PMIWDC

January Chantilly Luncheon - Lawrence Oliva - "Inheriting a Sinking Ship"

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Event Date: 
Thursday, January 8, 2009 - 06:30

Inheriting a Sinking Ship: When Management Assigns You as Captain

featuring

Lawrence Oliva, PMP
Sr. Program Managerm CH2M HILL, Inc

View the Presentation Slides (PDF)

When:

Thursday, January 8, 2009
11:30 am: Check in and networking
12:00 pm: Presentation
12:45 pm: Q&A
1:00 pm: Meeting concludes

Where:

Washington Technology Park Building
Main Auditorium
15000 Conference Center Drive
Chantilly, VA

Costs

  • The Chantilly luncheons are free of charge
  • Membership in PMI is not required
  • Pre-registration is not required

About the Program 

As companies downsize during the current economic crisis, fewer PM's will be managing more projects, including projects in trouble that had been led by departed employees. For these troubled projects, new PM's will be asked by management to reduce financial losses, correct technical errors and deliver the products or services originally planned, if possible.  After your nomination as PM, project team members will be looking for direction, clients will be expecting miracles, and management will be providing “oversight” in a helpful way.

While difficult, inherited projects can be successful, but are not easy to recover to the original cost-schedule-performance specifications. Significant changes must be made - but what are the limits before the new scope becomes too small to justify return on investment, or delays in the revised (but realistic) schedule erases first-to-market advantages?

How far should the PM and their team go before it makes sense to stop? What boundary conditions should be set in advance to define go/no-go decisions or actions? If needed, who should finally pull the plug – the PM, the client or management?

The presentation will discuss a phased approach to inheriting a new project, including: 1) Surveying current project status, 2) Determining possible success paths and 3) Defining circuit breakers that set boundaries for stopping or continuing work. Two brief case studies from the IT industry will be used as models, one showing difficulties, but eventual success, and the other showing difficulties, with eventual failure. 

About the Speaker

Lawrence Oliva, PMP, is a Sr. Program Manager with CH2M HILL, Inc., and leads Federal and commercial IT projects. For more than 20 years he has managed multi-million dollar software development projects - including some he inherited - providing information transaction and e-commerce services. He was the Austin Texas PMI Chapter president in 2000, and has served as a PMP prep class instructor in Austin and the Washington DC area. He served as a WDC Chapter career mentor in 2007.

Have an idea for a presentation topic? Interested in speaking at a future meeting? Contact 
pmiwdc-chantilly@pmiwdc.org

Directions to the Chantilly Luncheon

 

From Reston/Herndon/Dulles Airport:

  1. Head East on Dulles Airport Access Road (267).
  2. Take the VA-28 exit. Keep RIGHT at the fork in the ramp.
  3. Merge onto Sully Rd/VA-28 S. Proceed south for approximately 6 miles.
  4. Turn RIGHT onto WILLARD ROAD after crossing over RT 50.
  5. Take next LEFT onto LEE ROAD.
  6. Take next RIGHT onto CONFERENCE CENTER DRIVE.
  7. Turn RIGHT into The Washington Technology Park building (No. 15000 Conference Center Dr.)
  8. Some visitor parking is usually available in the front, but additional parking is available behind the building.
    8. Enter through the main front entrance and tell the receptionist that you are going to the PMI meeting in the auditorium, and you will be directed where to go.

From Route 66: 
From Route 66:

  1. Take the VA-28 N exit, exit number 53, towards Dulles Airport. Proceed for approximately  1.6 
  2. Bear RIGHT onto the exits for WESTFIELDS BLVD. Exit onto WESTFIELDS BLVD WESTBOUND.
  3. Bear RIGHT onto STONECROFT BLVD.
  4. Turn LEFT onto CONFERENCE CENTER DR.
  5. Turn LEFT into Washington Technology Park building. Some visitor parking is usually available in the front, but additional parking is available behind the building.
  6. Enter through the main front entrance and tell the receptionist that you are going to the PMI meeting in the auditorium, and you will be directed where to go.
Presentation Archive: 
application/pdf iconPresentation: Inheriting a Sinking Ship.pdf

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