PMI South Florida - Center of

Excellence (CoE)
Executive Breakfast Survey
May 20, 2009

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute

 Introduction

On March 30, 2009 the CoE hosted the second executive breakfast inviting an extended
group of industry leaders. Twenty five attendees enjoyed networking and listening to Dr.
Harold Kerzner who spoke on the topic ‘Why a PMO is valuable to your company?’.
Attendees represented various local companies including Burger King, Broward Health,
Campus Management, Citco Technology Management, Eastern Financial Florida Credit
Union, eDiets, JM Family, Kaplan University, Miami Dade County, NCCI Holdings,
Peachtree Settlement Fund, Solvis Consulting, LLC, and Southern Wines and Spirits.

Since the Executive Breakfast, the CoE committee members surveyed the executives that
participated to get a better understanding of their perceived value and to be able to refine
the strategic goals of the CoE. Enclosed are the results of these interviews, which we want
to share with the CoE Executive Breakfast participants and with the South Florida PMI
Chapter members. We are confident that this will have a sound impact in our community in
the long term.

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 2

Survey Statistics

Survey Status: Web Deployment Status:

Status: Live Total Takers: 17
Launch Date: 04/28/2009 Complete
17
Closed Date: Responses:

Total Survey 17 Partial

0
Takers: Responses:

Median Response 7 mins, 59

Time: Seconds

Participating Companies :

•Bank United •JM Family Enterprises

•Bayview Financial •Kaplan University
•Broward Health •Memorial Healthcare System
•Burger King •NCCI Holdings, Inc.
•Campus Management •Peachtree Settlement Funding
•Eastern Financial Florida Credit Union, •Solvis Consulting, LLC
•eDiets •Southern Wines and Spirits.

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 3

 Survey Summary

 Overall, survey participants are looking for a medium to network with other
professionals to discuss issues about project management.
 Participants want to hear about actual practitioners and their successes and
challenges with their projects.
 Participants want to hear quality guess speakers talk about current project
management challenges.
 They share interest to hear from C-Level executives about their view of
Project Management and the value that Project Management practices bring
to their organization.
 Participants communicated interest in having access to a repository of best
practices, methodologies, templates and tools that can assist them with their
project management tasks.
 The majority of the participants stated that they have a PMO established.
 50% of the participant companies required their project managers to be
certified.

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute

Why did you decide to attend the South Florida PMI Center of Excellence
Executive Breakfast Event? Select all that apply.

I am interested in learning more about project management and South Florida PMI Center of Excellence

This event gives me an opportunity to network with other local executives

I am interested in hearing about Dr. Kerzner’s topic

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 5

How frequent do you think this event should be?

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 6

Do you have a better understanding now of what a Center of Excellence is?

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 7

Do you have any suggestions of other Project Management speakers that you
would like to see us bring to this venue? See comments below:

1. “Portfolio Management expert”

2. “ITIL and PMBOK integration”
3. ”IT Metrics”
4. “I am not very satisfied with the selections so far. No specific speaker to recommend.
Please keep the speaker of the same caliber. Maybe do a panel of PMO managers, too.”
5. “I do not think that the speakers are as important as the material that we cover – and the
networking opportunities.”
6. “Actual practitioners as well as presenters and consultants like Dr. Kerzner I think would be
a great mix. You know Ivory Tower vs. Real World?”
7. “I would like to hear from CEO’s, CIO’s, and CFO’s, their view of PM in their
organizations, and how they derive value.”
8. “No suggestions at this time. It would be interesting to hear from other executives about
their challenges and success stories.”
9. “Max Wideman (check www.maxwideman.com).”
10. “Connie Maldonado is a South Florida PMI board member and she is a great speaker.”
11. “Dr. Kerzner spoke about value. This is a theme I have been implementing for some time in
my organization. I would like to hear more on this topic.”
12. “Dr. Brown from SEBA solutions.”
13. “Dr. James T. Brown from SEBA solutions.”
14. “I would like to listen to a speaker that is knowledgeable in the area of managing IT
development projects utilizing an agile methodology.”
15. “Tresia Eaves”
16. “I am particularly interested in topics related to the CoE, and to developing the maturity
levels of PMOs”

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 8

What kind of events/resources do you think the Center of Excellence can provide
to benefit your organization?

Other comments: “CoE providing templates is a good idea, but provide an explanation on how to use them. Maybe
members could share their templates and provide a rating to determine how useful they were.”
Project Management education for executive level
Access to a knowledge repository of project management best practices and methodologies
Assistance with development of Project Management Office in my organization
Assistance promoting project management in the organization
Opportunities to network with executives at my level
Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 9
Creating a knowledge repository of project management best practices and
methodologies is one of the objectives for the Center of Excellence. Do you think
that your organization would benefit from this?

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 10

Do you think your organization would benefit from the creation of a referral
process? If so, how would you utilize this benefit?

1. “I don't have enough information to know how this referral process would work.”
2. “I would need to understand better what you mean by referral process in order to
answer this.”
3. “It may be difficult to get the support from businesses right now, given the shortage
of staff in many organizations. However, I think this could be a valuable tool. I
might want to use it when confronted with a specific issue, and it would be
beneficial for anyone starting up a new PMO.”
4. “I would utilize it to find contacts of companies that are familiar with the tools or
consulting organization that I am looking to utilize. Someone that can tell me how
was their experience with that product/company.”
5. “Yes. I would use it to post questions regarding how we can improve our PM
organization and processes.”
6. “Yes, we would seek out assistance from others.”
7. “In obtaining real life solutions that apply to my business”

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 11

Would you be willing to share your company best practices with our chapter to be
able to publish at our web site?

1. Absolutely:
“I would need to check with our legal department to make sure this would not be an
issue.”
2. “If I get clearing and approval from my organization, yes.”
3. “Absolutely.”
4. “Yes, although I don't know that I have much to offer at this point. Perhaps some
thoughts on aligning projects with the overall goals of the organization.”
5. “Our company doesn't have a repository of best practices. We are in the process of
developing those.”

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 12

How many full-time project managers you currently have working at your
organization?

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 13

What would you say is the primary issue precluding the success of your projects?

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 14

Does your Organization utilize a PMO?

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 15

Is your PMO established enterprise wide or just within your department?

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 16

Can you explain some of the reasons preventing your corporation from
establishing a PMO?

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 17

How do you review you projects after completion?

1. “We perform a formal close out procedure that includes a lessons learned session.”
2. “In a monthly review with minimal comments.”
3. “Our organization rarely reviews projects after completion.”
4. “The emphasis is been placed on performing a post-launching audit. Audit is open-
ended and closely review future state processes while also going over project
acceptance.”
5. “First we meet with the team to identify opportunities for improving the PM
process and avoiding pitfalls on future projects. Although, we do a very poor job of
leveraging the lessons learned. Second, we are doing a pretty good job of
measuring the actual benefits of the product or service that the project
accomplished.”
6. “We use a formal closure document that is signed by our customers.”
7. “Project closure (lessons learned). Finance ROI review for large projects.”
8. “Yes we always do a lessons learned session.”
9. “Only for project closing”

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 18

Do you require your project managers to be PMI Certified?

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 19

What sources do you use for project management resources (for selecting tools,
research for selecting projects, training, etc.?

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 20

FACILITY and ORGANIZER

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 21

COMMENTS for facilities or CoE organizers:

1. “It was a bit awkward getting coffee/tea/soft drinks, etc. until breakfast was served.
The guy next to me was interested in getting some Pepsi or Coke, but didn't know
how to make that happen. Minor issue.”
2. “This was nicely organized. They even provided with gifts to participants!”
3. “The facilities were great.”

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 22

SPEAKER

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 23

COMMENTS about the Speaker:

1. “Overall, Dr. Kerzner was a good speaker. However, his questions and
answer section was poor, in my opinion. He didn't fully answer the questions
asked.”
2. “I found this presentation to be too academic. Dr. Kerzner is well-known in
his field and has been a practitioner for many years, but I didn't hear
anything that I have not heard before. I was looking for some new age
information. Perhaps new tools used in this time of social collaboration.”
3. I got a lot out of Dr. Kerzner’s presentation and I am now in contact with
him. I will be using him in the future to help with some of the objectives my
company is working to achieve.

Copyright © 2007 Project Management Institute Page 24