New Lift

Sighs Matter
Bob Mills
Sighs are the first zephyrs of the winds of change. Commonly used project management tools were designed for large, complex projects. But in New Zealand most firms have less than five staff, and the nature of many of the projects in our knowledge society has changed. Traditional tools are being buffeted by the winds of change. This paper reviews innovative tools responding to the sighs of practitioners, based on material reported at the July Seattle, PMI Research Conference.

A Critical Look At Critical Chain Project Management
Robert Barnes
Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) has emerged in the last few years as a novel approach for managing projects. This paper reviews the key elements of CCPM - revision downwards of duration estimates, buffer calculations, task completion notification, progress measurement, priority setting - and analyses the contribution to date of CCPM to project management practice and to project success.

Benefits and Challenges of Implementing an Enterprise Project Management System
Barry Gilliland and Gordon Comins The implementation of an Enterprise Project Management System is not as simple as collecting together all the project plans of individual projects within an organisation. Major benefits can accrue through the use of a structured methodology. This paper will share some of the experience gained over the past 3 years in implementing systems for both large and small companies in Australia, New Zealand and around the world.

Now Reality Strikes
John Norman
IT integration projects can be difficult enough at the best of times. When two Telcos merge and restructure, trying to write business cases, get projects fired up and flying can be a touch trying. The potential for TelstraSaturn and Clear was there to soar like an eagle or get shot out of the sky like a turkey on opening day. This paper muses on a flight in progress…

Mapping the Black Box of Innovation
Olaf Diegel
Most project management techniques deal with managing elements such as costs, scheduling, resource allocation, etc. that are relatively well understood. Unknown factors are to be avoided if at all possible. But innovative new product development involves a high number of unknowns. Project managers need a new set of tools that better deal with these unknowns. The DBS attempts to map the area so often represented as a black box in which innovation somehow mysteriously just "happens".

"Pathway to Proficiency" - Transforming Project Management
Craig Crawford
Five years ago Craig Crawford accepted a position to transform project management in Telecom from what was perceived as an area of weakness. This presentation will explain how two diverse groups were merged into a Centre of Excellence, implementing world best practices of project management into a reluctant organisation. Today this group manages projects around the world using a non-prescriptive methodology which is all web-enabled.

Big and Rigid - Doesn't Always Work
Angela Brown
We have all been confronted at the induction to project management with the 1000 plus pages of methodology best practice. For a new project manager who is the only person on the project with a 4 weeks deadline to deliver results, the consequence is; the methodology is too hard to apply and is often left behind. A successful methodology needs to be appropriate to the organisation: flexible yet not compromise the essence of project management. This paper covers various models providing flexibility in methodology, and the benefits and pitfalls of each.

Managing Change in the Education Sector
Roger Birchmore
Thinking on management in the educational sector ranges from total mistrust and lack of faith in its fundamental concepts, to the thoughtful, careful application and sometimes adaptation of appropriate principles. This paper explores whether project management principles have anything to offer the management of change in the tertiary education environment, and if so, what.

Project SAM - Success Of A Virtual Project Team
Deborah Crowe, Brian Sharpe
Project SAM is part of a programme of work designed to create a seamless integrated supply chain for NZMP, part of the Fonterra Group. The "Solution" included designing the global business rules and processes, building the SAM tool, and all the associated change management on a global basis, with a project team combining business and technology staff located all over the globe.

Wind Shear

Project Management - Business Booster
Michael van Haastrecht
The application of Project Management (methods) in modern business can become one of the most important accelerators of change processes in growing medium size companies. Companies that use Project Management to enable business process change will gain advantage over their competitors who don't use Project Management as change driver, or use traditional ways of restructuring their organisation.

Strategy Meets Projects
Peter Quinnell
The increasing rate of change is leading to an increase in the number of projects an organisation has on the go at any point in time. This in turn is leading to an increase in internal conflict and non-achievement of strategic objectives. Project portfolio management provides the means to overcome the issues and achieve the desired business objectives.

Putting Project Management in a Strategic Context
David Rees
This paper addresses the issue of ensuring that projects operate within a clear strategic context. Whilst most of the project toolkit concerns the tactics of establishing and managing projects most of the factors that influence project success lie beyond these tools. Whether or not a project is successful is much more dependent upon the organisational context and the project strategies that evolve from it. This paper will take a systems approach to exploring these issues.

From Strategy to Successful Projects through Enterprise
Facilitated Session
The session will be on open forum discussion on "hot topics of the Moment in project management". It is intended that the session Focuses on the "Wind Shear" stream of managing business and business change through project management, but the actual questions and direction of the discussions to come from the audience. The session will be facilitated by a panel of practising and academic project management people.

Risks, relationships and reality - the new Three 'R's' in Education
Paul Taylor and Karen Clarke
In February 2001, the Government decided that Specialist Education Services should be merged with the Ministry of Education. This paper reviews the experience of the merger of two fundamentally-different entities with large cultural and structural differences, providing insights into managing the integration of two organisations with significantly different purposes.

Harnessing the winds of change: Practical project management in Central Government
Jerry Ball
Faced with the need to implement complex change in a tight timeframe, with limited subject matter expertise, significant organisational change and technology constraints, and where failure would be highly visible and politically damaging - how would you proceed? This paper highlights the lessons and outcomes from the Ministry of Social Development's implementation of the new reciprocal social security agreement with Australia.

Organisational Change & Project Management - Does the Glove Fit?
Craig Lauchlan
Exploratory research with senior managers in financial service provider organisations has found that many have experienced significant issues with how organisational change is managed, while others have rapidly developed an appreciation for the art and value of project management. Senior managers stated that project management competencies are critical to their organisation's future success. To build on this, project managers must not be constrained by traditional project management, but become specialists in managing the relationship between key business drivers, environmental factors and business users.

Art of Balance - Winning Change Battles without Fighting
Frank Xu
Organisations today are changing at an accelerated pace. The organisational environment becomes more complex and dynamic. This paper presents a practical model developed to deal with the problematic conceptual planning phase of organisational change projects.

Up Lift

Communicating Across Boundaries - Working with Virtual Teams
Jurgen Oschadleus
Virtual Teams have become the new management buzzwords of the 21st century, and are an increasingly significant part of modern projects. When correctly utilised they can achieve vastly superior results over collocated teams. But a poorly implemented virtual team can spell disaster. This presentation uses real life examples to illustrate the challenges, opportunities, and key issues faced by virtual project teams.

Core Competencies for Effectiveness With People in Projects
Dorothy Culloty
What is it that makes some project managers more effective than others in the people aspects of projects? Strong themes have emerged from Dorothy's research findings for her MPM thesis. A short list of seven "must dos" and a more comprehensive set of 29 specific competencies will provide your key to being considered a "truly great project people person and effective on the project to boot" in the eyes of your colleagues.

Creating a Project With Attitude
Carol Silva
It has long been recognized that a project manager must meet at least three constraints - completing a project on schedule, on budget, and according to specifications. However, beyond the technical infrastructure of a project lies a complex human dimension. Many of the skills required for project success revolve around the ability to communicate, to work with others, to negotiate, and to listen. This paper explores techniques and tools to create a project attitude that promotes a "Win/Win" approach.

Business Responses to the Long-Term Risk of Climate Change
Hans Buwalda
Since 1992, governments have developed a range of policies aiming to achieve the reductions required by the Kyoto Protocol and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. But responding to climate change imposes a difficult challenge for business. This paper identifies how business responses to a long-term strategic, external issue can be translated into discrete projects and managed to success.

The Tipu Ake Lifecycle
Peter Goldsbury et al
Do your projects need to make revolutionary new things happen? If so, prepare to be challenged by this presentation! Peter Goldsbury uses the Te Whaiti school's success in self-transformation to look beyond just project management to radical new styles of project leadership, more effective organisational cultures, managing risk by exploiting project opportunities, and growing wisdom and capability.

Is Professional Development after Certification just Hot Air?
Mary-Lou Raybould
What do project managers actually do for professional development and how effective is it, given their different learning styles and preferences? Once project managers are certified, how do they keep up with current thinking and keep moving their knowledge forward? This paper looks at the activities undertaken by project managers and the effectiveness of those undertakings, as well as the project managers' assessment of whether it was time well spent.

Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Freezer
Steve Knowles
Applying simple project management tools to reduce risk in the hostile environments faced by an international Adventure Racer, has improved team speed and increased team motivation, leading to a better race result. But while Project Management skills help Steve succeed in Adventure Racing, there is also a pay-back to his profession. Dramatic still pictures and digital video illustrate how these skills and lessons paid dividends in the Amazon Jungle (frying pan) and the alpine region of Argentina (freezer).

Burn Out - the Modern Day Phenomenon
Ian Prince
Ever had one of those projects that captivates you, owns you, chews you up then spits you out? All of us will experience stress, pressure and degrees of burn out at some stage in our lives. Once you recognise it, you can manage it, and be a far more productive person as a result. If you have important relationships, and work teams that need to be managed to avoid burn out, then this presentation is for you.

Knowledge Exchange in Project Communities: Key leadership principles
to maximise project value
Kevin McKenzie
Knowledge and knowledge resources are increasingly seen as a key to achieving organisational and, by inference, project goals. However, much of the knowledge required to successfully complete a project often remains tacit, never explicitly recorded. It exists only in the minds of team members, and cannot be conscripted unwillingly from holders by those in need. How can a project manager create an environment that encourages the sharing and creation of knowledge, and motivates team members to act beyond self-interest to assist the team as a whole?

Taking Off

Who Does it Better - IT or Construction?
Robert Purcell, Bill Peacocke
Why do IT projects not seem to have the same success rate as those within the construction industry? Robert uses his background in both Building Services and IT to present a cross-pollination approach to improving the chances of success with IT projects by applying simple project management tools and methodologies.

Managing with Adjudication
Peter Degerholm
From 2003 adjudication will be an implied term in every construction contract. Under the new arrangements a dispute-ridden or delayed-payment project cannot succeed. The project manager has the opportunity and the responsibility to create an environment for success. What are the issues that project managers need to consider? What are the industry guidelines for project management in this new environment?

Delivering Leading Edge Technology with Minimal Risk
Simon Bunn
Beca Applied Technology has developed and implemented a number of successful software optimisation packages. Derceto is one such system designed to optimise energy costs for treated water pumping and distribution. During the implementation phase of the Derceto project the Police INCIS project was making headlines. This paper discusses the challenges involved in delivering leading edge and unproven software technology into a critical utility with minimal risk.

Soaring in the Tumult of the Health Sector
Vern Coleman, Joe Coury
In a sector under siege, beleaguered by political masters that dabble unendingly, low funding and staff morale, and the complexities of multiple different sub-cultures - how can you possibly successfully implement a new organisation-wide information system?

All you ever wanted to know about the PMP Certification
Joseph Dawson
The Project Management Professional (PMP) credential is the Project Management profession's most globally recognised and respected certification credential. More and more recruitment agencies and organisations are starting to request that suitably certified Project Managers only need apply for certain jobs. Find out how to obtain this certification in NZ and how PMINZ will assist you to prepare, sit and pass this exam by attending PMINZ organized study groups and other support mechanisms.

Managing Outsourcing
John Middlemist
Telecom's outsourcing of their IT to EDS was one of the biggest contracts undertaken in this country. Three mini-papers overview the transitioning process, driving towards Service Excellence, and the current state of play.

Quality and Risk Management - Factors in the Project Manukau Success
Philip Wayne
Not everything goes according to plan. Quality is not free, but it's better than cure. But quality initiatives run into trouble if they involve additional effort in environments where the staffing is already lean. The trick is to design the systems so that people use them unwittingly, and do not realize there is another way of doing things.

Project Management at Tait Electronics
Jurg Honger
Agile new product development is vital for the survival and on-going prosperity of Tait Electronics. Tait is now recognising that excellence in Project Management as key to its success. This presentation describes its journey, and the challenges, failures and successes in improving our competency in this all important discipline.

The Journey toward Data Warehousing Success in Local Government
Elizabeth Walker, Mike Marsh
How do we define and understand "project success"? Is it different from "product success"? And how do you manage the cultural challenges, different methods, and potentially conflicting aims when both the client and the supplier have their own project managers?