Technology and Communication on Global Projects

Global Projects are impacted by communication. The problem is that the majority of project managers spend alot of time on communicating but there is not enough information sharing. Global Project Managers need to flatten the organization to improve the communication. How to solve the problem is to introduce more realtime communication tools like Google Wave which can support voice, video data and IT Office tools.

Socio-Culture, Uncertinty and Organizational Risks in Global Projects

All Projects are inherently risky. Additionally global projects are prone to socio-cultural risks due to cultural difference. Because we are working on global projects, and global projects could have more socio-cultural, uncertainty, and organizational risks than domestic projects in nature.  Socio-Cultural Risks:  All Projects are inherently risky. Additionally global projects are prone to socio-cultural risks due to cultural difference.   Uncertainty Risks: Natural disasters are commonly uncertainty risks.  Impacts & probabilities are hard to predict. But yet need to prepare for it. Organizational Risks: Organizational risks are everywhere right from selecting project, planning to project closing. Need to know this risk at each stages of project in advance.   Risk is like wine. Either too much or none of it can kill the party!   Roadmap: You should know the risk well (it`s source, probability, impact). Apply your tolerance and plan accordingly your mitigation. We pick up 3 most could-be-serious risks in each of our categories.

One of the major risk in the category of organizational risks is "Lack of Subject Matter Experts" especially when project across multiple domains.

We ranked its impact 4 and likelihood as 4.   Have SME’s in your team to make domain related risks as foreseen as possible and manage that risk effectively.  The "Cultural Gap" matters most in socio-cultural risks. The bigger the  gap, so as the related risks.    We ranked its impact 3 and likelihood as 4. To manage these risks 1) Respect local cultures 2) Develop global mindset 3) Develop cultural intelligence 4) Understand the importance of language. Never underestimate cultural difference the top risk in the category of uncertainty risks is "Natural Disaster”. We ranked its impact 5 and likelihood as 2. Our suggestion to deal with this risk is 1) to distribute key assets, 2) identify unchangeable factors for running project and insure them, and 3) include disaster management plan in your project plans.

We picked up examples of risks with high impact/possible to occur. As we have seen, You should know the risk well (it`s source, probability, impact). Apply your tolerance and plan accordingly your mitigation.  Socio-Cultural Risks:  All Projects are inherently risky. Additionally global projects are prone to socio-cultural risks due to cultural difference. Uncertainty Risks: Natural disasters are commonly uncertainty risks.  Impacts & probabilities are hard to predict. But yet need to prepare for it.  Organizational Risks: Organizational risks are everywhere right from selecting project, planning to project closing. Need to know this risk at each stages of project in advance.   Risk is like wine. Either too much or none of it can kill the party!   Risk is directly related to reward, if you take it in controlled way.

Marketing Project Management Top Down Approach

Scenario

As a Project Manager. You analyzed the Scope Requirements of your customer. Based on your previous projects your team concludes, The project cannot meet the requirements that the project will be in jeopardy. You are going to propose changes. How will you communicate/market to the Customer your Proposed Changes to the Scope of the project?

Top Down Approach

PMBOK Cafe Marketing Top Down from Robert Higgins on Vimeo.

Creating a Knowledge Cloud

Senior Japanese Project Managers from diverse industries, such as finance, networking, construction, mobile communications.... converge together at PMBOK Cafe to collaborate and discuss with each other about the future of Global Project Management. This Facilitated Workshop used the Best practices from The Project Management Book of Knowledge. Specifically, the new tools and techniques in the Scope Collect Requirements were utilized.

This video is part of the Brainstroming Process. PMBOK Cafe describes it as a knowledge cloud. A knowledge cloud sorts ideas and discusses the relationships between ideas. Images are added to encourage visualizing information. The Sticky Notes are 16 peoples different ideas, and this team is discussing the different ideas with the purpose of uncovering deeper knowledge about an idea.