SNEC-PMI Annual Conference - 2009

Today I attended the first workshop of our multi-day annual conference for Southern New England Chapter of PMI. Believe it or not, this is already the fourth annual conference, and I am glad to say that I have 100% attendance rate. The adjoining science center is still under construction, four years later - it sounds to me like they need some project managers over there :)

I chose to attend Lee Lambert's session and thoroughly enjoyed it, as always. He says, and I quote "If you are not making a difference, then you are taking up space". In other words, if you are following the process, filling out the forms and checking off the boxes, then you may not be adding value. You are most likely just taking up space, and soon may have no space to take up.

The people making a difference are those who are supplying data to managers to make decisions. These people are impacting decisions. These are the people who will always have space.

Lee also said "What saves your butt in project management, is the relationships that you have taken the time to develop". I fully believe that relationships are one of the keys to successful project management, and is not taught in the traditional project management training courses.

The best way to develop relationships, is to never eat alone. If you have not yet read the book "never eat alone", then I recommend that you pick up a copy.

Also, if you are not attending training sessions, and not developing your skills, then how do you intend to grow, and improve in the future. Do you want to continue doing the same old things you are doing now for the next five years? Read again what Lee said up above. Are you checking off boxes as you follow your procedures? Then you are taking up space. You can speculate what the result will be if you keep on taking up space.