The podcast by Project Managers for Project Managers. What do you do when you inherit a problem project? Hear about a stalled project that was threatening the accreditation of a popular city zoo. Our guest, Megan Young, inherited this project with no knowledge of the requirements, and with no plan or clear scope. Hear her advice on prioritizing, budget planning, addressing scope creep, negotiating tips, and team motivation.

Table of Contents

02:41 … Greenville City Projects03:33 … Getting PMP Certified05:39 … Valuable Project Manager Skills07:20 … Addressing a Stalled Zoo Project10:31 … Tackling the Challenges12:36 … Building Trust with Stakeholders15:11 … How to Prioritize17:10 … Software Installation Projects19:27 … Kevin and Kyle20:42 … Budget Planning24:20 … Negotiating Tips26:32 … Addressing Scope Creep28:15 … Keeping the Team Motivated30:26 … Dealing with team Conflict32:40 … Megan’s Motivation33:45 … Contact Megan34:28 … Closing

MEGAN YOUNG: You can learn a lot by just showing up onsite and having a conversation with somebody.  People will talk to you when they’re comfortable in their space. And a lot of times that means just going out and standing beside them.  I mean, when I was in the Parks Department, sometimes it meant helping somebody put a bench together.  And they would talk to you in that process and you’d kind of hear the good, the bad, and the ugly.  But a lot of times it was the most valid of the truth that you were hearing.

WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Thank you for joining us today.  My name is Wendy Grounds, and joining me in the studio is Bill Yates.  We want to take a moment to specially say thanks to our listeners who reach out to us and leave comments on our website or on social media.  We love hearing from you, and we always appreciate your positive ratings and reviews on whichever podcast listening app you use.

Our guest today is Megan Young.  She currently serves as the Assistant Manager to the City Manager for the City of Greenville, South Carolina.  Prior to joining the City Manager’s Office, Megan was the Parks and Grounds Administrator for the City of Greenville.  Megan is a certified project management professional and certified park and recreation professional. During her time in the PRT department, Megan led the implementation of the Cityworks program as a work and asset management system.  She managed large and small-scale infrastructure projects and was integral in the successful reaccreditation of the Greenville Zoo in 2020.  And she’s going to tell us a bit about that project today.

BILL YATES:  I’m excited about this.  We are going to talk about the zoo.  We’re going to talk about spider monkeys.  We’re going to talk about parks and recreation.  And I’ve got to go ahead and just let you know, too, this is near and dear to my heart because I went to Furman University, which is in Greenville, South Carolina.  Now, I graduated in 1980 [mumbling] something.

WENDY GROUNDS:  It’s a while back, yeah.

BILL YATES:  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  And Greenville at that time was just not cool.  It is super cool now.  And a lot of it is because of Megan and the team there at the City of Greenville and what they’ve done.  They’ve got an amazing Liberty Bridge and Falls Park area.  There’s the Swamp Rabbit Trail which my wife and I have actually ridden bikes on and walked along.  It’s just beautiful.  So Megan’s going to talk to us about a number of parks and different projects that they’ve done.  But this is, again, it’s special to me because she’s talking about an area that is a rich part of my history.

WENDY GROUNDS:  Yeah, that’s really cool.  I’ve driven through Greenville.  I’ve never stopped there, but I think after this podcast I’m definitely going to take a stop next time I plan on driving through.

BILL YATES:  Definitely.

WENDY GROUNDS:  Hi, Megan.  Welcome to our podcast.

MEGAN YOUNG:  Hi, thank you.  Happy to be here.

Greenville City Projects

WENDY GROUNDS:  To start off with, can you tell us a bit about your role?  You work with the City Manager.  Describe some of the projects that you work on.

MEGAN YOUNG:  So currently I work in the City Manager’s Office as the assistant to the City Manager.  It’s kind of all-encompassing high-level projects that have a lot of visibility.  So that’s everything from vertical construction, park facilities.  You know, obviously we’re going to talk a little bit about animal enclosures and our zoo.  We’ve done some software implementation.  I’m involved in a lot of the grants process.  So it’s a little bit of a catchall.  But anything that the city is involved in from a municipal services standpoint I kind of at least get to have some visibility on.

BILL YATES:  That is diverse.  That’s a lot of different – yeah.

MEGAN YOUNG:  It is.

BILL YATES:  You’re helping with grant writing one minute, and then trying to keep some other stakeholders happy on software projects.  And then park facilities, man, yeah.

Getting PMP Certified

WENDY GROUNDS:  Before we get into your projects, I think people would be interested to know about your PMP experience.  When did you get your PMP, and how did that really change how you approach your projects?

MEGAN YOUNG:  So I started the process early 2020 with training and reading and really had heard about the program but wasn’t 100% sure what I was getting into.  I figured it would be a good next step.  I was managing some projects, but I felt like I was just kind of doing it my own way.  So did a little research, found this program, and decided I’d go for it.  So I actually took the exam in December of 2020. 

And luckily enough, a coworker of mine who’s one of our capital projects managers, we kind of did it simultaneously, which was helpful then and helpful now since we both kind of are speaking from the same sheet of music.  But that’s really what I gained from it was, you know, a more methodical approach.  All of our colleagues have the same standards, kind of speaking the same language.  We have a huge array of project types.  So if everybody’s kind of on the same page with the basics, then it makes it a lot easier to get down into the details of the projects.

BILL YATES:  Megan, I can remember how, with the training, I felt like some things were validated that I had been doing, and then there were some other things that were new to me.  I’m like, oh.  You know, I could take that approach.  That’s a great idea.  I’m going to throw that in my toolkit. 

But I also remember the sense of a deeper understanding of what was being said in meetings where there were consultants or outside companies that were a part of the project.  It’s like, okay, now I have better expectation of what they should be doing or should not be asking and that kind of thing.  Or why they’re asking for certain data.  It’s like, oh, okay, they’re having to let the sponsor know about this aspect of the project.  I’m not as interested in it.  I’m focused right here.  But now I get why they’re asking that.  And I imagine the types of projects that you have working with the city, you probably have a ton of outside contractors that you guys are having to interface with across different disciplines.

MEGAN YOUNG:  An array of stakeholders, contractors, vendors, consultants.  It’s a little bit of everything.

Valuable Project Manager Skills

BILL YATES:  Yeah.  So one of the questions we wanted to ask, just along the lines of what are some skills that you’ve found valuable as a project manager?

MEGAN YOUNG:  So I’d say the biggest thing for me is organization, just making sure that I know what’s going on, but also everybody else knows what’s going on.  So between organization and communication, I think those are the two biggest things.  Obviously accountability and follow-up, especially when you’re working with external groups, or even internal groups, there’s got to be an expectation of, you know, from the beginning, here are the expectations.  Here’s how we’re going to get to where we’re going.  And then everybody needs to be accountable to those steps as we go.

I’m not a big tech person, but I’m a big software and using the tools that you have.  So we’ve implemented ProCore as a building solution for a lot of our big capital projects.  I’m a believer in using software to get you to where you need to go and to keep you organized and accountable.  And I think that that’s helped us get through a lot of different projects with everybody being able to access the same information, seeing steps as they go instead of after the fact.  And then really being able to engage with stakeholders at the right time.  The zoo is a special place, and I know we’ll kind of get into that, but there’s a lot of stakeholders in that process.

So I think for me as a project manager you’ve got to be organized, and you’ve got to be willing to trust the subject matter experts, just like you said.  Sometimes you’re in a meeting, and you’re like, I have no idea why we’re doing this, why we’re going this route, why this is even a conversation we’re having.  But you’ve got to trust those people because, you know, I’m not an expert in that list of different type of projects I gave you at the beginning.  I’m not an expert in all those fields.  But, you know, if you could surround yourself with people who are, and trust them, it goes a long way.

Addressing a Stalled Zoo Project

WENDY GROUNDS:  You brought up the zoo.  So let’s jump into some of your projects that you’ve been doing at the zoo.  Apparently there was a stalled project at the zoo that you stepped in?  Can you describe that situation to us?

MEGAN YOUNG:  Sure.  So the zoo here in Greenville is an accredited agency through the American Zoos and Aquariums Association.  I think we’re one of probably the smallest that’s accredited through that program.