Applying Project Management Competencies Efficiently On Public Health Projects

Public Health IT projects today are facing critical challenges some conflicting in nature.  Amidst shrinking budgets and an enormous sense of urgency, there is also a strong movement towards more of a standardize approach to managing projects especially developing and enhancing applications.  Federal regulations and in some cases high visibility projects add to the challenges.  There are the traditional project challenges of loosely defined requirements, limited architectural standards, cross agency communications, and using new IT standards and practices in addition to “external” aspects.  How is the Project Manager to address these many diverse challenges and still deliver effective solutions on time, within budget, and scope?  Having a large project management process document more often than not adds to the problem instead of providing a solution.  How are best practices applied to the “real” risks of a project?

This discussion will provide an approach to tailoring Project Management processes with real-life examples from the CDC which have yielded effective project deliveries.  Sample projects include the CDC’s DEOC (Director’s Emergency Operations Center) and CDC NCPHI’s PHIN-MS projects.  Many of the approaches have become the “model” for other projects.   Knowing the “right processes” is not as important as recognizing the most critical uncertainties of a project then applying “minimal” processes to mitigate those risks.  The talk with cover ten core competencies for the project manager and give guidance on how “best” to apply them to the diverse issues which may threaten project success.  It will focus on the practical not theoretical aspects of project management.  New and experienced project managers will come away with practical ideas to apply to their unique project challenges.