Community of Practice proposal click here to download PMCOP

Purpose/Goal

Forum for practicing project workers (PMs, BAs etc.) to share, learn and grow in the profession of project management

Get practical advice from peers to help solve project challenges (2 categories: immediate answers (email list?) vs. advice that requires more training)

• Create moira list that staff can opt into
• Identify target audience
  • Would it be actual project managers or anyone with project oversight
  • Could we as a group define what IS&T means by “project” and present as proposal to senior staff?
• Have standing meeting (PM focus or BA focus) every quarter
  • Plan on 1 ½ hour sessions – use PMBA slot?
  • Topic specific
• Discussion forums: e.g. Round tables to discuss topics of interest, challenges, and lessons learned from a project (after formal post project review) etc.* Case studies on lessons learned
• Survey staff to see what topics they would like
• Live project work – such as having a project volunteer to go through a design review and get feedback from participants (modeling the process for staff)
• Focused topics and examples specific to a group, such as “Managing an Implementation Project in OI”** Training Workshops – e.g. project life cycles, planning (partner with HR)
  • Both hard and soft skills focus
  • Need workshops targeted at various levelsSuccess criteria is that staff come back after first few sessions – they stay engaged
  • PMBA members would volunteer to facilitate with PS
    • Karon has signed up – anyone else interested?
    • Document minutes and presentations
    • Invite same group whether PM or BA specific
    • Some participate, some come to stay informed
  • Formally communicate the program (plan and communicate ahead of time, one session per quarter)
    • Start in September 2011
• First session will be to walk through tools and templates we have reviewed and piloted in FY11 (need to have public resource wiki up and running, see 3 below)
• Next few sessions might be to have DM, UI, Accessibility/Usability, QA present on team, resources and processes and how to incorporate into our project lifecycle

Mentoring program: new or inexperienced PMs can be mentored by more experienced PMs; same for BAs

• Create a list of volunteer PM and BA mentors in the resource wiki (see 3 below)
• Include areas of expertise
• Advertise as a resource for anyone to tap into
• Let folks reach out as needed
• Can be informal – they just ask questions when they need to, periodic check-ins
• Keep private and personal to encourage access
• Can focus on spectrum from presentation skills to writing skills (scope, requirements, etc)
• Create anonymous feedback loop to see if this resource is helpful and what we could improve upon?
• Can we meet the demand?  It’s a good problem to have!
• Have a meet and greet to kick this off in the fall

Website or wiki with practical resources

• Public wiki for consumption by all (should we use Hermes?)
• Vehicle for PMBA deliverables we are developing (rolling out tools and templates)
• PM and BA resources
  • Web links to practical resources and videos
  • Tools and Templates
  • How to’s
  • Checklists
  • Tips and tricks
• IS&T specific info: e.g. project reviews
• Calendar of events
• A way to get feedback /ideas
  • have people submit questions
  • topics for discussion
  • get feedback on workshops etc.
• Look at SharePoint as vehicle in the future
• Have section for our customers as well?
  • What to do to prepare for a project
  • Roles/responsibilities info
• Create subteam to determine the best way to organize wiki (Pat, Karon and Bill)
  • Welcome
  • Purpose
  • Information architecture
  • Upkeep and care and feeding of the site

Short-term goals

1.     Knowledge database

2.    Fully functional website or wiki with practical information (Pat, Karon and Bill will start meeting end of April to plan)

3.     Established mentoring program

Long-term goals

1.     Find out what our PMs and BAs feel would provide the most benefit to them, topics of interest etc. (survey?)

2.     Basic project management workshops to get IS&T on the same page

3.     Informal Mentoring

Project Plan deliverables and dates -  review  Project Plan

• 3/22: No meeting due to department meeting
• 3/29: Task List review
• 4/5: No meeting due to training
• 4/12: Usability and Accessibility
• 4/19: User Interface Design and Development