PMI Asia Pacific Congress KL

We are back from the 2009 PMI Asia Pacific Global Congress in Kuala Lumpur, and I would like to share my overall impressions.

The congress was definitely less crowded than last year in Sydney. A symptom of the tightening global economy, but paradoxically, this also made the event more enjoyable. There was time and space to meet and talk to interesting people, the quality of the papers was exceptional, and the social events entertaining and interesting.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Young Min Park’s paper suggesting many of the processes in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) were applied 200 years ago in Korea for the building of the Hwaseong fortress. This paper clearly demonstrated projects have been around for millennia.
• Patrick Weaver’s paper on Improving Schedule Management was selected for an encore presentation. He linked a clear understanding of the history of scheduling to the emerging views of projects as social networks and temporary knowledge organizations to suggest improved ways of using a schedule to influence future team actions and decisions.
• The Tastes of Malaysia reception–the food was interesting, the displays of local culture and music fascinating. And watching the dozens of project managers armed with wooden mallets hammering disks of pewter into bowls to take home was a sight to remember. What is it about us project managers that makes bashing something with a large hammer so attractive?

The congress has been fun and my SeminarsWorld workshop, The science and art of communicating effectively was well recieved, so overall our trip to KL was a week well spent.