In this episode, Andy interviews Nigel Creaser, an active project professional and author of the book Project Manager Productivity Hacks. Nigel shares insights from his career and discusses strategies for managing interruptions and improving productivity. They also touch on the use of mobile devices and AI tools in project management.

Overall, the conversation emphasizes the need for project managers to go beyond technical skills and prioritize the human aspect of their work.

• "Productivity isn't about winning. It's not like a sport... It's more like yoga and that you can always be a bit more stretched."
• "Project management, I think, is messy, and we try to control the mess rather than go with the flow with the mess and kind of direct it."
• (Nigel, about being a podcaster) "I try to be that person who's being cheeky and getting free consultancy."

• 00:00 Introduction
• 01:23 Start of Interview
• 01:58 Nigel's Backstory
• 06:26 How Nigel Seeks to Minimize Interruptions
• 11:18 Nigel's Advice About Email
• 16:45 Mobile Devices and Productivity
• 21:38 How Nigel and Andy are Using AI
• 31:02 Project Management Lessons Nigel Has Learned
• 36:29 Career Advice from Nigel's Journey
• 45:31 About the Sunday Lunch Project Manager Podcast
• 49:15 Wrap-Up
• 49:34 Andy Comments After the Interview
• 51:55 Outtakes

You can learn more about Nigel, his books, and his Sunday Lunch Project Manager Podcast at NigelCreaser.com.

If you’d like more on this subject, check out:

• Episode 346 with Donna Gregorio. It's another in the trenches episode, and
• Episode 169 with Emily Luijbregts. She is also a practicing project manager and we discuss challenges and lessons about leading virtual teams.

You know how valuable it is to know how to lead and deliver projects. But students often aren't taught these skills. We've taken some of our best content on project management and put into a course Getting Stuff Done: Project Management for Students. The feedback has been so positive. Give the gift of a headstart to a student you know by going to PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/GettingStuffDone. Thanks!

Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast!

Talent Triangle: Business Acumen

The following music was used for this episode:

Music: Tranceverse by Sascha Ende License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Music: Funny by Frank Schroeter License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license