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Volume 4 | Issue 4 | April 2010

Daniel Vitek, MBA, PMP

Today’s project management professionals are often introduced to the profession by performing related work functions or through a relationship shared with a project management professional (PMP). Identifying, developing, and fine-tuning the appropriate industry skills and then navigating the multitudes of opportunities available to successful project managers may sometimes be challenging.

The Project Management Institute (PMI) is a substantial source of information that can serve as a foundational platform to provide credentialed and non-credentialed project managers with career path exposure, professional support, and a multitude of skill development resources.

PMI is a global trade association for the field of project management which consists of over 500,000 stakeholders throughout 184 countries. To date, 12 global standards have been produced with a total of 5 globally recognized credentials (CAPM, PMP, PgMP, PMI-RIP and PMI-SP). PMI is the only project management association with a full-time dedicated research function that provides university-based accreditation programs, support to businesses and government agencies.

PMI conducted a case study in consultation with a major US corporation to examine career progression with that organization. PMI assisted the organization with identifying and deploying strategies to promote employee satisfaction. Upon completion of the evaluation, PMI assisted the organization in implementing a Project Management mentoring and Credentialing Program which now provides an internal career path for project management.

Based on similar research, PMI determined that approximately 67% of organizations do not have a project management career path available to employees. As a result, most professionals typically leave organizations which do not provide professional development opportunities.

In order to assess knowledge, skills and competencies of project management staff and performance, PMI developed a tool referred to as the Career Framework. This framework structure serves as a research based knowledge foundation necessary to build project management related career path departments within organizations.

As a part the Career Framework, PathPro is a web-based application which provides a foundational understanding of how to integrate project management in the workplace. This online tool consists of various features that include:

  • Project Management Job Descriptions
  • Proficiency Assessments
  • Gap in Proficiency Reports

Located at https://pathpro.pmi.org/, PathPro can be utilized at the practitioner and/or organizational user level(s). In order to access the tool, practitioners must be an active PMI member or credential holder while organizational users are required to designate a representative that is responsible for coordinating internal access.

Practitioner users are offered an opportunity to obtain information and guidance pertaining to their professional development. Organizational users can utilize the tool for talent management in an effort to assess knowledge and/or staff competencies.

Portions of this newsletter were paraphrased from a presentation by Brian Weiss, MBA and Eric Norman, PMP, PgMP delivered during the March 2010 meeting of the CDC Project Management Community of Practice (PMCoP).

    

2010 Project Management Summit - Recap

The second annual CDC Project Management (PM) Summit was held on Friday, March 19, 2010 at the CDC Chamblee Campus. The PM Summit was a full-day event that provided all CDC employees and contractors an opportunity to come together as a community, learn about, and discuss important topics related to project management at the CDC.

Approximately 200 CDC employees and contractors attended the day’s events. Presentations focused on information specifically related to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Enterprise Performance Life Cycle (EPLC) Framework and covered topics such as:

  •  EPLC Implementation at HHS
  • Overarching Role of Critical Partners in a Project
  • Role of IR Governance in Stage Gate Reviews (Enterprise & Local Governance)
  • Project Reviews According to EPLC
  • Small Projects & Tailoring

The PM Summit opened with Walter Harris, MBA addressing a packed auditorium during the opening welcome session. Attendance throughout the day’s events was robust and comments received from those participating were excellent.

In an effort to share the management knowledge communicated during the day of the PM Summit, and to increase the success of projects at CDC, the CDC Unified Process (UP) has made PM Summit presentations available for viewing and download at:
http://www2.cdc.gov/cdcup/pmsummit/

For those who participated in the day’s events, certificates of participation can be requested from the CDC UP and will be distributed via email. Certificates can be used as documentation of Professional Development Units (PDUs) earned for speaking and/or attending any of the day’s events.

For more information about the 2010 Project Management Summit or any of its presentations, please visit http://www2.cdc.gov/cdcup/pmsummit/.

For more information and tools related to the topic(s) covered in this newsletter, the CDC Unified Process, or the Project Management Community of Practice please visit the CDC Unified Process website at http://www.cdc.gov/cdcup/.

Please also visit the CDC Unified Process Newsletter Archive located at http://www2.cdc.gov/cdcup/library/newsletter/ for access to many additional newsletters, articles, and management related topics and information.
  

CDC UNIFIED PROCESS PRESENTATIONS

The CDC UP offers a short overview presentation to any CDC FTE or Non-FTE group. Presentations are often performed at your location, on a day of the week convenient for your group, and typically take place over lunch structured as one hour lunch-and-learn style meeting.

Contact the CDC Unified Process at cdcup@cdc.gov or visit http://www.cdc.gov/cdcup/ to arrange a short overview presentation for your group.

CONTACT THE CDC UNIFIED PROCESS 

The CDC Unified Process Project Management Newsletter is authored by Daniel Vitek, MBA, PMP and published by the Office of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services.

For questions about the CDC Unified Process, comments regarding this newsletter, suggestions for future newsletter topics, or to subscribe to the CDC Unified Process Project Management Newsletter please contact the CDC Unified Process atcdcup@cdc.gov or visithttp://www.cdc.gov/cdcup/

    

PROJECT MANAGEMENT COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

  • January 29, 2010
    Topic: Art of Project Estimating
  • February 26, 2010
    Topic: Project Management Career Paths
  • March 26, 2010
    Topic: Project Management and Scrum, Together
  • April 30, 2010
    Topic: Value of Project Management to CDC
  • May 21, 2010
    Topic: Managing Project Scope and Risk
  • June 25, 2010
    Topic: Controlling Project Execution
  • July 30, 2010
    Topic: Microsoft Project Server 2007 (Desktop & Server)
  • August 27, 2010
    Topic: EPLC Tailoring
  • September 24, 2010
    Topic: Effective Stakeholder Communication
  • October 29, 2010
    Topic: Leadership and Mentoring
  • December 10, 2010
    Topic: Managing Projects in a Virtual World



 

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