Insights and inspiration for project professionals

With so many new faces, our VP and his counter part of PMI France (Branch of North of France) kicked of the evening with a joke each on the other nationality. Laughs guaranteed. Next a funny icebreaker that literally connected the participants. Watch the photos!

Pierre Jaeck, MBA PhD, fluently presented the main topic of the evening: the advantage of the CRITICAL CHAIN methodology. He started by explaining the Theory of Constraints, closely followed by a practical exercise why multi tasking doesn't work. This involved all participants and was really convincing. The core of the presentation elaborated on the Critical Chain with the cut of the duration of each individual activity, the creation of a centralised buffer under the project manager's control and feeding buffers for non critical chain activities. He took a deep look at resource allocation and the need for behavioural change with both project managers and the company management. This change was mainly towards collaboration instead of micromanaged controls.

With the critical chain method implemented, the question for the project manager would move from “when will you finish the task?” to “how many days do you need to finish the task?”.

The last part of the presentation was a real case from the oil sector where the projects were significantly improved after the critical chain method implementation.

The presentation was followed by a workshop with 4 mixed B-F groups of participants. Two questions for reflection were asked to them:

• What are the strengths of the Critical Chain method in comparison with your current PM practices?
• What are the obstacles which prevent the implementation of the critical chain method?

These very interactive sessions were very much appreciated by the participants. 

We concluded the evening with a cocktail and a lottery for the participants having answered the quality survey. Four winners got the opportunity to learn more about the Theory of Constraints and the Critical Chain method.

TLDR; A real success for this first cross border event. We will repeat!

Or as a participant likes to say it: " Being a member of PMI belgium charpter has been a great exprience for me. At every event and meeting I alway have the opportunity to learn something new. The event organisation, programming, and structures are always set out well. I just  want to say BIG THANK to (...) the team of volunteers for their time, effort, professionalism, expertise and passion in organising the cross - border event in Lille France and the Duvel Moortgat brewery event. As alway I have the opportunity to meet different people from different works of life, who have great ideas, experience and are from different cultures. I always learn so many important things in such a short period of time at every Event and Meeting. I am looking forward to the next event."

PMI Belgium likes to thank our French colleagues for making this a success. We are now really B-F* ... 

You can view the presentation (to be linked shortly) once logged in.

The number of PDUs and how to claim: learn more.

*  Best-Friends

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