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From: [email protected] on behalf of ProjectPro E-News

<[email protected]>

Sent: 29 April 2011 02:35 PM

To: [email protected]

Subject: ProjectPro May e-Newsletter

Attachments: Untitled attachment 00043.txt

No. 108: May 2011 email: [email protected] or Tel: +27 (0)12 346 6674

In This Issue

• ProjectPro Celebrates 20th

Anniversary

• Resignations and Litigation

Hit Services Seta

• ISO 21500 Guidance on

Project Management- Is It a PMBOK Clone?

• Richard Branson Takes the

plunge

• Report on Gulf of Mexico

Oil-spill Disaster

• Demand is Growing for

Agile Practices in Project

Management

• Air France Wreck Found

After 22 Months

• Minamata "Disease" -

World’s 9th Worst Environmental Disaster

PROJEPROJEPROJEPROJECTPROCTPROCTPROCTPRO

PMBOK-based

methodology uses

Life Cycle Approach

7 – 10 June 2011

ProjectPro has converted

ProjectPro Celebrates 20th Anniversary

Two decades ago Terry Deacon,

while hiking in the Magoebaskloof

forests, made a watershed

decision to start a national project

management magazine, which

resulted in the establishment of

one of South Africa’s leading

project management training and

consulting companies.

Terry, then a project manager

with BKS Consulting Engineers,

had no experience in publishing,

marketing, journalism, editing,

typesetting or printing. However,

he applied project management

principles to this daunting

endeavour, and started compiling

a business case. This indicated a

need for marketing skills so Terry

went back to University for the

third time, to do a marketing

course at Unisa. For his

assignment he did a survey to

determine if there was a market

demand for a project

management magazine. The result was a resounding YES.

So in June 1991 the first edition of ProjectPro magazine was published.

While Terry was still working as a full-time project manager, he was

producing the quarterly magazine by working evenings, weekends and

holidays. His wife, Esther supported him as office manager and in raising

their two young daughters.

During the first year of publication the Specialist Press Association (SPA)

urged Terry to enter the ProjectPro magazine in the SPA national awards

programme. Terry and Esther arrived at the glittering function where they

were overawed by all the publishing tycoons, smoking cigars and wearing

tuxedos and bowties. Terry and Esther quietly retired to a corner table,

away from the limelight.

Much to ProjectPro’s amazement and delight they walked off with two

major awards that memorable evening. The look on the tycoon’s faces

clearly said, “How did these newcomers do that?” The answer is of course

PROJECTPROPROJECTPROPROJECTPROPROJECTPRO

Engineering & Construction

Project Management Course

13 - 15 June 2011,

Midrand

The Engineering and

Construction Project

Management (ECPM)

training course is a

3-day intermediate level

course covering the

principles,

processes, tools and

techniques of project

management in an

engineering and

construction context.

This course is based on

the internationally

recognised Project

Management Body Of

Knowledge

(PMBOK®Guide) and its

Construction Extension

published by the Project

Management

Institute (PMI) in the

USA. It has been

adapted to the South

African built environment

and takes

the learner through the

entire project life cycle

phases: Initial Briefing,

Concept, Design,

Procurement,

2

the well known and

respected Project

Management Body of

Knowledge

(PMBOK) standard into a

comprehensive

methodology.

Project managers can now

use ProjectPro's

ProjectFlow®

methodology to effectively

navigate their way to a

successful project

outcome, instead of

working through the

daunting 490 pages of

the PMBOK 4th edition.

The ProjectFlow®

methodology guides users

in a step-by-step fashion

to initiate, plan, execute,

monitor & control and

close each phase of their

projects. Each step is

hyperlinked to explanatory

text and/or templates.

Unlike many other

methodologoes, the

ProjectFlow® uses a

flexible descriptive, rather

than a prescriptive

approach.

The ProjectFlow® uses a

life-cycle approach to

managing a project, which

enables you to apply the

PMBOK processes and

knowledge areas to the

project life cycle of any

project, big or small,

comprising of any number

of phases. The

ProjectFlow® can be

used on any project

discipline from engineering

& construction,

information &

communication

technology, to event

management and research

& development. A range of

templates is provided in

the ProjectFlow® library

which can be adopted and

adapted, or the templates

can be customised for a

particular organisation or

project.

The ProjectFlow®

structure is well suited to

training project team

members in the processes,

tools and techniques of

project management. With

this in mind, ProjectPro

offers a 4-day

– project management.

On the strength of this success Terry went full-time into publishing

ProjectPro magazine, and supplemented the magazine’s income by doing

project management consulting (read more). It soon became apparent

that there was a big demand for project management training, so

ProjectPro launched their highly successful 4-day experiential ProjectFlow

course. It was unique, in that the delegates would actually draw up a

project management plan to build rafts and execute a search and

recovery exercise for a chest of “gold” bars on a local lake or river. The

project was implemented on the morning of the final day of the course

with progress being tracked using Earned Value Management on laptop

computers. A close-out session with evaluations and lessons learned is

held on the afternoon of the final day (read more)

In 2001 ProjectPro made a strategic decision that the future of publishing

was digital, so they upgraded their website to convert the printed

magazine into an online eZine (a pull approach) combined with a monthly

email eNewsletter (push approach). The 100th edition of ProjectPro eNews

was published in August 2010.

In line with ProjectPro’s confidence in the future of cyberspace an online

Project Management Professional exam preparation eLearning course will

be launched in mid-2011. For more details contact [email protected]

ProjectPro’s spectrum of courses offered in 2011 presently stands at 21.

Visit www.projectpro.co.za for details. ProjectPro training is not only in

demand locally, but also internationally in Botswana, Kenya, Zambia,

Malaysia, Singapore, UAE, Thailand, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The ProjectPro team would like to take this opportunity to thank all our

clients, delegates, learners, readers, advertisers, and contributors for

their support over the past two decades. We look forward to serving you

in future.

Back to top

Resignations and Litigation Hit Services Seta

Construction and

Close-out.

The ECPM course is

validated by the South

African Institute of Civil

Engineers

(SAICEproj10/00756/13)

and contributes 3 credits

towards Continuing

Professional

Development

Who should attend?

Engineers, Construction

Project Managers,

Consulting and Design

Engineers, Engineers-in-

Training, Functional

Managers, Project

Sponsors, Architects,

Quantity Surveyors, etc.

will find this course

invaluable.

ProjectPro Management

Services is an accredited

training provider with

SAQA / Services Seta

(No. 097), PMSA,

SAACE, and ASAQS.

ProjectPro also consults

and runs in-house

courses, customised to

your specific needs

throughout Southern

Africa. Visit our website

at www.projectpro.co.za

for details of other

courses, fees, training

dates and to register

online.

ProjectPro Management

Services P O Box 25430,

Monument Park, 0105

Tel: 012 346 6674 or 082 557 3119

Fax: 012 346 6675 E-mail:

[email protected]

ProjectPro Training Calendar – Gauteng

3

ProjectFlow® course

which uses the

methodology as an

integral part of the

training. Each delegate

receives a CD containing

the methodology which

they can use on their

actual projects after the

course.

Public courses are held in

Gauteng, South Africa, but

in-house courses can be

arranged anywhere in the

world. The next public

course is from 3 – 6 May

2011 in Centurion,

Gauteng. ProjectPro has a

special introductory offer

of 15% discount on our

normal fee, which means

you get 4 days of training,

a CD containing the

ProjectFlow® Basic

methodology, a PMBOK 4th

edition, comprehensive

course manual, ProjectPro

t-shirt, membership access

to ProjectPro’s e-Library

and e-News all for R 9 995

incl. VAT. Beat the 2011

price increase by

registering now.

Please contact Terry

Deacon of ProjectPro on

+27 (0)12 346 6674 or

+27 (0)82 557 3119 or

[email protected] or

visit our website

www.projectpro.co.za

PROJECTPROPROJECTPROPROJECTPROPROJECTPRO

Program

Management

Professional (PgMP)

Two-day workshop. 12 – 13 May 2011

Midrand

Program managers can

now obtain a prestigious

credential that recognizes

their knowledge,

experience and skills with

the Project Management

Institute’s (PMI) Program

Management Professional

(PgMP).

On 26 April 2011 providers were advised by Vernon

Naidoo, Chief Financial Officer of the Services SETA

(Sector Education and Training Authority), that the

SETA had been placed under administration by the

Department of Higher Education (DHET) in terms of

Government Gazette No.34245. Consequently all

transactional banking was stopped by DHET.

The Services Seta looks after the skills development

interests of about 180 000 firms in 37 separate industries ranging from

project management, labour recruitment, marketing, property and

general business, to beauty and funeral services. It derives an income of

about R750 million a year from skills development levies paid by member

companies.

The Seta, already heading for a court showdown with Higher Education

and Training Minister Blade Nzimande, has been hit by a spate of

resignations from top management. Among those who have resigned are

suspended chief executive Ivor Blumenthal and two of his three deputy

chief executives, Treaty Moshoeshoe (Operations) and Vernon Naidoo

(CFO).

Others who submitted their resignations are secretary Prelini Bennideen,

human resources manager Bonita Brider, learnerships and grants

manager Sydney Moonsamy, trade and disability manager Isobel Byleveld

and Blumenthal’s personal assistant Zelda le Roux.

All eight leave the Services Seta at the end of April. The only deputy chief

executive still on the job is Devan Naicker, who was last week appointed

to the post of acting chief executive after Blumenthal was suspended and

Naidoo and Moshoeshoe refused offers to take his place.

Naidoo and Moshoeshoe declined the position, saying they did not

recognise the legitimacy of Blumenthal’s suspension by Nzimande-

appointed independent Seta board chairperson Sihle Moon.

The Labour Court hearing of the urgent application brought by the

Services Seta, Blumenthal and six others against Nzimande to declare the

minister’s decision to gazette a new Seta board and constitution as

beyond his legislated authority will continue, despite the resignations. The

application also seeks Blumenthal’s reinstatement. Blumenthal said this

was “a matter of principle rather than practicality, since I will anyway be

leaving by the end of the month”. Blumenthal resigned in January in

order to respect the Department of Higher Education and Training’s

transformation wishes. He became Services Seta chief executive when

the authority opened its doors in 2000.

Back to top

ISO 21500 Guidance on Project Management - Is it a PMBOK Clone?

The International Standards

Organisation (ISO) is developing a new

standard entitled ISO 21500 Guidance

on Project Management. The Draft

International Standard (DIS) was

issued to members of the South African

Bureau of Standards (SABS) Technical

Committee (TC) 236 on 15 April 2011

for comment. ProjectPro’s Terry

Deacon, a TC member, reports on the

progress made so far and the contents

of the draft document.

There are striking similarities between

the ISO 21500 Guidance on Project Management to be published by ISO

in 2012, and the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge

(PMBOK Guide)TM 4th Edition which is published by the Project

Management Institute (PMI) based in the USA.

Courses are SAQA/Services

Seta/ PMSA/ECSA

accredited/recorded

Engineering and Construction

Project Management

13 – 15 June 2011, Gauteng

Project Management Demystified


ProjectFlow


Project Management Professional / CAPM

23 – 25 May 2011, Gauteng

27 – 29 July 2011, Gauteng

PMP/CAPM Saturday mornings Workshops

20 Augudt – 15 October 2011, Gauteng

Advanced: Program

Management Professional (PgMP) Workshop


Microsoft Project 2010 Scheduling - Introductory



Microsoft Project 2010 Scheduling - Advanced



PMI-Project Scheduling Professional



PMI-Risk Management Professional


4

The PgMP credential

recognizes those

practitioners who are

responsible for the

coordinated

management of

multiple, related

projects that advance

organizational

objectives and strategic

goals.

Who should attend?

* candidates wishing

to prepare and apply

for the PgMP® exam

* for executives,

project sponsors,

project directors,

program managers,

portfolio managers,

Project Management

Office (PMO) heads,

quantity surveyors

wishing to know

more about the

processes and

benefits of the

program

management

approach in

supporting

organisational

strategy.

* holders of the

Project Management

Professional (PMP®)

credential who can

earn 15 Professional

Development Units

(PDU) for re-

certification

purposes.

The PgMP uses

three evaluations that

include:

* An application

review by a panel of program managers,

* A multiple-choice

examination and

* A Multi-rater

Assessment (MRA) in

which a team of

raters that the

candidate selects

ISO 21500 DIS presently has 39 project management processes while the

PMBOK has 42. Of these, 32 are the same processes, while some of the

ISO 21500 processes incorporate two of the PMBOK processes into one.

For example the ISO 21500 process Administer Contracts includes two

PMBOK processes: Administer Procurements and Close Procurements.

Another similarity is the knowledge areas or subject groups. PMBOK has 9

knowledge areas, while ISO 21500 has 10 subject groups namely:

Integration, Stakeholder, Scope, Resource, Time, Cost, Risk, Quality,

Procurement and Communication. The PMBOK includes stakeholders

under its Communication area.

PMI has for a long time claimed that their PMBOK is the de facto global

project management standard. ISO 21500 will undoubtedly be recognised

as a global standard when it is finally published at the end of 2012,

because it involved international teams of subject matter experts from

34 countries that contributed towards developing and approving its

content, namely Argentina, Australia, Austria, Barbados, Belarus,

Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, Egypt, Finland,

France, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg,

Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russian

Federation, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United

States of America. Observer countries are Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hong

Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Malaysia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

Ironically, the USA TC representatives voted against the adoption of the

committee draft (CD) version notwithstanding that it mirrored the PMBOK

very closely. On the one hand this is confirmation that the PMBOK is an

excellent standard. On the other hand the PMI may be concerned that the

ISO 21500 could supplant the PMBOK as the de facto global standard.

ISO 21500 is intended to be a high-level international project

management standard which gives guidance on the terminology,

processes and subject groups of project management. It will then be up

to each country to supplement ISO 21500 with an implementation guide

to provide more detail to apply it effectively taking cognisance of the local

environment and culture.

Back to top

Richard Branson Takes the Plunge

Adventurer

Sir Richard

Branson

plans to take

a single-

person

submarine

to the

deepest

points in

each of the

world's five

oceans, the

first time

such a feat

has ever

been

attempted. Branson's Virgin Oceanic submarine aims to make five dives

over a two-year period and set up to 30 Guinness World Records. It plans

to venture to the bottom of Mariana Trench (Pacific Ocean), Puerto Rico

Trench (Atlantic Ocean), South Sandwich Trench (Southern Ocean), the

Diamantina Trench (Indian Ocean) and the Molloy Deep (Arctic Ocean).

Unlike Branson's other projects, the public will not be able to purchase a

seat on one of the deep diving subs. The explorations are a part of an

initiative to learn more about our planet's oceans. Branson believes it is

Earned Value Management Workshop

To be schedulled

Time Management –

Seize the Day!Seize the Day!Seize the Day!Seize the Day!

16 May 2011, Gauteng

NB: Prices and dates are

subject to change, so please

check with ProjectPro upon registration.

Other dates and venues can be arranged if sufficient demand.

To Register

Quick Links

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5

review the

candidate’s abilities

to perform tasks that

are relevant to

program management.

Completing the three

evaluations not only

allows program

managers to assess

their knowledge and

skills against industry

standards but also

provides them with

feedback through the

MRA process that they

can use for professional

development

Because the

evaluations are

progressed in an online

environment, a panel of

program managers

from across the globe

are able to assess the

candidate’s professional

experience in the first

evaluation.

Candidates also can

select MRA raters from

anywhere in the world

to participate in the

third evaluation.

Candidates may be

eligible for the PgMP

credential with a

minimum of four years

of professional project

management

experience and four

years of professional

program management

experience.

Like the Project

Management

Professional (PMP®)

credential holders,

PgMP credential holders

participate in the

Continuing Certification

Requirements (CCR)

program to maintain

the credential and to

continue their

education and

professional

development in the

field.

ironic that a planet like Earth which is inhabited by 'intelligent' beings

has, in the 21st century, physically explored zero percent of its deepest

points and mapped only three percent of its oceans by unmanned craft,

when 70 percent of that planet's surface was made up of water. Only 10

percent of the life forms inhabiting that unknown world are known to

those on the surface.

Fellow explorer Chris Welsh is set to make the first dive later in 2011 into

the Mariana Trench using one of Branson's vehicles, which is a whopping

11 000 m deep – a depth that has yet to be reached by mankind. The

craft, which will cruise at a max of 3 knots and can dive 100 m per

minute, is expected to take a total of five hours to go to the bottom of

Mariana trench and back.

At these depths, each individual part of the submarine must be able to

withstand enormous pressures – about 1,500 times that of an airplane.

Full pressure testing of the submarines will be conducted over the next

three months. The other four dives will be scheduled over the next 24

months. Branson plans to pilot the second exploration, which will go into

the Puerto Rico trench (8 500 m deep).

Virgin Oceanic is working with various scientific institutions to collate data

and catalogue life forms that will never have been seen and are unknown

to science. In addition, the expedition will also be partnering with Google

Earth, where the dives will be recorded and publicly viewed on the site.

Back to top

Report on Gulf of Mexico Oil-spill Disaster

One year ago an explosion aboard BP’s

Deepwater Horizon oil-rig triggered the worst

oil spill in history. The presidentially-

appointed Oil Spill Commission has released

its final report on the causes and

consequences of the Macondo well blow-out.

It proposed comprehensive reforms of both

government and industry practices to

overhaul the U.S. approach to drilling safety

and reduce the chances of a similar disaster in the future.

The Commission found that the Deepwater Horizon disaster was

foreseeable and preventable. Errors and bad judgments by three

major companies—BP, Halliburton, and Transocean—played key roles in

the disaster. Government regulation was ineffective, and failed to keep

pace with technology advancements in offshore drilling.

The following key findings were made:

1. The Macondo well blowout was the product of human

error, engineering mistakes, and the following

management failures:

• to evaluate and manage risk in late-stage well-design

decisions.

• to redesign cement slurry in response to tests that

repeatedly demonstrated problems with the slurry design.

• to recognize that the critical “negative pressure test”—a

key test used to determine the integrity of the cement job

that seals off the well—signalled that the cement at the

well-bottom had failed to seal off hydrocarbons.

• to recognize that the temporary well-abandonment

procedures, which BP changed repeatedly in the days

leading up to the blowout, unnecessarily increased the

6

Information on

eligibility requirements,

credential policies and

the CCR program can

be found online in the

PgMP credential

handbook at

www.pmi.org

Holding a PMP

certification is not a

pre-requisite for PgMP.

Candidates interested

in joining the PgMP

workshops on the 12 –

13 May 2011 at the

Saint George Hotel,

Midrand, should contact

ProjectPro’s Terry

Deacon on 082 557

3119

Email [email protected] or telephone (012) 436

6674 for more information.

risk of a well blowout.

• to recognize and respond to early warning signals of the

hydrocarbon influx (or “kick”) that eventually became the

blowout.

• to respond appropriately to the blowout once it began,

including but not limited to the failure of the rig’s blowout

preventer to shut in the well.

2. These errors, mistakes, and management failures were not

the product of a single, rogue company, but instead reveal

both failures and inadequate safety procedures by three

key industry players that have a large presence in offshore

oil and gas drilling throughout the world.

3. Government oversight failed to reduce the risks of such a

well blowout.

Oversight was compromised by co-mingling two distinct missions

within one agency:

• responsibility for promoting the rapid expansion of offshore leasing and dirilling

• responsibility for ensuring its safety

Regulation failed to keep pace with the dramatic transformation

of the offshore drilling industry and the move to deepwater

drilling. Neither inspectors on the front lines nor senior Interior

Department officials in charge of the Minerals Management

Service (MMS) had the experience or training to oversee

deepwater offshore drilling.

The Department of the Interior lacked sufficient in-house

expertise to enforce existing regulations, and was unable to

impose more stringent safety regulations due in large part to

industry resistance.

4. The Minerals Management Service did not receive

predictable and adequate funding needed to effectively

oversee offshore drilling.

Over the past twenty years, the MMS budget for leasing,

environmental protection, and regulatory oversight decreased or

remained relatively static while deepwater drilling in the Gulf of

Mexico expanded dramatically.

5. Both industry and government were unprepared to contain

a deepwater well blowout.

At the time of the Macondo well blowout on 20 April 2010, the

federal government was unprepared to oversee a deepwater well-

containment effort. At the time of the blowout, BP—and industry

more generally—had no proven options for rapid containment in

deepwater other than attempting to close the blowout preventer.

The underestimates of the amount of oil spilling from the

Macondo well appear to have impeded planning for and analysis

of well-containment efforts and contributed to a loss of confidence

on the part of the public in the competence of the federal

government.

The Deepwater Horizon’s blowout preventer lacked key diagnostic

tools that would have assisted in the containment effort.

6. Both industry and government were unprepared to

respond to a massive deepwater oil spill, even though

such a spill was foreseeable.

7

Companies did not possess the response capabilities they

claimed. Since the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, neither industry

nor the government has made significant investments in spill-

response research and development, so the clean-up technology

used following the Deepwater Horizon spill was largely

unchanged.

7. The environmental damage of the spill to the Gulf will take

decades to fully assess.

The government estimates that more than 170 million gallons of

oil spilled into the Gulf, with some portion remaining in the ocean

and possibly settling to the sea floor. The disaster placed further

stress on coastal resources already degraded over many decades

by a variety of economic and development activities, including

energy production.

8. As bad as the Deepwater Horizon disaster was, it could

have been much worse.

At one point, industry experts feared that a significant portion of

the 4.6 billion gallon oil and gas reservoir beneath the sea floor

could be released into the Gulf.

9. The economic impact on Gulf residents was severe.

Especially hard hit were the seafood and tourism

industries.

Health-related impacts, both physical and mental, have been

evident and are still being examined.

10. The Arctic is an important area for future oil and gas

development, based on projections of significant resources

and industry interest.

In order to assure good decisions are made regarding where,

when, and how to develop those resources safely and reduce risk

in frontier areas, additional comprehensive scientific, technical,

and oil spill response research is needed.

11. Offshore drilling in nations adjacent to the U.S. is likely to

accelerate.

The U.S. and other countries, in partnership with multinational

energy companies, need to ensure that the highest standards for

drilling safety and environmental performance are adopted

worldwide. This is increasingly urgent both in the Arctic and in the

Gulf, where Mexico and Cuba plan to pursue deepwater drilling in

the near future.

In conclusion, the exhaustive investigation finds that none of the major

aspects of offshore drilling safety—not the regulatory oversight, not the

industry safety standards, nor the spill response practices—kept pace

with the push into deepwater. In effect, the nation was entirely

unprepared for an inevitable disaster. Perhaps the only greater tragedy

would be not implementing the reforms recommended based on this

disaster, thus allowing another, similar disaster to occur.

Back to top

Demand Is Growing for Agile Practices in Project Management

8

In last month’s ProjectPro eNews we looked at the history and principles

of the Scrum or Agile project management approach. This month we look

at the new Project Management Institute (PMI) Agile certification

programme as well as details of the Scrum role-players.

Organizations who use Agile techniques in managing projects have

documented the value they obtain from its use:

• Early and continuous customer feedback— as the customer is

involved throughout development, they will end up with an end-

product that they need and will use.

• High visibility and influence over the project progress leading to

early indications of problems.

• Early measurable return on investment—this allows for defined

deliverables at the end of each iteration and early in the process.

One of the practices that PMI has monitored over the several years is the

continuing growth and usage of Agile practices in project

management. Many practitioners have added Agile to their “Project

Management Toolbox” and use it as one of many techniques in managing

successful projects.

As a result, more organizations and project management offices are

asking their project managers to apply Agile techniques. In fact, PMI

research revealed that 68% of the organizations using Agile practices

would find value in an Agile certification for project management

practitioners. In addition, 63% of hiring managers would encourage their

project managers to pursue an Agile certification.

By earning the Agile certification, practitioners can:

• Demonstrate to employers their level of professionalism in Agile

practices of project management

• Increase their professional versatility in both project management

tools and techniques

• Show they have the capacity to lead basic Agile project teams by

holding a certification that is more credible than existing training-

only or exam-only based offerings

PMI serves the project management profession by providing practitioners

with a toolbox of select tools and techniques—and Agile is one of those

tools. For example, those who have the PMP® and are working in an

organization that is using Agile techniques, the Agile Certification

provides an applicable knowledge base of Agile principles and concepts.

Key dates for the Agile Certification launch are:

9

• May 2011 – Candidates for the Agile certification will be able to

submit an application for the pilot.

• August 2011 – Pilot testing is scheduled to begin.

Contact [email protected] for more details.

Agile/Scrum Roleplayers

The core roles in Agile or Scrum teams are those committed to the

project in the Scrum process—they are the ones producing the product

(objective of the project).

Product Owner. The Product Owner represents the voice of the

customer and is accountable for ensuring that the Team delivers value to

the business. The Product Owner writes customer-centric items (typically

user stories), prioritizes them, and adds them to the product backlog.

Scrum teams should have one Product Owner, and while they may also

be a member of the Development Team, it is recommended that this role

not be combined with that of Scrum Master.

Team. The Team is responsible for delivering the product. A Team is

typically made up of 5–9 people with cross-functional skills who do the

actual work (analyse, design, develop, test, technical communication,

document, etc.). It is recommended that the Team be self-organizing and

self-led, but often work with some form of project or team management.

Scrum Master. Scrum is facilitated by a Scrum Master, who is

accountable for removing impediments to the ability of the team to

deliver the sprint goal/deliverables. The Scrum Master is not the team

leader but acts as a buffer between the team and any distracting

influences. The Scrum Master ensures that the Scrum process is used as

intended. The Scrum Master is the enforcer of rules. A key part of the

Scrum Master’s role is to protect the team and keep them focused on the

tasks in hand. The role has also been referred to as servant-leader to

reinforce these dual perspectives.

There are ancillary roles in Scrum teams, those with no formal role and

infrequent involvement in the Scrum process, but must nonetheless be

taken into account.

Stakeholders (customers, vendors). These are the people who enable

the project and for whom the project will produce the agreed-upon

benefit(s), which justify its production. They are only directly involved in

the process during the sprint reviews.

Managers (including Project Managers). People who will set up the

environment for product development.

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Air France Wreck Found After 22 Months

10

After a

frustrating

672-day

search

project,

the illusive

wreck of

the ill-

fated flight

Air France

flight AF

447 has

been found

4km below

the surface

of the

Atlantic

Ocean.

Few clues as to the destruction of flight AF447 are evident from initial

photographs of the wreckage, but discovery of the wreckage may provide

reasons for the crash which killed all 228 people on board.

While the precise location has not been disclosed, the wreck lies on a

mid-Atlantic abyssal plain just north of the last confirmed position

transmitted by the Airbus A330-200 before it disappeared en route to

Paris on 1 June 2009.

AF447's debris was located about nine days after the specialised vessel

Alucia arrived on 25 March 2011 to begin comprehensively mapping the

ocean floor at depths exceeding 3 500m - the fourth dedicated

mobilisation of resources aimed at finding the missing aircraft. Initial data

suggests the three previous searches only narrowly missed the crash site.

The latest search focused on systematically scanning every unchecked

region, beginning with a full sweep inside a 37km circle centred on the

aircraft’s last known position.

France's investigation agency has identified structures including the wing,

main landing-gear, and the General Electric CF6 engines.

There was no indication that the search had located the rear fuselage.

The flight recorders, or so-called “Black Boxes”, crucial to understanding

the accident sequence, are installed behind the rear pressure bulkhead.

Airbus and Air France co-funded the latest search project and

confirmation of the recorders' location will result in a fifth phase being

launched to recover them.

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Minamata "Disease" - World’s 9th Worst Environmental Disaster

Time Magazine has listed what they consider to be the top 10 worst

environmental disasters in the world. In the next issue of ProjectPro

eNews we will be describing the final disaster.

1. Chernobyl

2. Bhopal

3. Kuwaiti Oil Fires

4. Love Canal

5. The Exxon Valdez

6. Tokaimura Nuclear Plant

7. The Aral Sea

8. Seveso Dioxin Cloud

9. Minamata Disease

10. Three Mile Island

11

Minamata "Disease"

For

years

,

resid

ents

of

Mina

mata,

a

town

locate

d on

Kyus

hu

(Japa

n's

most

south

westerly island), had observed odd behaviour among animals, particularly

household cats. The felines would suddenly convulse and sometimes leap

into the sea to their deaths — townspeople referred to the behavior as

"cat dancing disease." In 1956, the first human patient of what soon

became known as Minamata disease was identified.

Symptoms included convulsions, slurred speech, loss of motor functions

and uncontrollable limb movements. Three years later, an investigation

concluded that the affliction was a result of industrial poisoning of

Minamata Bay by the Chisso Corp., which had long been one of the port

town's biggest employers.

As a result of wastewater pollution by the plastic manufacturer, large

amounts of mercury and other heavy metals found their way into the fish

and shellfish that comprised a large part of the local diet. Thousands of

residents have slowly suffered over the decades and died from the

disease. It has taken as long for some to receive their due compensation

from the corporation.

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