Over 60 local project managers gathered together at the Holiday Inn in St. John’s on Wednesday June 3^rd, to share insights on project management and to celebrate local project successes, at the 2009 Project Management Symposium.

The Symposium opened with the chair of the St. John’s Board of Trade, Mr. Bruce Templeton, providing participants with an overview of the challenges facing local projects, while offering the following advice to project managers going forward, “what project managers need to ensure is value creation, and that comes from knowing the dangers, the strengths, the opportunities and having a path to help you succeed.”

The event, presented by the Project Management Institute, Newfoundland and Labrador Chapter, in partnership with Memorial University’s Gardiner Centre, continued to explore its theme, “the people behind the projects”, by focusing on the contributions of people and teams to project success.

Presenter James Barlow went so far as to say that “people are the foundation on which we do everything,” whereby he proceeded to highlight the importance of team buy-in for project success, stressing the need to align the team with the goals and vision of any project. Another speaker, Mike Wahl, took a more literal approach to team wellness, as he shared the correlation between individual and project health, urging listeners to “think of your body as a project. You have to understand its needs first, if you are to accomplish anything.”

These themes were echoed in the interactive panel discussion, where panelists agreed that the people make the difference, and project success is dependant upon being able to tap into individual skills. Neil Dawe, one of the session panelists said, “people are the key to handling any challenge - if they have the right attitude, you can teach them anything.” 

Participants were also able to interact with presenters, to question and learn more specifics on some local projects. Both John Barry from the City of St. John’s, and Sharon Jeans of the Quidi Vidi Rennie’s River Development Foundation shared their techniques to deliver results. John offered insights into the city’s new $150 million Wastewater Treatment Facility, while Sharon, speaking of the difficulties of managing a project without content knowledge, stressed the need to identify with a mission, ask lots of questions and to craft solutions in line with that mission.

After a day full of networking, learning and sharing, the message was clear: for any project to succeed you must take care of your people, build a common understanding within your team, show individuals how their work ties into project success and trust in others to do their job.  As James Barlow said, “most plans are obsolete the moment you write them on paper”. Truly, it is the people behind the project that ultimately determines a project’s fate.