Washington DC Chapter
Brasilia Trip Report
Member-to-Member Exchange
November 2006
Janis Carter, PMP
[email protected]
INTRODUCTION
The PMI Washington, D.C. chapter (PMI-WDC) has created a Chapter-to-Chapter
program to focus on establishing and maintaining relationships with PMI Chapters
outside of the United States. I was selected to participate in the member
exchange between PMI-WDC and the PMI Distrito Federal Chapter (PMI-DF) in
Brazil. I spent twelve days in Brasilia, the capital city of Brazil learning about PMI
in Brasilia and observing project management practices at work in businesses and
government agencies. My goal was to establish a relationship with PMI-DF,
understand the environment in which PMI-DF operates, and look for opportunities
to enhance the partnership to achieve the goals of the Chapter-to-Chapter
program.
EVENTS
Tuesday, October 31st, 2006
Planning Meeting with UniCEUB
PMI-WDC recently reached an agreement with UniCEUB to have this Brasiliabased university begin offering PMP Certification training courses. PMI-DF and
UniCEUB decided to mark the occasion by publicly signing the contract agreement
during an event celebrating Engineering Week. Abiezer Fernandes, UniCEUB’s
Computer Engineering Coordinator organized the event, with the assistance of at
least 3 other professors and with the support of the University administration.
Rodrigo Loureiro, President of the PMI-DF Chapter, and I were tapped to deliver
presentations at the event. Professor Abiezer took me by surprise when he
requested that I deliver my presentation in Portuguese, but I accepted the
challenge. Pilar Abad and Sabrina Silva represented the PMI-DF board during this
planning meeting.
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Wednesday, November 1st, 2006
Panel Discussion with Engineering Class
Sabrina Silva had just received her PMP-Certification the previous Friday. A few
years prior to that, she had graduated from UniCEUB. Sabrina and I participated
in a panel discussion with Professor Abiezer Fernandes for one of his computer
engineering classes at UniCEUB. The students were enthusiastic and inspired to
see Sabrina, a former student, glowing from her recent achievement and working
at a very respectable project management position at a government agency. They
asked me questions about project team dynamics, getting started in project
management, managing projects overseas, Americans’ perceptions of Brazilian
professionalism and technical ability, and communicating bad news to clients, among
other topics.
Thursday, November 2, 2006
Strategy Session
The very dedicated PMI-DF board members spent their Memorial Day holiday
planning next year’s strategy for the Chapter. The board is up for reelection in
December.
The board confirmed its Mission and Vision Statements. The Mission is to serve
the needs of Chapter members and to develop the Project Management community
in Brasilia. The Vision is, by the end of 2008, to be recognized as the definitive
source of Project Management information while unifying a growing and
collaborative community of professionals. Board members performed a SWOT
(strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis of the PMI-DF
Chapter. This document might be an interesting artifact to review during the
teleconference between the PMI-DF and PMI-WDC boards to be scheduled in
December.
Some
•
•
•
•
of the Strengths:
The ability to award PDUs
Relationships with academia
PMI-sponsored certification training
Multi-language capabilities
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Some of the Weaknesses:
• Limited availability of professionals to participate on the board and as
volunteers for PMI
• Membership consists almost exclusively of project managers from the
Information Technology field
• Limited use of the media to promotion the organization.
(Interestingly enough, all challenges also articulated by the PMI-WDC board if
I’m not mistaken.)
One of the Threats:
• Many PMPs do not continue as PMI members after becoming certified
A Couple of the Opportunities
• PMPs need PDUs to maintain certification
• The Chapter-to-Chapter relationship with PMI-WDC
Friday, November 3, 2006
Project of the Future Presentation
Two PMI-DF Board Members, Marcelo Cota and Pilar Abad, are working on a
community services project that Marcelo developed. The project uses project
management methodology to guide underprivileged teenagers to take control of
their futures by developing a life plan. Project management processes are
presented in an easy to understand vocabulary that appeals to the teens through
the use of slang, characters dressed in the latest fashion, and references to
popular movies. Marcelo presented the paper he published on the Project of the
Future at the National Congress in Brazil this year. Marcelo believes, and I agree,
that the project has applications beyond Brazil. The Chapter is interested in
adapting this project to the USA and perhaps even globally. One of my
recommendations is that the Chapters evaluate the potential of collaborating to
expand this project as a means of building our Chapter-to-Chapter relationship. I
volunteer to help with translation of existing Portuguese documentation into
English.
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Monday, November 6, 2006
Interview for UniCEUB Monthly Magazine
Camila Fernandes, a UniCEUB journalism student and reporter for the university’s
monthly magazine, interviewed me on the topic of women in project management
and technical fields. The front page of the October 2006 issue of PM Network
magazine highlighted 25 Influential Women in Project Management and featured a
picture of Margareth Carneiro, one of the founders of the PMI-DF Chapter.
Perfect timing! I had the inside article which described Margareth’s career and
Camila photocopied it and plans to include information about Brasilia’s local success
story in her article.
Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Brasilia North Rotary Meeting
PMI-DF board member Marcelo Cota invited me to attend the weekly lunch meeting
of the Brasilia North Rotary Club. As I was a Rotary Youth Exchange Student in
Brazil while I was in high school, I was given the opportunity to say a few words
about how that experience had shaped my life and resulted in my being in Brasilia
30 years later. Marcelo and I had the opportunity to discuss PMI a bit and explain
about the Chapter-to-Chapter exchange between PMI-DF and PMI-WDC.
Banco Central do Brasil - Marcelo Cota e Victor Rascop
Two PMI-DF board members work at the Banco Central do Brasil, a federal
institution comparable to the United State’s Federal Reserve. The Banco Central
contracted with the Gartner Group in 2000 to do a study of its Information
Technology. One of the Gartner Group’s recommendations was for Banco Central
to implement a Project Management Office (PMO). Banco Central now has 3: the
Information Technology, the Corporate, and the Business Unit PMOs. The PMOs
oversee projects using a project methodology called Gepro that is based on the
PMBOK, but customized to the Banco Central. The PMI-DF Chapter helped the
Banco Central develop its internal training materials. Banco Central uses
homegrown project management software called GPA, but will be moving to
Microsoft Project soon.
Engineering Week Celebration at UniCEUB
The event went off as planned with over 300 people watching the activities from
various classrooms around the university. The agreement between PMI-DF and
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UniCEUB was signed with great fanfare. PMI-DF Chapter president Rodrigo
Loureiro spoke about PMI, the local Chapter, PMP certification and the contents of
the PMBOK. I gave my presentation about the Chapter-to-Chapter effort and the
PMI-WDC Chapter, in Portuguese. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Pilar Abad
for her assistance in translating my presentation slides and to Marcelo Cota for
perfecting the final product. Copies of my presentation slides in both English and
Portuguese are included as attachments to this trip report with the
recommendation that they be posted to the Chapter-to-Chapter website as a
reference for future Chapter-to-Chapter exchange representatives. Thanks to
the UniCEUB for pushing me outside of my comfort zone and to the PMI-DF people
and UniCEUB staff who provided emotional and practical support to the effort.
Toward the end of the event, a number of door prizes were awarded including a
free seat in the next PMI-DF-sponsored certification training class beginning
before the end of November. A picture of me doing my presentation appeared in
the local Brasilia paper after the event.
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Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Politec – Pilar Abad
Politec is the largest IT services provider in Brazil. The company is CMMcertified. Its domestic clients include federal and state government agencies, and
companies from the Banking and Healthcare industries. The company is expanding
its global efforts as an offshore provider of IT services. Target markets include:
USA (there is an office in Herndon, VA), Belgium, France, and Japan, among others.
Politec is a company with heart. The company demonstrates a firm commitment to
employee training and career development and has a very low employee turnover
rate as a result. Politec is also active in community programs focused on bringing
technology to disadvantaged children and those with special needs. The company
even has a training program for its cleaning staff to give them the opportunity to
develop technical skills.
Politec currently has over 70 PMP-certified employees. The company pays 100% of
the any expenses an employee incurs in becoming certified. Politec provides inhouse certification training classes. The company also covers the cost of an
employee’s MBA, paying 50% of the costs during the process and reimbursing the
other 50% upon completion of the degree.
Project Management practices are well established.
Brasil Telecom – Flávio Costa
Brasil Telecom is a telecommunications company that provides telephone and
Internet services to end consumers. Brasil Telecom is committed to implementing
project management methodology and has established PMOs within the
organization. Microsoft Project is the project management tool in use at Brasil
Telecom. The company sponsored a program through George Washington
University to allow its project managers to achieve the Masters of Project
Management certification offered by the university. Brasil Telecom project
managers were curious about what would be required to expand this certificate
into an actual masters degree (MBS). They were also interested in perhaps
attending a PMI event outside of Brazil and asked PMI to provide information
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about which event might be most beneficial for Project Managers working in
Telecommunications.
Thursday, November 9, 2006
Serviço de Processamento de Dados do Governo Federal (Serpro)
Sabrina Silva
Serpro is Brazil’s federal data processing service. Just over four years ago, a
strong executive sponsor mandated the use of project management methodology.
Serpro spent a year planning its strategy and adapting the PMBOK to Serpro’s
environment. Three years ago, Serpro had one PMP-certified employee; today
there are 105. Serpro covers all costs incurred by the employee in becoming
certified. Serpro has 3 PMOs. The director of the PMO responsible for strategic
projects gave an enthusiastic presentation demonstrating how much the force of
personality can inspire organizations to achieve goals that would otherwise be
impossible. The Strategic Projects PMO is very much a support organization that
mentors and educates Serpro staff while not so subtly building project
management processes into daily activities.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Ministério da Previdência Social (MPS)- Julio Casaes
MPS serves roughly the same function as the American Social Security
Administration. Since 2004, MPS has had a PMO and been using PMI methodology
oversee Information Technology projects. Recently, in 2006, the PMO increased
its scope to include projects outside of IT. MPS developed most of its own
materials and tools. Microsoft Project is the current Project Management
software with plans to expand use of the Web version. The PMO is currently
overseeing 14 projects and expects an additional 6 to begin before the end of
November. MPS was unique in that the PMO staff was predominantly female and
that the majority of them were contract employees. PMO staff cited difficulty in
getting people to make decisions and not having PM managers dedicated to project
work as challenges.
A portion of the meeting was a rollicking discussion of women in project
management. All agreed with the potential for success in the practice of project
management and that many women function quite effectively in a collaborative
work environment. MSP employees were able to cite many examples from their
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personal experiences. They also pointed to interpersonal skills as critical to the
professional and felt that these skills have traditionally been more associated with
women.
Tribunal Superior Eleitoral (TSE)– Giuseppe Janino
TSE is a specialized court of law dedicated to overseeing the election process.
Brazil has fully electronic elections and was the first country in the world to do so.
Voting is mandatory for the country’s more than 188 million citizens. The TSE has
confronted enormous challenges to provide electronic facilities to remote areas of
the country. TSE has received a lot of international attention because of the
efficiency with which the votes are counted. Brazil had held a presidential election
10 days or so before my visit to the TSE. All votes were tallied within 2.5 hours
after the polls closed. TSE staff was still basking in the glow of success while
they discussed plans to implement a PMO at TSE. I had the opportunity to meet
briefly with TSE’s Director General. He showed me an article that had been
published that day stating the American government was interested testing
Brazil’s electronic voting booths.
OBSERVATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
• Brasilia, like Washington, DC Chapter also offers PMP-Certification training
classes through the chapter. This represents a less expensive alternative to
other institutions offering the training and represents an income source for
the chapter.
•
PMI-DF needs to have copies of PMBOK and other materials on hand in
country as some project managers may not have the international credit card
required to purchase materials from the PMI website.
•
Americans have a more entrenched custom of participation in professional
organizations. This sort of involvement is not nearly as common in Brazil.
During the strategy session, the PMI-DF board discussed the problem of
members not remaining in the organization after becoming certified.
•
According to an executive at Politec, the Brazilian military recently began
requiring PMP-certification for project managers. The requirement also
specifies that the project manager have two years of experience with
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projects of a specific size. We are seeing the same trend with government
agencies in the USA.
•
When discussing project management methodology, a number of individuals
pointed out two challenges to implementing the technology in Brazil. First,
planning is not a characteristic of Brazilian culture and many are resistant to
it. One project manager said that when she’s planning, she feels under a lot
of pressure to begin “real work.” Second, individual roles are not as clearly
defined in Brazil as they seem to be in the USA. The methodology assumes
the roles are delineated.
LESSONS LEARNED
• A video link was available and would have allowed participation of PMI-WDC
Chapter members in the UniCEUB event, but we didn’t think of including
them until the last minute. It would have been a great touch and we should
incorporate a few words from our chapter president or some other PMIWDC member at any similar Chapter-to-Chapter events if a video link can be
planned in advance.
•
I left for Brazil before the award I was to present to the PMI-DF Chapter
was ready. John Scanlon kindly shipped the award to a PMI-DF
representative. We were dismayed to find out that Brazil imposes a 100%
import tax based on the declared value of the item. Check with locals
before shipping to determine ways to avoid complications.
•
I would have liked to have been more knowledgeable about and had more
exposure to the PMI-WDC board before my trip. I think/hope that the
conference call meeting we are planning between the PMI-DF and PMI-WDC
boards will bridge any gaps.
•
For the Chapter-to-Chapter member exchanges, a certain level of familiarity
with the language and culture of the host country greatly facilitates making
productive use of a short period of time. The standardized package of
information we plan to prepare for future Chapter-to-Chapter exchanges will
also help in this regard.
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RECOMMENDATIONS AND NEXT STEPS
• Schedule Conference Call between the PMI-WDC and PMI-DF boards in
early December (Saturday, December 2 or 9??; Janis has responsibility)
•
Coordinate Brazilian exchange member visit to Washington in January with
whatever sort of chapter event we decide to use to disseminate information
about the Chapter-to-Chapter experience with PMI-DF
•
Develop a Plan to work with PMI-DF to expand the scope of Marcelo Cota’s
Project of the Future beyond Brazil.
•
Expand relationship to include the Sao Paulo Chapter. Through PMI-DF we
have a relationship with a membership that represents the government
agencies and commercial entities with offices in Brasilia. Sao Paulo is the
business capital of the country. A Chapter-to-Chapter relationship that
includes both PMI-DF and PMI-Sao Paulo would establish links with the
majority of agencies and organizations with which a PMI-WDC project
manager is likely to have professional contact.
CONCLUSION
I found project management methodology to be well established in Brasilia. The
project management community in Brazil appears to have many of the same
concerns and professional challenges as project managers in the USA. The
Chapter-to-Chapter partnership has the potential to increase and diversify the
resources available to advance the project management profession.
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