The Project Chatter Podcast

In this episode we bring you a special broadcast from EVA26. After almost 3 years absence, EVA curated by Steve Wake returns with a bang and the Project Chatter Podcast's Dale Foong was lucky enough to interview the speakers, poets, composers and the one and only Michael Rosen! You'll hear snippets from the various presenters, a poem and the band plays us out in this special edition. Check out the lineup below: Steve Wake - Opening and closing remarks Paul Lyalls - EVA Poet in residence Martin Paver - Performance Enhancing Data Analytics Natalie Moyes, Marco Frisenda, Craig Stansfield, Shakeel Khan, Olli Wade – Industry Fireside Chat on Digital Transformation David Herington - Digital 'Line of Sight', Enabling Project Execution Bas Theelen - NASA’s Orion Spacecraft that will bring humans to the Moon and beyond Stephen Carver - Great Project – Shame about The Steering Committee (Falklands War) Adrian Pyne - Agility Making Projects Thrive Carole Still - Five skills to rule them all! Karen Thompson - Systems Thinking for improved Performance Niall Faris - Pandemic Projects: Delivering the Covid 19 Mega Laboratory Michael Rosen - Many Different Kinds of Love: A story of Life Death and the NHS Jo Lucas - Activating the mycelium James Lea - The psychology of estimating and planning Alex Leppard - Subconscious Biases In Project Management Jack Pinter - EVA Composer in residence The EVA band 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: JustDo - https://www.justdo.com/ PlanAcademy - https://www.planacademy.com/chatter/ ($75 off any course) InEight - https://ineight.com/ Prosci - https://empower.prosci.com/project-chatter (FREE resource kit) Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it! #ProjectManagement #Blockchain #PMO #ProjectControls #Leadership #Culture #ProjectCertifications

In this week’s pod, we welcomed Adam Robinson to talk about the Boston Barrier. Adam has been working on the Boston Barrier scheme since December 2014, a year after the east coast surge which flooded 800 properties and businesses in Boston. He has been an integral part of the Clients delivery team in ensuring the timely submission of the Full Business Case and HMT Green book financial submission as well as the Boston Barrier Transport and Works Act Order 2017 application. He has led on the delivery of the main legal agreements with all key stakeholders and with his communication’s team on local community engagement prior to and during the Public Inquiry which occurred in 2017. Adam has continued to lead the scheme throughout the delivery phase maintaining corporate leadership continuity on the project to ensure that the project, which is an Environment Agency priority scheme, delivered its 5% target towards the last six year corporate target of better protecting 300,000 homes better by March 2021. In 2021 Adam was named as one of 27 civil engineers recognised by the Institution of Civil Engineers as a Carbon Champion for his work leading on reducing carbon emissions on the scheme. The main topics we discussed on the podcast were as follows: The Boston Barrier Tidal Flood Defence Scheme is a £100m project for the Environment Agency, delivered by BMMJV (a joint venture between BAM Nuttall and Mott MacDonald), to reduce the risk of tidal flooding to 14,300 properties and businesses in Boston, Lincolnshire. Boston is located on the east coast of the United Kingdom off The Wash and has a history of tidal surges. The project will reduce the risk of tidal flooding against an event of 1 in 300, or an annual exceedance probability of 0.33% of flooding for the 100 year project lifespan. The Boston Barrier is the first major construction project undertaken by the Environment Agency to map project outcomes against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) Here are some links to the topics we discussed: Case Study – Boston Barrier - https://waterprojectsonline.com/custom_case_study/boston-barrier-2021/ Hyperlink to LinkedIn post showing the timelapse construction: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6717472772433559552/ Institution of Civil Engineers Boston Barrier landing page: Boston Barrier Scheme | Institution of Civil Engineers (ice.org.uk) Open paper on the Boston Barrier re: climate change and social outcomes published last year and not behind a pay wall: Boston tidal barrier, UK: adapting to climate change and delivering social outcomes | Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Civil Engineering (icevirtuallibrary.com) Boston Barrier first closure: https://fb.watch/bH8tlKdc6D/ Boston Barrier installation: https://fb.watch/bH7DarAGbX Boston site flyover: https://twitter.com/BostonBarrierEA/status/1446431284239257613 Tune in next week when we’re joined by the presenters at the EVA26 event led by Steve Wake. 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: JustDo - https://www.justdo.com/ PlanAcademy - https://www.planacademy.com/chatter/ ($75 off any course) InEight - https://ineight.com/ Prosci - https://empower.prosci.com/project-ch... (FREE resource kit) Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it! #ProjectManagement #Blockchain #PMO #ProjectControls #Leadership #Culture #ProjectCertifications linkedin.comlinkedin.com Sign Up | LinkedIn 500 million+ members | Manage your professional identity. Build and engage with your professional network. Access knowledge, insights and opportunities. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Civil EngineeringProceedings of the Institution of Ci

In this week’s pod, we welcomed Michelle Banner and Jonathan Shepherd to talk about enabling early careers in Project Controls. Michelle has more than 20 years of experience in infrastructure, nuclear, utilities, and various other industries. She is recognized as a technical expert in her specialism of Planning and Risk along with having a substantial background in cost and estimating. She is experienced in delivering EPC, R&D and Engineering contracts for infrastructure, utilities and nuclear. She is experienced in all aspects of project delivery from bidding through to commissioning and closeout. As a recognized expert, Michelle has written and delivered training both internally and for external clients on topics such as Earned Value Management, Schedule Management and Resource Management. She has also had a leading involvement in the development of endpoint assessment material for TASC (assessing Project Controls competence up to degree level). Johnny has developed a passion for project controls since embarking on the apprenticeship programme in 2014. Jonathan has a particular speciality in project planning and has recently been promoted to a senior role at an early stage of his career. Throughout his career, Johnny has made a conscious effort to develop a rounded skill set within project controls as he has ambitions to take a leading role in the future. He has recently embarked on the BSc (Hons) Project Controls Professional Degree Apprenticeship, the first of its kind in the UK. In doing so, Johnny aims to develop his critical thinking skills and to begin supporting his projects & programmes in a more strategic way the main topics we discussed on the podcast were as follows: There is not enough emphasis on mentorships. Many relationships are informal which can be to the detriment of introvertsThe UK has had success with STEM representatives going into schools to promote Engineering. This should be the case for Project Management / Controls are both skillsets are required on major projectsThe pandemic has made it more difficult for apprentices to check their work with a colleagueOne of the main barriers to entry is a lack of promotion of what Project Controls actually is and that it is a viable career pathThere needs to be regular feedback and 1:1s  with apprentices]Apprentice programmes offer a structure whilst giving people enough time to experience different scenarios on a project Tune in next week when we’re joined by Adam Robinson. 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:JustDo - https://www.justdo.com/PlanAcademy - https://www.planacademy.com/chatter/ ($75 off any course)InEight - https://ineight.com/Prosci - https://empower.prosci.com/project-ch

In this week’s pod, we welcomed back Steve Wake to discuss the Project Controls & Benefits Management Standard. Steve is at the forefront of the development of national and international standards in Project Controls and Management. A genuine thought-leader. A super-connector. A maven. He is Chairman of the Management Standards committee of the BSi. Currently progressing Project Controls and Benefits Management. He is an internationally acknowledged expert on Earned Value Project Management. Steve works with government, national and international bodies and academia as a subject matter expert as well as on matters of governance. Steve was one of the authors of Agile Portfolios with ABC. He has worked in the automotive, print aerospace, defence, insurance and I.T. industries as a project manager and consultant. He led the Association for Project Management to their award of Royal Charter. He is Chief examiner for EVM and Planning with APMG. He curates and chairs his own highly-regarded EVA conferences - now in its 26th year! He is a visiting lecturer at Warwick WMG, Cranfield and UCL. He has an MA in Manpower specialising in the sociology and psychology of organisations and is a member of the London Mozart Players Development Group. His long passion for all kinds of music is almost matched by his continued appreciation of silence. The main topics we discussed on the podcast were as follows: Benefits Management came about from a British Standard document (BS 6079) Many contracts are adversarial. Law is about consent, not compulsion. The Project Control Implementation Standards guide is still being written Having a common data format across all projects would enable better data analytics Anyone can contribute to the development and elaboration of a Standard It is possible to time phase the benefits over the course of a project. The Project Controls community can assist with the monitoring and measurement Having a British Standard on Benefits Management will help contract practice We should try and incentivise Contractors to think about Benefits Here are links to a some of the concepts we discussed: EVA 26 - Steve Wake's EVA in the UK - Conversation Club - https://evaintheuk.org/ BS 6079 Project Management Principles and Guidance - https://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/standards/bs-6079-project-management/ Practice Standard for Earned Value Management: https://www.pmi.org/pmbok-guide-standards/framework/earned-value-management-2nd Projects Leaving the Government Major Project Portfolio: https://www.nao.org.uk/press-release/projects-leaving-the-government-major-projects-portfolio/ Tune in next week when we’re joined by Rupert Taylor to talk about how to kill the Powerpoint and Excel ‘industry’. 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: JustDo - https://www.justdo.com/ PlanAcademy - https://www.planacademy.com/chatter/ ($75 off any course) InEight - https://ineight.com/ Prosci - https://empower.prosci.com/project-ch... (FREE resource kit) Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it! #ProjectManagement #Blockchain #PMO #ProjectControls #Leadership #Culture #ProjectCertifications #EVA25#EVA25 eVa23 – Anticipation The best independent event for the project professionals who like to think about what they do! bsigroup.combsigroup.com BS 6079 Project Management BS 6079 Project Management (457 kB) https://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/standards/bs-6079-project-management/ pmi.orgpmi.org Practice Standard for Earned Value Management Earned Value Management (EVM) helps you clearly and objectively see where your project is headed and compare that condition to where it should be regarding scope, schedule and costs

In this week’s pod, we welcomed Gary Lloyd to discuss how to cultivate lasting change in organisations. Gary has been leading change for the last 25 years as an executive and a consultant. His roles have ranged from creating retail banking processing centres to creating an electronic derivatives exchange in Tokyo. Alongside his change leadership work, for the last ten years, he has been an executive coach and a mentor to students and alumni from Warwick Business School. He is also a steering committee member for the school's mentoring programme, which has now helped over 1,000 executives and entrepreneurs. Gary's core philosophy is that the world of work is an ecosystem and not a machine. To make lasting change, therefore, we need to think and act like gardeners, not mechanics. Success depends on recognising and embracing unpredictability, not pretending it doesn't exist or trying to control it. He is the author of two books: Gardeners Not Mechanics: How to cultivate change at work. Business Leadership for IT Projects. He is also the author of numerous articles in professional journals. The main topics we discussed on the podcast were as follows: Change management projects are about delivering value and developing relationships with stakeholders Statistically, many project managers don’t actually have the chance to work on many projects due to their durations There seems to be a tendency to separate the project management and change management communities. They should be the same function Many Project Management qualifications do not put enough emphasis on relationships. Recruiters often focus on the qualifications Machines are complicated, eco-systems are complex Anything that involves people becomes complex. Humans are unpredictable Projects that have lasting value are often delivered incrementally rather than big bang Many IT project can be delivered in multiple “chunks” of lasting value How can we test the key business case assumptions as quickly and cheaply as possible? People have been using Kotter’s theory for over 30 years and it is too top down and machine like “Getting buy-in" is an outdated phrase. It implies the solution has already been developed and being forced upon people rather than a collaborative approach Businesses need to understand the ecosystem of a change rather than trying to shoehorn it into existing processes When joining a change project, hunt down the moaners, they often have a good point! Try to draw the project ecosystem and update as you go along “If you approach a negotiation thinking the other guy thinks like you, you are wrong. That's not empathy, that's a projection” Chris Voss – ex FBI Lead Hostage Negotiator Here are links to a some of the concepts we discussed: Gardeners Not Mechanics: How to cultivate change at work: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gardeners-Not-Mechanics-cultivate-change/dp/B08S2ZXSWM/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= Gardeners Not Mechanics Blog: https://www.gardenersnotmechanics.com/ Chris Voss Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26156469-never-split-the-difference Tune in next week when we’re re-joined by Steve Wake. 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: JustDo - https://www.justdo.com/ PlanAcademy - https://www.planacademy.com/chatter/ ($75 off any course) InEight - https://ineight.com/

In this episode, Dale and Val speak to ultra-athlete and risk expert Richard Newey about the parallels of these mentally grueling and extreme endurance events, to projects. Richard takes us through how he copes with endurance talking about mind games, keeping it simple and marginal gains. Preparing for a race or event like this takes a lot of planning and Richard likens this to how we manage projects. Projects need risk as an important part of their ability to complete on time, cost, and quality. Richard has over 30 years of construction experience starting his career as a setting out engineer and now Head of Risk &Controls for AECOM. He has worked on 2 Olympic Games and many other blue-chip projects. In sport, he is one of a handful of UK people to have completed the Race across America riding 3000 miles in 10 days on 18 hours sleep. Additionally, he has been to 8000m on Everest, raced the Ironman World Championships 3 times and last summer raced the Tour de Geants a 330km ultramarathon off only 7 hours sleep in 5 days. Proudly sponsored by: JustDo.com | PlanAcademy.com | InEight.com | Prosci.com FREE resource kit: www.prosci.com/projectchatter $75 off training: www.planacademy.com/chatter Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it!

In this week’s pod, we welcomed Nigel Creaser to discuss Productivity, Prioritisation, and Focus. Nigel is a Project Manager from Shropshire in the UK. He has over 25 years in the industry, delivering multi-million-pound projects across a myriad of sectors.  He is also the host of the Sunday Lunch Project Manager Podcast and author of several books in the Project Management profession, with a couple of them poking fun at the profession. The main topics we discussed on the podcast were as follows:   Productivity is effectively making time to allow you to do the things you want to do rather than have to do Time management skills are often perceived as a soft skill therefore it doesn’t get the same level of attention as more technical tasks It’s assumed you’ll find a way to do it rather than a subject that is taught at school The difference between productivity and efficiency is down to effectiveness. Businesses can be very efficient at producing poor quality outputs If you don’t manage yourself it is easy to get diverted to something more exciting All meetings need to have a clear agenda and attendee list If you choose not to decide, you have still made a choice Calendar management is ultimately your responsibility. There may be consequences to certain decisions but you should own this as it is your time Try to avoid context switching which leads to distractions. Plan time to do the more mundane tasks and do them effectively There is an art to knowing what is important. Be prepared to offer feedback and training when you see other people who are struggling to prioritise Be conscious that other people will prioritise for you if you do not take charge of your prioritise. This may not be the right thing for you  It is useful to measure the amount of time you are interrupted in your day job and assess techniques to alleviate Use technology to stop non-productive distractions e.g. mute button on Whatsapp or rules in Outlook  Here are links to some of the concepts we discussed:  Nigel Creaser – Project Manager Productivity Hacks: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Project-Manager-Productivity-Hacks-2021-ebook/dp/B094DJ9M38Manager Tools Podcast: https://www.manager-tools.com/all-podcastsHow to Create Rules to move email messages to different folders in Outlook Office 365: How to Create Rules to move email messages to different folders in Outlook Office 365  Workplace Jazz: https://workplace-jazz.com/Eddie Obeng – Qube: https://qube.cc/what-is-qube/  Tune in next week when we’re joined by Richard Newey to discuss Risk Management in endurance sports. For more information, blogs or to support our charities visit www.projectchatterpodcast.comIf 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 podcas

In this episode Val and Marco get contractual! Not any contract but the NEC which is widely used in the UK and Europe on major programs. Val and Marco (Dale's handsome gues host) explore the challenges of an NEC contract and how we might overcome certain constraints and limitations within an NEC environment. For Project Managers and PMO NEC can be a great tool for further client and contractor collaboration. Glenn wastes no time sharing his views and experience on the construct of NEC's for good and bad. For that interested Glenn offers a fascinating and informed insight, we love having him on Project Chatter. Glenn Hide is the director of GMH Planning which is a consultancy that specialises in NEC forms of contract. Glenn focuses on providing NEC training, consultancy, and resources to the construction industry. Glenn has presented on aspects of the contract at various national conferences and has published a number of articles for the ICE Procurement, Management, and Law publication and the NEC user-group newsletter. Glenn provides training to most of the large Client & Contractor organisations in the UK construction industry. Having exclusively used the NEC form of contracts for the past 20 years, he offers insight and practical advice on how users within the industry should understand and maximise the effectiveness of the contract on their projects/businesses. He is the founder of the NEC People LinkedIn group which is the largest and most successful discussion forum around NEC contracts and he also manages Reachback – the largest Q&A portal where users can ask NEC-related questions. Glenn is also a lead developer of FastDraft which is a new cloud-based portal for comprehensively managing the flow of NEC communications on projects ensuring all parties are following the correct processes and timescales. To get in touch with Glenn and his team you can reach out to them here https://gmhplanning.co.uk/  Do check out their newsletter, blogs and check out their LinkedIn Page for more info https://www.linkedin.com/groups/2893228/ Proudly sponsored by:PlanAcademy.com | InEight.com | Prosci.com Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it!

In this epsiode, Dale and Val catch up with Antonio on the interesting world and growth of project management across the globe. With an economy shaken by the pandemic, it seems projects are becoming more and more important, not just to the client and sectors they serve, but more broadly as a product unto themselves, contributing directly to the countries GDP. Our guest in this episode is no stranger to the trends of project management and provide clarity and insight as an author on this subject, in various online forums and books. VM - Author of the Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook and four other books, Antonio is the creator of concepts such as the Project Economy and the Project Manifesto. His research and global impact in modern management have been recognized by Thinkers50. Former Chairman of the Project Management Institute, he is the founder of Projects&Co and co-founder of the Strategy Implementation Institute. >>>>> Born in Madrid, Spain, and educated in Germany, Mexico, Italy, and the United States, Antonio is fluent in five languages. He has an MBA from London Business School. He is a member of Marshall Goldsmith 100 coaches. You can follow Antonio through his LinkedIn Newsletter - Lead Projects Successfully and website. Proudly sponsored by:PlanAcademy.com | InEight.com | Prosci.com Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it!#ProjectManagement #Technology #PMO #ProjectControls #Leadership #Culture #ProjectCertifications

In this episode, Dale and Val talk about the experience and the future with Aidhean Camson. Where have we gone, where are we now, and where are we going are filled with injectors and interest as they go on a journey with Aidhean, who took of his early programming days, to the wonders of project and technology today. Aidhean has spent over 20 years working on infrastructure programs across the globe and has personally started up over $100bn USD of programs. He's worked at all levels of project and program controls making sure that systems are operable from the worksite to the corporate board level. His degree is in Computer Science and he believes that we are moving into a time where program controls technology can truly 'move the needle' in the delivery of infrastructure. Proudly sponsored by:PlanAcademy.com | InEight.com | Prosci.com Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it!#ProjectManagement #Technology #PMO #ProjectControls #Leadership #Culture #ProjectCertifications