MITPM 2009

(From the Q4 2009 IT&T SIG Newsletter)

By Dave Prior and SK Khor

During the first week of December, IT&T SIG Chair, Petra Goltz and IT&T SIG Past Chair, Dave Prior had a chance to join IT&T SIG Asia Pacific Regional Director, SK Khor and PMI Fellow and 2006 PMI Chair Iain Frasier for MITPM 2009 Conference Awana Genting in Kuala Lumpur.

MITPM is an annual regional project management conference focusing on ICT industry and the IT & Telecom SIG has been supporting the event since 2006. The growth of project management in the area is an amazing success story and it has been fueled by a unique pairing of private and government resources who have worked together for the past few years to ensure that it established a solid foothold as technology and PM best practices take root in the region.

This year, Keynote Speaker and IT&T SIG Chair, Petra Goltz led things off with her talk "Beyond 2009: New Challenges for PM" (see her article “Challenges for Project Managers in the years ahead “ in this newsletter). IT&T SIG Past Chair Dave Prior followed with a presentation on the new PMIS Paradigm and introduced some tools and alternatives that are available for PMs as we move into and beyond Web 2.0 and Social Networking. Then PMI Fellow and 2006 PMI Chair, Iain Frasier, led a very insightful roundtable discussion on the topic of "Project Governance in a Challenging Time" and followed up with a workshop called "The Fast Track PM: Managing Multiple Priorities".

(Video of these presentations will be posted for IT&T SIG members in the coming weeks – stay tuned for more details.)

MITPM is supported by a number of sponsors including a nationwide initiative in Malaysia called Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Malaysia. MSC Malaysia is currently hosting more than 900 multinationals, foreign-owned and home-grown Malaysian companies and it is rapidly becoming a dynamic hub for the ICT industry in the region. MSC Malaysia is directed by the Multimedia Development Corporation (www.mdec.com.my) or MDEC. MDEC is committed to “drive MSC Malaysia by empowering businesses and connecting communities through ICT; and to facilitate Malaysia’s goal of becoming the preferred location for ICT and multimedia innovations, operations and services.”

During MITPM, IT&T SIG Past Chair, Dave Prior had the opportunity to spend some time with MDEC’s Chief Operating Officer Ms. Ng Wan Peng, Head of Capability Development Dr Karl Ng and Manager Ms. Aiza Zeyati Zamani. They explained that when MDEC was first started, it was primarily concerned with trying to create jobs in the region, but in 2003/2004 it took on a more proactive approach to ensuring that not only were jobs being created, but that skilled resources were trained and ready to fill them. By partnering with local Project Management training Specialist like the Advanced Technologies Studies Center (ATSC), they have been able to grow from 80 PMPs at the start of 2005 to over 2000 in 2009. This significant growth has contributed to the recent trend that has led many multinational foreign-owned organizations to establish a presence in Cyberjaya. Cyberjaya is the heart of MSC Malaysia, and for many foreign-owned companies doing business in Malaysia it serves as the location of choice for their Project Management Centre of Excellence, serving the needs of project management expertise across the entire Asia Pacific region.

The work of MDEC extends well beyond just promoting traditional project management best practices. In fact, it addresses technology concerns extending across all verticals. This includes providing education, mentoring and support for everything from Microsoft to Cisco technologies, to ITIL and to innovative and leadership programs, and Agile approaches to technology such as Scrum. In fact this December ATSC hosted one of the first Certified Scrum Master training sessions in Malaysia and is poised to help Agile grow in the region to support projects that require an alternative approach to traditional project management.

The work between MDEC, local organizations like ATSC and groups like the IT&T SIG are a model for how various groups around the globe can come together to help bring focus to new and emerging ideas in regions that are growing and establishing their role in the global IT workscape. The IT&T SIG is very proud to be able to contribute to continued growth in the region and is looking forward to exciting new things in 2010.