Written By Glenn Boylan, PMP

The January Technology Forum was held on Tuesday, January 31st, and featured a very interesting keynote presentation titled “We Have Met the Enemy, and He Is Us: Cyber Security Issues and What You Can Do About Them” presented by David Scott.

Steve Kruger and Nancy Berlin kicked off the event which was hosted by Hewlett-Packard Enterprise in their new café at their office in Alpharetta. The café has been completely re-done and is a beautiful facility for both HP-E and HP employees. Our thanks to HP-E for sharing it with PMI Atlanta.

The Forum also wants to thank the Rezult Group which sponsored the food for the event, and provided some great swag for the meeting attendees. The Rezult Group provides staffing solutions for companies seeking talent in healthcare IT, finance, accounting, and of course, technology. They have just opened an Atlanta office. For more information, go to their web site at www.rezultgroup.com.

Steve and Nancy reviewed PMI Atlanta volunteer opportunities and events, including this year’s Technology Forum schedule. The Tech Forum will meet on the fourth Tuesday of the month except for August (when Nancy will be at the beach) and December. Melody Cookson announced that there will be an Alpharetta series of the popular “PM in the AM” breakfast meetings on the third Wednesdays of each month, starting April 19th. For more information on volunteering and upcoming events, go to the chapter web site at PMIAtlanta.org.

Nancy then turned the meeting over to David Scott of Mission Advantages, LLC. David got everyone’s attention by asking the question “Are you aware of the greatest threats and risks to your organization?” and he kept it by linking The Varsity, a rubber duck, and Mountain Dew to the key basic principles of cyber security.

Written by Tarun Sethi

Joshua Jack was the speaker at the Agile Forum on Nov. 15. Joshua is the Agile Leader for the Eastern Region with Matrix Resources. He discussed how he has used games as an Agile Leader. Games can be used to teach adults 21st century skills such as: overcoming challenges, problem solving, leadership and responsibility, teamwork and flexibility and adaptability. Benefits of games on the brain include: Increased motivation, increased testosterone, Improved memory, increased brain size (increase in volume of white matter which helps form connections), increased empathy and increased efficiency.

Joshua used Speed Uno and Penny Points to teach concepts like "one thing at a time", pull system, bugs/waste and teamwork. He also used Build It games to teach lessons re: trade-offs and negotiations. Simple game like Picture Taboo can be used to illustrate communications challenges among teams. Additional games ideas can be found on sites like TastyCupcakes.org and funretrospectives.com and Innovationgames.com.

By Alex Blench, PMP

The PMI Atlanta Governance Forum hosted Dan Petell, Senior Director at Equifax. Dan delivered an interactive seminar designed to teach attendees how to identify and build value in projects. Over his 37 years in the industry, Dan has experienced project management at all levels and walked members through 4 unique PMO case studies.

Overview: Identifying and building value is one of the most important goals of project management. Dan emphasized the importance of gauging value by creating a measurable benefit delivered to stakeholders, and whether or not that value was within scope. Dan outlined a few key ingredients to improve the delivered value of projects this during his seminar this month:

•  Define Value
   o Confirm expectations of the deliverable.
   o Measure value based upon recipient’s level of satisfaction with the results.
   o Define work that will contribute the most benefit to the customer.

Written by Lasondria Hill

PMI Atlanta’s October Healthcare Forum was treated to a fascinating tour of an operating room during construction. Deitra Erickson, Operating Room Manager at Grady Memorial Hospital, was the speaker for the evening and gave an engaging presentation detailing the challenges and processes involved with constructing not one but 18 new operating rooms at Piedmont Hospital, where Deitra formerly worked.

Founded in 1905, Piedmont Atlanta Hospital began as a 132-bed, five-story annex. Today, it’s a 488-bed acute tertiary care facility that has more than 4,000 employees and more than 1,100 physicians.
Deitra has worked in the operating room since 1993 and has held various leadership positions, both in the U.S. and abroad, since 2001. She has served as a clinical liaison for many construction projects, most notably a three-year reconstruction of the entire perioperative services at Piedmont.

Deitra began her presentation by identifying the challenges associated with the construction project:
    1. Started with 20 operating rooms
    2. Construct 18 new operating rooms
    3. Keep 19 operating rooms operational
    4. 36-month completion schedule
    5. Maintain the highest level of infection control
    6. Keep the peace