by Kathi Middleton, MPM, PMP, Communications Committee
Project management can be a thankless job, where successes are rarely publicized and failures are harshly criticized! This was not the case at the June Dunwoody Dinner Meeting where a host of chapter members and guests gathered for the Annual PMI Atlanta Chapter Project of Year Awards. For the past six years, the Atlanta Chapter has recognized local companies and individuals who have accomplished stellar achievements in project management. Also in attendance were representatives from Kennesaw State University, University of Georgia and DeVry University to share about their growing project management programs.
Each award winner and honorable mention provided an overview of their project highlighting key accomplishments, issues and lessons learned. The POY award winners were:
• Retail: Home Depot – Joseph Call Center Project
• Service: SITA – Voyager Project; Honorable Mention: EPMD – PMO Balanced Scorecard Project
• Manufacturing: Primus Builders – Henry Clay Avenue Wharf Project
• Government: Georgia State Road and Toll way Authority – I-85 Express Lanes Project; Honorable Mention: DeKalb County – RFID Project
The night kicked off with the government award. The winner was the I-85 Express Lane Project which introduced an all-electronic commuting system. This project provides commuters more access to reliable travel options on the I-85 passageways. This 18-month project included the management of over 14 entities, unforeseen issues and mounting negative publicity. Despite the challenges, the team persevered and the project prevailed proving that any customer experience can be fine-tuned with a focus on listening, engaging and responding to the customer’s needs.
Home Depot, a 2009 POY award recipient, nabbed the retail award for the implementation of two new physical and operational redundant call centers in Utah and Georgia. Jeffrey Stowe, project manager, shared best practices on running “air traffic control” to manage cross-functional teams with parallel activities, multiple time zones and untimely issues. Months of deployment and over 120 thousand miles of cable runs later, the project was deemed a success with the celebration of both center openings with a “board cutting” ceremony, Home Depot style!
SITA, a global leader in the air transport communications and information technology industry, was awarded the service award for their legacy to next generation product transformation project, given the code name Voyager. At year three of this five year project, over 50% of the budget was spent with 75% of the scope remaining. Drastic measures were taken to turn this project around. The delivery model changed from waterfall to agile, increasing the release cycle, improving quality and cutting the cost in half to support an on-time delivery. Karen Pate, Business Director, and Olivier Poulard, IT Director, credits the team motto of “never throwing each other under the bus” for the velocity, capacity, and cost savings success.
Respectfully, the rebuild of the oldest cold storage company in North America knocked down by Hurricane Katrina won the manufacturing award. This $40 million dollar, 142,000 square-foot redesign project was a huge undertaking recognized by Gov. Bobby Jindal for symbolizing the resilience of the City of New Orleans. This project managed unimaginable environmental constraints to deliver a facility that freezes 1.2 million pounds of chicken a day!
The PMI Atlanta Project of the Year Awards recognizes the best of the best; the triumphs of these projects clearly show them deserving. All of the projects had an underlying theme of resilience, teamwork and planning that led to their victories. These principles combined with the PMBOK best practices allowed the project managers to be unstoppable in achieving significant project success.