Pm Point Of View

PMs how about we get to look at our discipline in action? From the western border of Ukraine, Sergiy Potapov tells us how he chose to have impact by being a PM to deliver humanitarian aid, and what lessons from Critical Chain theory and PM he has applied…really.  Touching on the Cynefin decision-model, Critical Chain, risk and stakeholders, the conversation highlights that we PMs can make a difference in the community around us. Listen in and hear current example that gives us insight into what we see on the news, and how project management works under duress. Sergiy Potapov Biography Sergiy Potapov develops his managerial skills for more than 20 years. Since 2015 Sergiy has been sharing knowledge and experience in project management with different auditoriums in UCU Business School, DTEK Academy (and others) as a lecturer, and in dozens of Ukrainian companies and NPOs as a consultant. 

Design mindset, before you even get to design thinking, let's figure out the problem and check assumptions.  Guest Charles Lambdin describes the need and method of creating a frame of thought that has us testing hypotheses of what we need, and making faster smarter bets on the direction we should follow. A key takeaway: the first thing you design shouldn't be over designed and should be wrong…our goal is learning what is needed. The evidence is it saves overall design cycle time. Ultimately, we are after a bi-directional value exchange with our customers…that's how we get use from the products we design and deliver. Co-hosts Mike Hannan and Kendall Lott challenge the concepts, take notes and discover their own stories that match the lessons that Charles has to share. Charles is a Program Manager at Intel, co-author of the book Presumptive Design, and writer of the blog, "The Lateral Lens: Strategy, Quality and Coaching. He holds a PhD in Human Factors Engineering/Cognitive Science from Wichita State Universit

"I will do what I can, with what I have, where I'm at." This is a different take on change management; we break down what people say about change but linking it to the underlying framework from the Theory of Constraints. We should recognize that our organizations are fragile systems, and may be running on consequences and not on relationships. The organization has a sort of physics, and what we see in a lot of change environments is directive, not engagement, and we overcomplicate it--and even when we get it, we don’t see it sustained.  TOC suggests that we starts with inherent simplicity, inherent potential, and helps us realize April's adage, "Don’t drive people, drive change." It has a business imperative. Co-hosts Mike Hannan and Kendall Lott uncork the effervescence of April K Mills, an international consultant and author of Everyone is a Change Agent and Change Tactics. She was a civilian U.S. Navy nuclear engineer and founded Engine-for-Change LLC. She has consulted with technology, transportation, and

"Do all the humans on your team have brains?" Not a comment on ability but on cognition and hardwired biases; if they have brains, they make mistakes in regular patterns. PMs follow the same logical paths of cognition and shortcuts that all humans do, some of which lead us to wrong conclusions and unhelpful behaviors.  As planners and forecasters, our decisions have consequences for others, from executives wanting "the right answer" to colleagues whose performance reviews rely on work, schedules and quality metrics we define.  And, the bad news is, we get it wrong. Through the filters of how we perceive to how we process to how we chose to communicate, there are common and sadly reliable ways that we set ourselves and others up to have make the unknown future look precise, even as it we are less accurate.  The good news is, there is things we can do about it.  Join co-host Mike Hannan and Kendall Lott as they explore the new frontier of PM upskilling from guest, Dr. Josh Ramirez, and we learn some tricks and

In this episode, organizational change consultant and expert Agilista Leila Rao grounds us in the reality that investing in people is central to successful Agile transformation. While we’re often distracted by the allure of “Agile theater,” genuine system improvements are generated through transparency and awareness. Rao articulates that Agile is how we make human truths and values—such as openness, empowerment, trust and courage—viable in the workplace. Optimizing the customer experience as a whole by playing to the strengths of each individual part roots us in addressing how we each connect to the bigger purpose at hand.

We know change is constant. So as business practices evolve and new systems & tools are developed, the role of Project Managers and the skills they rely on must change to meet the new demands. PMs who don't move forward risk being left behind. In the third episode from our 2021 UMD PM Symposium series, we discuss the role of "Innovation PMs," and how they can effectively manage open-ended, amorphous innovation projects. And Data: how to collect and leverage meaningful data to make better, faster, informed decisions. Check out more presentations from the UMD Symposium at https://pmsymposium.umd.edu/pm2021/ Listen, learn, and get a free PDU! PDU Information Use the following information in PMI’s CCRS system to register the PDUs for this podcast: PDU Category: Online or Digital Media Provider Number: 4634 Talent Triangle: Leadership Activity Number: PMPOV0092 PDUs for this episode: 1 About the Speakers Marcus Glowasz is a Co-Founder and Product Lead at Fortean, a Swiss technology startup that leverages d

Guest Galen Low, from The Digital Project Manager (DPM), discusses the challenges of the conventional project manager and the ways we define the field. As Lowe addresses, the expansion of the digital environment and transforming customer have led project management into navigating an ever-changing landscape. Digital PMs often serve as a bridge. Value delivery requires collaboration across all phases and iterations of a life cycle, from product to project to program. The nature of projects may have shifted, but demand for delivery has called on PMs to focus on strategy and partnership, as well as cultivating the project management skill et in-house.

Transformation Attenuation: The loss of signal that occurs as a message moves down the chain from the C suite. Illusion: The assumption that communication has taken place, when in fact it hasn't.  Here we explore these two phenomena in depth, and examine ways to avoid them, thereby increasing project & organizational effectiveness.  Check out more presentations from the UMD Symposium at https://pmsymposium.umd.edu/pm2021/ Listen, learn, and get a free PDU! PDU Information Use the following information in PMI’s CCRS system to register the PDUs for this podcast: PDU Category: Online or Digital Media Provider Number: 4634 Talent Triangle: Leadership Activity Number: PMPOV0090 PDUs for this episode: 1 About the Speakers Glenn Anderson is the Performance Catalyst Speaker – the catalyst between missed goals and achieved goals. He combines decades of corporate experience with IBM with his passion for performing improvisational comedy to help you ensure your audience is energized and equipped to better commun

A team, a technology, a toaster. A tale of the Product Manager and the Project Manager brought to life as co-hosts Kendall and Mike ride the narrative road with Tom Klaff, the CEO who made it happen. The story of manufacturing a new kind of toaster just as trade tensions increase with a main supplier and then pandemic lockdown is as interesting as the intertwining roles the Product Manager and Project Management. A Man, A Mission, Toast…well, really convenience and improved customer experience. It's all here in episode PMPOV0089 Product Management and the Toaster of PM Point of View.

The statistics around project success vs. failure are less than heartening, to say the least. For all the tools and expertise PMs bring to the table, we somehow manage to miss the mark more often than we should. Here we feature highlights from two presentations of the 2021 UMD Project Management Symposium - one from a science/engineering angle, the other from construction - plus interviews with the presenters, who offer actionable insights into how you can manage crisis and avoid failure, no matter what field you are working in. Check out more presentations from the UMD Symposium at https://pmsymposium.umd.edu/pm2021/ Listen, learn, and get a free PDU! PDU Information Use the following information in PMI’s CCRS system to register the PDUs for this podcast: PDU Category: Online or Digital Media Provider Number: 4634 Talent Triangle: Leadership Activity Number: PMPOV0088 PDUs for this episode: 1 About the Speakers Nikola Ivanov serves as the Director of Operations at the Center for Advanced Transportation T

Kendall Lott and Mike Hannan with guest Hilbert Robinson explore exciting topics around product versus project management, setting expectations and how to address the variance between those and reality, the rounding of such expectations, and even the value of trade-offs when faced with new initiatives. Enjoy these topics and more for this segment of PMPOV.

Estimations - they are at the very core of PM activities, the ability to estimate, the reliance others have on our estimations, our continuing white whale pursuit of improved estimations all work to empower us as masters of the universe, to state our predictions of the future. And yet…they are all magical thinking at worst, and expectations-setting goal posts, ever receding into a distancing horizon, of our slog through projects and communications, at best. And then we report and update, in an endless vortex of communications, analysis and ... shame. Should we even have them in our discipline? What causes us to get them wrong? What role the tension of accountability and commitment vs the need to reflect likely return on investment for those stakeholders that expect value from projects? Listen in to our new roundtable format as Mike Hannan and I cohost with special guest Hilbert Robinson a wide ranging discussion on the role of estimations. That we need them becomes apparent. What we discover is estimations' u

It was summer 2020. Covid-19 lingered on, with no end in sight. After months of canceled performances, funds were dwindling at Washington, DC's Shakespeare Theatre Company. Their last hope, the annual fundraising gala, was set for October. As the date drew near, it became clear that there would be no party. The staff had to come up with Plan B, and they had to do it fast. This is the story of a creative project team, dedicated to their mission. Their clear, agile response provides concrete and inspiring lessons in the power of Project Management. Listen, learn, and get a free PDU! PDU Information Use the following information in PMI’s CCRS system to register the PDUs for this podcast: PDU Category: Online or Digital Media Provider Number: 4634 Talent Triangle: Strategic & Business Mgmnt Activity Number: PMPOV0085 PDUs for this episode: 1 About the Speakers Amy Hand is the General Manager at Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC.  Prior to joining STC she served as the Operations Manager at Sa

How does a graduate program at a university - a program that has assiduously maintained a 100% face-to-face classroom ethos - swing into virtual reality at a moment's notice? The program in question here is Industrial Organizational Psychology. The university is the University of Houston, Clear Lake. For this virtual round table, three professors reflect on the past year: the response, the challenges, the losses and what will never be the same again. Listen, learn, and get a free PDU! PDU Information Use the following information in PMI’s CCRS system to register the PDUs for this podcast: PDU Category: Online or Digital Media Provider Number: 4634 Talent Triangle: Strategic Activity Number: PMPOV0084 PDUs for this episode: 1 About the Speakers   Alex Milam is an associate professor and program director of the industrial-organizational psychology program at the University of Houston–Clear Lake. He has many research interests, notably workplace mistreatment, training and development, and the role that person

Project management is about people: working with people, for people, through people. So it goes to reason that managers who have a deeper understanding of human behavior will be more effective. Beyond managing their teams, PMs are heavily involved in forecasting - defining the scope, budget and schedule of their projects, and then making decisions based on those forecasts. How much do their own biases and neurological wiring play into these processes? We gather three keynote speakers from the upcoming UMD 2021 Project Management Symposium to discuss these issues and more. Listen, learn, and get a free PDU! PDU Information Use the following information in PMI’s CCRS system to register the PDUs for this podcast: PDU Category: Online or Digital Media Provider Number: 4634 Talent Triangle: Leadership Activity Number: PMPOV0083 PDUs for this episode: 1 About the Speakers   Dr. Shari De Baets is a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Business Informatics and Project Management, Faculty of Economics in B

Starting in January 2021, many of you reached out to us, wondering why you weren't able to claim a PDU for listening to PM Point of View® episodes. The short answer: You CAN continue to claim PDUs. But the process has changed. Listen to Kendall's explanation or read below. And if you have any problems, contact us via our website: www.mpoweredstrategies.com. Thank you for listening. (And for keeping it in scope and getting it done!)  UPDATE: Due to changes at PMI’s CCR System, for those claiming PDUs at PMI.com: be sure to choose the fourth option, “Online or Digital Media,” in the Report PDUs page. MANUALLY ENTER provider code# 4634 and select “M Powered Strategies,”   MANUALLY ENTER the name of the episode in the course field Enter the date that you listened to the podcast Be sure to select the appropriate option, Leadership/Strategic/Technical in the Talent Triangle at the bottom of the page Check the box to confirm the validity of your submission Hit “Submit.”  This will work for all published one-hour e

Where do projects go wrong? What tendencies or approaches of Project Managers are NOT helpful to executives? What do they want their PMs to focus on more? How can PMs move up the ladder? In the second part of our 2-part series from the C-Suite, we get the scoop directly from a group of executives, representing a wide swath of enterprises.  Listen, learn, and get a free PDU! PDU Information Use the following information in PMI’s CCRS system to register the PDUs for this podcast: PDU Category: Online or Digital Media Provider Number: 4634 Activity Number: PMPOV0082 PDUs for this episode: 1 About the Speakers Jeffrey Goldman is the CEO of GoldSentinel, which he founded in 2015 to address the growing need for better decision making through insight discovery. Prior to his current position, Jeffrey launched and led GoldBot Consulting, Inc., growing the company to a thriving multi-million dollar software development and analytic business. Tom Klaff is a passionate entrepreneur and angel investor who has founded

Covid-19 has changed the way we operate on every level, including how we manage projects. It has made clear the fragility of our reality, and the fancy dancing required, not only to survive, but to move forward constructively. In the 4th and last episode from our series highlighting presentations from UMD's 2020 Project Management Symposium, we focus on the leadership skills and approaches that are needed in today's volatile, fast-shifting environment.  To listen to all the symposium presentations in their entirety, you have until April 2021 to register for the 2020 UMD Project Management Symposium. Go to pmsymposium.umd.edu/pm2020 Listen, learn, and get a free PDU! PDU Information Use the following information in PMI’s CCRS system to register the PDUs for this podcast: PDU Category: Online or Digital Media Provider Number: 4634 PDU Claim Code: 4634YQTYGS Activity Number: PMPOV0081 PDUs for this episode: 1 About the Speakers   Steven Gruyters partners with visionary leaders to design and deliver enterprise

What do executives want from their Project Managers? What are their expectations? What do they like about how PMs work? What do they not like? In this first of two episodes covering the Executive Point of View, we talk to 10 executives from a wide spectrum of businesses - software, kitchen appliances, construction, defense, etc. - to find out what it is that executives value in their PMs. Listen, learn, and get a free PDU! PDU Information Use the following information in PMI’s CCRS system to register the PDUs for this podcast: PDU Category: Online or Digital Media Provider Number: 4634 PDU Claim Code: 4634C7VD5A Activity Number: PMPOV0080 PDUs for this episode: 1 About the Speakers   Roger Collison is the CEO of Beracah Homes in Greenwood, Delaware. With over 17 years experience, first as VP, then President, now CEO, Roger has learned much about the construction industry. His focus has been on developing LEAN initiatives as well as DOE Energy Certifications. Jeffrey Goldman is the CEO of GoldSentinel, whi

Scrum with distributed teams. Agile in a traditionally non-Agile environment. Project Management in the time of Agile: is it still relevant? These are the topics we cover in the third episode of our series from the 2020 UMD Project Management Symposium. Listen to highlights from the three presentations, along with follow-up interviews with the presenters. Listen, learn, and get a free PDU! PDU Information Use the following information in PMI’s CCRS system to register the PDUs for this podcast: PDU Category: Online or Digital Media Provider Number: 4634 PDU Claim Code: 4634ASFWPF Activity Number: PMPOV0079 PDUs for this episode: 1 About the Speakers   Christine Brennan Schmidt has worked at the American Chemical Society for approximately 27 years. She has managed education programs and two textbook projects. In 1999, she made the jump to technology. She has worked on technology-based projects and products in positions within IT and Membership divisions. She currently has a wide variety of functions, inclu