Written by Theresa McCoy

On March 12, 2019, Dr. Hai T. Ho, PhD, professor and Head of Computer Engineering Department at Kennesaw State University, was the featured speaker at the Architecture Engineering & Construction (AEC) Forum.

Dr. Ho described how Artificial Intelligence enables machines to “think” and act (rationally) like humans with capabilities such as speech processing, image perception and “thinking” (i.e. learn, process and make decisions). He shared some current examples of these capabilities, which included a robot learning to do a backflip on its own, chatbots that sound and react like a human being and even a Sony AIBO robot dog that responds to touch and “builds a relationship” with people like a pet owner.   Other more prominent examples include image processing that is used in autonomous or “driver-less” cars. Dr. Ho also pointed out that when you click “like” or “comment” on websites, often you are contributing information gathering that is used for AI!

In a deeper dive, Dr. Ho briefly discussed how machines learn as this is the underpinning of AI. He also shared how neural networks are the backbone for AI input.  For example, programmers and engineers provide the input and mathematical algorithms are created to mimic the brain based on a mathematical function.  Thus, it’s critical to figure out the right “architecture” for the neural network or machine learning in order to produce the desired output.

Applications for AI span many forms including smart devices, farming (i.e. to sort produce), the creation of art such as paintings, medical diagnosis, lip reading and many more. In the age of technology, AI is interesting,compelling and,yes, evenintimidating.  Whether you take an optimistic or pessimistic view, there are certainly many interesting AI developments and applications that will impact everyone in some way, shape or form both now and in the future.

About PMI

Atlanta Chapter serves Project Management Community in Metro Atlanta, and we're an active resource to corporations, community and government agencies throughout north Georgia. With over 5,000 members, PMI Atlanta is among the top 5 chapters in the world. Our professional expertise span across industries; we’re the professionals building healthcare information technology systems, the engineers developing smarter public transportation, and the planners growing our communities more efficiently.

Written by Claudia Greene, PMP

PMI Atlanta Healthcare Forum enjoyed an informative and interactive presentation on Change and Change Leadership delivered by Charles Johnson.

Charles’ career spans many years in customer service assignments including Sales, Management, and Operations, integrating technologies such as Sales Force, Mobility, Business Intelligence, Big Data and advanced analytics to bring a better experience and solve customer and employee challenges.

Charles began his presentation with a bit of humour – a picture of a dinosaur with the caption “change is inevitable.” He went on to discuss change – its impact on everyone, business and personal. Charles presented attendees with visuals – F.W. Woolworth Co., Blockbuster Video Stores, Sears Christmas Catalogs – asking attendees if they could remember these. He then engaged the group in discussing what happened to each of these businesses. Simply put – change. Technological advances began to allow others to offer new and existing products and services via different avenues, creating competition for the front-runners. He explained that when companies are slow to embrace change and make adjustments to be competitive, they become obsolete.

Charles shared with the attendees that technology is changing at breakneck speed. He did a comparison of music players – from the Walkman to DVD/CD to I-pod. He explained that the individual with the original idea for a handheld music device did not garner interest by large companies, thus, he was not taken seriously, until he approached Apple. Apple could see the big picture and he was hired and we all know the success the I-pod has been, as well as the other products that have evolved because of it. Charles parlayed the reality of this missed opportunity into why we fail at change. He stated a number of reasons companies fail at change – fear, skill gap, not understanding the impact, failure to think it through, managerial courage, budget, commitment. Charles pointed out that successful change requires people, the right people, thus stakeholder analysis is critical.

Here are some questions to consider during stakeholder analysis:
• Ultimately, what is important to the customer and what is this person’s role?
• How will they impact success?
• Leadership ability to stay the course, buy in?

Charles moved on to address the big picture of change. He emphasized that change is not a maybe, but guaranteed – so embrace and plan for it. Leading change requires ensuring engagement at all levels. Lastly, Charles stressed measuring the progress of the change in real-time and making adjustments/corrections if needed. He invited the attendees to look at John Kotter’s 8 steps to change model, as it presents an outline for leading change.

Charles concluded his presentation with humor – another picture of the dinosaur – this time with a caption that stressed, “Without the power to adapt, things can get a little risky.”

Detailed information on all the upcoming Forums can be found at: http://www.pmiatlanta.org. Please join us!

 About PMI

Atlanta Chapter serves Project Management Community in Metro Atlanta, and we're an active resource to corporations, community and government agencies throughout north Georgia. With over 5,000 members, PMI Atlanta is among the top 5 chapters in the world. Our professional expertise span across industries; we’re the professionals building healthcare information technology systems, the engineers developing smarter public transportation, and the planners growing our communities more efficiently.

Written By Theresa McCoy

The Architecture Engineering & Construction Forum hosted Monica Varriale, Global Strategy and Program Development Leader, for an engaging discussion on Managing Global Projects.

Monica outlined the innovation process in moving from global to regional and finally country specific execution in a cross-functional team environment. Within this process there are four key areas that drive project success, which is particularly important for global project execution. These include:
• Alignment
• Chartering
• Forecasting
• Handover (global to regional)

Monica also stressed the importance of team alliance and taking ownership in order to be truly successful in executing innovation in the market. Chartering is also critical so that the team connects the project to the promised benefits of the brand to ensure the innovation is meaningful in each region and country targeted for product innovation launch. In her consumer goods case study, Monica emphasized the criticality of cross-functional engagement with the regions and countries early and often to achieve ultimate success.

Lastly, Monica illustrated how complex global projects can be successfully managed and executed to the regional level through employing best practices, embracing flexibility and leveraging regional strengths to maintain a highly productive global cross-functional team.

Detailed information on all the upcoming Forums can be found at: http://www.pmiatlanta.org.  Please join us!

 About PMI

Atlanta Chapter serves Project Management Community in Metro Atlanta, and we're an active resource to corporations, community and government agencies throughout north Georgia. With over 5,000 members, PMI Atlanta is among the top 5 chapters in the world. Our professional expertise span across industries; we’re the professionals building healthcare information technology systems, the engineers developing smarter public transportation, and the planners growing our communities more efficiently.

Written by D'Lovely Gibson

During our February Governance Forum, we had the pleasure of engaging with Michael Rice, Sr. Director of Technology at Cox Communications about their successes and lessons learned implementing a Network Operation Center (NOC).

Most corporations have a NOC that focuses on Service Assurance, and Michael spoke about the importance of technology and tool automation. Cox, like many companies, is focused on efficiency, effectiveness, and enablement of NOC areas surrounding problem identification, analysis, and restoration. To stay best in class, companies are implementing the latest advancements in technology automation including machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics (process automation), and analytics. With this advanced technology, Cox is able to focus on decreasing mean time to identify and resolving network issues at fast rates all while enabling customer experience and satisfaction.

The support of a robust project management team was critical for delivering Cox’s NOC implementation. Co-location and collaboration across various teams of project managers was important in delivering against an aggressive timeline. While governance changed constantly to keep up with ever changing resources, team structures, and risk mitigation strategies, a “we’re one team” attitude across the delivery team was essential for a successful launch.

 About PMI

Atlanta Chapter serves Project Management Community in Metro Atlanta, and we're an active resource to corporations, community and government agencies throughout north Georgia. With over 5,000 members, PMI Atlanta is among the top 5 chapters in the world. Our professional expertise span across industries; we’re the professionals building healthcare information technology systems, the engineers developing smarter public transportation, and the planners growing our communities more efficiently.

Written By Jacqlyn Shelton

On January 15, 2019, the Agile Forum of Atlanta presented the "Backlog Planning Exercise" led by Rob Phillips (Principal Solutions Architect/AgileCraft) and Sara Phillips (CSM, PMP, PE, and Project Manager).

The purpose for the "Backlog Planning Exercise" was to generate and rank topics for the 2019 Agile Forum Event Calendar. The backlog process began with the formation five self-managed brainstorming groups. Each person in the group generated an idea about their favorite Agile topic, something they wanted to learn or believed others would benefit from learning.

The second phase of the backlog process utilized the ranking method. Each person used a point-value scale to grade their colleague's idea. The idea with the best evaluation from their colleagues moved on to the next level of scoring. The brainstorming sessions generated twenty-one potential Agile topics to explore.

In the last phase of the process, Rob and Sara explained how to execute multiple scoring and the evaluation methods that can be utilized to rank topics. All of the attendees participated by voting in a ranking session that highlighted defined business values applicable to the Agile Forum. The forum was successful in generating a backlog of topics for the Agile Forum Event Calendar.

Thank you, Rob and Sara Phillips, for facilitating and demonstrating a process that encouraged interaction among the participants, that engaged the participant's creativity, and that executed the agile decision-making process.

Thank you, MATRIX Resources for sponsoring the PMI Atlanta Agile Forum.

MATRIX Resources has 35 Years of Excellence experience providing staffing, agile and digital transformation services to help companies solve tough IT and business challenges. Visit www.matrixres.com for resources and information.

The PMI Atlanta Agile Forum provides value by helping members enhance their Agile implementation knowledge in an interactive setting, as well as, learn and share ideas on various Agile tools, techniques, and best practices. Everyone is welcome!

We look forward to seeing you at the February 19, 2019 meeting at 6 pm. Register at www.pmiatlanta.org

About PMI

Atlanta Chapter serves Project Management Community in Metro Atlanta, and we're an active resource to corporations, community and government agencies throughout north Georgia. With over 5,000 members, PMI Atlanta is among the top 5 chapters in the world. Our professional expertise span across industries; we’re the professionals building healthcare information technology systems, the engineers developing smarter public transportation, and the planners growing our communities more efficiently.