Swapping stories

Presentation at PMSA in Johannesburg went extremely well last night. Great audience. I enjoyed swapping stories with like-minded project managers and learning about PMSA.

Project managers in South Africa face many of the same challenges that project managers in the USA face, including non-standard operating procedures across departments and cross-cultural challenges.

Project managers in South Africa face a challenge that we don't even consider in the USA - the horrendous cost of Internet access. In South Africa, users pay by the kilobyte of data download for Internet access, which makes it very expensive to work remotely. In the USA, Internet access costs are non-material and thus we have more opportunity to work from remote locations, increasing our flexibility. There is seldom a reason to go to the office in the USA, as Project Managers can work from any location that provides good Internet access.

Project managers are in demand in South Africa, and there are many positions open, unlike the current employment situation in the Hartford area.

We are heading back to Connecticut on Thursday after a productive and pleasurable three-week trip. Looking forward to sleeping on our own beds again the conveniences in the USA, including a Caramel Latte.