Play Now: This episode is sponsored by The Agile PrepCast. PMP PDU:: Cornelius Fichtner and Peter Monkhouse This interview with Peter Monkhouse was recorded at the 2015 PMI Global Congress in Orlando, Florida. We discuss his paper and presentation "My Project is Failing, It is Not My Fault". Here is the paper's abstract: Projects fail. This is not new; projects having been failing for years. Studies have been done on why projects fail. The Project Management Institute (PMI) reported in the Pulse of the Profession® (2013a) that poor communication is the number one reason why projects fail. In fact, PMI states that poor communications is a contributing factor in 56% of the projects that failed. But is this the fault of the project manager? A good project manager follows the appropriate methodology for the project, including using a variety of communication tools. But it is not just the method of communication that matters, it is the also the content of the communication that is important. The project manager needs to communicate with the project sponsor and stakeholders in the language of the business. The project manager needs to take the project data and convert it into business information that is actionable for the project sponsor and key stakeholders. To do this, there are two tools the project manager can use. The first is to determine how the product or service of the project supports the organizational strategy. Knowing how the project supports the strategy of the organization will provide the language of why it is important for the project sponsor to support the project. The second tool is the business model canvas which uses nine building blocks to describe how the strategy of the organization is implemented through organizational structures, processes, and systems. Knowing which block the project impacts will provide the project manager with the context to describe the project in the language of the business. A project manager that speaks the language of the business will communicate more effectively with the project sponsor and project stakeholders, and improve the chances of the project meeting its objectives. Episode Transcript Below are the first few pages of the transcript. The complete transcript is available to Premium subscribers only. Podcast Introduction Cornelius Fichtner: Hello everyone and welcome back to the Project Management Podcast at www.pm-podcast.com. Once again, we are coming to you live from the 2015 PMI Global Congress at Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida. And with me right now here in the hallways is Peter Monkhouse. Hello, Peter. Peter Monkhouse: Hi, Cornelius. Pleased to be here and pleased to be talking to your audience today. Cornelius Fichtner: Yes, you are a competitor of mine tomorrow morning because we'll both be speaking at the same time. Your topic is, My Project is Failing, it is Not My Fault. Before we get in to that, Peter, what is the big trend that you see for project management in the coming year? Peter Monkhouse: I didn't realize were speaking at the same time. Can I come to your session? Cornelius Fichtner: And I'll come to yours. Peter Monkhouse: And you'll come to mine. Cornelius Fichtner: And let's see what happens. Peter Monkhouse: Exactly. You know, project management is a wonderful field, Cornelius. There's so much going on in the field. There's so many things of interest. The growth of people practicing project management, the growth in research and so on, it's just wonderful. But I think that what PMI has started this year with introducing a new Talent Triangle and the focus on Business and Strategic Management, is that's going to really start taking off. And that's going to be much more visible and it's going to continue for a few years that as project managers, we're going to have to understand business better than what we do. And this why I'm doing this paper, to share some experie