The Project Chatter Podcast

In this week’s pod, we welcomed Fred Schebesta to talk about whether blockchain can improve project delivery! Fred Schebesta is the epitome of entrepreneurialism. An obsession for hyper success, Fred is passionate about disruptive innovation and inspires the startup community through his achievements and learnings.  The Australian-born entrepreneur is the co-founder of Finder, a global personal finance comparison website, which attracts over 10 million visitors each month, over 400 staff across six offices, and can be found in over 80 countries. For the past 2 years, Fred has been leading the Finder App, which is an Australian-first innovation that combines personal finance management with automated comparison. It connects a user’s bank accounts, analyses insights and sends automated alerts on when they can compare products and potentially save money.  Launched in March 2020 with plans to roll out in the USA and UK early next year. The main topics we discussed on the podcast were as follows: · In its simplest form, a blockchain is an internet-based database that anyone can access · Most projects shouldn’t use blockchain. It’s expensive, slow, cumbersome and emerging! · Blockchains are useful where you need to prove project data to the public ·  A database is a cheaper, more effective solution for projects · Bitcoin could change the way we incentivise people working on projects · Blockchain could be used to create smart contracts (self-executing contracts). This may not work on qualitative outcomes that occur on major construction projects. It works better where there are binary outcomes.  · Be remarkable! Make sure people are willing and want to comment to their friends about ti · In most businesses, the rational idea is not to innovate and keep doing what they’re good at. At some stage businesses will experience disruption   Blockchain is most relevant on airplane and train manufacturing projects, high value but process-driven projects · Plenty of major engineering projects have been delivered without technology but with solid project management principles. Have Project Management skills ever really changed since the Pyramids were built? ·  Technology isn’t necessarily an enabler for good project management · Innovation gets killed by antibodies within organisations!  · When creating new technology, you need to ignore the KPI’s. Deliver or don’t! ·  We’re likely to see digital industrial revolutions in the next year `  · Write down what a project will do, also write down what the project won’t do Here are some links to the topics we discussed:  · Finder - https://www.finder.com.au/ · Mythical Man-Month - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mythical-Man-Month-Software-Engineering-Anniversary/dp/0201835959 · Phoenix Project - https://itrevolution.com/the-phoenix-project/ Book recommendation: Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits https://www.amazon.co.uk/Uncommon-Profits-Writings-Investment-Classics/dp/0471445509  Tune in next week when we’re re-joined by Paul Goodge and Warren Beardall to discuss the philosophy of project management. For more information, blogs or to support our charities visit www.projectchatterpodcast.com If you'd like to sponsor the podcast get in touch via our website. You can also leave us a voice message via our anchor page and let us know if there's something or someone specific that you would like on the podcast.  Proudly sponsored by: PlanAcademy.com | InEight.com | JustDo.com Stay safe, be disruptive, and have fun doing it!  #ProjectManagement #Blockchain #PMO #ProjectControls #Leadership #Culture #ProjectCertifications

In this week’s pod, we welcomed Richard Logue to talk about "Busting Earned Value Management Myths"! Richard has worked in Project Controls and Planning for over 30 years, largely in the Transport industry. Richard was part of the team that implemented Primavera at Network Rail.  Richard previously worked as a Business Consultant at the planning software company Artemis and is currently working on an assignment at Transport for London. The main topics we discussed on the podcast were as follows: No project is too small (or too big) to reap the benefits of EVM EVM does not need complicated software or a large team to implement effectively EVM can coexist with various contractual frameworks like NEC, etc. Earned Value (progress) needs to be tied to something tangible (or have agreed "rule of credit") The Work Breakdown Structure is really important when it comes to setting up a Performance Measurement Baseline Tune in next week when we’re joined by Fred Schebesta to talk about if blockchain can improve project delivery! For more information, blogs or to support our charities visit www.projectchatterpodcast.com If you'd like to sponsor the podcast get in touch via our website. You can also leave us a voice message via our anchor page and let us know if there's something or someone specific that you would like on the podcast. Proudly sponsored by:  PlanAcademy.com | InEight.com | JustDo.com Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it!

In this week’s pod, we welcomed Dr Paul Giammalvo and Yani Suratman to talk about competency-based training, benchmarking and being cancelled from Linkedin.  Dr Paul is a Senior Technical Advisor (Project Management) to PT Mitratata Citragraha. (PTMC), Jakarta, Indonesia. He is noted for the development and delivery of graduate level, blended learning curricula designed for the mid-career path, English as Second Language (ESL) professionals to develop competency in the local practitioner and build capacity for the local organizations. For 29+ years, he has been developing and delivering Project Management training and consulting throughout South and Eastern Asia Pacific, the Middle East, North, West and South Africa, and Europe.  Yani is an experienced project management professional having Developed and delivered project management training and consulting professional services to Fortune 500 companies, Universities, Multilateral Development Institutions and NGO’s around the world.  The main topics we discussed on the podcast were as follows:  Exam based certifications may not be the best solution. Teaching to the test does not help students with real-life situations they will inevitably encounter on projects  IPMA has a competency-based certification programme unlike PMI or AACE  Competency is the quality or state of being functionally adequate when assessed against a standard  It takes 15,000 hours to be a competent project manager on a major project. Less experienced PM’s may not be the right fit  It takes 10,000 hours (incl. study time) to be considered a “journey-man” project manager  Big picture thinkers do not make the best project managers  People need to want to go on Project Management training courses and apply the learning. Companies should not be paying for training by numbers of people without assessing the motivations of the students  Managers need to know what they want to see before engaging companies to do benchmarking exercises  Tune in next week when we’re joined by Richard Logue to talk about busting Earned Value Management myths!  For more information, blogs or to support our charities visit www.projectchatterpodcast.com  If you'd like to sponsor the podcast get in touch via our website. You can also leave us a voice message via our anchor page and let us know if there's something or someone specific that you would like on the podcast.  Proudly sponsored by: PlanAcademy.com InEight.com JustDo.com  Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it!

In this episode, Dale and Val talk to Dr Harris about the various definitions of Transformation, Digital, PMO and PM. Dr Harris is a visionary strategy executive, author and speaker with two decades of diverse industry exposure, highly skilled and experienced in international and multicultural business environments. Led and directed a plethora of large scale, complex project portfolios and programs (20 countries, up to $1.65 billion value and benefits of $178 million). Results-oriented, being capable to lead Business and Digital transformations, PMOs and sustainable strategy implementation, putting the pieces towards corporate excellence. Harris’s work often involves the integration of multiple strategy processes & tools taking into consideration diverse corporate environment factors, blended with change and risk management frameworks as well as, with global project management best practices (traditional / hybrid / agile). Personal Mantra: Being motivated by what others believe as complex and impossible to achieve. For more information, blogs or to support our charities visit www.projectchatterpodcast.com If you'd like to sponsor the podcast get in touch via our website. You can also leave us a voice message via our anchor page and let us know if there's something or someone specific that you would like on the podcast. Proudly sponsored by; PlanAcademy.com InEight.com JustDo.com Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it!

In this episode, Dale and Val speak with Matt Levy about his life and experiences leading to him becoming a world champion in life and in projects. This show we delve more into the habits, inspirations and motivations. Matt is a humble and dedicated person who is truly worth a listen to. Born 15 weeks prematurely, with cerebral palsy and vision impairment, Matthew has survived 50-plus operations – brain, heart, lungs, ears … you name it – to become the international swim star he is today. As is the case for the vast majority of Paralympic swimmers, Matt found the pool as part of his rehabilitation – to keep his body moving. But it was in 2000 when he realised he could be competitive, that the next 20 years of his life began to take shape. Matt Levy made his Paralympic debut in 2004 and won his first medal – gold in the men’s 4x100m medley 34 Points – in 2008. A five-strong haul at the 2010 International Paralympic Committee Swimming World Championships preceded his most successful Games campaign to date, with Matthew returning home from England’s London Aquatics Centre in 2012 with one gold, one silver and three bronze medals, and in 2016, he won a bronze medal in the men’s 200m individual medley SM7. As the reigning Commonwealth Games champion in the men’s 50m freestyle S7, and current S7 world record holder in the men’s 200m freestyle, = Outside the pool, Matthew is a member of Paralympics Australia’s Mob Leadership Team, and World Para-swimming‘s and Commonwealth Games Australia’s Athlete Advisory Groups. Matthew John Levy, OAM is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. At five Paralympic Games from 2004 to 2020, he has won three gold, one silver and six bronze medals on top of this he is a change analyst in finance. For more information, blogs or to support our charities visit www.projectchatterpodcast.com If you'd like to sponsor the podcast get in touch via our website. You can also leave us a voice message via our anchor page and let us know if there's something or someone specific that you would like on the podcast. Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it! Proudly sponsored by; PlanAcademy.com InEight.com JustDo.com

In this week’s pod we welcomed Dominic Siow to talk about performance and resilience in projects. Dominic is co-founder of EQ Strategist, a company with a mission to help create empowering workplaces where people wake up each and every day inspired to deliver extraordinary outcomes for their organisations. Prior to his present vocation, Dominic was a senior operations manager for IBM Australia and VP of Product Development at grapevine Technologies. Dominic has previously contributed as speaker and mentor at the Magic Moments Youth Leadership and Business Summit and as a Senior Leader at Robbins Research International events across Australia since 2003. He is the author of the Amazon Best Seller “What’s GREAT about this? How to be Resilient and Thrive through Disruption and Change.” The main topics we discussed on the podcast were as follows: Storytelling is important especially in times of change. People need to be led and inspired Workplace culture is the shared beliefs and values of a team “what people do when the managers aren’t around” One of the main challenges in projects is that we have capable project managers but a lack of capable leaders. Aligning people on the right behaviours will inspire teams i Of the three employee types: Engaged employees outperform satisfied employees by 38% in productivity, inspired employees outperform satisfied employees by 149% Many companies do not look for inspiration when making recruitment decisions. Experience is often the sole driver Do not underestimate the importance of the storming process when creating a team. A leader needs to align the team on the ethos they want to engender All teams need to have a common purpose. Think about the outcomes of the project; the ‘why’ rather than the ‘when’ and ‘how’ Humans are motivated by purpose. If the why is big enough then the how finds a way Are your KPI’s outcome focussed? PM’s aren’t trained in managing politics in an organisation As a Project Manager you should not be motivated by your project not failing, you should not be afraid of telling the story to the management before it is too late for them to react Aligning diverse skillsets within a team is a challenge that PM’s must overcome. The diversity will give you a better view of the solution Choose to be curious! Resilience is the difference between reacting and responding to problems There are over 6000 human emotions but generally people are either in fear or in love Links to some of the topics discussed: Dominic Siow – What’s Great About This?: https://www.amazon.co.uk/WHATS-GREAT-ABOUT-THIS-DISRUPTION/dp/0648018601 Lencioni – Five Dysfunctions: https://www.tablegroup.com/topics-and-resources/teamwork-5-dysfunctions/ Proudly sponsored by: PlanAcademy.com | JustDo.com | InEight.com ----------------------------------------- Join us next week when we’re joined by Olympic gold medallist Matt Levy to discuss change and leadership. For more information, blogs or to support our charities visit www.projectchatterpodcast.com If you'd like to sponsor the podcast get in touch via our website. You can also leave us a voice message via our anchor page and let us know if there's something or someone specific that you would like on the podcast. Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it! Dale and Val

In this episode, Dale and Val catch up with Jo Lucas and approach change and organisations in a fascinating and intriguing podcast. Change is amongst us all and how we, therefore, improve or create the right motive for change will take more than formal networks. Jo talks about her background and her mission to leverage the study of natural systems and apply them to real-world problems. Jo dives into what she calls the 'shadow organisation where formal networks are not the only way projects operate. Jo draws inspiration from natural systems and explains how this occurs within the organisation. To improve, grow and change it may be useful to decide how we use language and how we rewild projects by developing a relationship-based approach. Jo is the director of Co.Cre8 a consultancy, which brings the visionary together with the practical. Jo lead from within project organisations focussing as much on context and relationships, as on process and governance to create functioning networks that deliver. I bring systems thinking to the human networks which build up around large infrastructure projects and is a curious seeker of new ways of shaping them, that is more in harmony with the natural world. Jo also leads Ego to Eco, an initiative to connect together across organisational and institutional boundaries supporting our industry in these ecologically and socially stretched times to find new ways of working together. Jo has over 20 years of experience in implementing change within complex and ambiguous environments, including HS2, TfL, CITB, UCL, BAA, ODA, World Food Programme and Network Rail. She chartered as a civil/structural engineer in Australia before transitioning into implementing change on major infrastructure projects in London. You can check out the Ego to Eco story here For more information, blogs or to support our charities visit www.projectchatterpodcast.com If you'd like to sponsor the podcast get in touch via our website. You can also leave us a voice message via our anchor page and let us know if there's something or someone specific that you would like on the podcast. Proudly sponsored by PlanAcademy.com JustDo.com InEight.com Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it!

In this week’s pod we welcomed Donnie MacNicol to talk about the art of complex change management. Donnie is the founder of Team Animation which works across multiple sectors energising leaders and teams delivering complex change to maximise value and certainty of success through a focus on the human dimension. Donnie acts as a catalyst to support organisations to improve their collaboration and productivity – aspects that will be critical to tackling the many challenges we face today including climate change and in particular in meeting the NetZero target. The main topics we discussed on the podcast were as follows: Change management is treated differently from Project Management. It should be regarded on an equal footing Project and Programme Managers should have a change management responsibility as part of their job description IMA can be used to structure conversation based on personality preference. This is similar to the Insights When companies do offsite meetings, they often discuss business issues during the morning and focus on people in the afternoon as it is seen as lighter and easier. This should be reversed Not enough people use tools such as Insights / IMA to understand the stakeholders when trying to understand complex projects When starting on a complex project, try to ingest as much knowledge as possible and seek to diagnose the key problems and root cause of failures. Be cynical when reviewing change projects. Who really stands to win or lose from the success of a change being implemented? Managers could implement a stakeholder map with a RAG status on who would benefit from the change being implemented The main learning point from people in project management has been cultural, getting managers and organisations to truly care about people and personality types. Models such as Insights, DISC and IMA have supported this The main reasons for change project failure are nonsense! It does not seek to ask why the reason for failure happened. Root cause, not symptom Consultancies are often the main beneficiary from project failure! Here are links to some of the topics that were discussed: IMA Model – Personality Types: http://ima-pm.co.uk/ Opiner - Video Research Resource: https://opiner.app/ ----------------------------------------- Join us next week when we’re joined by Jo Lucas to talk about rewilding organisation and minimal interference approach to change management. For more information, blogs or to support our charities visit www.projectchatterpodcast.com If you'd like to sponsor the podcast get in touch via our website. You can also leave us a voice message via our anchor page and let us know if there's something or someone specific that you would like on the podcast. Proudly sponsored by PlanAcademy.com Ineight.com JustDo.com Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it! Dale and Val

In this episode Dale and Val talk to Americo Pinto about all things PMO, from what makes a good PMO to where it will be going in the future. With more organisations adopting PMO's across the globe it is great to see pioneers like Americo building and supporting the PMO community with groups like the PMO value ring and the PMO Global Alliance. Americo Pinto is a PMO expert and researcher, with large experience in complex projects and PMOs in Latina America and Europe. He is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the PMO Global Alliance, the worldwide community of PMO professionals. In 2011, Americo received in Dallas, USA, at the PMI Global Congress, the "Distinguished Contribution Award" for his contribution to the development of project management practices. He has more than 20 years of experience in PMOs, Portfolio and Project Management. He worked as a Senior Executive and Project Manager in companies such as Arthur Andersen, Deloitte, Dinsmore Associates, Compass International and Noorden Group. Currently, he is Chairman at PMO Global Alliance. Americo Pinto works as a professor at the most prestigious universities in Latin America and Europe. He is also a Doctoral Candidate at ESC Rennes School of Business, in France. For six years he was Vice-President of Programs and Vice-President of Professional Development at PMI Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Chapter. In this volunteer position he was in charge of several initiatives on project management development. Currently, Americo is an active volunteer in several international initiatives with PMI. Americo Pinto has published five books about project management and PMOs. He is certified as PMP (Project Management Professional), and he has a Business Administration Degree and also a Masters in Business Administration. Areas of Interest: PMO (Project Management Office), Project Management, Program Management, Portfolio Management, Project Management Maturity. Links to join for free the PMO Global Alliance https://www.pmoga.world PMO Value Ring https://www.pmoga.world/pmovr This episode is proudly brought to you by our sponsors PlanAcademy.com InEight.com JustDo.com  Thanks for listening

In this week’s pod we welcomed Elizabeth Harrin to talk about effective stakeholder engagement. Elizabeth Harrin is an author, trainer and mentor who helps people juggle their projects and ditch the overwhelm. She does that through straight-talking, real-world advice, based on her 20 years in project management roles. Elizabeth is a Fellow of the Association for Project Management who has written 6 books about project management. She also writes the award-winning blog, A Girl’s Guide to Project Management. The main topics we discussed on the podcast were as follows: ·  Project Managers do not and cannot manage people’s behaviour. It is arrogant to think you can ·  There is a need for people to feel valued within projects and organisations ·   How can you create a compelling story so people understand why the project needs to happen? ·   Try to condense your project story into two sentences so people can understand ·   Measuring engagement will always be subjective ·   Do you get the behaviour change you are expecting? ·   Do behaviours change actions or do actions change behaviours? ·   Try to understand the motivations of your teams even if you differ on some traits ·   Always try and find the easiest way to get your message across. This can be via phone calls, email, Kanban boards ·   The visibility of governments in holding daily press conferences to discuss the pandemic helped to manage the message around what was happening. People will make their mind up if there is a lack of communication ·   The power / influence matrix is outdated, we should be measuring the stakeholder life-cycle ·   Be curious when you receive blockers in the workplace. Try to understand what is driving certain behaviours Here are links to some of the topics that were discussed: Girl’s Guide to Project Management - https://www.girlsguidetopm.com/ This episode is sponsored by PlanAcademy.com, JustDo.com, and InEight.com. ----------------------------------------- Join us next week when we’re joined by Americo Pinto from the PMO Global Alliance. For more information, blogs or to support our charities visit www.projectchatterpodcast.com If you'd like to sponsor the podcast get in touch via our website. You can also leave us a voice message via our anchor page and let us know if there's something or someone specific that you would like on the podcast. Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it! Dale and Val