"Written by Carol Howard"

Presentation Overview   

The PMI Atlanta Agile Forum was pleased to host the USIS Technology Planning & Execution Group from, Equifax. Presenting a panel discussion of scrum start to finish. Panel members included Cassandra Bride-Senior Director Role, Nicole Jones – Director, Krista Marlatt – Vice President, Kara Draper – Senior Director, Joy Menefee – Senior Director and Joe’ Dickson – Senior Director.

Each member of the panel took on a Scrum persona Product Owner ; Technical Architect; Quality Engineer; Scrum Master; Application Engineer ; Narrator and took us on a tour of the daily activities of a Scrum Team to design and deliver in a two week sprint. The product the team was requested to build in this demonstration was  a coffee pot.  

Walking us through each of the Agile Ceremonies beginning with Backlog Refinement, continuing through Sprint Planning, Daily Standup and ending with Sprint Reviews and   Retrospective the personas relayed to us the purpose of the ceremony and what their roles and responsibilities were in each. Completing the production of our coffee maker.  

Takeaways 

• In Agile the business set the priorities
• Effective User Stories use the INVEST criteria.
• Each Scrum ceremony is important, and they build and build on each other.

Next Event

Join us at the next PMI Atlanta Agile Forum on Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Keynote Presentation: “AMP up your Virtual Meeting & Events–Techniques to make sure they are engaging, FUN and interactive!" presented by Kate Megaw, The Braintrust Consulting Group / President.

Register at: https://www.pmiatlanta.org/events/event-calendar

About PMI

Atlanta Chapter serves the Project Management Community in Metro Atlanta, and we're an active resource to corporations, community and government agencies throughout north Georgia. With over 5,000 members, PMI Atlanta is among the top 5 chapters in the world. Our professional expertise span across industries; we’re the professionals building healthcare information technology systems, the engineers developing smarter public transportation, and the planners growing our communities more efficiently.

Written by Kay Abikoye

Presentation Overview

On April 28, 2021, the PMI Atlanta Governance Forum hosted speaker Peter Sherman, Managing Partner at Riverwood Associates, LLC. Mr. Sherman has led process improvement programs across the globe and specializes in quality improvement practices.

Mr. Sherman delivered a presentation centered on Benefits Realization Management and the process of crafting a convincing business case. The primary goal of a business case is to encourage buy-in within the organization and provide leadership with information to make a value-based decision. Mr. Sherman emphasized that a business case does require positive outcome, as a negative outcome could highlight opportunities for improvement or avoiding mishaps.

A convincing business case executive summary should include six elements:

1. Problem - Description of what is going on and an evaluation of the Cost of Doing Nothing.
2. Solution - An outline of how the solution(s) will solve the identified problem.
3. Impact - Determination of quantifiable impacts and a comprehensive evaluation of which individuals in or outside of the organization will be affected.
4. Financials - Metrics such as return on investment, key assumptions etc.
5. Risks - Identification of regulatory, technical, financial impacts.
6. Schedule and Team - A high-level project plan including key milestones, deliverables and team members.

Mr. Sherman provided five steps and considerations to developing a convincing business case. These steps include:

1. Define and clarify the scope of the problem. Mr. Sherman recommends asking questions (Who, What, Where, When, and How much) when creating a problem statement and he emphasized that statements only address the symptoms not the solution.
2. Solutions can take many forms and shapes and doesn’t have to be a new tool. A solution can be an improvement in an existing process. The Effort Impact Matrix is a tool that is used to evaluate various types of solutions proposed in the business case.
3. Identify critical key financial metrics that provide insight into the solutions outlined in the business case. Mr. Sherman recommended metrics such as payback period, return on investment and break-even analysis.
4. Risks can be identified in advance or may be referenced from previous projects. A solid business case should include risk mitigation strategies and avoidance mechanisms.
5. Mr. Sherman recommended developing a schedule of key milestones when planning, and he also suggested incorporating agile methodologies for efficient delivery.

Takeaways

- A business case should be thought of as a story with an ongoing theme designed to deliver a solid project.
- Knowing your audience and their needs will elevate your business case and allow for more targeted results.
- Large projects should be broken up into smaller milestones or a phased approach.

Link to Presentation

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Next Event

Join us at the next PMI Atlanta Governance Forum on May 26th, 2021.

Register at www.pmiatlanta.org/events/event-calendar

Written By Adam Gazaleh

Presentation Overview

Tom McDonald, Consultant at Sherlock Resources, John Josserand, Partner Manager at Data Gumbo, and Peter Dumont, PE, Principal at OS2/PrairieDog Project along with members from the PMI Houston Chapter joined us for a thorough and groundbreaking presentation about a new way of managing construction projects. McDonald introduced the movement that is underway, which the team calls OS2 or Operating System 2. Through a question-and-answer format presentation, McDonald and Dumont explained how construction project management is only in its first generation of methodology or OS1. OS2 aims to increase the business performance of capital projects which continue to lag behind all other increases in productivity and efficiency. The core problem is that projects cost too much to build and profit margins are razor thin because of inefficiencies around processes that add no value to the project. OS2 is about financial health, keeping your company intact, and building a trusted network of suppliers that Dumont refers to as the network.

At its core, OS2 is an R&D project focused on business outcomes that investigates how emerging technologies like block chain, can be utilized to create a single source of truth that allows all stakeholders on a project to access the most up to date risk registers, contract statuses, and transaction information. Dumont along with Josserand, who joined DataGumbo during the pandemic, described how emerging technology could be used to translate legal terms in contracts into business logic that a software program could use to automatically check that terms have been met and automate an otherwise time consuming payment transaction process. The philosophy of OS2 is that a project team is made up of a network with no central point of failure, and where anything that can be automated is automated, so that companies are able to preserve as much profit as possible.

Takeaways

• Capital Construction Project management is still in its first generation of methodology and is in need of a technology based over haul.
• The nominal cost of construction projects has risen significantly over the past decade and will continue to rise if something is not done to automate inefficient processes.
• OS2 aims to utilize new technology like block chain to increase efficiency among project stakeholders and help companies preserve more of their profit.

Next Event

Join us at the next Architecture, Engineering & Construction Forum event on May 11, 2021

Register at www.pmiatlanta.org/events/event-calendar

Written by Kay Abikoye

Presentation Overview

On March 24, 2021, the PMI Atlanta Governance Forum hosted speaker Abdul Badruddin, Senior Director of Governance Risk and Compliance at BeyondTrust. Mr. Badruddin delivered a presentation centered around the formation of a Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC) at BeyondTrust and organizational challenges that could arise during implementation.

In the realm of Information Security many framework and regulations such as (ISO 27001, AICPA SOC- American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Systems and Organizations and Controls; NST 800-53) assist in establishing the foundations of a solid GRC Program.

Mr. Badruddin provided insight to attendees on how to start and manage a GRC program and create adequate buy-in with leadership.

The key attributes of the Governance Model and a successful program include:

• Leadership Acceptance- supports the need and the basic functions of the Governance Model.
• Governance Committee- oversees the entire program and all respective units.
• Subcommittee- consists of functional leaders, performs risk assessment on an ongoing basis.

Mr. Badruddin’s discussed the organizational structure of a GRC which is split into four domains: Governance, Personal, Monitoring and Improvement. 

Takeaways

1. Subcommittees should be formed based on the industry standards and policies that support the GRC Program.
2. Metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) must be implemented and presented to leadership on a regular basis to promote continued support of the program.
3. An Assurance and Auditing procedure must be in place in order to provide continued function of the GRC program.
4. The business should have an established process for obtaining a temporary exception to the Standards and Policies approval.

Next Event

Join us at the next PMI Atlanta Governance forum on April 28th 2021.

Register at www.pmiatlanta.org/events/event-calendar