NASA’s Academy for Program &
Project Leadership
NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership
www.appl.nasa.gov
Project Management Institute - DC
November 16, 2004
Denise Lee & Therese Salmon
NASA Academy for Program & Project Leadership
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NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership
www.appl.nasa.gov
NASA Today
• More projects…fewer people
• Fewer experienced practitioners and potential
mentors
• Fewer expert project managers
• Greater project complexity
• Demand for speed and low cost
• Added responsibility for strategies, business success
and more
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NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership
www.appl.nasa.gov
NASA’s Human Capital Challenges
External factors include:
– A shrinking S&E pipeline
– Increased competition for technical skills
– Lack of diversity in the applicant pool
• Contributing to this challenge are demographics
and trends within NASA
– Skills imbalances and lack of depth in critical
competencies
– Significant loss of knowledge due to projected
retirements
• The CAIB Report specifies cultural issues that
must be addressed
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NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership
www.appl.nasa.gov
Retirement Eligibility
• 15-40% are currently eligible to retire. APPL is
connecting with those PM’s entering retirement and
developing case studies (labor and time intensive –
requiring about 2 years to complete).
• 20-55% will be eligible to retire by FY06. APPL will
need to focus energy over the next 5 years to
capture the knowledge of this workforce.
• The agency has already lost a great deal of skills,
knowledge, and experience in PM. APPL is slowly
pulling some of that human capital back to share
knowledge.
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NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership
www.appl.nasa.gov
“Providing for Project Practitioners to Excel”
The APPL
Blended Learning
Process
Serve as a
clearinghouse of
world-class
expertise
Communication
and transfer of
knowledge
Performance
Enhancement
Applied
Research
Knowledge
Sharing
Center for Program/Project
Management Research (CPMR)
Creates opportunities for project
management collaboration through
research and exchange
The APPL Blended Learning Process allows NASA
project practitioners and teams to request and
acquire professional development products and
services according to their:
•
•
•
Level of Knowledge
Phase in the Project
Amount of Time to Commit
Career
Development
Develop Project
Leadership
Maturity
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NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership
www.appl.nasa.gov
APPL Strategies and Goals
• Ensure development programs that build needed
competencies, including more effective knowledge sharing
and mentoring.
• Enhance project leadership through knowledge sharing and
mentoring activities, utilizing an identified set of Agency
leaders and experts.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of development, knowledge
sharing and mentoring programs to validate that strategic
needs are being met.
• Continuously improve the caliber of APPL-provided support
through research and exchange with universities, industry
and other government agencies to ensure the professional
needs of the people are served.
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NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership
www.appl.nasa.gov
Goals of APPL Knowledge Sharing (KS)
Improve performance by:
• Sharing, capturing and transferring knowledge and best
practices
• Providing mentoring services
• Sharing project stories
• Teaching
• Enhancing blended learning
• Aligning with Agency initiatives:
President’s Management Agenda (PMA)
NASA Human Capital Plan
NASA 2004 Strategic Plan
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NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership
www.appl.nasa.gov
Expected Benefits of Knowledge Sharing
• Capture tacit knowledge, convert it to explicit knowledge
and disseminate across the Agency using storytelling
• Develop cross Center relationships between project
managers
• Inspire and energize project managers to emulate
successful practitioners and become leaders
• Develop people to become reflective practitioners
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NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership
www.appl.nasa.gov
Expected Benefits of Knowledge Sharing
• Create mentoring opportunities between ‘best of the
best’ practitioners and emerging project managers
• Share best practices and capture lessons learned
using storytelling
• Positively impact Agency
culture, e.g., enhance
networking and
collaboration; create a desire
for knowledge
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NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership
www.appl.nasa.gov
Knowledge Sharing
•Masters Forum of Project
Managers
•Transfer Wisdom and
Knowledge Sharing
Workshops
•Leaders As Teachers and
Mentors
•ASK Magazine
•Program Manager Challenge
Program
•Web-based content delivery
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NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership
www.appl.nasa.gov
Masters Forum of Project Managers
•Face-to-Face Dialog
•Presentations by NASA Project Managers use storytelling
to share best practices and lessons learned
•Small & Large Group Discussions
•Presentations by Experts from other Federal Agencies,
Academia, & Industry Practitioners
•Opportunity to Network
•Recognition
•Held Twice a Year
•Participants from All Centers
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NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership
www.appl.nasa.gov
Transfer Wisdom Workshops
•Face-to-Face Dialog
•Stories by NASA Project Managers
From ASK
•Small & Large Group Discussions
•Presentations by the KSI Team
•Storytelling – What is your story?
•Opportunity to Network
•Held annually at each Center
•Seek Local Champions
•Kick off local Knowledge Sharing
Community of Practice
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NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership
www.appl.nasa.gov
Knowledge Sharing Workshops
•Develop Community of
Practice
•Face-to-Face Dialog
sharing experiences
•Guest Storytellers Stories From ASK sharing
best practices and
lessons learned
•Small & Large Group
Discussions
•Opportunity to Network
•Customized to each
NASA Center
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NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership
www.appl.nasa.gov
Leaders As Teachers & Mentors
•Teach APPL Courses
•Mentor through APPL Programs
•Present at APPL Conferences and External Conferences
such as PMI
•Participate in Knowledge
Sharing Workshops and Forums
•Support efforts at the Centers
•Participate in Performance
Enhancement
•Publish stories in ASK Magazine
after presenting at the Masters
Forum
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NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership
www.appl.nasa.gov
ASK Magazine:
Academy Sharing Knowledge
• APPL’s bi-monthly journal,
ASK Magazine shares
knowledge with present and
future project managers
through storytelling.
• The reader can enjoy back
issues, have full search
capability, receive ASK
updates, as well as send in
feedback through the web.
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Knowledge Sharing Results
NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership
www.appl.nasa.gov
 A Senior NASA Project Manager shared a story regarding her own experiences with Project
Reviews in an issue of ASK Magazine. She was contacted by another NASA Project Manager who
read the article to discuss the story. That PM applied the lessons learned from the story and
saved approximately $500,000 on the project’s next review process.
 A Project Manager presented a story about down-sizing and cost-cutting at an APPL Master’s
Forum. A participating PM at the Forum applied the principles and strategies learned from the story
to his project which resulted in less budget cuts allowing the project team to remain
productive.
 ASK Magazine currently reaches a distribution of approximately 6,000 people globally in
print and currently averages about 2200 hits per day with the online version.
In addition to NASA employees, those benefiting from the shared knowledge include various
universities, other government agencies and viewers from currently 60 other countries.
 The Leaders as Teachers and Mentors (LT&M) Program leverages the knowledge and experience
of an identified set of current and retired Agency leaders and experts. Currently these 61
participants span APPL’s business units by teaching courses, writing papers, giving
presentations, mentoring project teams, and assisting in knowledge-sharing efforts. LT&M has
engaged both industry and the university community in benchmarking LT&M activities .
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Get to Know NASA
NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership
APPL
www.appl.nasa.gov
For information
on the products and
services of APPL
please visit:
www.APPL.NASA.gov
Dr. Edward J. Hoffman, Director of APPL
Mr. Anthony J. Maturo, Deputy Director of APPL
APPL VISION:
Providing for Project Practitioners to Excel
Denise Lee
Project Manager, APPL Knowledge Sharing
(301) 585-1030
dlee@edutechltd.com
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