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from the Chair I have received messages from several CSIG members since the last issue of Connections. My last article asked for your input on what questions you would like to ask our members. Your feedback ranged from very specific (e.g., questions about particular products) to very general. There were also some additional comments on the lagniappe question initially discussed in the March issue of Connections. First, I want to thank to all who sent me questions and comments. Second, as an interesting side note, most of the replies were within about 48 hours after the issue of Connections was released. I view this as additional anecdotal data that the "handle it once, if possible" rule for mail may be a good one. I have chosen to not list in this article all of the questions I received. Instead, I've picked two of them for this article, and will keep the others current for future articles. All of them are good questions that will be addressed. The first question for this month actually goes back to the lagniappe discussion. As you may recall, last month's article had a couple of suggestions on how to provide lagniappe - produce deliverable sooner than the client expects, and occasionally send relevant articles to the client after the engagement. The suggestion about delivering sooner than promised was not seen by all as a good practice. Intuitively, the old adage of "under promise and over deliver" seems to work … much of the time. CSIG Member Boyd Carter offered a different view of an early delivery from the client's perspective: "I would want to know why their planning/scoping/timetable was off. What if my associated activities were planned on an 'on time' delivery?" Boyd's proposed the following question for CSIG members: "What do other members think about 'producing deliverables sooner than the client expects'?" As I thought about Boyd's question, I reframed it to a project success criteria question: What do you as a CSIG member think is more successful: an engagement that is under budget and ahead of schedule, or one that is on budget/on schedule? And why? The second question for this month stems from CSIG Member Papiya Gupta's response. Papiya intentionally proposed a broad question: "What in our practice is not working anymore, or a fad that is on the way out?" We're all impacted by various fads and management trends. What do you see as fads that are fading away, and emerging fads that may have an impact on us as Project Management Consultants? Please
send me your thoughts at chair@pmiconsultingsig.org.
As always, I appreciate your input. New Webinar Available June 7, 2007 Recovering
Failing Projects
There is no
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 PMI®
New Jersey Chapter Holds Successful SymposiumThe PMI New Jersey Chapter held its Symposium at The Skylands in Randolph, NJ on May 7, 2007. The event was a resounding success even before it started. The organizers had to cut-off registration and send out a message that there would be no room for walk-ins when over 800 people signed up. The day itself was a rewarding day for project managers and PMP's alike. With the theme of Sustainable Project Management: The Future is Now!, and a full roster of speakers (both key note and those focused in three separate tracks: The Human Element, Career Momentum, and Project Resources) there were learning opportunities in abundance. Drew Marshall, PMI Consulting SIG Chair and PMI NJ Chapter member, was in attendance. He said, of the day, "The level of energy and enthusiasm from participants was outstanding. It's obvious that the NJ Chapter members are serious about networking, too. They threw themselves into it. I have never been a part of so many deep conversations about project management practices and it was great to have so many people ask about the Consulting SIG and what we offer." In linking project management with various dimensions of sustainability the program was professional, engaging, and very useful.
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