Ask Cadence: The Project Management Podcast

Any number of challenges can slow a supplier delivering a complex product on your project. From engineering challenges to methodological roadblocks, it’s your job as project manager to keep resources flowing into the project smoothly. This week, John Patton and Jay Christensen dissect this issue and give you a clear process to help keep your external suppliers on track.

From the problem cards this week, “The project is off to a slow start — how do we gain traction and get this project moving?” Turns out, it’s all a matter of focus on the life-cycle. This week, John Patton and Jay Christensen take to this issue with Pete Wright and give you a path to a solution that will help you get your project started on the right footing.

Thinking about Agile and how it might help your development projects? Looking for more detail on how the Agile approach maps to the Cadence Methodology? Coming in August, Cadence’s Jay Christensen will be delivering a one-hour webinar dealing with the detail of Agile development with the Cadence Methodology. In today’s show, Jay gives us a preview of his research and teaches us where misunderstanding in the Agile process can lead to poor implementation and sub-par results.

If you’re facing an abrupt career change, you have a wide road before you. You’ve crafted your resume. You’ve done the networking. But have you really positioned yourself to be the perfect candidate for that perfect project management job? This week on the show, Jay Christensen and Wil Mercer join host Pete Wright to talk about how to develop sharp skills and jumpstart your work in project management.

If your teams have suffered as a result of layoffs or reorganizations, you’re weathering the project economy. If you are juggling scope changes and resource reallocation, you’re weathering the project economy. If you are faced with delivering difficult news more often than results, you’re weathering the project economy. This week, join Jay Christensen, Wil Mercer, and Pete Wright as they discuss the issues facing today’s teams and give you strategies to help you weather the project economy.

We have been getting this question with great frequency: what is this Agile thing, and how does it map to the Cadence project management methodology? As it happens, Agile maps cleanly to the Cadence Methodology and — if implemented appropriately — can yield benefits on certain projects. Listing to Jay Christensen and Wil Mercer discuss this issue on this week’s show.

Passing the PMP exam and earning the coveted certification that results is becoming increasingly important for project management practitioners. In celebration of our own Wil Mercer’s newly minted PMP, we thought it appropriate to sit down and ask about the process and share some tips and tricks for studying for — and passing — this exam.

Wrapping up our discussion on implementing a project management methodology in your organization, this week John Patton and Scott Lissit join host Pete Wright for a final discussion on just what it takes to get the job done. How long will it take? What barriers will you encounter in the process? How to you create and manage a sound implementation plan which leads to success and adoption by the organization?