February 2013

Volume 1, Issue 2

PMI MASS BAY

NEWSLETTER
Chapter Elections Call for New Leaders

Gold Sponsor

Silver Sponsor

Bronze Sponsor

Become a volunteer leader with one of the leading PMI chapters world-wide. Give back to your profession and the
community while gaining knowledge, experience and recognition

President
Responsible for setting strategy of the Chapter, working in conjunction with the EVP and other Officers of the
Board, and for overall oversight of the Chapter and the Board. The President shall direct the activities of the other
Board members in accordance with the Chapter bylaws.

Executive Vice President

Responsible for setting strategy and overseeing the day to day operations of the chapter and all operational portfolios. Includes activities such as the development and delivery of operations related to chapter meetings, mentorship programs, and membership services.

VP Technology
Develops and oversees implementation of a comprehensive technology strategy, systems and processes that align
with the business needs of the chapter. Sets short and long term integrated plans to provide both strategic advantage and optimized operations needed by the Chapter.

Inside this issue

Evaluate Pilot Training ................ 2

VP Marketing and Communications

Develops and oversees implementation of a comprehensive marketing and integrated communications strategy
and processes in alignment with the short and long term goals of the Chapter.

VP Volunteers

Liberty Mutual Discounts ............ 2

Upcoming Events ........................ 3
Volunteers Needed ..................... 3
Board Message ........................... 4

Operates as a Human Resource lead for the chapter. Develops and oversees implementation of a comprehensive
volunteer strategy, systems and processes. Sets short and long term integrated plans to provide a sustainable
volunteer base.

New Members ............................ 4

VP Finance and Treasurer

Agile is the Silver Bullet? ............. 6

Responsible for overseeing and maintaining all chapter financial documentation and is the Treasurer of record for
the chapter. Develops and oversees implementation fiscal policies, procedures, and guidelines. Provides financial
guidance and input on strategy, ensuring endeavors of the Chapter are executed in a financially responsible manner.

Special points of interest

Please Note: The deadline for nominations is March 08, 2013. If you have any questions pertaining to this year's
elections please direct them to the Elections Committee at elections@pmimassbay.org .

Planning Workforce Needs ......... 5

Chapter Elections
Program Year 2013

Best Practices for Evaluating Pilot Training

Programs
Copyright 2013 Gina Abudi, MBA; Abudi Consulting Group, LLC

When developing training programs, be sure to

include a plan for
evaluating
the
program
after
the initial pilot run to be sure it is meeting the
participants needs and accomplishing the objectives it was created to accomplish.
As a best practice, develop a plan for evaluation
immediately following the pilot program:
Define the objectives of the pilot program
evaluation (e.g., confirm program meets objec-

tives, sufficient and relevant activities are included)

Determine how you will gather data to evaluate the program (e.g., surveys, interviews with
participants, observation in the classroom)
Develop a timeline for gathering data to evaluate the program

Gather raw data, analyze and develop your preliminary report

Share preliminary report with course designers/

developers

As a best practice, try to enable at least 2 3 months after the pilot run before
evaluating in full.

Liberty Mutual Discounts

In case you didnt know... As
a non-profit organization,
Liberty Mutual offers our
members discounts on home
and auto insurance. To continue offering this certain
requirements must be met:
At least 25 members
must be signed up, with
15 of them Mass residents
35% of its members
must be enrolled by
2016
For more information, please
contact:
Jane Morancy
jrmorancy@statestreet.com

Develop your final recommendations report, include recommendations on workshop changes/tweaks before roll out
Ensure that the following questions are answered as part of the evaluation of the pilot training program:
Does the training program meet the objectives it was designed to
meet?
Are there sufficient activities, case studies, role plays, exercises to
enable practice of the skills being learned?
Provide time for participants to be able to apply what they are learning to ensure that the training program is truly effective:
Are new skills and knowledge learned applied back on the job?
Do participants have the support they need to be successful back
on the job?
As a best practice, try to enable at least 2 3 months after the pilot
run before evaluating in full. You need participants to have the time to
apply what they learned back on the job to be sure the program truly
is effective. This may take some selling to your stakeholders as often
there is an expectation that programs will be rolled out immediately
after pilot tested.
BIO: Gina Abudi, MBA is an avid blogger and keynote speakers at a
variety conferences, forums, and corporate and industry events. She
is current President of the Chapter and very much enjoys her regular
interactions with members. Visit Ginas blog at: www.GinaAbudi.com.

VOLUNTEER
Get Involved
The vitality and success of the PMI
Mass Bay Chapter depends on the
number and quality of the volunteers
who give of their time and talents
toward our mission and goals.
Volunteering is a great way to increase the value and enjoyment you
receive from PMI and the chapter,
while benefiting all Chapter members. But that is just the beginning
Members who contribute their time
to the Chapter gain as volunteers

Upcoming Events

gain:

Chapter Monthly Meetings

Feb 28, 2013 February Chapter Meeting: Lean Concepts / Project

Management Techniques, Boston Marriott Newton, Newton, MA

Mar 21, 2013 March Chapter Meeting: Building Your Professional
Brand, Marriott Cambridge, Cambridge, MA
April 11, 2013 April Chapter Meeting: Executive Panel Discussion,
National Heritage Museum , Lexington, MA

Knowledge about running a not

-for-profit organization and PMI
Professional experience and
development as a leader
Career contacts (a lot of them)
PDUs (Professional Development Units) toward continuing
certification

Many levels of commitment are

available to suit your life style. You
can volunteer for a short term, longterm or single-task commitment.

Professional Development Events

Some roles may take only one or two

hours per month, others are concen-

Leading Cross-Cultural Projects, ForeFront Center , Waltham, MA

trated around a specific event. Board

08 Mar, 2013
Mastering Negotiation Skills and Dealing with Difficult Techies
Date: 22 Mar, 2013

and other leadership roles typically

Save The Dates

5th Annual Professional Development Day
April 26 - 27, 2013
Lowell, Mass

require certain ongoing responsibilities, including participating in monthly board meetings and managing the
activities of a committee. We will
work with you to make your choice of
volunteering a great one!
To contact us send an email to
vpvolunteers@pmimassbay.org

Keynote: Ernie Baker on the topic of "It's All About ME*" (* = Managing
Expectations) - learn how to deal with your challenging stakeholders!
Visit the website to learn more

Message/Update from the Board

As the AVP of Special Events for the PMI Mass Bay Chapter, I am
pleased to now be planning the fifth annual Professional Development Day (PDDay). For the past 4 years, this has been a top-notch
event where attendees have the opportunity to learn about a wide
variety of project/program management topics. While in the previous years, this was a single day event, we are changing it to be a
one and a half day event, Friday full day and Saturday half day,
with the ability to earn up to 11 PDUs toward PMI Continuing Education requirements. This event is a wonderful chance to network
with fellow colleagues, interact with the speakers about their
presentations, and event sponsors about their products and services, especially on Friday night where we have added a World
Caf.
At the beginning of the program year we assembled a great team
of volunteers to plan this years event. While we will be hosting
the event for the first year at the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference
Center, Lowell, MA there was plenty to plan for! From incorporating attendee feedback, such as extending the Sessions and minimizing the options, to identifying tracks, speakers and sponsors
your volunteers have been hard at work over the past few months.
After months of hard work we have enlisted a very interesting
keynote speaker, Ernie Baker, PMP, PRINCE2 Practitioner, is the
president of Start to Finish PM, Inc., with 29 years of experience,
talking on It's All About ME! (Managing Expectations). We also

have identified the best sixteen speakers for Friday hourly sessions. There will be three tracks on Saturday, one dedicated for
Healthcare and the other two for general project/program management, one concentrating on Communications and the other on
Risk Management. Each workshop on Saturday will be for four
hours in the morning. Plan to see and hear some great presentations and case studies. Please visit our website for more details of
all the speakers.
As many of you know this event continues to grow in size and
scope and is becoming the most widely regarded premier event of
its kind in the region. We have changed the location, the event
duration, the format by adding the world caf and four hour workshops, with one especially for the Healthcare sector.
Registration for PD Day 2013 is now open with registration for
both days, Friday only or Saturday only. The event is sure to be
both exciting and rewarding and truly reinforce our seasons 2013
theme of Changing Landscape of Project Management.
Sincerely,
Sivendiran Sethuram
AVP Special Events, PMI Mass Bay Chapter
specialevents@pmimassbay.org

New Members
The Board of Directors would like to extend a warm welcome to our New members who
joined in January!

Natalie Mildred Douglas, PMP

Gregory McGurrin, PMP
Peter C. Ozug, PMP
Karen Zeff Rosen
Carol L. Thorsten-Stein
Yue Yu
Karen A. Clausen, PMP
Emmanuelle Lacrosaz-rouanet
Catherine Morey
Cecille D .Whipple
Vivien M. Zimon, PMP
Phani Bhushan, PMP
James Foley
Arthur J. Haas
Melissa Huang
Barry Waldman, PMP
Edwin Yau, PMP
Deborah Bock, PMP
Leah Brome
Steven Gaul
Kelly Chan

Binoy Koodhathinkal, P.E., PMP, PMI-RMP

Pamela Hurley, PMP
Robert Andrew Russell, III
Katherine Trickett
Sara Fealhaber
William Little
Jan Den Dikken, PMP
Corey Snow
Anne Brosnan
Leslie Glynn, PMP
Lauren Mattingly
Jose Antonio Perez, PMP
Christine L Kiezulas
Perry Makris
Anne Wan
Shawn Bonk
Richard Volpicelli
Sani George
Richard Barone, Jr., PMP
Joe Kennedy
Alexander Nedospasov
Don Ganz
Vanessa Ng
Chiedu Orjiako
Abhay Srivastava, PMP
Paul Watchorn
Tze Choo, PMP
George Garcia
Cuong Ha
David P. Lino, PMP
Tom Mulligan

Xiaoxuan Sun, CAPM

Jacqueline Horwitz
Dhananjay R Nagarkar, PMP
Andreas Zahopoulos
Barbara A LaViska, PMP
Neil MacGaffey
Marisa Carnevale
Mary Evelyn Roberts, PMP
Raja Sampath
Mary C. Stuart-Vail, PMP
Phil Cartagena, Jr., PMP
Mark Hannigan
Sara T. Kenyon
William S. McCarey, PMP
Tascia Pregno
Sandhya Vasudevan
Missy Garrity, PMP
Nicole Murphy, PMP
Wanjiku Kuria Mwangi
Robert Pittman
Nathalie Sykora, P.Eng, PMP
Robin Michelle Healey
Abhay C. Karva
Michael F Morrissey, PMP
Chris Adams
Rosana Hutchins
James P. Kneeland, PMP
Roger Masson, PMP
Stephen Zangerl-Salter

How Effectively Are You Planning Your Workforce Needs?

Copyright 2013 Gina Abudi, MBA; Abudi Consulting Group, LLC

Getting the best talent for your organization isnt always easy and takes time in order to ensure you select the right employees for the business. However, too often organizations wait
until the last moment to hire talent. They are reacting to customer complaints, turnover
issues, or other problems that affect headcount.
In order to ensure effective workforce planning, you must know the answers to the following questions:
What skills and expertise do you currently have within the organization? Where are the
gaps? Where do you have too many of a particular skill or expertise represented?
What are the goals of individual departments/business units and the organization long
term strategy? How will those goals and strategies affect our workforce today and in the
future?
What skills and expertise will the organization need in the future based on growth, new
products and services, increased competition, expansion/mergers, etc?
poor planning.

However, too often organizations wait until the last moment to hire talent. They
are reacting to customer complaints, turnover issues, or other problems that
affect headcount.

Are you paying employees salaries consistent with our competitors? Are benefits consistent with competitors? Do salaries and benefits enable the company to capture top talent? How will benefits and salaries need to change in the future?
What is the average age of the workforce currently? Where do you believe youll see
gaps as workforce retires?
What is the average retention rate? Where do you see retention issues?
The answers to these questions are not always easy but they are essential to understanding
how to effectively plan your workforce for now and the future. Effective workforce planning
enables for engaged employees, improved succession planning and a decrease in the need
for downsizing due to poor training.
BIO: Gina Abudi, MBA is an avid blogger and keynote speakers at a variety conferences, forums, and corporate and industry events. She is current President of the Chapter and very
much enjoys her regular interactions with members. Visit Ginas blog at:
www.GinaAbudi.com.

Agile is the Silver Bullet?

Our Mission and Goals
The mission of the PMI Mass Bay
Chapter is to promote the principles
and practice of Project Management
within the Greater Boston area. The
chapter provides quality programs

By: Steve Martin

On the positive side, as an Agile Coach and consultant, I am quite often met with much
excitement over Agile when I first meet with clients. However, those good feelings
tend to fade quickly when we start delving into why organizations want to go Agile.
Typical responses include:

and training based on the needs and

Its faster.

interests of our members and the

Better Quality.

our mission, the Chapter:

It saves money.

- Provides forums for project man-

Better relationships.

community we serve. In achieving

agement professionals to network

and share project experiences
- Offers opportunities for members
and others to achieve and retain
certification as Project Management
Professionals (PMPs) and to enhance
their professional development as
project managers
- Promotes the value of Project Management through outreach to local
businesses and universities.

So, eager clients say just show me the processes and tools, and well start to reap
these benefits right away.
But Agile is not a set of processes and tools. Its a mindset. Its a shift from how you
fundamentally do business. Yes, thats right. Business. Its not just about running projects. While projects are an important part of business, its just a part nonetheless.
Agile is not a silver bullet. It wont cure everything that ails your organization. In actuality, it raises many organizational and fundamental business issues that have been
swept under the run for years or decades. But, adopting the core concepts on why
Agile, the how will come over time.
Over the coming newsletters, well share various hot topics and trends in the Agile
space, hopefully giving some helpful advice and tips for those new to Agile as well as
those experienced with Agile, but may not be reaping full benefits.
BIO: As a Consultant and Agile Coach with 20 years of professional experience, Steve
has specialized in leading complex business reengineering and transformation initiatives. An active member in PMI since 2005, Steve is a recent graduate of the PMI Leadership Institute Master Class of 2012 and has held roles such as President of PMI Mass
Bay Chapter.

PMI Mass Bay

411 Waverley Oaks Road
Suite 331B
Waltham, MA 02452
P - 781.894.1842
F - 781.647.7222
info@pmimassbay.org