get along well? Do team members walk in
and out of the meeting room without notice? This
information is invaluable to understand what might
influence productivity and responsiveness.
In addition, pepper those stakeholders (or any lish, but depending on the proficiency of project
ISTOCKPHOTO
colleague who travels there) with questions to members, this can be an obstacle. Whether you
identify any tangible workspace pain points. For are a native English speaker or not, articulating
example, are there any technological constraints? and slowing down helps to convey a clearer mes-
Internet speed and reliability can vary from one sage and reduce the impact of accents. In addition,
country to another, so don’t assume all locations remove regional jargon and create a shared glossary
have universal services and equipment. of project abbreviations and common terms so all
team members have a quick reference in a pinch.
COMMUNICATE TO BUILD TRUST Remember that idioms and metaphors might not
Establishing agreed-upon formats and languages translate across cultures and can hinder your mes-
for communication is a critical requirement to sage’s meaning. Similarly, while humor can help
ensure an effective and uninterrupted flow of lower stress or conflicts, it can be counterproduc-
information across borders. tive if the meaning isn’t universally understood or
Communication on global teams often is done appreciated. Hint: If you’re the only one laughing,
in English or a simplified form called Global Eng- can the jokes.

make sure it aligns with local regulations and cor-
porate culture. If training for the tool is needed,
advocate for it to the human resources team.
Beyond the tools, collaboration also can involve
highlighting the value and strengths of each team
member in the global project and their unique con-
tributions to project success. Celebrating birthdays
or other important events is another way to help
reinforce a trusting relationship.
STUDY THE CULTURE

Culture can be an obstacle, but don’t let it derail
you or your team—and don’t make it a scape-
goat for other issues. If you begin to work with a
new country, you have many options for gaining
knowledge:
• Learn some words of the native language.
• Talk to colleagues who have already worked
with this country. Or contact your local PMI
chapter or other community of professionals to
find people who have worked with this country.
Their insights can help smooth the transition.
• Look into intercultural training. It can provide
you with keys to decode others’ behaviors as
well as prevent mistakes or faux pas on your
part. This kind of training also helps you dis-
Ultimately, one-on-one meetings ensure the cover the areas where you can improve.
clearest communication. But when, due to lack of
Remember • Do your homework. Look into local holidays to
time or resources, you have to deliver group mes- that idioms avoid planning important milestones during an
sages, such as an email or presentation to the entire and metaphors important religious festival or national celebration.
team, check later to confirm everyone understood might not
it. You might find you’ll need to present the slides translate Continuous learning and adjustments, as well as
again to a smaller audience where remote col- across cultures an open mind and perseverance, will reward you in
leagues feel more comfortable asking questions.
Reiteration makes perfection.
and can hinder the long term when working with global teams. In
fact, overcoming the obstacles and delivering global
your message’s projects can be a source of personal enrichment
REINFORCE THE NEED TO COLLABORATE meaning. and pride throughout your career. PM
Collaborative tools are great, because they help
centralize information, bring everyone onto the
Yasmina Khelifi, PMP, is a senior project manager
same page and reinforce a shared understanding at Orange in Paris, France.
of the project. But before implementing any tool,

Getting It Done PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN ACTION
Power to M
any organizations are undergoing
(or will soon undergo) a business
transformation program geared
Change
toward growth and creating a
competitive advantage. When successful, these pro-
grams bring about a holistic, disruptive change to
Here are five tips for delivering a the way organizations work.
transformation program—that Managing business transformation programs or
actually gets adopted. change programs requires a strong program leader
with a diverse skill set that includes the ability to
By Jess Tayel, PMP
lead with passion and purpose. Five skills in partic-
ular will help a program manager succeed in driv-
ing a program that successfully delivers adopted
change to the organization.
1. Storytelling
To convey a message to a wide variety of stakehold-
ers who may not have all bought into the change, it’s

I have seen many programs fail because a small
group of people, in isolation, made assumptions
about what needed to be done.
essential for the program manager to take out the customer, the staff and the organizational param-
dryness of the numbers and charts and instead tell a eters. This allows the team to create an integrated,
story. Of course, the story will have facts, but it also meaningful and impactful solution that speaks to
must tap into the possible future, connect to the customers, satisfies the business outcome and is
vision of the organization and show what success adopted by stakeholders.
would look like for various stakeholders in their lan-
guage. A story engages, drives productive conversa- 4. Recognizing the impact of change
tions and delivers a more impactful message. The ability to empathize with the stress, fear and
anxiety that come with change is what distin-
2. Dealing with ambiguity guishes leaders who create a meaningful, sustain-
Ambiguity is part of every program, but the level able and adopted change from those who create
goes sky-high in a large-scale business transforma- a solution that ticks the boxes. Creating that
tion. To combat so much ambiguity, program man- human-to-human connection is something that the
agers need to thoroughly understand the “why” program manager needs to demonstrate day in and
and the “who” of the change initiative before trying day out. Empathetic program leaders should lead by
to identify a solution and start the “doing.” This example and encourage their teams to do the same.
can be frustrating for program managers who are
accustomed to immediately looking for solutions. 5. Prioritizing the customer
Clearly identifying the impact on stakeholders Program managers need to ensure organizations
and customers involved in the change is the only don’t just think from the inside out but rather
way to begin to tackle the ambiguity of a trans- ensure that the voice of the customer is embed- Share Your
formation program. Doing so helps stakeholders ded into the solution while balancing the program Thoughts
understand the purpose, what needs to done and parameters. This is critical to delivering real value No one knows
what success truly is. and effectively addressing customer needs. At the project management
end of the day, that’s the ultimate goal of the pro- better than you, the
3. Seeing the bigger picture gram: to offer customers a better sustainable expe- project professionals
“Getting It Done.”
Transforming businesses is more than just imple- rience using better products and/or services.
So every issue, PM
menting a new system, having new processes or Network shares
reorganizing structures. It is about changing mind- This list doesn’t represent every trait a program your expertise on
sets and moving the organization, or part of it, to manager needs to drive change initiatives, but everything from
new ways of working and thinking. focusing on these skills should lay the foundation sustainability to
talent management,
This means that transformation is more about for the next-level program managers who strive to
and all project
“we” than “I.” I have seen many programs fail become true leaders of business transformation and topics in between.
because a small group of people, in isolation, change. PM If you’re interested
made assumptions about what needed to be done. in contributing,
Looking at the bigger picture means to first seek Jess Tayel, PMP, is a business transformation and email pmnetwork@
to understand, design and verify, then to move change consultant, New South Wales Depart- imaginepub.com.
ment of Planning, Industry and Environment,
to a solution that encompasses the voice of the Sydney, Australia.

Don’t miss one of the best benefits of
your PMI membership—access to free, ®
exclusive virtual events!
Did you know you can attend MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

two free, exclusive virtual PMXPO 2020 / 26 March 2020
events because you are a PMI PMI ® Talent and Technology Symposium / 10 June 2020
member? They are a great PMI ® Organizational Agility Conference / 9 September 2020
way to learn from and PMI ® Business Analysis Virtual Conference / 12 November 2020
network with other PMI

Look for more information on these member-only virtual
members around the world. events on www.projectmanagement.com/events
©2019 Project Management Institute, Inc. All Rights Reserved. PMI, the PMI Logo, and the geometric symbols are marks of Project Management Institute, Inc.
PMN0320 e-Back.indd 70 2/6/20 4:50 PM

GOOD READS FROM PMI
Ajay Bhargove, C.Eng, MIE, PMP
Project Procurement: A Real-World

Guide to Procurement Skills
Most existing literature on project procurement describes specific contracting
techniques, usually modeled after U.S. government practice and almost exclu-
sively told from the buyer’s point of view. This guide breaks that mold and offers
readers something immensely more practical.
Project Procurement: A Real-World Guide to Procurement Skills provides insight into
the procurement community across sectors and across the globe. The author covers
the most widely used techniques and methods for supplier management, including
supplier qualification and selection, supplier development and supplier performance
evaluation during different project stages. These are topics that have rarely been
discussed in the procurement community, because they have traditionally been the
area of expertise among financial experts.
This guide will take readers through different types of contracts and their selec-
tion in particular scenarios, illustrating them through real-life examples. The detail
is comprehensive and complete, but not unnecessarily so. This guide will not make
readers become lawyers, but it will make them better able to communicate with
lawyers in their own lingo and better informed about procurement requirements and practices.
Accessible and far-reaching in its grasp of various project procurement scenarios, Project Procurement: A Real-World Guide
to Procurement Skills is an indispensable reference for procurement professionals making a career in buying, from junior buy-
ers up to the supply-chain heads of organizations. It is a much-needed addition to project management literature, filling a
void left by a traditional, too-narrow view of a topic critical to project success.
Project Management Institute, 2018, ISBN: 9781628254686, paperback, 120 pages, $19.95 Member, $24.95 List Price
Project Management Institute Project Management Institute

The Standard for Practice Standard for
Organizational Project Project Estimating –
Management (OPM) Second Edition
Organizational project man- Typically completed in the initial

agement (OPM) is defined planning stages, project estima-
as the integration of people, tion can be a difficult task. But
knowledge and processes, accuracy and refinement of
supported by tools across those estimates lead to better
all functional domains of the organization. OPM is the and earlier decision making, thus maximizing value.
framework used to align project, program and portfolio Developed within the framework of A Guide to the
management practices with organizational strategy and Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)
objectives. PMI’s latest foundational standard spans the – Sixth Edition and other PMI standards, this practice
value delivery landscape and can be used with all project standard focuses on providing models for the project
delivery approaches—and even next practices. management profession in both plan-driven and change-
Although useful for any organization that is seeking driven adaptive (agile) life cycles. The Practice Standard
to better meet its strategic objectives, this standard is for Project Estimating – Second Edition describes the
particularly beneficial for organizations that do not have aspects of project estimating that are recognized as good
a unified project management approach and those orga- practice on most projects most of the time and that are
nizations in the process of improving or sustaining their widely recognized and consistently applied.
current project management framework.
Project Management Institute, 2019, ISBN: 9781628256420,
Project Management Institute, 2018, ISBN: 9781628252002, paperback, 150 pages, $51.15 Member, $63.95 List Price
paperback, 91 pages, $59.95 Member, $74.95 List Price
HOW TO Online: marketplace.PMI.org | Email: info@bookorders.pmi.org | Telephone: 1-866-276-4PMI (U.S. and Canada) or +1-770-280-4129 (international)
ORDER Phone ordering hours until 8:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time (GMT -4). Or go wherever books are sold.
PMN0320 e-Back.indd 71 2/6/20 4:50 PM

CLOSING THOUGHTS
Eigen Halpin, PMI-ACP,
PMP, PgMP
Location: Newport, Wales
Title: Global program
management adviser
Organization: Cisco
Industry: IT
Describe yourself in three What’s your project

words. management mantra?
Versatile, tenacious and Stay ahead of the curve.
empathetic.
What do you wish you’d
How do you use project known on your very first
management in everyday life? project?
I’m training for the London Asking lots of questions is not
Marathon in April. My training a sign of failure.
plan has milestones, and I’ve
identified risks and put response International Women’s
strategies in place. Day is March 8. What’s the
biggest obstacle women in
What’s the most interesting project management face
project you’ve worked on? today?
A large-scale IT transformational Certain sectors are still
program which also involved perceived as male dominated.
implementing an offshore The biggest challenge I’ve
remote shared services observed is attracting young
capability. women to industries such
as IT, cybersecurity and
How do you explain your role construction.
to friends and family?
PHOTO BY SIMON RIDGWAY
I tell my 11-year-old daughter: What famous or historic

I help teams come together woman would you like to
to deliver projects that make have on your project team?
the internet faster and keep Oprah Winfrey. Is there
customers happy. anything she can’t do? PM
n Know someone who should be featured on this page?

Email pmnetwork@imaginepub.com.
PMN0320 e-Back.indd 72 2/6/20 4:51 PM

THE RIGHT
INSIGHTS
BRING THE BIG
PROMOTION
Download the
free podcast at
PMI.org/Podcast
©2020 20 Project Management Institute, Inc.

All Rights Reserved. PMI, the PMI logo, and Projectified
are marks of Project Management Institute, Inc.

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PM NETWORK

PMN0320 Cover final-spine.indd 1 2/7/20 2:29 PM

Leading & Collaborating in Virtual Project Teams

Developing an Appreciative Mindset

Ethical Considerations for Working with Data

Registration required at css.edu/webinar

PMN0320 Cover final.indd 2 2/7/20 1:59 PM

Features MARCH/APRIL 2020 | VOLUME 34, NUMBER 3

keep teams focused on will solve resourcing motivation requires

PMN0320 A-FRONT.indd 1 2/6/20 4:37 PM

Class at your location at your convenience

Discounts for group enrollment

PMTI assigns dedicated instructor

PMTI assigns dedicated administrative staff

Dedicated PMP® exam application assistance

High quality proven guaranteed prep course

Your Corporate Trainer for PMP ®

PMN0320 A-FRONT.indd 2 2/6/20 4:37 PM

6 Scanning the Horizon New projects are pushing

8 Branching Out Banks are redesigning smart spaces

10 An Instrumental Project The team behind the

11 Vital Signs A PMI report examines six pressing

12 A Tight Spot Teams navigate one of the biggest

6 10 13 From the Rubble Puerto Rico’s storm-battered

14 Learning to Float Solar farms on water are making

16 Fast Forward PMI’s 2020 Pulse of the Profession®

62 72 60 Project Toolkit Focus Group

62 Inside the PMO Disruption Done Right

63 Deliver IT Extended Influence

64 Culture Club Binding Authority

GETTING IT DONE: Project Management in Action

66 By Jess Tayel, PMP

PMN0320 A-FRONT.indd 3 2/12/20 12:01 PM

PMI STAFF 2020 PMI BOARD OF DIRECTORS PUBLICATION & MEMBERSHIP

Project Manager, Print Production

PMN0320 A-FRONT.indd 4 2/6/20 4:37 PM

Dorte Mandrup’s winning design Andenes, Norway

MARCH/APRIL 2020 PM NETWORK 5

PMN0320 A-FRONT.indd 5 2/6/20 4:37 PM

Scanning the Horizon

slowing, either. Mr. Hempel says projects could

6 PM NETWORK MARCH/APRIL 2020 PMI.ORG

PMN0320 A-FRONT.indd 6 2/6/20 4:37 PM

“Right now, companies are faced with a series

MARCH/APRIL 2020 PM NETWORK 7

PMN0320 A-FRONT.indd 7 2/6/20 4:37 PM

Continued from the previous page

and consider innovative scheduling, meeting and

advantage. members are asked to sign on to a communication

8 PM NETWORK MARCH/APRIL 2020 PMI.ORG

PMN0320 A-FRONT.indd 8 2/6/20 4:37 PM

64% 54% 48% 56%

Innovation to create guidelines for the new design. The bank

MARCH/APRIL 2020 PM NETWORK 9

PMN0320 A-FRONT.indd 9 2/6/20 4:37 PM

Piece and Harmony

10 PM NETWORK MARCH/APRIL 2020 PMI.ORG

PMN0320 A-FRONT.indd 10 2/6/20 4:37 PM

PMI 2020 Signposts Report:

MARCH/APRIL 2020 PM NETWORK 11

PMN0320 A-FRONT.indd 11 2/6/20 4:37 PM

system.” in more efficient use of space, with up to 20 percent

coordination-type maneuvers at a large