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 University.

"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 energy companies and is a keynote speaker at Agile, Lean, Theory of Constraints, and program and change management events.

"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 interventions that help us manage projects better. Dr. Josh Ramirez is founder and CEO of the Institute for Neuro & Behavioral Project Management. He is currently building an organization (www.nbpmi.com) that is working on redesigning project management with behavioral, social, cognitive, and neuroscience, in an emerging field of Behavioral Project Management. In addition, he is currently researching application of science to project management to build a foundation of project science under existing practices. The future of project management is in redesigning around the beings that predict and deliver projects: humans.

Josh is co-author of NeuralPlan with Dr. Shari De Baets, and an adjunct professor of project management, with experience that includes business operations management, project management, and project controls, including work at several national laboratories and other projects throughout the U.S. Department of Energy complex, as well as private sector project work.

You can visit the website for the Institute for Neuro & Behavioral Project Management at www.nbpmi.com, become a member of the institute at www.behavioralpm.com, or take a look at their NPPQ planning certification at www.neural-plan.com.

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 data analytics and artificial intelligence technology to innovate and redefine the project management practice, addressing the growing challenges of project professionals to effectively and successfully deliver projects.

Dr. Michael O’Connor is the Director of Strategy & Project Management with Medtronic. He has over 29 years of professional experience in the Medical Device Industry. He is currently a Director at Large for the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA).

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 communicate, collaborate and lead.

Richard Wyatt focuses on Project Innovation and expanding the impact project managers have on their organizations. He has worked across the globe in UK, US, Australia and Indonesia delivering projects of growing size and complexity, and has observed PMs being limited by rigid processes. In his current consulting work, he helps PMs leverage their skills to broaden their impact on organizational transformation.

 

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 Technology Laboratory (CATT Lab) where he manages operations and technical development, and oversees every aspect of software implementation from conception to deployment.

Justin Jacobsen has more than twenty years of operational supervision experience with twelve years of program management responsibility delivering successively larger projects as part of diverse, multi-functional project teams. Mr. Jacobsen serves as MBP’s Director of Innovation Development .

Chris McLuckie has more than 28 years of experience managing construction projects from pre-design through project closeout as both agency construction manager and general contractor. His approach focuses on teamwork and bringing the right people together to facilitate the best solutions.