Welcome to the Performance Driven Project Management site. This blog tracks the progress of Turkish Cypriot project managers and local consultants on the journey to certification in PDPM. Select the links below to orient through the site for FAQs:
The first Turkish language PDPM workshop was concluded successfully today with 18 participants achieving certificates of completion. The workshop, delivered by recently ISPI certified coaches, focused on the key elements of the method and prepares participants to work with coaches on their individual projects in the future.
Elizabeth Kassinis, USAID COTR, visits the training and delivers brief remarks interpreted by Program Manager Suna Evran.
Çiğdem Aksu has both Masters and Bachelors in International Relations from Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta. Currently she works for the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce in providing assistance to Chamber members and public in general, and providing consultation to member SME’s in developing projects and business plans for European Union funded grants. Previously she worked in media and instruction assignments for the Eastern Mediterranean University. Email: cigdemaksu@ktto.net
Cem Cicek is an Integrated Marketing Communications Management Consultant with academic and professional background in many different countries. He has been working on projects ranging from fashion, lifestyle and hospitality to manufacturing, and insurance. Since moving to Cyprus in 2004, Mr. Cicek has primarily worked in donor funded projects for SMEs, Environment Conservation and Capacity Development in CSOs. Email: cem.cicek@emu.edu.tr
Memduh Erişmen graduated as a Chemical Engineer from Middle East technical University in 2003. After receiving his MSc degree at the Unv. Of Manchester, he worked at various companies in the UK and Cyprus. He is now working as a Project Coordinator and SME Consultant for the Management Centre since 2008. His major responsibilities cover the areas of SME Development, Project Design and Management, CE Marking for products and ISO group of standards. Email: merismen@mc-med.eu
Ali Tüzünkan is the President of Innovia Technologies since 2006 managing and completing several industrial applications including Mobile, Database, Industrial and Web Applications. He holds a MSc in Computer Engineering from Anatolian University, Eskisehir and a BSc from Osmangazi University, Eskisehir in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. Email: alituzunkan@gmail.com
Since the last workshop in Nicosia in April, KNO experts have been writing a series of "case analyzes" of the projects that were involved in the initial PDPM effort. These are currently under review for accuracy. Several have been selected for more in-depth coverage, and others as more mini-cases. The cases support a primary goal of the investment in PDPM for the Turkish Cypriot Community - that of promoting best practices in project management for SMEs and NGOs in upcoming years.
The focus of the cases are on the capacity building successes of the project. Since the goal of the program is to develop individual project manager and local consultant knowledge and skills, the case descriptions will primarily emphasize this aspect in the portraits.
Each project was quite different - some were relatively short duration and are able to be completed in the 8 months of the program training and coaching. Most however, are of quite longer duration and thus the PDPM skill building has been applied at the beginning or in some cases mid-point in execution.
The collection of cases will be published in English pdf format by the end of June. If funding is available, a Turkish translation will be provided by the end of summer.
They will be available from the CDP office PDPM Project Manager by request.
During the Performance Conference held by ISPI recently in San Francisco, there was great interest in the PDPM program underway in Northern Cyprus by both the Board of Directors and the senior leadership. It was highlighted as an excellent example of a rigorous certification program applying the Society principles and standards, and held out as a role model for future efforts.
The Training of Trainers was successful completed last week. The program for the pilot Introduction to PDPM workshop is confirmed for June. The course will be taught in Turkish language for a group of 12-15 participant managers.
Dates: 15 - 16 June 2010
As the space in limited, please contact Suna immediately with names of potential nominees. This course will focus on the basics of PDPM, with a focus on the attendees real projects, and will provide an overview for the beginning of ongoing coaching.
A short update of the Legnar project showing the processing operation in full action. At this time, the company is quickly approaching the deadline to receive proposals for equipment modernization of a portion of the production line.
During the training of trainers, performance expert Timm Esque, took a few minutes to lead a discussion on application of the method in the Turkish Cypriot Community. Some excerpts are below:
The final of 3 workshops was completed this past week. The workshop included progress briefings on all the 14 active projects, further focus on performance coaching and change management, and characteristics of high performing team leadership. The workshops have been supplemented with on-site and distance coaching over the past 6 months.
During the workshop, a focus is placed on leading high performance project teams.
Key characteristics of these teams are identified:
clear shared objectives
appropriate leadership
qualified members
effective planning
creative problem-solving
open 2 way communication
available resources
management of deadlines
To experience these conditions in real-time, participants execute two simulations that involve short deadline projects. Success requires team application of the high performance traits as portrayed in the following video clip:
As part of the two day workshop in April, each Project Manager will be asked to report out on their PDPM project. We will be simulating a “Management Review” such as you might provide for your sponsor(s). This provides our expectations of what we’d like you to present and how to prepare for the exercise ahead of the workshop. Your report out will serve three purposes:
1) For you to learn our recommendations for “reporting up” on projects
2) For you to practice these recommendations and get feedback
3) For you to inform us of the status of your projects so we can provide guidance as appropriate, and see what kinds of patterns come up across the projects.
Note: we are not asking to see the Deliverables Matrix in this presentation. We do not recommend presenting that much detail about the project upwards, unless it is specifically requested.
Additional Expectations
o Use your Local Consultants as a resource about how to prepare for the exercise.
o Try to get your 4 powerpoint slides (4 components) to your Local Consultant no later than March 26th They may have some suggested changes that need to be finalized before meeting with experts on 30-31 March.
o It is a good idea to practice your presentation. You will be limited to a maximum of 5 minutes of presentation not counting questions and answer.
The KNO expert team is returning for the the next incountry visit to Nicosia.This will be the 3nd in-depth opportunity for training and coaching following the 6 weeks of distance coaching during February and March.
Incountry Visit Timetable (29 March – 10 April 2010)
This team visit will include practical training workshops with a focus on your ongoing projects.It will be intense over a period of 2 weeks. This includes a series of pre-workshop meetings, a two day Project Manager workshop and one day Local Consultant workshop, and detailed individual coaching sessions in the week following the workshop.The incountry program follows this schedule:
oMarch 30, 31: coaching meetings to finalize Project Briefings
oApril 1st, 2nd:workshop (see enclosed agenda)
oApril 5th: experts meetings with local consultants
oApril 6th,, 7th:Train-the-Trainer for Local Consultants
oApril 7th - 10th:individual coaching meetings with project managers
All coaching meeting times will be agreed in advance by experts, local consultants, and project managers.Please insure your availability during the dates above, although exact meeting times will be flexible.
Workshops
These dates should be blocked out on your calendar already! It is important for you to attend the workshops in order to gain the ISPI certification.
1-2 April 2010Project Manager Workshop 3
6-7 April 2010Local Consultant Train-the-Trainer
The workshops will take place at Hotel Saray, from 9:00 – 17:00, on those days.Refreshments and lunch will be included.Dress is “business casual”. Working language is English. PLEASE ARRIVE ON TIME.
The workshop will include short Progress Briefings by all project managers scheduled throughout the 2 days.The briefings should follow the criteria and example of the PDPM template presentation described below.
All participants are required to attend the PM workshop, and local consultants must attend the LC Train-the-Trainer.
Video – Success Stories
During this visit, primarily during the TOT in the second week, short video interviews will be completed with all project managers, some supervisors, and other selected parties to document the successes, types of applications, lessons learned during the past 6 months of the PDPM effort.You will be contacted in advance to schedule short imterviews with experts Mari and Anna.
Project Briefings
As a continuing segment of the 1-2 April workshop, each Project Manager (working with their Local Consultant) is asked to present a short Progress Briefing for their project.Please see the guidelines below.
This should be approximately 5 minutes (4 slides) and prepared in advance.Your LC will assist in this preparation, and the meetings with experts on 30-31 March will be focused on finalizing these presentations.
Each briefer will be provided with immediate written feedback after the briefing regarding both areas of strength and opportunities for improvement.
Hilmi Numan is the member of the Rural Development Support team (RSDT) providing technical assistance in preparing a Rural Development Plan in the Turkish Cypriot Community.
Hilmi coordinates the project of building local development strategy in the North West area and the Karpaz areas.
The project helps to increase the local governance and improve the capacity of the local stakeholders in territorial management using a bottom-up approach and integrating multi-sector actions. One of the project goals is to prepare the call for proposals guidelines for local development strategy proposals under next package of EU intervention funds.
The project was initiated in October 2009 and by now sector analyses in the North-West area focused on tourism and culture, environment and forestry, fishery and agriculture have been completed.
The project has been implemented in close co-operation with the TCC central bodies in the sectors of agriculture, interior affairs, tourism, environment, culture, economy, planning etc.
Since December, Hilmi supported by Cem Cicek, PDPM local consultant has developed the deliverables sheet including the quality criteria for selected deliverables and started to implement the done/not done system in his work. Planning process and practical usage of the PDPM tools helped Hilmi to grasp the overall picture of the project and take control over committed actions.
Several changes in the project scope and schedule as well as resources since January have occurred. As a result the trade offs within the project team had to be implemented, nevertheless Hilmi was able to reorganize and focus on changed commitments.
The Management Centre provides management and development services to organizations in non-profit, private and public sectors in TCC. One of the projects realized at the MCC is focused on the developing skills of the middle managers at the local SMEs in TCC. The project started in December 2008 and will last till December 2010 and it is partly funded by the European Commission.
The project is managed by Eliz Tefik who is supported by Memduh Erismen, the PDPM local consultant, and Anna Čermáková, KNO expert. As a result of this project, 5 management courses provided by the MCC will be accredited by the Middlesex University, GB. These courses have been defined based on extensive needs analysis conducted among SME managers in TCC. Further on, 150 SME managers will be trained by local trainers to develop their key managerial skills and after their successful completion they will receive internationally accredited certificates.
The trainings and work on individual case studies will help SME managers to increase their businesses performance and competitiveness. The PDPM approach has been applied to map the past, present and future milestones of the project, define the deliverables per each milestone. As Eliz mentioned, the deliverables track sheet is very helpful in planning coming events, discussing the commitments within the team and supervising the deadlines. This will be very good source of information for preparation of the interim report. Since December up to now Eliz has been able to meet most of the planned deliverables.
Friday, February 26, 2010
The Buyukkonuk Eco-Tourism Association received a grant, which is the basis for experimenting with the PDPM approach.
This "project" is to build sustainability for the association by increasing knowledge and experience of members in staging festivals, weekly markets, other fund raising activities, as well as training in many aspects of eco-tourism.
The community of members meet weekly at a "Coffee morning' to discuss the last week's activities, plan the next event, and discuss longer term questions. This is evolving into "progress meetings" using the deliverables matrix. The hope is for the team to be more efficient by creating procedures for 'repeat job' or requirements that are necessary for each event.
This can help to encourage participation in the money making activities while at the same time allowing for easier understanding of the costs associated with staging the event - both financial and time/energy. Success in these areas will build increasing skill and confidence to tackle bigger issues of legislation, regulation, and cooperative efforts.
The executive team is working with the PDPM approach to organize the many efforts and events that they are undertaking. The effort is led by Ebru Deniz Tekman, supported by local consultant Ali Tuzunkan and expert Mari Novak.
The Akcaba Fiber Optics project is equipment acquisition and set up of a new manufacturing plant to produce fiber optics pigtails and patchcords. Based on the previous project deliverable of defining a new logo, the new manufacturing business is now known as FOPPEX.
In February, local consultant Cigdem Aksu facilitated a follow up map day meeting with Faize Akcaba (Managing Director and manager of this PDPM project) and her team. Team members got to cross off the deliverables they had completed on the original deliverables map, before defining the details of the next project horizon which includes deciding where to site the new plant and publishing tenders. It was clear that by conducting the meeting mostly in Turkish, the team was able to participate more fully.
Faize has traveled to China since the first Map Day to tour existing pigtail and patchcord plants. Her thorough documentation of this trip is helping the team envision their new plant and define the details of the plan.
A risk on this project has been the uncertainty of whether the Minister of Industries could provide a suitable site for the new manufacturing plant. To date, one property has been viewed, but a decision has not been made. Akcaba has a property it could use as a default if a better one is not offered. This critical decision will need to be made soon.
Faize is also seeking the first new employee of the manufacturing plant. There were no responses to the first job posting. However, a second posting in Turkish has yielded 5 candidates so far.
Welcome to the Performance Driven Project Management site. This blog tracks the progress of Turkish Cypriot project managers and local consultants on the journey to certification in PDPM. Select the links below to orient through the site for FAQs: 
