A Bittersweet PMI Congress

PMI's annual conference was different this year.  As a long time member … my 21st consecutive symposium … there was an energy missing.  That energy was Eric Jennet, one of PMI’s original founders.  Eric died on Friday at the age of 86.  He was a character … he called it the way he saw it, and was not afraid to buck the tide. As a consequence, he was one of the most respected men I’ve ever known.  Eric was missed at PMI … but his legacy will live on.

The PMI Congress itself served as a perfect memorial to him. I didn’t get to many paper sessions, but I asked attendees in the hallways, on the elevators, at the events, "Have you liked the presentations you attended?”  The answer, for the most part, was a resounding “yes, they were pretty good!”  There was a lot of discussion about PMOs, how they are evolving and changing.  Agile Project Management is coming in like a lion and PMI’s new certification is positioning itself for a huge demand! The former SIGs have turned into Communities of Practice and signs of this transition still abound.

The new book just released by Kent Crawford and Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin, An Inside Look at High Performing PMOs was a hot item!  Kent’s ballroom-size class was filled with attendees who wanted to know more about the PMO of the Year winners and finalists and their best practices.

Overall, it was a good show filled with a mix of experience, wisdom, questions, and quests to discover best practices in project management. Eric would have enjoyed it ... and I'm sure he was there in spirit.