Event Type: GTIS Branch Event

Facilitator: Ben Torres

Title: Managing International Projects & Projects Impacted by International Regulation

Synopsis:
‘The world has become smaller’.  A phrase that is commonly heard at office meetings, the office water cooler and the family dinner table. 

Even though this may be geographically incorrect, constant technology improvement has enabled us to be able to communicate much faster and consistently and more reliably with stakeholders and associates across the globe. 

Whether it is to leverage cost savings, to comply with international regulations or to maintain a competitive edge international projects have been on the rise in many cases leveraging this new found ‘smallness’ of the globe. 

For the purposes of this discussion an international project is being defined as project that is working to one common goal or milestone that involves, actors and stakeholders from more than one country & involving co-location. The assumption being made though is that the leadership for these projects is ‘domiciled’ in North America. 

There are many industry areas where international projects have been historically fairly common place. Oil and Gas, Construction and the Automotive Sector and there are lessons to be learnt here. This discussion will focus a lot though, on the lessons learnt from managing International IT projects and projects impacted by International Regulation. 

In international projects many of the basic constructs of project management still apply in terms of an adherence to time, cost, quality and scope. Having said that, these project management fundamentals are complicated on international projects by:

• Language barriers
• Interpretation of “English” barriers 
• Subtle and not-so subtle cultural differences and norms 
• In country – Jurisdictional challenges 
• Time zone challenges 
• Issues related to trust and commitment amongst international team members and leaders 
• Contractual and Dispute Resolution Constructs amongst many others

This presentation will explore some of these challenges & pitfalls and identify and discuss lessons learnt. 

Learning outcomes:

• Attendees will learn about some of the many challenges involved in managing international projects.
• Attendees will also benefit from fruitful insights on how to plan for and overcome the many pitfalls encountered in managing international projects.
• Attendees will be empowered to take on and deliver both local and international projects. 

Bio:

Ben Torres, BA.PMP.LLM is an IT and business professional with over 20yrs of local and international experience.

Ben has worked as a Senior Project & Program Manager as well as a Practice Manager and Project Director.

Ben is a PMP Certified Project Manager and also holds a Masters in International Law.

Ben is currently a board member of the PMI Southern Ontario Chapter.

Ben also does, Human Capital, IT and Management Consulting, under the umbrella of his consulting firm, Strategic Success Inc. www.strategicsuccessinc.com

Agenda:
5:30 PM - Registration & Networking with light snacks & refreshments
6:20 PM - Announcements & Introductions
6:30 PM - Presentation Starts
7:55 PM - Thank You Note
8:00 PM - Event Closes

Fees: (subject to HST)
PMI-SOC Members (login prior to registering) - $17.70
Non-Members and Guests - $22.13

PDUs: 1.5 (Technical Project Management)

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