Ask Cadence: The Project Management Podcast

It happens. The team is working hard and they’re trying to keep up. Everyone’s putting in the extra effort. Yet you’re running into a number of problems. In the middle part of the project, you can start to lose momentum. The team can start to lose some of their enthusiasm. And, if you’re not careful, you can even start to doubt yourself and your abilities. Cadence founder, John Patton, discusses how projects—and project managers—can get bogged down in the middle stage of a project. He also addresses strategies that project managers can employ to right the ship, and get their projects back on course to successful delivery.

In the early stages of a project, a number of issues can crop up that can shift the project manager’s focus away from getting the project kicked off and on its way to eventual delivery. It’s an important time, as a successful start sets the stage for a successful delivery. This segment is the first in a three part series that focuses on keeping your projects moving. In it, Cadence founder John Patton lays out the causes for projects getting off to a slow start, and outlines strategies for dealing with the issues and distractions that can keep your projects from getting safely off the ground.

This week’s problem card asks, “we’re dealing with so many external influences demanding quick successes — how do you avoid jumping to implement in a way that drives success but doesn’t forget that you’re working on a project?” This week on the show, Connie Plowman joins us to take on this issue with tips on planning, strategy, and nimble project management that allows you to be responsive to organizational demands without taking unnecessary risks.

This week’s problem card focuses on the busy executive that, for whatever reason, is not making tough decisions quickly and is beginning to impact the smooth march forward of the project. This week, Connie Plowman joins us to walk through the roadblocks to executive decision making, and outlines key steps you can take to make sure your leadership team is equipped with the right data to make the right decisions for your project. In this episode, we make reference to the Cadence Problem Solving tool, which you can download from our forms and templates library.

Former Cadence COO Connie Plowman returns to Ask Cadence to discuss portability of the project management skill set in her new role. John Patton and Pete Wright talk with Connie as she shares the value of the project management domain in organizational leadership.

A Cadence graduate called for help — after relocating for a promotion, his company was acquired by a new firm. Management roles changed, and it was time to renegotiate. John Patton and Pete Wright tackle this issue, and share guidance on planning your career in the face of company acquisition.

This week’s project challenge comes from a recent attendee dealing with the loss of a critical team resource — a team member recently suffering a stroke. This sort of shock affects teams on many levels, from the deeply personal, to the profoundly professional. John Patton joins Pete Wright to take on this sort of devastating loss and discuss the recovery process ahead.

Each PMI Global Congress, we like to sit down with Cadence representatives and do a brief recap of lessons learned. The Global Congress in Dublin gave us an excellent opportunity to visit trends in complexity and program management, as captured by some of the top thinkers in our field. John Patton joins Pete Wright for a discussion of highlights.

The Project Management Institute’s Education Foundation - PMIEF - is a foundation for spearheading the kinds of projects that support building best-in-class project managers for the future. John Patton and Pete Wright review the role of this important part of our project management ecosystem and cover how the foundation drives project management education around the world.

Organizations that invest in developing their project management initiatives quickly recognize the complexity that comes with newfound sophistication. To tackle broader and more robust initiatives, portfolio and program management offer a new basket of tools and skills for medium and large organizations to apply. John Patton and Pete Wright discuss the organizational impact of a portfolio and program management initiative and offer ideas on how you can begin to drive toward these new tools in your own project management environment.