PM Point of View
This podcast series gives you brief and insightful conversations with PM practitioners in a variety of disciplines. Host Kendall Lott draws on his experience as a PM, as CEO of M Powered Strategies and as former CEO of PMIWDC to explore how project managers create value in surprising places. Our guests discuss their unique perspectives on project management, its uses, its challenges, its changes, and its future.
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PM Discipline Integration in the Federal Government
04/01/2024
PM Discipline Integration in the Federal Government
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 challenges like catastrophic wildfires more efficiently. This conversation covers the tactical steps these leaders are taking today and also casts an exciting vision for 2029, where project management is not just a discipline but the fabric of effective and predictive government operations. Whether you're a seasoned PM professional or new to the field, this energetic discussion will leave you inspired about the future of project management in government service.
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Risk and Resilience at the UMD PM Symposium (Revised)
03/16/2024
Risk and Resilience at the UMD PM Symposium (Revised)
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 project manager Jiwan Giri, and accomplished author John M Quigley, will share their unique perspectives on risk management. Whether it's developing prevention frameworks in software projects, navigating the challenges of clinical trials during an Ebola outbreak, or invoking the wisdom of the muses to refine our approach to risk, this episode will enrich your understanding and inspire you to view project risk management through a new lens. So, buckle up and prepare to explore the intricate dance of risk and resilience in project management. Let's delve into the strategies that empower project managers to foresee the unforeseen, plan with precision, and lead their teams to triumph.
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People in Projects at the UMD PM Symposium 2024
02/29/2024
People in Projects at the UMD PM Symposium 2024
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 wide geographic and professional spectrum, each contributing to a rich dialogue on the intersection of people and projects. Whether you're a project management veteran or a newcomer to the field, this episode is packed with golden nuggets of wisdom that you won't want to miss.
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Program Value Management
10/24/2023
Program Value Management
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 we achieve if public health professionals should be trained in program management to effectively deliver the benefits of their research? What we also need are feedback loops that give us the ability to reevaluate and adjust projects within a program based on emerging information and changing conditions. We'll start seeing value when we start focusing on return to mission rather than just the return on investment, it's about Program Value Management.
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Asteroids
09/20/2023
Asteroids
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 culture that values communication, listening to team members, and mentoring the next generation of leaders. The discussion sheds light on the intricate project management involved in space missions and the lessons that can be learned from both successful and challenging endeavors. Listen to the podcast, and watch the news for outcomes of these two missions!
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Let it Flow, Success without Force
08/08/2023
Let it Flow, Success without Force
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 enabling resources waiting for action is a really hard concept to get managers on board with…until you let them figure out what is holding back their throughput and let them figure out the solution. And that is the big news: consultants can help you identify and work through the problem, but successful change happens with they get out of the way and let the dedicated middle management drive the change. It helps to foster a culture of learning, collaboration, and problem-solving among employees. It enables the self-organization that creates the fix. And evidence shows it out.
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Getting Out of Our Own Way
06/30/2023
Getting Out of Our Own Way
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 and Change techniques that we have once again lost the bubble…the point is to execute and create value. Recognizing and moving past the "aspiration ability gap," jumping through the hoops of just ticking boxes, we have to focus on execution and look for opportunities for acceleration. Managers are called to amplify positive responses to create belief ripples that lead to success. Organizations can get in their own way,Eager to change but miss the play.Professionals may think they know the game, butFocus on outcome, not the timeframe.Sandbagging is when a project takes too long,Outsourcing your brain leads to execution gone wrong.The aspiration ability gap will widen and grow,Unless leaders look for signals, they miss seeds of value they should sow.
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PM Faceoff: Process vs Principles
05/22/2023
PM Faceoff: Process vs Principles
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!
04/18/2023
Listener Questions Revealed!
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 scrum teams in a matrix world? How can AI be used (or useful) to help project managers understand architecture, dependencies, and level of effort in order to generate a critical path. Listeners got questions; we got answers--listen in for them and send us your questions!
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UMD PM 4.0 AI & Future for Project Managers
03/23/2023
UMD PM 4.0 AI & Future for Project Managers
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 PMS providing value for customers, and keeping us on the relationship side, even as technology might give us augmented memory, augmented intelligence or even artificial emotional intelligence. There may be guardrails we need to learn as we plunge toward a future of exponential skill growth in which could take PMs to the CEO suite…but augmented PMs maybe the stuff CEOs will be made of!
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So you want to Agile
02/22/2023
So you want to Agile
We all talk Agile, and sometimes we "say we wanna do agile", so this conversation is about the challenges of implementing Agile in different environments with guests David Forsyth, Mike Mellane, and Caitlin Kenny. Co-host Mike Hannan takes our experts through a journey of the tensions between customers and vendors and the difficulty in managing communication pathways, budgeting, and the principle-agent problem. Solutions you care about included dedicating teams, synchronizing resources, capacity-based budgeting, and fixed-price contracts. Ah, and culture, it always is culture...that the shift that comes with embracing Agile and how transformation should be a continuous journey that focuses on business value. So, with a little patience and a focus on interpersonal accountability, incentives, and autonomy you can build the trusting teams needed to do the Agile dance. Fight the zealotry, power to the edge, and download the episode!
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Critical Conversations
01/24/2023
Critical Conversations
First, "do no harm"--seems like a good adage, and is consistent with our guest Kevin Coleman who discusses some tenets of his UMD PM Symposium presentation coming this April, called "Unconscious Bias: Recognize it and correct it." Our second critical conversations guest is John Hovell on his UMD presentation, "Conversational Leadership: Convening Conversations that Otherwise Wouldn't Happen" where grounded in Gestalt theory, he pushes us to develop conversations that affirmatively support ourselves and others. He asks us to consider, "are we creating community" when we interact. Our third guest, Paloma Martin lays out the underpinnings of our need to consider gender perspectives directly in our stakeholder engagement and across all of the PM processes, as she gives us the teaser for her presentation "Project and Change Management with a Gender Perspective." These speakers are three of the 50 you will hear at the UMD Project Management Center for Excellence 10th annual PM Symposium this April 20-21…if you register (pmsymposium.umd.edu). See you there, but stop by this episode first!
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Managing an AI Project
12/21/2022
Managing an AI Project
Oh Boy, AI projects…they're the worst!! Exploding scope…the endless project. The scale of risk when something goes wrong can literally be exponential. While we PMs always had to watch quality, and we always focused on scope and schedule…the project management problems to launch an AI solution can be insidious, allowing us to make these scope, schedule and quality errors in unobserved and massive ways. AI solutions may be great, but the project management of AI has potential for tremendously bad projects; and we may not even be considering the ways an AI project can go bad wrong. As co-host Mike Hannan says, "as AI projects are making the management challenge exponentially harder, it stands to reason that we're probably getting worse at it." Join me and Mike as we hear from two experts in the field of AI implementation training, Ron Schmelzer and Kathleen Walch of Cognilytica discuss pitfalls old and new of this unique type of software development and implementation.
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Value Integration in Project Management
11/19/2022
Value Integration in Project Management
Recognizing the importance of identifying "what is the work in front of us" co-hosts Kendall Lott and Mike Hannan discuss improved ways cracking scope to improve project delivery and project value with guests Steven Devaux and Sergiy Potapov. Get past the traditional WBS to Product Flow Diagramming…which gives you progressive elaboration of the sequencing of work as you define it. Then step up to Value Breakdown Structures to identify total costs of work, including the drag (opportunity) costs of not executing some work. The goal of planning is to create understanding but also decision-making…what is worth spending more or less on to drive value? Look for the "-ity" words to identify value, (quality, usability, productivity, etc.) to help assess value. Beyond the value of the work, we move to ways of systematically defining the Risk to Value…where are the steps that are most sensitive to dropping or enhancing value? Listen, learn, and then investigate the approaches…we do!
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Cognitive PM and Military Planning
10/19/2022
Cognitive PM and Military Planning
Compound Security Threats. Sends a chill through us, yes? Our military expends huge effort in thinking about that future, long-term for planning, short-term planning for execution all to address increasingly complex security concerns. And as our listeners know, where there is planning ("anticipatory decision-making"), there is the collision with cognitive behavior and neuroscience. Yes, Dr. Josh is back and bringing his colleague (and student of NeuralPlan) Jay Macias of the Joint Special Operations University. Listen in as Co-Host Mike Hannan joins me in drilling in and learning about the role of neuropsychology in the military style command and control and mission orientation to planning and execution from a Project Mangement Point of View. Hint: its about designing how we act with behavioral science data in mind
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The Beauty of AHP
09/20/2022
The Beauty of AHP
Analytical Hierarchy Process--check this as it is a method (and you can get tools) that absolutely help you with project prioritization. Co-Host Mike Hannan and I talk with Stuart Easton, CEO of Transparent Choice, about this accessible approach tying decision science to project prioritization, selection and sequencing. Lending focus to executive teams, it helps us focus on what to do and more importantly, what not to do. Value is not an objective thing, and humans aren't great estimator. The AHP process let's anchor the value understanding, then break down value into meaningful application as criteria, creating transparency and standardization of the decision process, and more and better information as input. The result, higher flow of project throughput completion, and better quality of project value. What's not to like?
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PM Techniques In Ukraine
08/23/2022
PM Techniques In Ukraine
Guest Sergiy Potapov and co-host Mike Hannan are at it again discussing precepts of TOC and Cynefin that connects with effective PM practices to produce results, even in shocking and shattering circumstances, such as found in Ukraine during the war. As Sergiy concludes, “Project management works, absolutely, in non-standard situations." But let’s not get hung up on outputs, the classic PM premium benchmark. As Sergiy wryly notes, "The project with a good output and no outcome is a nightmare." What improves our lot, a focus on deliverables and objectives, not tasks…there will be more on this in a future episode. For now, listen in, and learn how Project Management is valuable even in the most difficult environments.
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Unleash Flow by Taming It…
07/19/2022
Unleash Flow by Taming It…
Episode 100, where a theory based in manufacturing collides with the world of Knowledge Work (yeah, I'm talking about you, PMs) and we find a way to think about Critical Change Project Management. We consider how to get to a pattern of "Unity of Purpose" a key pattern for success, and incidentally, a way of clearing barriers for leaders to have the bandwidth to stay focused. Mirrors and signals, autonomy and spooky action (decisions) at a distance, in the end we need teams to understand what matters around here and have the independence to organize their own work for success. Check out our guest, Steve Tendon's community of information sharing and learning at . Steve Tendon. MD, TameFlow Consulting Limited; author, consultant, and adviser on organizational performance and emerging technologies. Steve is the creator of the TameFlow Approach, a management approach that helps businesses focus on the fewest things that make the greatest impact on people, performance and profit in collaborative knowledge-work, without compromising sustainability, quality or humanity. Steve holds a MSc in Lean & Agile Software Project Management with the University of Aberdeen.
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PM Pessimist Optimist Synthesis
06/22/2022
PM Pessimist Optimist Synthesis
[6/10 1:30 PM] Kendall Lott "PM is BS!" says Ben Damman, our (highly successful) guest today. Well, maybe...the concern is we have become ceremonial or process-centric over effectiveness. WE HAVE SO MUCH POTENTIAL, but WE ARE STUCK . And that of course, takes us back to a question of value. Products or projects, where is value is driven? Is this about general practices or specific adaptations. Today we have the pessimist view, the optimist view, and surprisingly, we landed at some learning through a synthetic view. Listen in, ponder...then grab a PDU Edited
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Ecosystem Designer
05/16/2022
Ecosystem Designer
PMs as leaders you own understanding the design of the org, the ecosystem you sit in. But to what purpose? Join me and cohost Mike Hannan as we hear from Matt Barcomb who highlights understanding the organization as a system so that Product Management can actually be effective. From strategy to structure (value streams, teams, roles, constraints) to rewards, we have to get this right to get effective work, and it requires a design. But not design for design's sake, Mike reminds us "to what end?" The ecosystem gives us the underpinnings of motivation and production in the organization, and we can chose to make it valuable. As always, its the PMPOV elevating the conversation, with a touch of snarkiness!
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PM under Duress
04/21/2022
PM under Duress
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.
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Design Thinking
03/23/2022
Design Thinking
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.
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Change Management and TOC
02/22/2022
Change Management and TOC
"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.
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Cognitive Behavior
01/29/2022
Cognitive Behavior
"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 () 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 , become a member of the institute at , or take a look at their NPPQ planning certification at .
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Heretical Agile
12/21/2021
Heretical Agile
Organizational change consultant and expert Agilista Leila Rao grounds us in the reality that investing in people is central to successful Agile transformation. We’re often distracted by the allure of “Agile theater,” but Rao articulates that Agile is how we make human truths and values viable in the workplace. Optimizing the customer experience as a whole by playing to the strengths of each individual part roots us in addressing the question: how we each connect to the bigger purpose at hand?
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Project Management Forward from the 2021 UMD Symposium
11/22/2021
Project Management Forward from the 2021 UMD Symposium
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.
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Where has PM Gone?
10/26/2021
Where has PM Gone?
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.
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Effective Communication from the 2021 UMD Symposium
09/22/2021
Effective Communication from the 2021 UMD Symposium
Transformation Attenuation: The loss of signal that occurs as a message moves down the chain from the C suite.
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Product Management and the Toaster
08/26/2021
Product Management and the 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.
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Avoiding Failure from the 2021 UMD Symposium
07/22/2021
Avoiding Failure from the 2021 UMD Symposium
The statistics around project success vs. failure are less than heartening, to say the least. 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.
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