Meet Phil Cartagena:
- PMI Board Position: Chapter president
A Glimpse into Phil’s Journey:
Phil’s project management volunteer journey began in 2015 when he took over the management and delivery of the Professional Development Conference (PDC). He then played a part in every PDC since 2015 and served as the VP Finance for 2 terms, Executive VP, and President for 2 terms. At the end of 2024, he’ll hand over the reins to the incoming president and will serve on the Advisory Board and join the ranks of other Past Presidents.
As the VP of Finance, Phil started the chapter’s documentation of volunteer roles in SOPs so that volunteer training and institutional knowledge could be saved and improved with each new volunteer. For the past several years, Phil has been working with the board to get each function’s volunteer roles and activities documented.
At the Leadership Institute Meetings for PMI chapter volunteers for all of North America, Phil spoke in 2023 and 2024 on the efforts taken with PMI Mass Bay so that he could help other chapters benefit from our lessons learned on the journey to become more of a strategic board.
Where do you see PMI Mass Bay chapter next year? Any new initiatives/changes?
The final step in this journey of operational excellence through documentation, including the publication of our functions’ project plans, is creating the organizational reporting, on and automation of, the chapter’s workflows–possible only because of our SOPs.
You have had a long and successful career and have seen a lot of changes. What advice would you give a young person just embarking on a career as a project manager?
Listen. Then understand. Then solve.
Good project management is about good communication. Good communication requires good and active listening. Ask the questions you need to ask to ensure that you understand: the problem, what is being asked, whatever. Then marshal the necessary resources to solve and deliver whatever is required.
Getting to Know Phil:
- Hidden Talent: able to listen to and take part in up to 3 conference calls, simultaneously
- Favorite Destination: anywhere a cruise ship goes… (but not to beach destinations)
- Guilty Pleasure: he doesn’t believe in guilt
- Passionate About: pragmatism and imparting knowledge and learning to the receptive
Follows: Brené Brown, James Clear