PM Discipline Integration in the Federal Government
PM Point of View
Dive into the future of project management within the U.S. government in this engaging and insightful interview with key players from the USDA and NOAA. Hear from Jason Traquair, Kellie Cenzano, Daryl Frazier, and Joe Giraldi as they unveil their pioneering efforts and collaborations aimed at enhancing program and project management disciplines across their respective organizations. Discover the innovative strategies, such as building vibrant communities of practice and leveraging integrated value networks, that are set to redefine how government agencies achieve mission success and tackle...
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Risk and Resilience at the UMD PM Symposium (Revised)
PM Point of View
Risk-- again! This episode with guests from the upcoming UMD Project Management Center for Excellence symposium is a thought-provoking discussion that takes a closer look at a crucial aspect of project management – risk management. We've gathered a dynamic trio of experts from diverse backgrounds to share their insights, experiences, and groundbreaking strategies on tackling risks head-on, making your projects more resilient and successful. Joining us from the realms of technology, clinical research, and literary scholarship, our speakers, Lakshmi Sowjanya Uppala from Amazon, clinical...
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People in Projects at the UMD PM Symposium 2024
PM Point of View
Heralding the annual arrival of the flagship UMD Project Management Center for Excellence symposium, this episode has 3 of the presenters in the People and Projects track: Kevin Coleman, a visionary leader and the founder and CEO of KMC Empowerment, John Eskandar, a seasoned professional in project controls at Exelon and graduate of the UMD PM program, who brings a wealth of experience managing large-scale construction projects and Abbigail Meah-Ali, a manager of construction services at the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago. From Trinidad to Maryland to Virginia, our guests span a...
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Program Value Management
PM Point of View
Challenged by the hosts, Kendall Lott and Mike Hannan, returning guest Steven Devaux takes his value break down structure (the "Golden Triangle") to a new level, looking at quantifying value of project within programs. That’s the obvious, the less obvious is looking at the need for this view point in critical areas such as public health, emergency response and national security. He emphasizes the need to prioritize or sequence projects within a program to optimize the schedule for maximum impact, where the focus is on delivering outcomes rather than just producing products. What might...
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Asteroids
PM Point of View
In this podcast episode, co-hosts Kendall and Mike are joined by guest Roy Mazel, a retired NASA project leader and guest lecturer. They discuss the Project Management complexities of asteroid missions, specifically, the OSIRIS-REx Psyche missions. As you might guess, the successful implementation of risk management strategies and the importance of technical integrity in the face of schedule pressure is the litmus test of getting these missions completed on time, on budget, and without failure. And what you might not expect, Roy highlights the importance of a strong organizational...
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Let it Flow, Success without Force
PM Point of View
In this episode, Kendall, Mike, and Wolfram Mueller discuss strategies to improve business workflows using the Theory of Constraints (TOC) and Critical Chain Project Management, focused on two things: underloading system constraints and buffer management (having a signal that our flow is or isn't working). One thing that pops out is the importance of calculating business cases and recognizing growth potential--that becomes the compelling case to get middle management on board with the change needed. Getting a team to underload (reduce the non-critical work) of key resources, while having other...
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Getting Out of Our Own Way
PM Point of View
The crux of any success? It isn't the plan, it isn't the desire, not even the WIIFM, its EXECUTION. And organizational change is no different. Today's episode discusses the difficulties that organizations face when it comes to executing change. Once again guest and change management author and guru April Mills comes to us on the topic of change…but this time it isn't how to do it, but how she has seen managers institutionally throw up their own barriers to change even as they try to change…starting with outsourcing on the thinking to…professionals. It may be that we are so good at PM...
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PM Faceoff: Process vs Principles
PM Point of View
So there we were at the 10th annual UMD PM Symposium, having the Great Debate of Process vs principles. Facing off were Crystal Richards, CEO of MindsparQ and Laura Barnard, CEO of PMO Strategies. One hour of back and forth and audience questions. In sum: From the debate between Laura and Crystal,It's clear that project managers should grab the handle.Be a business leader and ask good questions,Embrace risk and change with no exceptions.
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Listener Questions Revealed!
PM Point of View
Elevating the Conversation about Project Management, with a twist. In this episode cohosts Mike Hannan and Kendall Lott take on some Listener Feedback. A running theme in the show is the actual and delineation of project manager, product manager, and program manager--so we jump on that! Of course, our main theme of its all about value, adding value and understanding projects as investments is once again threaded through the answers. But new things lurk--how do you agile on a fixed-price contract? What's the danger and opportunity in cross-functional teams and accountability when managing...
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UMD PM 4.0 AI & Future for Project Managers
PM Point of View
No Luddites here! Episode 3 of the UMD PM Symposium prequal and guests Al Zeiton, Marissa Brienza and Bill Brantley chat about the role of AI in Project Management and the potential risks and benefits of using it as PMs. We discover the logic and importance of maintaining human interaction—turns out its not fear that makes us think “it will never replace us” but rather AI’s limitations in the larger PM discipline. Ah! But what potential magic AI may bring if we use it as augmenting project management, driving improved risk assessment, and being our outsourced memory! All in service of...
info_outlinePMs are often the product of their education—their technical education of how to handle the 10 knowledge areas and perform the activities required to maintain sound processes.
Sadly, that’s not enough to show real value in the discipline, but rather a focus on getting the project completed, getting the team to function soundly, and wielding the influence necessary to navigate organizational challenges are some of the key strengths that are needed.
Listen in to the beginning of this series on “PM Influencers” to discover new thoughts on increasing your PM effectiveness, told do us by professionals who are influencing PMs around the world through their thought leadership on projectmanagement.com.
Additional music credits: “Irradiance” and “Death & Gasoline” by Joe Ray Realité. Wagon train sound effects from Sound Ensemble at https://www.freesound.org/people/SoundEnsemble/sounds/250286/
PM Point of View® (PM-POV) is a podcast series produced by Final Milestone Productions and PMIWDC. PM-POV allows our membership and the public at large to listen to brief and informative conversations with beltway area practioners and executives as they discuss various perspectives on project management -- its uses, its shortcomings, its changes, and its future. Listens can send comments and suggestions for topics and guests to [email protected].
PM Point of View® is a registered trademark of M Powered Strategies, Inc.
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About the Speakers
Dana Brownlee
Dana Brownlee is a nationally recognized corporate trainer, speaker, and workshop facilitator helping individuals and teams reach new levels of performance.
After years of team leadership and project management experience with AT&T, IBM Consulting, and EMC, in 2003 Ms. Brownlee founded Professionalism Matters, Inc., a professional development training/consulting firm providing professional development workshops.
Ms. Brownlee has presented to audiences in six countries and has authored a course taught in several countries. She has appeared as a meeting facilitation expert on CNN and has been cited in numerous notable publications including the Wall Street Journal, Working Mother, Glamour, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Redbook, Forbes.com, CNBC.com, Working Mother, and others.
Dana has presented to many PMI audiences around the world including presentations in Denver, Milan, Costa Rica, Marseilles, Greenville, Newport, and Knoxville.
In 2016 Dana will keynote Project Summit BA World conferences in NYC and Boston as well as deliver a series of webinars for project managers around the world available on projectmanagement.com.
Michael Wood
Mr. Wood has been active as a project manager, corporate executive, author and presenter for over 30 years across a wide array of industry from entertainment to hospitality to health care.
During the 1990s he served as the CIO and member of the executive team for a large casino gaming concern His book "The Helix Factor - the key to streamlining your business processes series of books on The Helix MethodologyC (an integrated BPI and SDLC method) specifically focused on Business Process Improvement.
Over his 30+ years in the field Mr. Wood has conducted numerous workshops and seminars on Business Process Improvement, Cross-Functional Facilitation, Structure Design, Organizational Change, and Project Management.
Mr. Wood has been a Subject Matter Expert and contributing author for www.projectmanagement.com since 2000. Michael believes successful business improvement / project efforts begin with outcome driven strategies and objectives that can be understood, implemented and measured at all levels of the organization.
Donald Charles Wynes
Donald Charles Wynes is an influential leader who helps people and organizations use Project Management to gain competitive advantage. He promotes innovative thinking to reduce the cost and complexity of project delivery, expand the effectiveness of project teams and leverage PM as a powerful sales tool.
During his career, he’s driven PM best practices from multiple perspectives: selling, designing and implementing complex solutions, creating and staffing PMO organizations, providing financial management of professional services units, teaching and mentoring new PMs, and as a senior leader, applying Lean Six Sigma to develop breakthrough delivery models.
He is currently focused on the blending of proven PM techniques with emerging technologies to allow teams – especially virtual teams – to achieve new levels of performance and enable a new generation of project managers to gain a passion for their profession.