• (06/4/09) PMIEF Presentation from PMI Leadership Institute Meeting
• (04/3/09) First Award Recipients Attend Cadence PM Training through PMI Education Foundation
• (12/22/08) Happy Holidays from Cadence Management Corporation
• (08/14/08) Cadence and PMI Education Foundation
• (06/30/08) The Project Management Center of Excellence: PMO Evolved.

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PMIEF Presentation from PMI Leadership Institute Meeting

Many of you know our involvement with the PMI Education Foundation, and just how important we believe their initiatives are becoming in the early education of project managers. As such, here’s a presentation the PMIEF delivered at the PMI Leadership Institute Meeting describing their work and what they’re striving to bring to the broader project management community through education.

First Award Recipients Attend Cadence PM Training through PMI Education Foundation

Special thanks to Abbey Alessi and Barbara Lippke from Seattle Public Schools — the first scholarship recipients of our joint Project Based Learning scholarship initiative with the PMI Education Foundation. The two added much to the Cadence course and walked away with a rich project plan, ready to move forward on their model school initiative. We’ll keep up with their project and post back here as we learn more about their progress.

From the Press Release:

Cadence Management Corporation has made a $100,000 (US) contribution to PMI Educational Foundation to support project management education programs for primary and secondary school teachers and administrators. This contribution will make it possible for educators to attend project management training courses that will provide them with new capabilities to enhance their classroom instruction and on-the-job management skills.

“The primary purpose of the PMI Educational Foundation is to promote economic, educational, cultural and social advancement through project management by making it more readily available to those who want to learn about the profession and the practice of project management,” said Greg Balestrero, chief operating officer of PMI Educational Foundation and chief executive officer of the Project Management Institute (PMI). “It’s through the generosity of Cadence and other donors that we are able to provide opportunities for those who otherwise may not be able to take advantage of project management educational opportunities.”

“In order for educators to successfully adopt project learning teaching methods in the classroom, it is necessary for them to have a working knowledge of project management themselves,” said John R. Patton, chief executive officer of Cadence Management Corporation. “By providing project management training to teachers and administrators, they will not only help students succeed but they also will learn a valuable skill set to help them in their own lives and careers.”

Project learning teaching methods utilize teams of students working together to create a solution for real-world problems. Through this approach, students are able to gain a more complete understanding of the subject matter while developing essential 21st Century applied skills such as collaboration, communications and leadership.

In addition to supporting PMI Educational Foundation through its contribution, Cadence Management Corporation supports the project management profession by participating as a sponsor of events such as PMI Global Congresses which are held four times a year in different locations around the world.

Happy Holidays from Cadence Management Corporation

Cadence and PMI Education Foundation

This week at the PMI Education Foundation booth at the Latin America Congress, we were thrilled to see recognition for our as-yet unlaunched partnership with PMI. The $100,000 donation represents our on-going commitment to fostering project management education in the classroom — something we’ve worked hard to evangelize through our relationships with higher education partners over the years. This alignment with PMI is the first time we’ve launched any effort to teach K-12 educators and administrators in the craft and discipline of project management, including helping to develop strategies for incorporating project management discipline in their curricula.

More details will be coming soon. Check back here for more!

The Project Management Center of Excellence: PMO Evolved.

In the mid-1990’s, there came about a well-defined bit of cost-cutting wizardry called the “Center of Excellence.” The COE was well-defined both because of the intent of its function in organizations, and because of its innate irony; you see, a decade and a half ago, the Center of Excellence involved lay-offs.

The COE was fashioned as a method of saving money by centralizing the best of all duplicate resources inside a large organization into one place. This center would then take on the task of managing their piece of the organizational puzzle, while any similar divisions outside the center would be dissolved.

But, like many other accidental discoveries, something wonderful happened. Before long, the COE approach took on more than just a functional use inside the organization — the COE began to live up to its name.

In modern project management, the specific tasks that fall to the Center of Excellence varies quite broadly from organization to organization. However, there are trends and best practices that define the high level function of the COE in the Project or Program Management Office.

First, the Project Management Center of Excellence provides educational and intellectual resources to the project management function of the organization. It is here that the organization houses the body of standards and guides for excellence in the internal project management operation. The PM-COE is the home of organizational methodology for project management.

Second, the PM-COE drives hiring and training against those standards. Global organizations striving for project management excellence are benchmarking their own processes and procedures against results. Ensuring human resources are hired, trained, and prepared to deliver results falls to the PM-COE.

Third, the PM-COE defines strategy in project management for the organization. This is the primary resource for intellectual capital in the broader field inside the company and provides access to the tools and technologies project managers will need to accomplish their jobs today, and in the future.
Finally, the PM-COE really can help grow profits and cut costs. Perhaps it is in the managerial DNA of the COE concept, but when resources and tools are pooled in such a way as a function of the PMO, new opportunities for greater efficiency become naturally apparent.

The PM-COE is a partner to the PMO. While the PMO is focused tactically on managing projects and delivering results, the PM-COE becomes the pit crew, ensuring project managers are trained, equipped, and prepared for work. It becomes a symbiotic relationship, an invaluable partnership that invariably results in better project management.

Even more, however, organizations that have adopted the PM-COE model as a function of the project management office have demonstrated a tacit commitment to not just running projects, but to learning through project management, and defining the project culture clearly through eduction, information, professional development and strategic awareness.

Cadence is a key partner in advanced training and consulting services designed to assist organizations interested in maturing and growing their project management office initiatives. Contact Cadence today for more information.

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