2004 Past Meetings 

December 1, 2004 Dinner Meeting/Presentation
 
Abstract of Presentation:
Critical Chain is a project scheduling and control technique that overcomes the schedule uncertainty associated with the current Critical Path scheduling approach by more closely linking resource management to the identification of the critical path. The method provides powerful techniques to accelerate delivery on fixed price contracts while increasing communication and empowering team members to do the right thing at the right time. The presentation will cover the root cause of schedule uncertainty and how to protect the project against this uncertainty. The method has been proven in a number of different industries and settings. It was invented by Eli Goldratt (author of the best seller - 'The Goal') and a high level overview of the technique is provided in his business novel 'Critical Chain'.

About the Speaker:  Steve Moore is currently a Executive Project Manager with IBM. He recently completed a tour of duty as the manager of the Business Consulting Services Project Management Center of Competence (CoC) for the Americas. The CoC provided Project Management consulting services (troubled project recovery, Critical Chain, project office, project startup, and project assessments) in addition to thought leadership on project management subjects. Steve has 24 years of experience in project management; 15 years centered in software development, technology analysis, system building, training and deployment. His industry experience includes government and mortgage banking. He has managed high risk, schedule driven and budget constrained projects with budgets up to $900 million and team sizes up to 1,000 people during major operational tests. Steve is the inventor of a method for troubled project root cause analysis that IBM has submitted for patent protection.
 
  At our first-ever general elections and Membership Appreciation dinner, we had a wonderful turnout (122--111 of which were members), an enthusiastic  presentation (Thanks to Carl Pritchard), and elected three new chapter officers: 
1)  VP of Certification & Education:  Laura Barnard

2)  VP of Programs:  Marilyn Madden

3)  VP of Special Projects:  Paul Hlavinka

We look forward to working with the new officers in the coming year! 

Motivating in a Risk-Aware Environment

Risk has a certain tone to it, and its generally not a pleasant one. How do you get people excited about projects and talk about risk at the same time? All too often, the topics of risk and motivation are held separate, with a fear that risk awareness will de-motivate or even depress the project team. Carl Pritchard looks at how trued risk awareness and motivation are inextricably linked, and how a sense of project risk honesty can not only get people excited about the projects they work on, but can enable them to take new initiatives and opportunities in hand. We will explore ways to keep the team energized while generating an effective risk management plan (and process). 

About the Speaker:

Carl Pritchard is an internationally renowned lecturer, author and consultant. He is the author of "The Project Management Communications Toolkit (Artech House, 2004), "Risk Management: Concepts & Guidance (2nd Edition)" and is the U.S. Correspondent for the British project management publication, "PM Today". He is the principal of Pritchard Management Associates and a certified PMP.
 

Normandie Farm Restaurant is located at 10710 Falls Road, Potomac

Phone: 301-983-8838

Directions: Take Rt. 270 to the Falls Road exit. Proceed south towards Potomac. Normandie Farm is 3 1/2 miles on the right.

Alternate directions: Take the beltway, Rt 495 to exit 39. Proceed west on River Road 3 1/2 miles. Turn right on Falls Road and proceed 3/4 mile. Normandie Farm will be on the left.
 

Speaker:  Philip Brown of Platinum Solutions
Managing Next Generation Open Source Projects Without Getting Cut on the Bleeding Edge

Abstract of Presentation: 

1) What is open source software and how can it improve software development productivity?
2) What are leading open source frameworks and software products and how are they used?
3) What is the Keel Metaframework and why is it revolutionizing open source projects and development?
4) How can a process driven meta-framework such as Keel be used to facilitate project change management?

The Keel Meta-framework ("framework of frameworks") enables project managers and developers to use the very best of open source products and components for web application development. While open source Java software is plentiful, it can be difficult to configure and integrate into enterprise applications. This presentation will cover the practical aspects of managing a project putting together open, pluggable Java frameworks and toolkits to solve real-world problems in web application development. Using open source component libraries can save as much as one-third of the time and resources necessary to build a custom system. This presentation is designed to provide project managers with insights as to when using open source will save time, effort and money and how to take the first steps to using open source to improve your development team's productivity.

Platinum Solutions has used Keel to build systems for the FBI, as well as the U.S. Naval Safety Center. Keel is not a commercial product. Anyone can download it for free.

About the Speaker:Philip Brown, Director for Platinum Solutions, will be presenting. Mr. Brown is a seasoned software developer and business manager who has over 14 years of experience primarily at large multinational firms. Mr. Brown holds a BS degree in Management Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management with concentrations in Psychology and Information Technology. Mr. Brown currently manages development projects for Platinum Solutions and meets and advises clients with their development projects.

Topic:  HIGH AVAILABILITY IN E-BUSINESS SYSTEMS ABOARD NUCLEAR SUBMARINES

What do Submarine Nuclear Reactor operations hundreds of feet beneath the ocean's surface have in common with establishing and maintaining high-availability e-Business systems?

Quite a bit actually!

Basic, fundamental principles for building high availability, mission critical systems are well known and proven in many areas not traditionally tied to the latest in information technology. The US Nuclear Submarine Force is an example of one of these areas. But many of these principles are ignored in the building Highly Available e-Business systems in favor of a 'Technology is the Solution' approach. This session will draw upon the sometimes humorous, sometimes serious, but very relevant, experiences of a former nuclear submariner to illustrate that where high availability e-business systems are concerned, leadership through innovation is best defined not by jumping on the latest technology bandwagon, but by the selective application of new technology to the fundamental principles of overall high availability system design.

BIO:  Jonathan Powell, PMP, an IBM project manager, will be delivering the presentation. Mr. Powell is uniquely qualified to deliver this presentation since he lived the life of a Nuclear Submarine Officer and learned first-hand what it takes to build, operate and maintain, highly available mission critical systems. Mr. Powell served in the Nuclear Navy for seven years, completing missions on three different nuclear submarines and qualifying as a nuclear submarine chief engineer during that time. He will speak from his own submarine experience with the message that People and Process, and not just Technology, are keys to building highly available e-Business systems.
 

 Dr. Alex Pavlak (PhD MEng, PE), who has led many successful Tiger Teams, gave an insightful  presentation on Total Problem Solving.

ABSTRACT:
While there are many different kinds of problems, the common solution process consists of two sequential stages:
1 - Problem Definition
2 - Solution Finding

People have personality temperaments (Myers Briggs) that result in a talent for either one or the other of these two stages, rarely both. Some people (managers) gravitate towards problems that emphasize the Problem Definition stage: rational analysis and decision making. These are Rational Problem Solvers. Other people gravitate towards problems that emphasize the Solution Finding stage: creativity and innovation. These are Creative Problem Solvers. Both stages are important for most real-world problems. This is Total Problem Solving.

 We had a great turn-out!  We had a chapter workshop, where members split up into break-out  groups to brain-storm and discuss the following topics:

1. Program Speakers:  Monthly Program and potential speakers for our future dinner meetings.

2. Project Management Education:  How the PMI Montgomery Chapter can help address the educational needs of its  members?

3. PMI Certification:  How the PMI Montgomery Chapter can help members in their quests for certification? 

4. Website:   Provide input and  ideas on how we can use this tool for improved communications and distribution of information. 

5. Membership:   the value of PMI membership and how we can further increase the value.

Held at the Normandie Farm Restaurant; 10710 Falls Road, Potomac

To a Montgomery County chapter record number of attendees (66!), Dr. Jimmy West gave an excellent presentation on Constructing and Effective Project Management Professional Development Program: Building Sustainable and Measurable Performance Improvement.  The interactive  discussion included the process for going from an ad hoc, hit or miss development approach to a focused, effective development program that has measurable outcomes for the organization. 

Given by Linda Berdine, was about bringing the Enterprise Architecture Alive and the integrating of the information warehouse with the Enterprise Architecture within the Federal Government. Ms. Berdine isthe Founder and President of G&B Solutions, Inc., a woman-owned firm specializing in management consulting and information technology services. She is recognized as being at the forefront in providing clients the most suitable processes and technologies available for them to accomplish their enterprise-wide information management and organizational objectives.

Ms. Berdine is a multi-disciplinary executive with over 25 years of diverse experience and has managed staffs in excess of 500 personnel. She has been the key staff liaison to Members of Congress and major clients and has served as Officer in Charge of multi-million dollar projects. Her responsibilities have included providing overall leadership and contract management on a statewide to worldwide basis. Ms. Berdine has been a leader in designing and implementing complex technology solutions; provided Business Processing Re-engineering (BPR) support; provided telecommunications network development; provided enterprise-wide architecture design and implementation, provided strategic planning and program implementation phases of information technology and telecommunications projects. Ms. Berdine is recognized as an industry expert in enterprise-wide architecture design and data center optimization. She has been an invited guest speaker for numerous Information Technology Conferences nationwide during her career.