As President of the Swiss Agile Association, I was pleased to have the opportunity recently to attend and represent the SAA at the Project Management Institute (PMI) EMEA Congress 2018 in Berlin, Germany.
As I am sure you are aware, the Project Management Institute (PMI), is one of the world’s leading project management organization with over 500,000 Global Members and over 280 Local Chapters Internationally.
As a long-term PMI member, and a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), it was a great opportunity to network with over 700 fellow project managers from around the world, including a strong contingent from Switzerland.
Several of the presentation sessions at the Congress touched on aspects of Agility in relation to project management. It is encouraging to see a worldwide organization such as the PMI acknowledging and embracing Agile practices, both with the addition of related presentations at the Congress and of course the inclusion of information on agile practices alongside traditional approaches in the Sixth edition of the PMI’s flagship publication, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide).
The Congress was well attended and held in the impressive bcc Conference Centre in Berlin, Germany.
Some of the more interesting presentations which I personally attended included an introduction to the concept of “Omotenashi”, which is a Japanese word which loosely translates as ‘selfless hospitality.’.
I also discovered another “Agile/project management” simulation game called “Possible Mission: Escape from Earth” which I hope to bring to Switzerland later this year.In addition I attended some introductory sessions on Lean Six Sigma and Kanban and their use in relation to traditional project management.
It is very clear that we still have much to do to educate others, in the field of project management and elsewhere, about the true nature of Agile practices, their benefits and how to apply them to different organizational contexts. Some of the presenters appeared to lack any real understanding of Agile practices and were still referring to quite antiquated tools and techniques.
The highlight of the Congress for me, apart from the substantial networking opportunities, was the outstanding keynote presentation by Rowan Gibson on organizational innovation and his “4 Lenses of Innovation” practices.
I was also fortunate enough to attend an extended workshop session with Rowan to experience the fundamentals of the “4 Lenses” practices in a hands-on way.
If you are interested in finding out more about this session, please take a look at my personal post on The 4 Lenses of Innovation.
If you are interested in finding out more about the Congress or the session I attended, please look me up at one of our future events. I am always happy to meet other Agile practitioners and help to share knowledge and connect people together.
I currently hope to attend and make a presentation at the next PMI EMEA Congress, in Dublin Ireland – perhaps I will see you there?
P.S. All costs for attendance at the PMI EMEA Congress were paid by our sponsor finaplana AG and no Swiss Agile Association funds were utilised.
Be Agile!
Christopher William Young PMP, XAPC, XPMC, XBAC
President
Swiss Agile Association
www.swissagileassociation.org
Advancing agile in Switzerland
Join our Zürich Meetup group: https://www.meetup.com/Agile-Die-nachste-Entwicklungsstufe/
Member of the Swiss Agile Association: http://www.swissagileassociation.org
Managing Director – finaplana AG: http://www.finaplana.ch
XSCALE Alliance Steward – Switzerland: http://www.xscalealliance.org