Written by: Mike Ososki, PMP

Presentation Overview  

For big time ticket sales, it doesn’t get much bigger than the Atlanta Braves. This is where Celeste works, specifically in “New Ticket Initiatives.” She grew up as a huge fan of baseball, so it’s a great fit with her sales and project management skills.

Like all the world, she’s striving to figure out how to best bring back people getting together in person. April 9 is a big date: Truist Field opens to the public again, at 33% capacity. Health protocols will be in effect, including 6’ spacing and masks. More here ... www.braves.com/LetsPlay.

Celeste has kept very busy with the details: A-List memberships, ticket accounts and packages, refunds, credits, groups, value plans, discounts, special events, mobile ticket sales, to name a few. Plenty of personal touch customer service conversations, too.

Flexibility is key, as they have “Plans B through Z” moving forward. It’s tough for the waterfall-style planning mindset, but we don’t know yet where we’ll be as the weeks unfold. Celeste says, “It’s crazy how many different scenarios there could be.”  Being optimistic and shooting high, the stadium is hoping to reach 100% attendance by the All Star Game in July, a big revenue stream. Go Team!

Takeaways

• One step at a time, keeping the fans safely engaged.
• Minimize physical points-of-contact.
• You can’t replace live events.

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 February 24, 2021, the PMI Atlanta Governance Forum hosted speaker Eric Norman of Norman and Norman Consulting, LLC. Mr. Norman delivered a presentation on the challenges faced by PMOs due to varying organizational structures. He shared insight on current trends in PMO structures and the attributes of an effective value-add organizational component. In his role as a Management Consultant, he noticed that it is critical for the structure and the PMO construct to be well defined throughout the organization as many constructs may put communication at risk.

Challenges PMO’s face includes complex organizational structures and unsighted interpretation of issues from leadership or external pressures. These challenges pose struggles with human resource utilization, mission-critical performance, and delimited communication across functional offices. Mr. Norman highlighted four key value enablers found in successful PMO’s:

1. Decision Support- providing critical information to executives and management so that it can be used to produce effective outcomes that may affect the PMO and the organization.
2. Demand Management- implementing tools such as resource analysis, resource allocation, and initiative scaling; knowing the current state of the resources to allow for effective planning.
3. Governance- establishing a set of baseline criteria and holding the organization to those procedures; this includes project selection, approval /denial, and implementing performance measures. project selection, approval/denial, and tracking performance measures
4. Initiative Support-gathering tools, processes, methodologies, and resources that will lead to organizational success.

To centralize the PMO with the organizational alignment, Mr. Norman closed with strategies for practitioners to communicate effectively with executives and functional managers. By providing vital business intelligence to functional leaders and executives, the PMO needs to be a decision-making contributor within the organization. Mr. Norman provided practical guidance and answered questions throughout the presentation.

 Takeaways

• The four key enablers of a successful PMO include decision support, demand management, governance and oversight, and initiative support.
• The PMO should be a member of the decision-making team within the organization and should adopt other functions that contribute as a value-add to the organization.
• To meet the objectives, Mr. Norman suggested moving away from PMO and using a name such as Strategic Initiative Management Center, or the Business Intelligence Center of Excellence.

Next Event

Join us at the next PMI Atlanta Governance forum on March 24th, 2021 Register at www.pmiatlanta.org/events/event-calendar

Written by: Adam Gazaleh

Presentation Overview

Zorina Alliata, Senior Global Machine Learning Strategist at Amazon, introduced the AEC Forum to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) and provided tips for bringing AI and ML projects and products to any company. Zorina started as a programmer and moved into the world of project and program management and became interested in AI and ML later in her career while working for Nasdaq. In her role at Amazon, she finds new and innovative ways to bring value to companies through AI based products. In her presentation, Zorina went over the basics of AI and ML. AI is the broader umbrella under which ML sits. She also emphasized the importance of using Agile or another flexible methodology when starting a project or developing a product that incorporates ML. The main point that she drives home is that AI and ML based products are only as useful as the value that they provide to the business.

Takeaways

• One must be flexible when developing an AI/ML based product and be prepared to throw away work and start over.
• Identifying the needs of the business, having sufficient data to start with, and being prepared for scope and schedule changes are key in AI/ML product development.
• Staying up-to-date with the latest in AI and ML requires constant research as it is a cutting-edge field that is ever changing.

Next Event

Join us at the next PMI Atlanta AEC Forum on Tuesday, April 13th, 2021 featuring Tom McDonald, Consultant at Sherlock Resources; Peter Dumont, CEO of PrairieDog; and John Josserand, Partner Manager at Data Gumbo.

Written by: Janine Whiteman, PMP

Is there room for Project Management in Agile?

Overview      

Enterprise Agile Transformation Consultant / Agile Coach / Trainer Leon Sabarsky, made a case for how Project Managers can exist and bring value within agile transformations and agile organizations. Project management skills are still needed; some Project Managers may become great Scrum Masters (with training and coaching), while others may have success at the program or portfolio level. The most value comes in blending Agile and traditional, plan-driven project management principles and practices in the right proportions to fit the situation. For example, consider a Team facing Scrum Master paired with an external facing Product Owner/Project Manager. There is a lot of project management going on even though you might not find anyone with the title “Project Manager

Takeaways

• The Project Management functions still exist but must be taken care of with a different approach. Allow for distributed project management if you divide roles and responsibilities depending on internal and external functions to the dev team
• Consider a PM/SM blend with Project Managers external to the team or teams and Scrum Masters internal to the team
• PMs can work at many levels including at the Program and Portfolio levels
• Project Managers and Scrum Masters can complement each other, they are not competitive roles
• Embrace coaching and training

Next Event

Join us at the next PMI Atlanta Agile Forum on Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Keynote Presentation: "Leading Agile Transformations by aligning everyone on a 3-step approach" presented by Maximilian "Max" Ekesi, Whole Foods (Amazon subsidiary) / Enterprise Agile Coach

Register at https://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: Adam Gazaleh

Overview

Francina Price, Founder and CEO of Champions Integrated Facilities Management, delivered a thorough and informative overview of how the coronavirus pandemic has affected commercial real estate management and how her company has adapted and thrived in this unprecedented environment. Price talked about the challenges that she faced leading commercial construction projects for her clients across over 30 states, many of whom are Fortune 100 and 500 companies. She says that her goal is to leave clients with a facility that they can efficiently maintain once the project is complete. She recounts how the pandemic has forced project managers to be more flexible when it comes to schedule and budget and think about germ safety, an area that many project managers did not have to consider before. In addition, with many companies implementing stricter health and safety protocols, the way companies maintain facilities has had to quickly evolve. Francina Price’s presentation gave a unique perspective, and left participants more informed about the world of facilities management.

Takeaways

• Schedules are not linear. When everything is in flux with constant changes, a PM needs to introduce more flexibility into the schedule and be willing to move things around as many times as necessary.
• Procure materials early and locally whenever possible; be sure to build in incremental increases in the cost of materials into your project budget and plan for longer than usual delays.
• Remember that your team is made up of people, and we are all facing new challenges that we may have never encountered in the past.

Next Event

Join us at the next PMI Atlanta AEC Forum on Tuesday, March 9th, 2021.

Keynote Presentation: "Managing Delivery for Machine Learning Products" featuring, Zorina Alliata, Sr. Global Machine Learning Strategist at Amazon.

Register at https://pmiatlanta.org/events/event-list/architectural-engineering-construction-aec-forum-210309

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.