Project Management Happy Hour

Burning Man is a famous event held in a temporary city the middle of the Nevada desert, dedicated to self expression and artistic freedom with 80,000 people. Can you imagine managing a project there?! One of our very own PM Happy Hour members does so every year! This episode we are joined by Kayla Glenn, a project management consultant and a project manager for a camp at Burning Man. Kayla will share her lessons learned from managing a team of volunteers - lessons which translate very well to any project. Our favorite: “Everyone has a Tuesday.” Check it out! About our guest, Kayla Glenn Kayla is a project management consultant and CAPM. Her favorite hobbies also involve running projects, and she has run a theme camp at Burning Man for the last six years, as well as volunteering as an event coordinator in the non-profit sector, organizing fundraisers and events. She lives in Seattle, WA with a totally awesome cat, and can be found walking around Greenlake. 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.

We all  assume that following process, better data and improved maturity will fix all our PM issues. That make sense, but is it true? What does the data say? This was our question last fall going into PMO Symposium. Then we realized, we’d be surrounded by hundreds of amazing Project and PMO leaders who could help us understand this better! So, we engaged with 65+ Project and PMO leaders to collect data measuring different aspects of project success, what processes & tools they used (or didn’t) and what data they used. Some of the answers were just as you may expect - but a number of them were really surprising! In this episode, we walk through the findings of that study.   CHECK OUT A VIDEO… We also recorded a video version of this podcast so you can see the graphics - check it out here You can also download a copy of the presentation, here. 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.

Today we are joined by Rolondo Talbott who gave an amazing presentation at this year’s PMO Symposium. He is going to share with us an amazing story from his time in the military which inspired him to come up with the concept of  Entrepreneurial Project Management. If you've heard about us contrasting "box checker" PM's with being the CEO of your project, Rolondo takes it to a whole new level. With this approach, we look past the obvious or even stated goals of our project and engage at a deeper level to drive value. If you have stakeholders (and who doesn’t!) you won’t want to miss this one.   ABOUT OUR GUEST, ROLONDO TALBOTT Rolondo Talbott, director of project management at Pomona College, joined the IT senior management team where he builds, leads, and operates project management for IT. Rolondo is a UCLA graduate and Los Angeles native who is also a 10-year veteran of the United States Air Force. His most recent position was working for NBC Universal, and he now lives with his family in Claremont, CA, USA. He is also a published author who has written everything from screenplays to parenting related articles which are found in a variety of online and print magazines. He is also the author of the Children’s Book Series, “Uniquely ME” and was named by Disney’s as, “One of New Picture Books Your Kids Will Beg You to Read Over and Over”. When he is not writing, he is helping teams across various industries go from “Great to Legendary” using a variety of certified team building techniques. He also is passionate about helping veterans secure jobs, and volunteers by offering them résumé critiques and job-search strategies.   To contact Rolondo or read some of his many articles and books... Linkedin.com/in/rolondotalbott (Various articles on Management) Pomona.edu/pmo Evolllution.com/author/Rolondo-talbott (Understanding and Achieving Consensus: Best Practices and Pitfalls to Avoid) https://www.cioreview.com/cxoinsight/the-key-to-project-success-nid-27443-cid-63.html (The Key to Project Success)   Parenting Blogging https://www.babble.com/contributor/rtalbott/ (Disney’s Parenting Website) https://www.babble.com/entertainment/picture-books/ (Uniquely ME, Book #31)   Children’s Book Series: Uniquely ME (Various Versions) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071Z974ZY/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_hYnvCbPR4FH5X   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.

In today’s world we are bombarded with more information than ever before - it’s on our mobile devices (social email, etc.), daily stand-ups, 24 hour news networks telling us about how the world is collapsing every day, so much going on. That’s a lot of information coming in - so how do you sort through it? With that much information coming in and going out, it can be hard to really feel like we are on top of our projects. Especially in two circumstances: We have a large number of projects we are managing at the same time We have a very long duration project, and need to be able to look ahead and look back So, how do you find a ‘quiet space’ where you can actually think and plan? In this episode, we talk about keeping a Project Diary. A diary or a log of your project can be a great way for you to sort through your thoughts and challenges on a project, and maybe even a way to provide a higher degree of transparency into your project to your stakeholders. Project Diary, Project Log, Project Blog, Project Vlog - we got you covered. 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.

The speakers dive into the intriguing role of the 'fixer' in project management, embracing tough assignments with confidence. They share strategies for taking over broken projects, stressing the importance of clear communication and understanding requirements. Tips on maintaining composure and professionalism during recovery highlight the need for effective teamwork. Additionally, the role of language in project updates is discussed, focusing on accountability and building trust. It's a comprehensive guide for PMs tackling complex challenges with flair!

The hosts dive into the tricky waters of project closure, uncovering common obstacles like client reluctance and shifting goals. They share effective strategies for securing stakeholder sign-off and emphasize the importance of clear success criteria. Maintaining strong customer relationships during transitions is highlighted, along with celebrating project milestones. With creative analogies, they stress the need for clarity and flexibility to avoid confusion. Plus, the technique of implied acceptance offers an interesting twist to the closure process.

Have you ever had to justify the value of Project Management in your organization? Doh! So do we. Listen in as we share our best responses to, “is PM really needed?” You don’t have to justify the existence of the Finance team. Or Sales & Marketing. Or Executive Management. So why do we have to justify the existence of Project Management? This week we explore this question and share some of our favorite responses to help educate our stakeholders and show the value of what we do. 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.

Fai Mo, an accomplished project management and technology leader with experience across various sectors, joins the discussion on personality assessments. He shares insights on using StrengthsFinder to enhance team dynamics and management skills. The conversation highlights the importance of understanding individual strengths for improved collaboration. Fai emphasizes trusting your instincts in leadership and the valuable lessons learned from past experiences. Overall, it's a deep dive into leveraging personality tools for personal and team growth in the workplace.

In a fun-filled discussion inspired by Halloween, the hosts tackle listener questions about project management. They share tips on crafting impactful resumes that highlight project metrics. The conversation also delves into empowering introverted leaders with soft skills to boost team dynamics. Strategies for addressing underperformance without escalation are covered, along with insights on creating timelines for unfamiliar technologies. They emphasize the importance of clear communication and documentation for project success.

“What are we even doing in this project?” If you’ve ever asked yourself (or been asked) this question, go back to your Project Charter right now! The Project Charter is a keystone project artifact, authorizing the very existing and base assumptions and structure of your project. It can be called many things - a statement of work, a project initiation document - but whatever, if you don’t have some kind of document that authorizes your project, you may be in trouble! In this episode we talk about charters, what they are, what should be in them - and what doesn’t need to be in there. MEMBER ONLY BONUS CONTENT - DOWNLOAD ONE OF OUR CHARTER TEMPLATES! Members can log in and go to https://pmhappyhour.com/resources/ to download our Project Charter templates! We have a long format and a short format template. The long format comes with instructions and example text to get you started. MEMBER ONLY BONUS CONTENT II - EXTENDED WALK-THROUGH The course for this podcast includes a special 20+ minute extended walk-through of our charter templates to make sure you get your charter off on the right foot. 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.