Newsletter August 2011
Launch of APMG-International Webinar Programme
APM Group will soon be launching an APMG-International webinar programme.
The key objective of the programme is to help raise awareness, globally, of APMG-International associated products and services, and in particular their benefits to individuals and organizations.
Webinars will be delivered live on a fortnightly basis on Wednesdays, with recordings of all webinars uploaded to a dedicated section of the APMG-International website for viewing after the live event. The focus of our webinars will vary, with certain topics being aimed at the existing accredited community, whilst others may be geared towards new and emerging markets.
Click here to view the dedicated webinar section of APMG-International.com.
The first webinar is scheduled for Wednesday 3rd August entitled "ISO/IEC 20000 - Part 1 Update Explained". Presenter Lynda Cooper - project editor of the revised ISO/IEC 20000 Part 1 and UK representative to the ISO committee on service management - will explain the changes to the standard, and how the update affects individuals and organizations.
This first webinar will be followed by:-
- An Introduction to APMG-International and PRINCE2® (Wednesday 17 August 2011 and also to be delivered in Chinese for the PPM market in China)
- An Introduction to Agile Project Management (Wednesday 31 August 2011)
MSP® Refresh
The MSP Refresh is almost completed and is due to be launched 30th August 2011. This is an update rather than a rewrite with 3 new chapters on Benefits Management; Risk and Issue Management; Quality and Assurance Management.
Download a copy of the MSP brochure outlining what’s new in the 2011 version.
Management of Portfolios (MoP™)
MoP was launched on 8th February 2011 and the MoP Foundation qualification was made available immediately. In answer to the question we often get asked – when is the Practitioner coming? It’s planned to be formally launched in Australia on 9th September so should be available through UK ATOs from September 2011.
SRO training
We’ve had many requests for SRO training recently, it’s comforting to know that organisations are becoming mature in building their overall capability and not just concentrating on the Project Manager community.
A key feature of training SROs is to speak their language, leave the jargon behind and get them to understand the concept of accountability, direction and challenge. Talking to SROs, their problem is they haven’t been formally trained in programme or project management and the sheer volume of documentation and process coming their way builds a barrier to success.
Simply getting the SRO to focus by asking the right questions is a key step in improving SRO effectiveness. SRO ‘Twenty Questions’ is a quick checklist of the key questions an SRO will wish to address as they set up a new programme or project or that an SRO might usefully ask the Programme or Project Manager if they are taking over an existing change.
- Does this help us achieve a strategic objective?
- What is our vision?
- Who are the stakeholders?
- What outcomes do the priority stakeholders want?
- What mechanisms, systems, processes and changes does this indicate?
- What is the scope of this initiative? What are we prepared to do?
- Are we delivering in-house or through others?
- What are the success criteria?
- What are we going to have to deliver / produce?
- What do we need from others?
- How big are these things?
- What sequence do they need to be done in?
- What resources do we need and are they available?
- What assumptions are we making?
- What are the constraints?
- What will this cost?
- What will be different as a result of this change, what benefits will we get?
- What are the barriers to success?
- Who/what is likely to be disadvantaged by our success?
- What are the top 5 risks to our success?
MSP® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other countriesMoP™ is a Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce
