PM Point of View

"Efficiency is about going from inputs to outputs. But effectiveness is about going from outputs to outcomes." So says Charles Chandler, author and podcaster, who discusses his model for organizational sustainability and effectiveness. What makes a project and, by extension, an organization, truly effective and great? You must distinguish between "efficiency" and "effectiveness," and understand the importance of measuring effectiveness based on Outcomes (Uptake, Adoption, and Use) rather than Outputs. By looking at organizations as complex adaptive systems, it becomes clear that the true goal of all organizations is basically the same: to be effective in their particular environment. Rather than top-down goal-setting, the directives should ideally come from below, where team members are closer to the environment and customer interaction.

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Charles G. Chandler graduated from the University of Texas at Austin (B.S. and Ph.D.) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (M.S.), where he studied engineering sciences. He served in the US Peace Corps in Nepal, and later worked at the Texas Water Development Board in Austin, where he managed the state’s program in water conservation and drought contingency planning. In 1982 he founded Assumption Analysis, Inc., a management consulting firm. His clients include USAID, the World Health Organization, the UN Development Programme, the World Bank Group, the Asian Development Bank, and the African Development Bank.  

Direct download: 57._Organizational_Effectiveness.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:00am EDT

This is the third in our series from the 2018 symposium at the University of Maryland's Project Management Center for Excellence. For this episode, presenters and speakers talk about project management in the construction space. Learn about the latest and greatest technologies, such as BIM (Building Information Modeling), cloud sharing, and virtual reality tools like Oculus Rift, which have greatly improved the efficiency and ease of stakeholder management, scope, communication, risk mitigation, budgeting and scheduling. 

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Ryan Anderson serves as principal in charge in The Christman Company’s mid-Atlantic office, leading project teams to success in both the public and private sectors. An expert in planning, scheduling, risk management, and coordinating the efforts of all team members, Ryan constantly focuses on finding ways to deliver greater value to clients. 

 

Sara Collins: Over her 23 years in the construction industry, Sara Collins has led teams in the areas of operations, preconstruction, and business development. She has served on the facilities staff at a world-renowned academic medical center, has helped develop several $100+ million design-build and P3 projects, and has led the construction of healthcare projects of all sizes. She is currently senior vice president at HITT Contracting.

 

Saurabh Gangwar is an accomplished, results-driven Executive Leader with more than a decade of AEC industry experience. He is a diversely talented Technologist and Design & Construction Expert with cross-industry contributions and accomplishments encompassing Architectural Design, Construction Management, Technology Management, IT infrastructures, Building Information Modeling (BIM) implementation, Sustainable Practices and LEED compliance.

 

Jeff Gravatte is the CEO and owner of CADD Microsystems, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. He graduated from George Mason University’s School Volgenau School of Information Technology and Engineering and holds a Bachelors of Science in Electronic and Computer Engineering.

 

Kristen M. Ambrose is a registered architect with experience in designing higher education environments for teaching and learning. She is a Associate Principal at Ayers Saint Gross Architects and Planners, in Baltimore, MD. Ms. Ambrose has experience as Project Architect for all phases of design and construction and has served as Building Information Modeling or BIM Manager on LEED Certified Academic Buildings.

 

Omoniyi (Niyi) Ladipo is a program manager and team leader with the Washington, DC Metropolitan region of MBP and has more than 30 years of experience in the management of building and civil engineering projects from inception to closeout. She is experienced in quantity surveying and cost estimating, cost management, earned value management, value engineering studies, CPM scheduling, and claims analysis.

 

Christopher J. Payne has more than 29 years of experience in construction management and design, with a wide variety of experience including construction field management, inspection, CPM scheduling, and cost estimating. Currently he is MBP’s executive vice president and chief operating officer.

 

Mark Bodner is the Founder & CEO of Foresee Consulting. He has worked in a variety of roles including Chief Scheduler, Auditor of Budgets and Controls, Project Manager and Project Executive on a number of high-profile projects, such as: EPCOT Center, the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, the Ben Gurion 2000 Airport Project and, most recently, the MGM/Mirage City Center project. 

 

Lance Coburn is an expert construction attorney with more than 20 years of experience. In particular, he has extensive experience representing developers of resort hotels and casinos on the Las Vegas strip in complex construction law, intellectual property rights, and lien litigation. Lance also has counseled clients on a wide range of media law matters.

 

Mike Schlegel is president of Bozzuto Construction Company. Since joining the company in 1999, he has overseen the construction of more than 25,000 dwelling units, over one million square feet of retail, as well as public and private infrastructure projects.  

Direct download: 56._Knowledge_into_Practice_Part_3__Construction.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:00am EDT

Managing Volunteers is key to the success of nonprofits and associations. In this episode of PM Point of View, host Kendall Lott talks with three Volunteer Management experts on the importance, the components, and the impact of good volunteer management. Listeners will learn about ways that volunteer managers can support their organization as well as their volunteers. This might include a rigorous on-boarding process; keeping volunteers aligned with the organization's mission; matching volunteers with suitable positions; and collecting data to be an effective advocate, and to track Return on Volunteer Investment. Factors such as Risk Management and Volunteer Retention are also discussed.

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About the Speakers

 

Jennifer Bennett, CVA, is the Senior Manager of Education and Training at VolunteerMatch. With her breadth of experience she is well qualified to help VolunteerMatch’s community of Nonprofits better recruit and engage volunteers.

She shares her knowledge with volunteer managers through the webinars found on the Learning Center, in newsletters and blog entries, and in person at conferences around the country. She joined the Board of the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration in 2012, and is the current Board Chair.

 

Teri Johnson is the Vice President of Volunteer Engagement for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  In her role with this national nonprofit, she is developing volunteer engagement strategy and programming that allows volunteers to be true partners to staff in efforts to fund-raise, fuel mission and so much more.

Prior to joining LLS, Teri served as Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, Training and Consulting, at the Points of Light Foundation. In that role, she built strategic partnerships with national and international organizations to further volunteerism, including volunteer engagement strategy and resources development, training, consulting and overseeing national volunteer conferences.

 

Valerie Pisierra has been working with volunteers for over 20 years, and

knows what it is like to be on both sides of the volunteer equation. She is currently the Executive Director for Loudoun Cares, a Virginia-based nonprofit that connects residents and nonprofits. Valerie has worked with student and parent organizations, as well as, the European organization Americans Working Around the Globe (AWAG), which focuses on training and connecting volunteers. She holds a BS and MBA in Business Management, and  has received numerous awards for her personal volunteer efforts.

Direct download: 55._Volunteer_Management.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:00am EDT

Almost every project involves some sort of procurement, whether it's goods, or teams of contractors. In fact, Procurement is one of the ten Knowledge Areas of the PMBOK® Guide, and merits almost a complete column in the index of the Sixth Edition. Yet how well versed are PM’s in the best practices, the methods and approaches of the procurement process?  In this episode, thought leaders and procurement experts discuss Strategic Sourcing, Category Management, and Cooperative Purchasing, as well as transparency and ethics, and other factors that are crucial to public- and private-sector acquisition.

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An educational podcast with PM Guests discussing key technical project management techniques in new ways.

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About the Speakers

David Yarkin

David Yarkin is a recognized expert on strategic sourcing in the public sector. As Deputy Secretary for Procurement of the Pennsylvania Department of General Services, David led what has been called “the most sweeping transformation of state procurement in decades.” During his tenure, Pennsylvania saved $140 million (now $360 million) annually through strategic sourcing and established a procurement shared services center, centralizing all state contracting under DGS.

He is currently the president of Government Sourcing Solutions.

Gordon Wade

Gordon Wade is a recognized thought leader in the consumer-packaged goods industry. He was one of the creators of “Category Management.” In 2017 he led a 17-company industry consortium in updating CatMan by incorporating all the contemporary data and analytics engendered by the new digitally driven marketplace.

At the request of the Association of National Advertisers, he wrote the protocol for “marketing accountability”. He has written several widely read white papers on e-com, “big data “(machine learning) as well as optimal retail space and assortment approaches. He is currently focusing on machine learning and transparency as emerging developments in CPG marketing.

Rick Grimm

Rick Grimm CPPO, CPPB, FCIPS was appointed NIGP’s 5th Executive Vice President/CEO in January 1998 and has served the NIGP membership for more than 20 years. Prior to his appointment, he was employed in county government and a public school district for 23 years including 12 years in public procurement management. As a NIGP member, he chartered the Greater Miami Chapter and was a prominent leader of the Rocky Mountain Governmental Purchasing Association Chapter where he was co-chair for NIGP’s 50th Forum in Denver. He served on multiple NIGP committees and on the NIGP Board of Directors until his appointment as CEO. Rick earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration (University of Miami) and a Master’s in Public Administration (Florida International University). He holds a Certified Public Procurement Officer Certification (CPPO) and a Certified Professional Public Buyer (CPPB) designation from the Universal Public Procurement Certification Council.

 
Direct download: 54._Procurement.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:00am EDT

In the second of our 3-part series from University of Maryland's 2018 Project Management symposium, we feature excerpts from presentations in the Agile track: Jeff Dalton on Agility for Leaders; Jason Dunn on Deciding When to Save or Shut Down a Project; Sean Eddings on The Traffic Fallacy; Bruce Gay on Design Thinking; Christopher Harris & John Johnson on ECM and FIRE - A Framework for Rapid Acquisition; and Susan Parente on Agile Quantitative Risk Analysis.  

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About the Speakers

Jeff Dalton

Jeff Dalton is Chief Evangelist at AgileCxO.org, an R&D organization that studies Agile leadership and develops Agile performance models. Mr. Dalton is also President of Broadsword Solutions Corporation, a process innovation firm, where he also serves as an Agile instructor, leadership coach, CMMI SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, and CMMI Instructor. He is Chairman of the CMMI Institute Partner Advisory Board and is principal author of the CMMI Institute publication A Guide to Scrum and CMMI: Improving Agile Performance with CMMI. Mr. Dalton holds degrees in music and computer science and builds experimental aircraft in his spare time. He can be reached at Agileleader@Agilecxo.org.

Jason Dunn

Jason Dunn has spent nearly 30 years in projects across a wide variety of industries, and in a variety of roles: Project Manager, Change Manager, Business Analyst, and Tester. In addition, he has worked with many Fortune 100 companies to assess and improve their project management maturity and processes. As part of this work, he has stood up PMOs as well as assessed and improved existing PMO using a data-driven assessment framework. Recently, Jason has developed a training program based on an industry standard maturity framework aimed at assessing, and then improving, companies’ portfolio development and management capabilities.

At present, he is the PM Community Program Director in Freddie Mac’s EPMO, which is committed to improving PM maturity and capabilities through education, networking, facilitation, and knowledge management. He is a PMP, CSM, CSPO, and Certified Change Manager.

Sean Eddings

Sean Eddings, Senior Producer and Agile Coach at Last Call Media, is a passionate agile-lean practitioner with close to a decade of experience coaching multidisciplinary technology teams. He enjoys helping teams design, visualize, and continuously evolve their own process to ultimately deliver business value with increasing predictability. Sean is a Certified ScrumMaster.

Bruce Gay

Bruce W. Gay, PMP, has over 20 years of experience managing programs and customer relationships across healthcare IT, telecommunications and defense industries. Currently a Senior Program Manager at UPMC Enterprises (the commercialization arm of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center), Bruce manages a multi-million dollar program to develop the next generation of Radiology Informatics systems. Over the past decade, Bruce has managed creative teams that incorporated UX Design & Design Thinking methodologies into their product development processes.

Bruce shares his experiences and ideas around Design Thinking on twitter as @brucegay

Christopher Harris

Christopher Harris studied International Business and Finance at the University of Tampa and obtained a Masters of Accountancy w/ an IT Focus from the University of South Florida. He applied his learning in the heavily-regulated banking and insurance industries, which, equipped him to understand the interaction of business processes and law and blend them in a way that yields productivity in daily operations. Later he moved to Northern Virginia and entered Government contracting, where he applied the same passion for results where he blended customer requirements, law and regulation, and business savvy to achieve uncommon results.

As a Bytecubed consultant, he works with Government acquisition officials to develop innovative acquisition strategies against the backdrop of current law, policy, and agency processes.

John Johnson

Susan Parente is a project engineer, consultant, speaker, author, and mentor who leads large complex IT software implementation projects, and the establishment of Enterprise PMOs. She has 19+ years experience leading software and business development projects in the private and public sectors, including a decade of experience implementing IT projects for the DoD and other federal government agencies. Ms. Parente is also an Associate Professor at Post University in CT. She has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rochester in NY and an MS in Engineering Management from George Washington University in DC. She also has a number of certifications, most of which she teaches and she is a CMMI and ISO 9001 Practitioner.

Ms. Parente is a Principal Consultant at S3 Technologies, LLC, which focuses on revitalizing projects through the use of risk management and implementing Agile practices.                      

Direct download: UMD_Agile_-_FINAL_1-2-MP3_for_Audio_Podcasting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:00am EDT

What do you get when you put a Systems Engineer, a Value Master, a Portfolio Manager, and a Risk Guy at a table together? Answer: an enlightening discussion on Risk in the PMBOK® Guide, seen through four very different lenses. This is the fourth in a series of roundtable discussions focusing on the most recent PMBOK® Guide – what’s new, what’s good, what are the must-haves, and interesting thoughts and perspectives.

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About the Speakers

Stephen Devaux is President of Analytic Project Management, in Boston, a PMI Global R.E.P. founded in 1992. He is the author of several books, such as Managing Projects as Investments: Earned Value to Business Value and Total Project Control. He contributed chapters on his new CPM metric, critical path drag, in two 2013 books: Project Management in the Oil and Gas Industries and Handbook of Emergency Response. He is the author of numerous articles and PMI webinars, and a frequent speaker at PMI Chapter meetings throughout the US. He also authors a blog on advanced practices in project management several times a week at www.TotalProjectControl.com.

 

Michael Hannan is Founder and Principal Consultant for Fortezza Consulting, LLC, which helps CIOs, IT PMO Directors, and project teams improve the speed and reliability of their Project Portfolios. With over 20 years as a Consulting Executive, IT Project Portfolio and Program Manager, Process Engineer, and Software Architect/Engineer/Designer/Tester, Mike started out as Project Portfolio Management at NASA in the early 1990s, supporting programs such as the International Space Station and High-Performance Computing & Communications (HPCC). He has managed and consulted on $500M+ project portfolios, and trained CIOs and other senior executives in Federal Civilian, Military, and Commercial environments. Mike has been a speaker at industry events, including local PMI chapter and community meetings, webinars, PM Symposia, and in the Agile community. He is a leading innovator of disciplined ways to integrate Agile, Lean, Critical Chain, and other techniques to drive dramatic breakthroughs in the performance of IT Project Portfolios. 

 

Randall Iliff has over 35 years’ experience leading developmental effort, and has participated in all phases of project execution from proposal to close out. He is a seasoned large-project PM as well as a recognized expert in Systems Engineering.

With a background in Engineering / Industrial Design, and R&D, Mr. Iliff is a charter member of the International Council On Systems Engineering (INCOSE), and currently serves as the INCOSE representative on an alliance between INCOSE, PMI, and the MIT Center for Program Excellence.

Until early 2016 Mr. Iliff was VP at the award-winning design firm bb7, where he was also Director of Strategy, Methods and Learning. In 2016, he left bb7 and founded Eclectic Intellect.

 

Carl Pritchard is the principal and founder of Pritchard Management Associates. He is recognized lecturer, author, researcher, and instructor. As a lecturer he is considered a leading authority on risk management and presents on a variety of management topics, ranging from project essentials to the complexities of network diagramming and team motivation. As an author and researcher, he has published articles on project management maturity, the international trends in PM, advances in risk management, and served as the lead chapter author for the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Risk Management Chapter (4th Edition). His work as an instructor has taken him around the world, training with some of the leading international training organizations, as well as for private clients and the Project Management Institute®. He is the U.S. Correspondent for the U.K. project management journal, Project Manager Today.

 

Direct download: 52._PMBOK_Guide_6th_Edition__Risk.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:00am EDT

“Turning Knowledge Into Practice” was the title of the 2018 symposium hosted by University of Maryland’s Project Center for Excellence. For this episode, we feature the track on Leadership and Conflict. Five presenters are featured, covering these topics “Breaking Rules: A Rulebook for Improving Your Performance”; “Managing Teams with Servant Leadership”; “Conflict Resolution Practices for the 21st Century”; “Practical Methods for Successful Change Adoption”; and “Eight Steps to lasting Change that Works Every Time.”

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An educational podcast with PM Guests discussing key technical project management techniques in new ways.

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Earn education PDUs in the PMI Talent Triangle for each podcast.

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  • PDU Claim Code:   463431CQK7
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About the Speakers

Bob McGannon specializes in strategic program and portfolio management and has helped set up project management offices on three different continents. He has 25 years of IT, project management, and project analysis experience, 18 of those years with the IBM Corporation. His management experience includes technology outsourcing, IT delivery measurement and quality, business analysis, and general project management. Bob has worked internationally while playing a major role in the development of international trade applications in use in the United States and Europe, and recently worked in Australia on a consulting engagement with Medicare in Canberra.

Joseph (Joe) D. Launi has over 30 years of experience and has worked tirelessly to develop a solid reputation for delivering successful projects and improving project management competency. He is a proven project management executive with progressive experience encompassing project management office (PMO) leadership; development and management of PMO policies, best practices and methodologies; development and presentation of project management training; implementation of project management software solutions; information technology project and program oversight; research and development into motivation and morale building programs; and profit and loss management of various consulting practice areas.

 

Pamela Davis-Ghavami is a Washingtonian with 29 years of federal service in the Information Technology field. She has a BBA from the University of the District of Columbia in Business Administration and Computer Information Systems Science, a Masters in Information Technology and Project Management from Capella University and is PMP certified. She enjoys learning new things about technology, sharing her knowledge with anyone who will listen, being an active member in her Toastmaster club and moving to the top of the adder of her Montgomery County Tennis league club.

 

Aimee Richcreek Baxter has worked in the technology industry for over 25 years as a Project Manager and Technology Trainer. She has been a certified PMP since 2000. Currently, Aimee works at Macalester College, as Financial System Specialist, bringing technology solutions to the Business Services Office and the Macalester Community it serves. She utilizes her PMP skills every day from small tasks to larger campus-wide projects.

Myles Miller is a multi-national CEO, two-time Best Selling Author and Radio Host of “Myles of SUCCESS”,  with over 30 years’ experience in the project management field, across multiple industries including retail, defense, state and federal government, international countries and hospitality. Myles has a BS in Business Management from Penn State University and a MBA from La Salle University in International Business Management and recently acquired his PhD from Baylor University.

Direct download: 51._Knowledge_into_Practice_Part_1__Leadership.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:00am EDT

According to the Project Management Institute, ethics is about making the best possible decisions concerning people, resources and the environment. Every Project Management Professional must sign off on a set of values: Honesty, Responsibility, Respect, and Fairness. But ethics – whether it’s business, personal, or abstract – often inhabits a grey area, where neither right nor wrong fully prevails.  As Project Managers, we are faced with difficult choices. To satisfy one stakeholder, we may have to short shrift another. The more complex the project, the greater the dilemmas. The good news is, there are tools and resources to help us work through these situations and make sound choices. PMI® is working hard to keep current with the issues we face, and provide up-to-date decision-making guidance.

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An educational podcast with PM Guests discussing key technical project management techniques in new ways.

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About the Speakers

Alan Richter is the president of QED Consulting, a 28-year-old company based in New York City. He works primarily in the areas of leadership, values, culture and change, and is a recognized pioneer in global diversity and international ethics. He has consulted with many global organizations such as NASA, CERN, the UN (including the Secretariat, peacekeeping, etc., and many UN Agencies) as well as leading Global Fortune 500 companies. He has also presented at conferences in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. He is the co-author of the Global Diversity & Inclusion Benchmarks and the Global Ethics & Integrity Benchmarks and the co-creator of the Global Diversity Survey and Global Gender Intelligence Assessment. He recently co-edited a book entitled: An Inquiry into the Existence of Global Values (Hart, 2015). He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from London University, and Masters and undergraduate degrees from the University of Cape Town.

Michael O'Brochta has worked in project management for over thirty years at the CIA, where he led the development of highly complex top secret projects, programs, and systems, and he led a program to mature project management and systems engineering agency-wide. As President of Zozer, Inc,. he helped develop and implement the new government-wide Federal Acquisition Certification for Program and Project Managers. Mr. O’Brochta writes and speaks extensively about project management; his recent book, titled How To Get Executives To Act For Project Success is available on Amazon. Since his recent climb of yet another of the world’s seven summits, he has been exploring the relationship between project management and mountain climbing.

Greg Balestrero has been a global advocate for excellence in performance management and business results. In a career spanning more than 40 years, he has been a project engineer, project manager, and for the last 30 years, a senior executive of professional membership associations related to engineering and project management. From 2002 – 2011, Greg served as the President and CEO of Project Management Institute (PMI®). He has met with business and government leaders in more than 60 countries, advocating and promoting a project focus in engineering, construction, and a broad range of business sectors. This exposure has shaped his thinking and message, reinforcing the need that organizations must transform to sustain themselves, integrating the values of community and the planet, with their own corporate strategies and values. 

Direct download: 50._Ethics.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:00am EDT

An energy project today might be the development of a car battery that will run an electric car for 200 miles; the placement of wind turbines in an open field; or the construction of an oil refinery that can process half a million barrels a day. For organizations seeking to restructure energy resources and delivery, options abound. More than a project, in energy you must consider a full portfolio of intertwining elements. PMs in the current environment often find themselves in the role of Change Manager.  Stakeholder management is paramount, as you deal with the communities that will be affected, energy providers and distributors, and bankers and financiers. Then there are the risks – new technologies and equipment, multi-billion dollar investments, and safety issues. And don’t forget industry and government oversight and regulation. A background in engineering and years of experience in the field are often prerequisites. In this episode we learn how PMs are forging new paths in the Energy sector.

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An educational podcast with PM Guests discussing key technical project management techniques in new ways.

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About the Speakers

Darren Booth

Darren Booth

Darren Booth has managed over $2 billion in complex power generation and smart city developments in Australia, Asia, the Caribbean and U.S. working for engineering and construction companies, public utilities and private investors for the past 20 years.

He is currently working on a pipeline of business development projects he calls “GreenPowerU”, guiding Universities, Municipalities and Major Commercial customers in the strategic implementation of disruptive technology solutions to deliver prosperity.

Early in his career, his client’s had a clear understanding of their specific project requirements, today a typical project often includes a diverse set of interlocking and phased criteria for success from reducing operating costs to decarbonizing operations, facilitating customer choice, increasing distributed generation, leveraging employee engagement and productivity all while enhancing the resilience of critical operations during grid interruptions.

Darren has an undergraduate degree from the United States Military Academy a Master’s in Engineering Technology from Murray State University, has global banking, project finance and risk analysis experience with Chase Manhattan Bank and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.

Karen Chovan

Karen Chovan

Karen Chovan is the principal of Enviro Integration Strategies, a founding member of the Lean Team, and a training partner with GPM Global (Green Project Management).  A geological engineer, a sustainability expert, and a project manager with nearly 20 years progressively advancing in the industrial sector, Karen has gained tremendous insight into the risks, challenges, and opportunities for improvements that can be made in industrial operations, projects, and corporate environments. Karen is a forward thinker who has strength in raising risk and opportunistic awareness, aligning multi-disciplinary teams, working collaboratively with multiple stakeholders, and empowering them to build consensus on common goals.

Charles Waligura

Charles Waligura

Based in Texas, Charles Waligura has forty years of project management, department management, sales and chemical process industries process and systems engineering. He has managed task force activities such as manpower forecasting and scheduling, client liaison, engineering and construction cost estimating and cost control, as well as managing subcontractors and field construction.

His specialties and experience include project management of wind energy facilities and refinery and petrochemical revamps; business development, and process and systems design for petrochemical plants and offshore oil and gas production, refining, light hydrocarbon processing, pipeline compressor stations and utility systems.

 

Waligura has a B.S. and an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston. He is a Past Chairman of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Division for Fuels & Petrochemicals; a Past President of the Project Management Institute, Houston Chapter; and Past Chair of the Project Management Institute SIG Leadership Development & Excellence Committee.

Direct download: 49._Influencers_Part_VI__Energy.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:00am EDT

In the beginning, there was the PMBOK®. Then came the deluge! If you are looking for information on the latest trends, philosophies, and cutting edge methodologies in Project Management, there is no shortage of books and articles to explore. The questions is, where to begin? In this episode, host Kendall Lott interviews three authors of recently published books: Ted Kallman, co-author of Flow: Getting Everyone Moving in the Right Direction…and Loving It; Michael O’Brochta, author of How To Get Executives To Act for Project Success; and Susan Schwartz, author of Creating a Greater Whole: A Project Manager’s Guide to Becoming a Leader.

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An educational podcast with PM Guests discussing key technical project management techniques in new ways.

PDU Information

Earn education PDUs in the PMI Talent Triangle for each podcast you listen to. Use the following information in PMI's CCRS system to register the PDUs for this podcast:

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  • Provider Number: 4634
  • PDU Claim Code: 4634TQA5Xm
  • Activity Number: PMPOV0048
  • PDUs for this episode: 1

About the Speakers

Ted Kallman

As an Enterprise Agile Coach, Ted Kallman helps organizations in the common-sense adoption of lean-agile Flow to increase project and organization effectiveness and value.  Ted is co-author of the national #1 Best Selling and Best Rated book “The Nehemiah Effect: Ancient Wisdom from the World’s First Agile Projects” and “Flow: Getting Everyone Moving in the Same Direction … and Loving It” due out April of 2018.  He also co-authored a book with Jeff Tobe “Coloring Outside the Lines” that is focused on Project Managers.  This book was given as a gift by PMI to all participants at PMIs Leadership Institute Meeting 2015 .

Ted is a PMI-ACP, PMP, CSM, CSPO, CSP.  He is the founder of Agile West MI and currently serves WMPMI as President. As a well-known Keynote speaker he has presented to over 350,000 people over the past 30 years.

Ted has worked as a CEO, COO, CMO, and PMO in Europe and the US.  His projects have included; Mfg, Telecom, Software Dev, Marketing, CRM, and PMO creation with companies like Whirlpool, ZF/TRWGM, OnStar, Steelcase and Ericsson.

Michael O'Brochta

Mr. O'Brochta, who has managed hundreds of projects during the past thirty years, is an experienced line manager, author, lecturer, trainer and consultant. He holds a master's degree in project management, a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, and is certified as an ACP and a PMP. As Zozer Inc. President, he is helping organizations raise their level of project management performance. As senior project manager at the Central Intelligence Agency, he led the development of highly complex top secret projects, programs, and systems; and he led the development of the project management and systems engineering training and certification program to mature practices agency-wide. His other recent work includes leading the development of standards and courses for the new U.S. Federal Acquisition Certification for Program and Project Managers. Mr. O’Brochta supported FAC-P/PM programs by providing subject matter expertise for instructional design and delivery to the Federal Acquisition Institute and Department of Veterans Affairs. He served at the PMI corporate level as Chair the Ethics Member Advisory Group where he led the development of the ethical decision-making framework and the new PMI ethics website; he is a graduate of the Leadership Institute Mater Class. Mr. O’Brochta has written and presented papers each of the past 17 years at PMI Global Congress events as well as at hundreds of international, and regional conferences. Topics that he is currently passionate about include great project managers and how to kill bad projects. His recent book, titled “How To Get Executives To Act For Project Success,” is available on Amazon. He has been featured in issues of PMI Today, PM Network, CIO Magazine, Information Week, and Government Executive Magazine. Since his recent climb of another of the world’s seven summits, he has been exploring the relationship between project management and mountain climbing.

Susan Schwartz

Susan Schwartz released her first book, Creating a Greater Whole: A Project Manager‘s Guide to Becoming a Leader this past January.  Throughout her career she led a variety of technical and non-technical teams successfully through organizational change and brought projects to completion – on time and under budget.  She credits the cross-functional, global team successes to a combination of process review, crucial conversations, and knowledge sharing strategies.

She has facilitated public courses and seminars for George Mason University Learning Solutions, the Project Management Institute, The Association of Talent Development, The American Society of Quality, and the Society for Human Resources.  

Ms. Schwartz received an M.S. in organizational development and knowledge management from George Mason University School of Public Policy and a B.A. in Economics from Goucher College.

 

Direct download: 48._New_Releases__Conversations_with_the_Authors.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:14pm EDT

What does the PMBOK® Guide - 6th Edition say about Quality? It refers to the cost of Quality. And there is a cost to quality – in terms of both money and time. But lack of quality also has a cost. Being able to measure quality helps us to juggle and flex project requirements. How exactly does quality fit into the overall project scheme? Is optimum quality even a high priority of any given project? The Project Manager who is well informed and kept up to date on the full program perspective is better poised to make intelligent decisions about the give and take of project components in order to achieve the quality that maximizes value.      

Listen, learn, and get a free PDU!

An educational podcast with PM Guests discussing key technical project management techniques in new ways.

 
PDU Information

Earn education PDUs in the PMI Talent Triangle for each podcast you listen to. 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: 4634PDVJDG
  • Activity Number: PMPOV0047
  • PDUs for this episode: 1

   

Stephen A. Devaux, MSPM, PMP

Stephen Devaux
Analytic Project Management
President

Steve Devaux, MSPM, PMP, is President of Analytic Project Management, Boston, MA, a PMI Global R.E.P. founded in 1992. Major corporate clients include Siemens, BAE Systems, Wells Fargo, Texas Instruments, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, MIT Lincoln Labs, iRobot, L-3 Communications, American Power Conversion, and Respironics.

Devaux’s newest book Managing Projects as Investments: Earned Value to Business Value came out from CRC Press in September 2014. He is also the author of Total Project Control, the second edition of which was published by CRC Press in March 2015. He contributed chapters on his new CPM metric, critical path drag, in two 2013 books: Project Management in the Oil and Gas Industries and Handbook of Emergency Response. He is the author of numerous articles and PMI webinars, and a frequent speaker at PMI Chapter meetings throughout the US. He also authors a blog on advanced practices in project management several times a week at www.TotalProjectControl.com.

Over the years, he has taught graduate project management courses at Suffolk University, Brandeis University and University of the West Indies/Barbados and in Executive Education programs at Bentley University and UMass/Lowell.

 

Michael Hannan, PMP, TOC Jonah

Mike Hannan
Fortezza Consulting, LLC
Principal Consultant & Founder

Mike Hannan is Founder and Principal Consultant for Fortezza Consulting, LLC, which helps CIOs, IT PMO Directors, and project teams improve the speed and reliability of their Project Portfolios. Mr. Hannan brings over 20 years’ experience as a Consulting Executive, IT Project Portfolio and Program Manager, Process Engineer, and Software Architect/Engineer/Designer/Tester. His background in Project Portfolio Management started at NASA in the early 1990s supporting large, complex programs such as the International Space Station and High-Performance Computing & Communications (HPCC). He has managed and consulted on $500M+ project portfolios, and trained CIOs and other senior executives in Federal Civilian, Military, and Commercial environments. Mike has been an active speaker at industry events, including local PMI chapter and community meetings, webinars, PM Symposia, and in the Agile community. He is a leading innovator of disciplined ways to integrate Agile, Lean, Critical Chain, and other techniques to drive dramatic breakthroughs in the performance of IT Project Portfolios. Mr. Hannan has been a PMP since 2005, and is a member of both the PMIWDC and Montgomery County chapters. He has been a Theory of Constraints Jonah since 2011, and has Masters degrees in Information Technology and International Affairs. He is also a devoted father of 3 teenage boys, a competitive masters-level track athlete, and an amateur oenophile.

 

Randall C. Iliff

Randall Iliff
Eclectic Intellect, LLC
Founder

Mr. Iliff has over 35 years’ experience leading developmental effort, and has participated in all phases of project execution from proposal to close out. He is a seasoned large-project PM as well as a recognized expert in Systems Engineering. Mr. Iliff holds a BS in Engineering / Industrial Design from Michigan State University, and an MS in Systems Management, Research and Development from the University of Southern California. Mr. Iliff is a charter member of the International Council On Systems Engineering (INCOSE), and currently serves as the INCOSE representative on an alliance between INCOSE, PMI, and the MIT Center for Program Excellence. Until early 2016 Mr. Iliff was VP at the award-winning design firm bb7, where he was also Director of Strategy, Methods and Learning. Prior to that he worked for Motorola, Martin Marietta, and McDonnell-Douglas. In 2016, he left bb7 and founded Eclectic Intellect.

 

           

Direct download: 47._PMBOK_6__Quality.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:00am EDT

Being creatures of habit, humans have a hard time with change. But resilience and adaptability have kept us going through the millennia.

Projects inevitably bring about change – whether its related to culture, processes, systems, environment, or all of the above – and it’s the Project Manager who must shepherd the team or the organization through the sometimes painful process.

That means dealing with resistance. (There are some interesting philosophies about that.) It means planning for orientation and adaptation as part of the scope of your project. And – as we hear over and over – listen to your stakeholders. A truly successful change means there is no break in the flow of operations.

Listen, learn, and get a free PDU!

An educational podcast with PM Guests discussing key technical project management techniques in new ways.

 
PDU Information

Earn education PDUs in the PMI Talent Triangle for each podcast you listen to. 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
  • PMI Claim Code: 4634KDBCEM
  • Activity Number: PMPOV0046
  • PDUs for this episode: 1

About the Speakers

 
Yves Cavarec, MBA, PMP
CEO, Neworq

Yves Cavarec is CEO of Neworq -- a new company that develops solutions for collaborative learning.


He started his career in the banking industry in 1996. From 2004 to 2015, he worked on large organizational transformation, on managing change in global corporations, and on advising SME owners.


In 2014, he discovered what he calls, “self-management” and “self-organization.” Yves believes that people are the purpose of business, while value creation and technology are means toward this purpose. For him, the challenge is to align business with people, not the contrary.

He trusts that self-management and self-organization are the best options. In 2016, he founded the club Human Organizations of Work (HOW), an association that influences business leaders to develop self-management.


He co-authored the book "How successful organizations implement change,” published by PMI in October 2017.

Karen Smits
Practical Thinking Group
 
Karen Smits is an international expert in Organizational Anthropology. Her Ph.D. study Cross Culture Work: Practices of Collaboration in the Panama Canal Expansion Program receives much attention in the project management world, and beyond. This research shows the people-side of project management and reveals how project participants deal with the cultural complexity in their everyday work life.
 
At Practical Thinking Group, Karen is active as Global Thinker on Organizational Culture & Change Management. Often tied to Project Management services, she designs and facilitates cultural change processes. Karen also teaches in the Executive MBA of ADEN University, and she is often invited to speak at international corporate events.
 
After 5 years in Panama and 3 years in Brazil, Karen is now based in Singapore. She strives to make the cultural context of the organization and its members more visible, which supports collaboration and its outcomes within the (project) organization.
 
Luis Cáceres
 
Luis Cáceres is a consultant, speaker, change manager, coach, PMP and Agile PM. He is the author of the book Murphy on Projects, and has been involved in over US$6 billion in post-merger integrations
Direct download: 46._Change_Management.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:00pm EDT

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