About John

Languages
Fluent: English, Hungarian
Working: French

Education:

B. Sc. (Honors Physics) McGill University, Montreal, 1968.
M. Sc. (Computer Science) University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ont., 1969.

Publications:

Books

  1. Book entitled Software Project Management, for Small to Medium Sized Projects, 1990, Prentice-Hall.
  2. Book entitled, The Practical Guide to Project Management Documentation, Wiley, 2004

Conference Papers and Proceedings

  1. PMI Project Management Symposium, 2009: “Automated Multi Project Planning and Control Systems”
  2. PMI Global Region Project Management Symposium (also gave the paper) 2008: “Information Technology Project Management”
  3. PMIOVOC, 2008, “How to teach Project Management at the Post Secondary Level”

Research

  1. I collaborated with Dr. A. Potworowski and Dr. T. Brzowski to publish a research paper on Reducing Green House Gas Emissions, published at http://transitiontosustainability.blogspot.com/.
  2. I did extensive research for my books.

Professional Organizations

As a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), I sat on the board of the Information Systems Specific Interest Group of the Project Management Institute in 2001-2002, as well as on the board of the Project Management Institute in 2002. In this role I was responsible for professional development, which includes providing training and advancement for the organization. I was also responsible for interfacing these associations  with academic and public organizations.

I am also on the Board of Directors as Treasurer of the Association of Part Time Professors of the University of Ottawa.

Present position

Professor, University of Ottawa, teaching Project Management at MBA and Undergraduate levels.
Founder and President of John. J. Rakos & Associates Consultants Ltd.

 

Consulting

  1. Having extensive knowledge of Microsoft Project, I specialize in automated multi-project roll-up systems. Recently I developed such systems for the Office of the Auditor General where we roll up dozens of Audit projects, at CRA where we roll up 15 Provincial, Territorial and headquarters projects from across a Canada-wide network. The system includes extensive automation, macros, custom reports, commands and screens.
  2. At Health Canada I  developed processes, procedures and plans to optimize the approval of drugs.
  3. I consulted to the RCMP on the DNA Database Project.
  4. In 2001 I developed a set of core competencies for Project Managers in the Federal Government.
  5. In the role of “Project Management Mentor” on a large PWGSC project, I was responsible for implementing proper project management practices according to PMI standards. I implemented a development methodology, risk management, cost control using earned value, and general team work techniques.

 

Training

I teach Project Management (Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced), Information Technology Project Management, Software Project Management, Risk Management, Microsoft Project (Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced) and any other aspect of project management.

I can develop courseware, curriculum and provide training on any aspect of project management. Recently I provided customized Project Management courses at Iogen corporation, emphasizing research and development projects. Also at Environment Canada emphasizing stakeholder communications, at CRA emphasizing Balanced Scorecard, at RCMP emphasizing risk management and Health Canada emphasizing legal and regulatory projects. Please see www.rakos.com for more detail.

International Training and Consulting

I designed and developed customized project management training courses in many parts of the world:

  1. In 2008 I provided custom course development to International Development and Research Centre as well as the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. These courses emphasized managing projects funded in different parts of the world.
  2. In 2008 I designed and provided consulting and training in Project Management to Romastru, an international pharmaceutical company headquartered in Bucharest, Romania.
  3. In 2007-2008 I consulted and provided training in Warsaw, Budapest and Bucharest to Stamford Global, an international training and conference provider.
  4. In 2000 I designed an Information Technology Project Management course for the Vietnam-Canada Information Technology (VCIT) project. This is a project to assist the government of Vietnam implement a comprehensive information technology policy for the country. I met with a delegation from Vietnam (including the Minister of Computer Education) to obtain the requirements for this course. Subsequently I designed and developed the course, and had the opportunity to delivered this course in Vietnam. This was a train the trainer course: the attendees were 25 teachers. These teachers will be responsible to provide my course in schools across the country.

University Teaching

As a Professor at the University of Ottawa, I developed and teach Project Management to the Masters of Business Administration class as well as at the undergraduate level. This course is extremely well received by the students. I also teach basic Microsoft Project in this class because the students have 12 assignments which use MSProject as the basic tool.

References supplied upon request