
Project Management Happy Hour
PM Happy Hour is the place for frank and honest discussion about real world issues in project management. We do it in a way that’s not too dry, though it may get a bit salty from time to time.
Each episode, your hosts Kim Essendrup and Kate Anderson cover a problem faced in project management today, and share practical advice, real-life examples and the occasional project horror story.
Not only that, but every podcast is also an online class! Our host is a PMI Registered Education Provider, who has structured each podcast as an easy-to-listen-to lesson. To get credit, go to our web site at PMHappyHour.com, purchase your class, take the test (based on the content from our podcast) and you get your PDU certificate instantly!
Latest episodes

Jul 31, 2020 • 53min
061 - Do I really need a PMO? (Part 1 of 2)
Do I need a Project Management Office (PMO)? Does anyone REALY need a PMO? Why, aren’t those all going away because of Agile? What value can a PMO give to an organization? And when does it not make sense to have a PMO? We go through all this and more on this 2 part podcast - check it out! JOIN THE HAPPY HOUR! Get access to all podcasts, PDU certificates, bonus content, exclusive member Q&A webinars and more from our membership! https://pmhappyhour.com/membership STUMP THE PM’S! We love to hear about your tough PM issues, so please hit us up at podcast@pmhappyhour.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/pmhapyhour and we’ll see if we can help you. If we use your question, we’ll send you a PM Happy Hour coaster you can enjoy at your next happy hour.

Jun 22, 2020 • 26min
060 - Say-Do-Say: Fundamentals of Project Communication
Exploring the Say-Do-Say principle in project management and life, emphasizing clear communication and accountability. Discussing the fundamentals of project management and personal journeys, with advice for newcomers. Highlighting the importance of effective project communication and the role of project managers as translators. Delving into the Say-Do-Say approach for efficient project management at any scale.

May 12, 2020 • 45min
059 - Crying Happens
Project Management can be tough - full of stress, emotion, passion and… more stress. You, your team and your stakeholders are trying to make big changes happen in the intense pressure cooker that is a project. And if you’ve been around long enough you will know that tears sometimes happen in the workplace. But how do we handle that - if we work with someone and they shed tears, or if it’s us? In this episode, we get real and honest about tears in the workplace - that it’s not a sign of weakness, and talk about how to handle it. And how NOT to handle it. JOIN THE HAPPY HOUR! Get access to all podcasts, PDU certificates, bonus content, exclusive member Q&A webinars and more from our membership! https://pmhappyhour.com/membership STUMP THE PM’S! We love to hear about your tough PM issues, so please hit us up at podcast@pmhappyhour.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/pmhapyhour and we’ll see if we can help you. If we use your question, we’ll send you a PM Happy Hour coaster you can enjoy at your next happy hour.

Mar 25, 2020 • 1h 17min
058 - Shut-in but not Shut-down: Managing Projects and Teams from Home
Many of us are suddenly finding that we - and our teams - are working remotely from home. While this is normal for a lot of our workforce, it can represent a very big change for a lot of teams. How do we stay focused and stay productive - and help our team stay focused as well? And how do we do that in a way that keeps us all sane? In this webinar, Kate and Kim talk through this process from how to setup a productive workspace from home, what tools you can use to optimize collaboration to how to treat ourselves and our team with compassion and help keep them motivated. Get the webinar video! If you want to see the webinar with video, you can do so by registering on this page: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/3115849828526/WN_YlN8JVMBT_S5fwqh_rhogA JOIN THE HAPPY HOUR! Get access to all podcasts, PDU certificates, bonus content, exclusive member Q&A webinars and more from our membership! https://pmhappyhour.com/membership STUMP THE PM’S! We love to hear about your tough PM issues, so please hit us up at podcast@pmhappyhour.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/pmhapyhour and we’ll see if we can help you. If we use your question, we’ll send you a PM Happy Hour coaster you can enjoy at your next happy hour.

30 snips
Feb 25, 2020 • 1h 9min
057 - ADKAR: It’s not a trap! Change Management can save your mission
Kornelia Homewood, a seasoned Project and Portfolio Management Consultant with Kolme Group, shares her expertise in change management. She introduces the ADKAR model, breaking down its five key elements: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement. Kori emphasizes the importance of clear communication and emotional engagement for effective transitions. She blends her project insights with her passion for yarn crafting, showcasing how personal hobbies can add humor and relatability to serious topics, making change management both engaging and essential for project success.

Jan 21, 2020 • 51min
056 Don't buy the bias! Managing bias in project management
Whether we realize it or not, we all have bias in the way we think about things. Maybe you have a bias to be overly optimistic in your estimates, or under estimate the impact of risks. Planning fallacy, illusion of control, confirmation bias - the list goes on of different ways bias can mis-shape our perceptions and our decisions This week’s amazing guest, Jennifer Chandler, brings her depth of experience as a project manager and expertise in organizational leadership to help us understand bias and how to manage it OUR AMAZING GUEST! This week’s guest, Jennifer Chandler, received her Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute in 2008, even though she had been managing projects for decades before that. She managed information technology projects for federal agencies (e.g., the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U. S. Secret Service; the U. S. Navy; and the U. S. Army), international corporations (e.g., Motorola), and for national not-for-profit professional associations (e.g., the Association of American Medical Colleges). She has also managed and mentored teams of project managers as well as one-on-one mentoring of project managers. She has also conducted assessments of other organizations' project management practices and developed curriculum and taught project management in organizations. JOIN THE HAPPY HOUR! Get access to all podcasts, PDU certificates, bonus content, exclusive member Q&A webinars and more from our membership! https://pmhappyhour.com/membership STUMP THE PM’S! We love to hear about your tough PM issues, so please hit us up at podcast@pmhappyhour.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/pmhapyhour and we’ll see if we can help you. If we use your question, we’ll send you a PM Happy Hour coaster you can enjoy at your next happy hour

Dec 8, 2019 • 32min
055 - A slice of Thankfulness from Kate and Kim
Hiya listeners, in this episode we share what we’ve been up to and why we’ve been a bit quiet, some amazing PDU stats and share some things that we’re thankful for. Cheers! And thanks to our amazing listeners JOIN THE HAPPY HOUR! Get access to all podcasts, PDU certificates, bonus content, exclusive member Q&A webinars and more from our membership! https://pmhappyhour.com/membership STUMP THE PM’S! We love to hear about your tough PM issues, so please hit us up at podcast@pmhappyhour.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/pmhapyhour and we’ll see if we can help you. If we use your question, we’ll send you a PM Happy Hour coaster you can enjoy at your next happy hour.

Sep 16, 2019 • 1h 11min
054 - How to be a Project Manager: Kate and Kim get interviewed by a PM student about breaking into the field
For this episode the tables are turned - Kate and Kim get interviewed! Arizona State University student Krystal Ebadi contacted us and asked if she could interview us for her PM class about the realities of studying PM and getting a job. Of course we said yes! And Krystal let us share that interview with our listeners. Thanks Krystal! Join us as we talk about studying project management in a University, how to prepare to get a PM job, and how to break into the field. This episode covers some of our most frequent listener questions ABOUT OUR AMAZING GUEST KRYSTAL EBADI Krystal Ebadi is currently a junior at Arizona State University (Go sun devils!!!!!!) She is majoring in organizational leadership project management, and aspires to become a future Project Manager APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE! Kim was getting his house painted on recording day (OOPS!) and there's a bit of noise in the background. Sorry! JOIN THE HAPPY HOUR! Get access to all podcasts, PDU certificates, bonus content, exclusive member Q&A webinars and more from our membership! https://pmhappyhour.com/membership STUMP THE PM’S! We love to hear about your tough PM issues, so please hit us up at podcast@pmhappyhour.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/pmhapyhour and we’ll see if we can help you. If we use your question, we’ll send you a PM Happy Hour coaster you can enjoy at your next happy hour.

Aug 4, 2019 • 51min
053 - What if I told you that you were a PM all along?
This episode we talk with one of our amazing listeners, Josh Mildren, who shares his story about how he became a project manager - or rather, how he realized he was a project manager all along. Like a lot of our Happy Hour listeners, Josh was looking for new ways to address challenges his organization was struggling with, and found that a pragmatic approach using Project Management principles has a huge impact - so much so, that it propelled him to employee of the year! Congrats Josh! Join us as Josh shares his journey - one that we think a lot of Happy Hour listeners can identify with! We'll talk about how to recognize how and when to leverage Project Management disciplines in your job - and how to recognize if you are, actually, a Project Manager even if that's not your official job title. ABOUT OUR AMAZING GUEST JOSH MILDREN Josh Mildren has been working in helpdesk services for 15 years and has been a Client Onboarding Engineer for the past 2 and half years with Dataprise out of Rockville MD. Josh has taken his experience with helpdesk support, client services and documentation to provide new client information and expectations of support services to his company, while setting up managed solutions and monitoring support services for their new clients. In order to ensure our clients have a smooth transition, Josh trains both his TEC staff and the client on submitting issues, reports and escalations and answer questions all while trying to meet Go-Live dates for support. JOIN THE HAPPY HOUR! Get access to all podcasts, PDU certificates, bonus content, exclusive member Q&A webinars and more from our membership! https://pmhappyhour.com/membership STUMP THE PM’S! We love to hear about your tough PM issues, so please hit us up at podcast@pmhappyhour.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/pmhapyhour and we’ll see if we can help you. If we use your question, we’ll send you a PM Happy Hour coaster you can enjoy at your next happy hour.

Jul 7, 2019 • 29min
052 - Who owns this baby when I’m done? Planning for deliverables handover
This episode we talk about that make-or-break moment in project closing: handing over your project deliverables. If you plan your project right, this can be a moment of victory for your team, your stakeholders, and for yourself. But if you don’t plan for it, handover can become a never ending death march to nowhere. Kate and Kim talk about how to setup this key transition for success, and talk about some pitfalls you are going to want to avoid! JOIN THE HAPPY HOUR! Get access to all podcasts, PDU certificates, bonus content, exclusive member Q&A webinars and more from our membership! https://pmhappyhour.com/membership STUMP THE PM’S! We love to hear about your tough PM issues, so please hit us up at podcast@pmhappyhour.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/pmhapyhour and we’ll see if we can help you. If we use your question, we’ll send you a PM Happy Hour coaster you can enjoy at your next happy hour.
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