 From the President's Desk – April 2012A Monthly Newsletter to Chapter Members Anup Deshpande, PMP®
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Knowledge,Connections,Excellence
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Dear Member, Earlier this month I was persuaded by a co-worker to buy a mega million lottery worth $76 million that was opening in two weeks. As you might know, to be able to win a lottery, buying a lottery is the first and foremost step. What I am alluding to is the fact that in order to attract the best towards you first step is to give your 100%. Do you perform a retrospective to give yourself a feedback on your own performance to take a stride towards self-improvement? Do you plan-do-check-adjust in a continuous cycle? By the way, for the folks who are still stuck on my lottery example and are wondering about the results, unfortunately (and as expected), none of the numbers matched so I still go to work in this warm weather instead of relaxing on the beach. Deming Cycle: The Wheel of Continuous Improvement
For example if employees want to improve either of the above areas, they should ask themselves about following question during the PLANNING phase of this cycle: • What are we trying to accomplish? (Goals / Objectives) Once all these stages are completed to the fullest satisfaction, the improvement is standardized. The standardized work or product is the result of improvement initiative but it is not stopped here. With the changing circumstances or new techniques this standardized work, process, product or service is again subjected to further improvement thus repeating the Deming Cycle again and again. For more information click here. S.M.A.R.T Goals
A goal might be to hold a weekly project meeting with the key members of your team or to organize and run a continuous test program throughout the project. The acronym SMART has a number of slightly different variations, which can be used to provide a more comprehensive definition for goal setting:
This provides a broader definition that will help us to be successful in both your business and personal life. When you next run a project take a moment to consider whether your goals are SMART goals. To quote renowned American philanthropist Elbert Hubbard: "Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage, but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal." For more information, click here. In This Month’s Notes
Our chapter is active every month in the following areas:
Membership: Total of 2554 members as of April 29. This figure might reach back to around 2600 by end of month! The membership numbers are holding flat this year. Chapter Events: 97 events from start of this year till end of April! Another 20 events scheduled for May. No wonder this chapter is one of the most active and energetic chapters in the world. Members feel proud to be associated with this chapter! Job Broadcasts: 78 job broadcasts from start of the year, 32 alone in April averaging at 20 jobs per month. This month the job broadcast average bumped up from 15.3 to 20. It’s terrific news for folks in transition, looking for an upgrade and to the active community of PMI SV job search group. Financial health: Chapter continues to be financially not just strong but robust as well with a conviction and dedication to keep investing in the programs that provide rich experience to entire membership. Programs: Subsidized events in April as well as in May. Do look forward to email reminders or be proactive and keep a watch on the PMI SV calendar to avail these splendid opportunities to network and get knowledge from the industry experts. Volunteer Participation: Like the car cruises at a speed of 65 mph only when rubber hits the road, the chapter can operate only with the help of volunteers. We are fortunate to have 100+ dedicated active volunteers. This number increased from 85 to 100+ this month as we have started offering new volunteer trainings and assignments recently. We are seeing some good traction on volunteering interest. By the way, do you know that YOU could be a volunteer at the chapter, too? Volunteering gives a great feeling of giving back to community, increases your Network tremendously and fosters growth in your PM skills. If you want to be part of our volunteer pool, just fill out a simple volunteer application online and our Volunteer Opportunity leader will contact you shortly. Click here! You can always speak with one of the volunteers at the PMI SV event and express interest in volunteering. You could be the next volunteer to get in to the chapter for exciting opportunities! Our chapter continues to grow with 45 new and 190 renewing members joining us this month! Congratulations to our 11 new PMPs this month, bringing the total to 1601 PMPs in the chapter (63% of the membership)! This figure does not include members with other certificates such as CAPM, ACP, SP and RMP. Total of 26 CAPM, 9 PgMP, 2 RMP, 7 ACP, and 2 SP certified professional make that mix of other certifications PMI offers. There are 21 members with remarkable dual certification. (A reminder for new members: Remember to login to the website first to enable your reduced price to various chapter sponsored events. To receive your login, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or refer to your Welcome to the Chapter letter. To receive email reminders, you will need to login and opt-in for the events you would like to get reminders for)
The chapter ended Q1'2012 with Net Income of $1,740. Total Income, from the 11 days of Workshops held in Q1, Interest Earned on Savings and from our three monthly Events: Career Management, Evening Program, Tools & Techniques, was $54,001. Our Q1 Expenses, covering Workshops, monthly Events, Community Outreach activities, a Regional Conference and administrative overhead came to $52,261.
It’s unfortunate to see 11 members lose their PMP status this year. We have made it easy for you to maintain your 60 PDUs in 3 years. Here’s how: Chapter offered 26 events in April worth 46 PDUs! 20 events are planned for May that contributes to 30.5 PDUs! Let’s accept that it’s hard to beat these numbers by any stretch by a similar organization. Still we want to do more. The chapter is now planning to provide more discounted evening monthly events than ever before this year. Yes, all events are discounted already but to further sweeten the pot, some upcoming events are discounted more than the regular ones. Here is a list that you can click on and get registered for to avail the early bird price. Chapter Calendar: Busy as AMC movie shows…
Our volunteer base continually works toward providing you with every bit of Knowledge, Connection, and Excellence. How about trying out some of these events and practice some networking skills at either a Breakfast / Happy Hour gatherings or an evening event like Tools & Techniques, Career Management Seminar or a signature Dinner event every month? There are multiple choices close to you. Opportunities abound at events from San Bruno to San Jose to Dublin, so check out the Calendar and make the most of these events. Of course, each of these events gets you some PDUs. Successful events don’t just happen. They need planning, organization and professional knowledge. They need vision, from start to finish. They demand attention to details, from conception to spectacular conclusion. With a conviction to provide you with Knowledge, Connection and Excellence, our Programs Volunteers bring you a bouquet of events each month. Make a decision to attend at least one event this month. Here are the events and workshops you don’t want to miss: Here are couple of entertaining with networking enabled happy hour (love those!) and special forum events this month:
Here is a list of best of the best knowledge sharing breakfast events this month: Could you believe our volunteer Skip LaFetra has been hosting this event every week for around 2 years now? This May there are 4 job search events posted on the calendar: May 7, 14, 21, 28 Job Search Breakfast Meeting All of these events are really popular in the Bay Area. The chapter is proud of all the hosts who exclusively offer this event for the chapter.
With the job scene getting better every month, we hope to ramp up quite a bit on job broadcasts this year. 32 Job broadcasts this month make a total of 78 job broadcasts this year. That’s an average of 20 job every month. Help out your fellow members by sending your open positions to James Peery, our Job Broadcast Director. If you or your organization is looking for other project or program management professionals, increase your chances of finding great candidates by using our free Job Broadcast service! Send the job description to James and he will send it out pronto. Member satisfaction survey:
Silicon Valley’s Women of Influence 2012:
Our 2011 President and long-time chapter leader, Terrie Mui, has been honored as one of Silicon Valley’s 2012 Women of Influence. The award is based on her achievements at Space Systems Loral and her contributions to PMI-Silicon Valley. The published announcement was in the April 6 Business Journal Supplement and the formal award ceremony on April 26. Please join me in extending congratulations to Terrie on this well-deserved achievement. Read more here
InnVision Georgia Travis Center Event – a community outreach in March:
To attain its goal of supporting individuals in reaching self-sufficiency, InnVision offers a “continuum of care” that assists homeless individuals and families through each step of the process towards becoming independent and breaking the cycle of homelessness. In addition to various levels of shelter and housing, InnVision offers comprehensive services for emergency care (such as food, showers, clothing, laundry, transportation assistance, mail and voicemail) and tools for self-sufficiency (such as case management, healthcare, mental health and substance abuse counseling, job training, life skills workshops, child development and after-school tutorial programs). By empowering homeless people to gain the stability and skills necessary to reach independent living in our community, InnVision meets both the emergency and longer-term needs of the homeless and at-risk individuals and families. PMI Community Outreach volunteers gathered at the InnVison Georgia Travis Ctr on March 31th, 2012 for our Community Outreach November Event. We were given a tour of the facility (a common area for women and children during day time, completed with a dining area, case manager offices, a computer room and a newly finished daycare/pre-school center) and recognized the value of volunteers to InnVision. Volunteers at the clothes depot were asked to help in various ways including sorting clothes (men, women, and children), packaging hotel toiletries, arranging shoes and cleaning the warehouse. We as a team enable their clients to come to the InnVision boutique to shop and select clothes and hotel toiletries. Comments received from volunteers: I liked and was impressed with how InnVision was so "green". I am telling all my friends about my experience there. I liked how they have the mindset to allow their clients to choose their own clothes by shopping and the use of hotel toiletries. I was really touched and inspired to see how we can be a part of giving back to the community through an organization that does so much. I liked the feeling I was helping a great organization helping the less fortunate in our community, plus the opportunity to work shoulder-to-shoulder with fellow PMI-SV member. Montalvo Arts Splash Event – a community outreach event in April
After lunch on the lawn, we split into smaller groups to help host activities around the site. Along with our work, we found plenty of opportunities to network with our fellow PMI members as well as other volunteers and staff who shared their passion for Montalvo. The event also provided some great opportunities to observe crowd control and volunteer management in action. Montalvo expressed appreciation for our support. And the PMI participants enjoyed a fun afternoon. Visit to Mission College, Santa Clara - an Educational Outreach:
Recently the chapter restarted an educational outreach effort. This effort has been restarted after many years of gap. PMI Silicon Valley chapter representatives, Mohan Govardhanan, VP of Programs and Mandar Kulkarni, Direction of Certification, visited the Mission College near Great America in Santa Clara, CA on April 24th, 2012. Prof. Chris Zilg, who teaches basic project management class at this College had invited PMISV team. Students were provided knowledge about PMI.org, PMI Silicon Valley chapter, PMI offered certifications and job prospects with Project Management. Mohan and Mandar spoke about the importance of PMI and how it has become a globally accredited organization in project management space. Focusing on the chapter, information on various categories of the programs that the chapter offers was provided. The students were very well engaged and asked a lot of questions. While speaking about the certifications, all the information about prequalification, the three-tier structure of CAPM, PMP and PgMP was provided. Also, described how PMP and CAPM certifications compare with each other on duration, number of questions and cost aspects. The session was highly interactive and enjoyable event.
Visit to San Jose State University – an Educational Outreach:
The chapter was graciously invited to present at a Project Management class in SJSU at San Jose downtown on April 26, 2012. Mohan Govardhanan, VP of Programs and Mandar Kulkarni, Director of Certifications accepted to visit SJSU on request. They presented around PMI, PMI SV and its offerings similar to our Mission College visit. Around 35+ students attended and were excited to know about PMI SV presence in and around bay area. These students asked lots of questions related to certifications and were happy to get all the clarity about PMI. The class instructor, Larry Gee was very excited to see us presenting the details they need.
To continue the effort to keep our Institute strong for members and to grow and advocate for the advancement of our shared profession, we would like to share with you that the PMI Board of Directors has approved the following increases to membership dues to PMI membership: US$10 for individual (to US$129), US$5 for retirees (to US$65), and US$2 for students (to US$32), effective April 1, 2012. PMI.org is updated the dues information on their website. Note: The PMI Silicon Valley Chapter dues remain unchanged for last several years. $25 per year for regular members and $20 per year for full time students. For last few months, I have been sharing how we can make use of PMI Knowledge Center to gain knowledge about Project Management skills. Few more exciting articles got added recently. This place is a great collection of articles. Some of them that I loved to read are – Thank you for your interest in reading through this article through the end. I have tried to incorporate all that happened in April in this article! This takes me enormous amount of time to collect and present the data in the Newsletter each month. As always, we strive hard to cover all the topics that interest you and the ones that keep you abreast of the latest information on PMI and PM community at large. I would appreciate if each one of you keeps providing us feedback for the events you attend. Should you need a better coverage on topics that you are interested in but are missing, I will be happy to know about them so we constantly improve. Do reach me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to share your ideas. All your feedback is welcome! The chapter board and all the volunteers work humongous hours every week ONLY to see the chapter members and PM community grow and excel. That includes YOU! Warm Regards,
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Membership Stats Michael Barrett • Our New Members:
Amina Anjum Suman Bandopadhyay Jenny Bernal Angela Buchner Lawrence Cargnoni Rama Krishna Chikati Madhurika Dev Roderick Dixon William Federe Richard Fleming Sylvia Flores Leticia Garcia Christopher Good Wade Grant cheryl hennessy Karl Hense Cheryl Herms Raveesh jangiti Saira Kennedy David Klacik Tony Kuczynski Wing Lau Eliza Lim Vishwanath Mahadevan Rajeswari Mahalingam Prashanti Mannava Prince Mathew Alexander Milovidov Tracy Moore Manoj Namboodiri Dinesh Panjwani Nalin Patadia Shachi Patel Sagar Pawar Mohammad Fasiur Rahman Deborah Rousseau Lucie Roy Michael Ruberte Bryan Ruff Yvonne Sanches Cheri Silveira Moliere Sally Spalding Said Talbi Gustav Andreas Westh Dae Yoon |
Wednesday, May 22nd
Last update04:08:19 AM GMT
Dr. J. Edward Deming, the famous quality guru, provided a simple yet highly effective technique that serves as a practical tool to carry out continuous improvement in the workplace. This technique is called PDCA Cycle or simply Deming Cycle. PDCA is acronym of Plan, Do, Check and Act. This provides conceptual as well as practical framework while carrying out Kaizen activities by the employees. The four steps Plan, Do, Check and Action should be repeated over time to ensure continuous learning and improvements in a function, product or process.
Once you have planned your project, turn your attention to developing several goals that will enable you to be successful. Goals should be SMART - specific, measurable, agreed upon, realistic and time-based.
S - specific, significant, stretching
(Overall: 4.0)
Chapter leaders appreciate you sending us online feedback on the form after the event. Thank YOU! If you are the one who have been ignoring those emails or pushing out to send us the feedback, please take a moment to let the organizers know how you feel about the events you attend. Your online feedback helps us find the right topics for you for the upcoming months, find the speakers you would love to hear and also to see how we can improve the events. These events are for YOU! Here is the member satisfaction score (out of 5) we collected for the last month (March):
(4.2)
(4.0)
(4.0)
(3.8)
