President's Message
Sailing On
by Evans Travis, PMP, President (2007-2008)
president@pmimassbay.org
It is a truly beautiful day today as I write this message
to you. Since we all live in this great
New England area, that can only mean one thing. Rain is on the way! All
kidding aside, the seasons are clearly turning, our election is past and a new
board is just starting to get organized.
The way our great chapter works is that I will soon take on the role of
Past President and my colleague Diana Bishop will take over as your
President.
This morning I was a guest speaker for the MetroNorth
Roundtable and my topic was “My Year as President”. If you live or work between Wakefield and Lexington within say 20
minutes of the Burlington Marriott and haven't joined this roundtable group you
are missing a great group of colleagues.
I, of course, encouraged them all to consider stepping up to help the
chapter in the various leadership roles that are coming available. As I have often said, “YOU ARE THE CHAPTER”. I went on to describe the highs and lows
that come with any job volunteer or otherwise.
Needless to say, the highs greatly outnumber the lows and working with a
great group of people beats almost anything.
So, we had a great discussion and, I hope, several people are thinking
about stepping up.
By the way, if you are living or working South of Boston
in the Quincy area, you may want to check out our newest Roundtable that will
be starting up on June 25
th. I
am I will be the guest speaker their first day. I hope you'll consider joining up. Details are available on our website under “Member Services” and
“Roundtable Program”.
I am pleased to tell you that at our June chapter meeting we will be joined by
a very special guest. Tug Yourgrau is
an old friend of mine and a co-founder of a great video production company,
Powderhouse Productions. As you may
know, all this year we have tried to fulfill one of our goals which was to
bring you speakers from a wider world of project management. Tug is one such speaker. He will bring information and stories about
how project management works in the world of entertainment. And, he'll bring examples of what his
deliverables look like! It should be
very informative and great fun.
Note that our June chapter meeting will be held at the
Burlington
Marriott.
Remember that if you still have a voucher from the
canceled December 2007 chapter meeting, the June chapter meeting is the last
chances you have to use the voucher.
After the June meeting, the voucher will expire.
It has been my pleasure to be your President this
year. I am very proud of our chapter
and grateful that all of you have opted to be members. In the coming years, I am hopeful that with
your help, we will grow our chapter membership and our programs further. I believe that there are thousands of people
in the Greater Boston area that do project and program management work but in
many diverse fields. They don't know
about PMI, our chapter, or the many benefits of membership in this great institution. It is up to you and those of us in the
leadership to reach out to them and make the case for our association. The goal we all have should be nothing less
than to raise the standards of our profession and require from each of us the
best possible qualities in our work.
The title of Project or Program Manager should stand for something more
than just a person who always seems to be bothering the team with process,
plans, status, and issues. The world
runs and moves forward based on projects.
We are the practitioners that work hard to make these projects
succeed. Whether it be building new
software applications, new roads or buildings, winning a Presidential campaign,
winning a legal case, building and launching a spacecraft, inventing a new
medical device or treatment, creating a new investment vehicle, merging two
companies together, auditing the books of a major company, creating a new video
series, inventing a new source of energy, conducting research projects to stop
global warming, and on and on. Each one
of these things is a project. Each one
of these projects needs to have someone watching over it. That someone is a practitioner like you.
Lastly, as I have been saying all year, our ability to
conduct great programs and chapter meetings is because of your membership and
participation. Thank you for your
membership and thank you all for the e-mail suggestions and the conversations
we've had at the chapter meetings and other chapter events. All of us on the board have listened
carefully to your input and tried our best to make your chapter experience as
rewarding as possible. I hope you feel
we succeeded this year.
So let me say once again, THANK YOU for your membership
and please contact us if there is anything we can do to enhance your membership
with the Mass Bay Chapter.
Evans Travis, PMP
President 2007-2008
PMI Mass Bay Chapter
