Manage This - The Project Management Podcast

When assessing the impacts of tradeoffs, project managers must exercise responsibility in relation to schedule, budget, quality, and compliance decisions. Additionally, one cannot turn a blind eye towards duty of care of the safety of the end user. Dr. Te Wu provides a project management perspective on what factors led to the catastrophic events surrounding the Boeing 737 Max 8 airline tragedies.

Table of Contents

01:33 … The Boeing 737 Max 8 Events05:07 … Initial Investigations07:20 … Factors Leading to the Events10:16 … Prior Complaints12:58 … Technical Complexity and Increased Risk17:37 … Brewing a Perfect Storm20:38 … MCAS Software Issues24:35 … Lessons for the Project Manager27:15 … Intelligent Project Manager vs. Bold Project Manager29:58 … Duty of Care35:07 … Latest on the 737 Max 836:44 … Three Responsibilities for a Project Manager39:15 … Get in Touch with Te39:45 … Closing

TE WU: ... if project managers could think about these three aspects – be realistic, be fact-driven, and be truthful about the data, at least to one’s self and team – and also be a little bit more holistic, we could solve so many problems upfront and head off the downstream challenges.

WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers. I’m Wendy Grounds and here in the studio with me is Bill Yates. Today we’re talking with Professor Dr. Te Wu of Montclair State University.  He’s also a visiting professor at China Europe International Business School and the CEO of PMO Advisory.

BILL YATES:  As a certified portfolio, program, project, and risk management professional, Te is a very active volunteer, including serving on PMI’s Portfolio and Risk Management core teams, and he’s a U.S. delegate on the ISO Technical Committee 258 for Project, Program, and Portfolio Management.

WENDY GROUNDS:  Dr. Te Wu is also going to be speaking to us today about the Boeing 737 MAX 8 story.  He has done a lot of research on this project, based on an educational standpoint for project managers.  And he’s taken a lot of lessons from that, that we can learn.  And it’s a very interesting study that he’s done.  So we’re looking forward to digging a little deeper with him today.

Hi, Te.  Welcome to Manage This.  Thank you so much for being our guest today.

TE WU:  It’s a pleasure to be here.  Thank you very much for inviting me.

The Boeing 737 MAX 8 Events

WENDY GROUNDS:  We’re going to jump right in.  And I want to ask if you can give us some details behind the story of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 events which occurred in 2018/2019?

TE WU:  Sure.  Absolutely.  The first incident or tragedy happened with Indonesian Lion Air Flight 610.  That happened October 29th, 2018, and flying a very new Boeing 737 MAX plane.  It was a domestic flight from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang.  And it crashed about 13 minutes after taking off, crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 189 passengers and crew members.  This was the first major accident involving this new series of plane, the Boeing 737 MAX.

And as you could imagine in an accident of this magnitude, it triggers a number of investigations, not only from Boeing, but from the Indonesian Air Authority.  There’s a committee called Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee, KNKT, as well as of course the United States FAA, Federal Aviation Administration.  And at the time Boeing promised full cooperation with the investigation.  But even domestically you could see – I have airline friends, for example, that quite a number of fingers were pointing.  One, it happened on foreign soil.  Two, they were questioned on the rigor of training at Indonesian Lion Air.  And in some ways there were a series of, I would say, cultural mishaps trying to point toward human error than toward the potential problem with the plane.

And Boeing, to be fair, probably did do a good analysis, but perhaps not good enough.  The reason I say that is less than six months later the secon...

The podcast by project managers for project managers. Creating an Olympic legacy: The project story about successfully ensuring the delivery of venues and infrastructure of the London 2012 Olympic Games while overcoming huge constraints which impacted project planning. 

Table of Contents

01:54 … Meet Ian03:04 … Planning Short-Term Needs and Long-Term Vision04:55 … Project Themes and Project Objectives09:20 … Key Stakeholders11:38 … Responding to Feedback12:46 … Olympic Planning Process15:50 … Immovable Time Constraints18:05 … Delivering on Time18:49 … The Value in Testing22:37 … The Legacy Viewpoint24:08 … Budget Challenges27:12 … Disciplined Project Management29:25 … Project Teams32:16 … Team Building in Cultural Diversity33:38 … Surprises36:21 … Biggest Takeaways40:03 … “When Did it Hit You?”43:04 … Praise from the IOC44:20 … Get in Touch with Ian45:40 … Closing

IAN CROCKFORD: It really is an opportunity to stage the greatest show on Earth.  And you’ve got to give it your best, haven’t you.

WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  I’m Wendy Grounds, and joining me is Bill Yates.  Today we’re talking with Ian Crockford, and Ian is based outside London, near Heathrow Airport.

BILL YATES:  Yes.

WENDY GROUNDS:  So you may get to hear a plane or two...

BILL YATES:  Yes.

WENDY GROUNDS:  ...going over.  He was the project executive at the Olympic Delivery Authority, the ODA.  And this was the public body responsible for ensuring the delivery of the infrastructure, the design, and the construction of buildings, transport, and the legacy of the London 2012 Olympic Games.  We’re busy with the 2021 Olympic Games right now, so we’re very excited about this episode.

BILL YATES:  Yeah, it’s great timing.  One of the things you’ll pick up on a theme as you listen to this conversation with Ian, the venues that he was responsible for delivering.  Those venues were required to use materials and components that could be reused, relocated, or recycled to meet the Olympic Delivery Authority’s sustainability objectives.  That’s a huge constraint.  And it’ll be interesting, I think, for our listeners as we go through and have the conversation to hear how frequently and to what degree this impacted the planning that Ian and his team did.

WENDY GROUNDS:  The London 2012 Olympic Games were an incredibly successful Olympic Games.  I know Ian is very proud of the work that they have done, and they have received high praise from the Olympic Committee for the work that they have done.  And they’ve served as an example to many other countries who’ve been hosting Olympic Games since then.

BILL YATES:  Yeah, they’ve set the bar incredibly high.

WENDY GROUNDS:  Hi, Ian.  We’re so excited to talk with you today.  Thank you for being our guest.

IAN CROCKFORD:  You’re welcome.  I’m looking forward to talking with you.

Meet Ian

WENDY GROUNDS:  First of all, I want to find out how you got to be part of this project.  What was the story that led to you becoming involved in this huge project?

IAN CROCKFORD:  Well, that’s an interesting one.  I guess we’re back in 2005.  And as a new organization, the Olympic Delivery Authority was looking for people who could lead and manage the development of certain venues around the park.  I was approached then, and I guess in my CV was delivering the London Eye.  So I had actually had the benefit from the late ‘90s right through a rollercoaster, one of those 24/7 jobs, delivering the London Eye for the Millennium Eve.

And that, you know, that teaches you not only about innovative projects and being a bit agile as a leader, as well as project delivery, but also great media interest that comes with these projects, and the need to publicly speak a lot.  And there’s all that other paraphernalia, dealing with politicians at high levels and the other stakeholders.  So I guess that played in my favor,

How do you plan for something you can't predict? Strategist Lance Mortlock demonstrates how scenariolanning can help identify risks and expose vulnerabilities. Listen in for practical steps so that projectmanagers can be better prepared by strategically incorporating scenario planning into project planning.

Table of Contents

02:04 … Writing the Book: Disaster Proof03:41 … What is Scenario Planning?07:09 … Examples of Scenario Planning Implementation11:37 … Essential Questions for Scenario Planning11:45 … Step 1: Defining Scope14:38 … Step 2: Explore Environment16:32 … PESTEL18:16 … Porter’s Five Forces21:25 … Step 3: Analyze Trends, Risks, and Uncertainties22:21 … Step 4: Build Scenarios and Signposts24:45 … Storytelling27:05 … Step 5: Confirm Scenarios and Stress Test29:41 … Step 6: Monitor Signposts and Execute Strategies31:40 … Applying AI in Scenario Planning35:04 … Connect with Lance36:27 … Closing

LANCE MORTLOCK:  With storytelling, we talked earlier about how project managers take their discipline to the next level.  There’s the basics of what’s expected.  But the truly great project manager leaders again are using the different tools out there like scenarios, like the power of storytelling, to create a more compelling vision of what the future could look like.

WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  I’m Wendy Grounds, and with me in the studio is Bill Yates.  I just want to thank our listeners who have reached out to us and leave comments on our website or social media.  We always like hearing from you. We appreciate your positive ratings on Apple Podcast or whichever podcast listening app you use.

So today we’re talking with Lance Mortlock.  Lance is a senior strategy partner with Ernst & Young. And he’s provided management consulting services on over 150 projects, to more than 60 clients in 11 countries.  The topic of our conversation today is based on his book, “Disaster Proof:  Scenario Planning for Post-Pandemic Future”.  And Bill and I both really enjoyed reading this book.  This was very interesting, talking about how you plan for something you can’t predict.

BILL YATES:  Yeah, yeah, the uncertainty.  None of us project managers like uncertainty.  Yeah, Lance has written a brilliant book.  Okay, this is not basic project management stuff.  This is taking it to another level.  Lance’s explanation of scenario planning is spot-on.  The six steps he’s going to talk through with us are so practical and I think will resonate with the listeners.  These are some practical steps that we can use as we look at those tough questions that sponsors and customers come to us where they want us to look in the crystal ball and predict the future.

WENDY GROUNDS:  Lance, welcome to Manage This.  We are so grateful to you for being our guest today.

LANCE MORTLOCK:  Thanks for having me.  Looking forward to it.

Writing the Book: Disaster Proof

WENDY GROUNDS:  We’re talking about your book, “Disaster Proof:  Scenario Planning for Post-Pandemic Future”.  And my question is, did you already have this book in the works prior to 2020?  Did you write it as the pandemic emerged, or were you already on this project?

LANCE MORTLOCK:  I have been writing for quite a bit in a more serious way and professionally for about 10 years. You know, ever since I joined Ernst & Young.  And I’ve been writing over the years about resilience, business resilience, around continuous improvement, different topics around strategy and integrated planning.  And really in, I guess, two years ago I started to think, well, I’ve done all this writing.  I’ve explored all these topics.  There’s a tremendous opportunity to kind of bring these topics together in an integrated way.  So I started to think about that and work on that two years ago.

And then I would say a year ago, when we got hit with COVID, it really came to light for me that future thinking in organizations is ...

The construction industry is evolving in terms of women-led teams. Listen in for advice to women entering the industry. Jody Staruck worked on the YWCA Central Massachusetts $24 million renovation project. She talks about the requirements, scope and stakeholders of this project and the unique story behind their petition to win the bid for this renovation.

Table of Contents

01:41 … Meet Jody04:04 … The First Female Executive06:23 … Consigli Construction Growth08:38 … Maintaining a Strong Company Culture11:10 … YWCA Central Massachusetts Renovation Project13:44 … The YWCA Services to the Community14:50 … A Unique Bid Petition17:16 … Approach to Obstacles21:53 … The Unique Perspective of a Woman-Led Team24:34 … Overcoming Communication Barriers27:55 … Is the Construction Industry Changing?30:52 … Advice for Younger Women32:29 … Creating More Career Advancement Opportunities34:38 … Get in Touch with Jody35:36 … Closing

JODY STARUK:  ...what I tell my younger teammates, male or female, is make a decision because at least then you’re in control.  Otherwise, the decision is being made for you.  And if you make the wrong decision, make another one to fix it.  So there’s always another option to fix it.

WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  I’m Wendy Grounds, and here in the studio with me is Bill Yates.  We want to take a moment to say thank you to our listeners who reach out to us and leave comments on our website and on social media.  We love hearing from you, and I always appreciate your positive ratings on Apple Podcasts or whichever podcast listening app you use.

One other thing is we know you’re looking for opportunities to acquire PDUs, your Professional Development Units, towards recertifications.  You can still claim PDUs for all of our podcast episodes.  Take a listen at the end of the show for information on how to claim your PDUs.

When you think of an industry dominated by men, construction might be one of those that comes to mind.  Not so, Bill.  Women make up apparently only 10 to 11% of the construction industry’s workforce.

BILL YATES:  Well, we are fortunate to have a conversation today with a real trailblazer in the industry.  In 2017, our guest, Jody Staruk, received Consigli’s highest honor, Builder of the Year, out of 300 eligible employees.  Now, Consigli is located –it’s in the northeast.  It’s mostly in the Boston area.  So Jody is the first woman recipient.  She’s also the first female project executive in Consigli’s 116-year history.

Meet Jody

WENDY GROUNDS:  Hi, Jody.  Welcome to Manage This.  Thank you for joining us today.

JODY STARUK:  Thank you so much for having me.

WENDY GROUNDS:  We want to find out a lot of things from you today.  But I first want to know how did you get into the construction business?  It is rather an unusual choice.  Just tell us your background story a little bit.

JODY STARUK:  Sure.  Well, it was actually by sheer luck.  I grew up in Maine.  I never saw a building be built in my entire life.  My mom was a math teacher.  So if I got less than an A in math I was grounded, which didn’t seem very fair because the worse I ever got was a B, but that’s still how it works.  So I was good at math by necessity, and I also enjoyed, you know, the sciences and stuff like that.

And the only thing that led me down the road of engineering was a drafting class I took my senior year in high school.  And in Maine they have the University of Maine system, and UMaine Orono has a really good engineering school.  So I was going to go there because everybody goes to one of the UMaine schools.  And I applied to Worcester Polytechnic Institute just to say I applied to two schools.  I got into both, and I said, “All right, great, I’m going to go to UMaine.”  And my parents said, “Great, you’re going to live at home.”  And I said, “WPI it is.”

BILL YATES:  So it made the decision.

JODY STARUK:  Yeah,

Kory Kogon talks about the science behind extraordinary productivity. Hear how to get the right things done, both personally and professionally, and with quality.  Kory highlights three productivity challenges: decision management, attention management, and energy management, and she describes the 5 choices to implement to master these challenges.

Table of Contents

00:25 … Meet Kory02:52 … Extraordinary Productivity07:24 … The Productivity Paradox11:18 … Choice #1:Act on the Important. Don’t React to the Urgent13:06 … The Time Matrix16:37 … How to Model Productivity18:51 … Scope Creep and Intentionality24:43 … Choice #2: Go for the Extraordinary. Don’t Settle for Ordinary27:53 … Choice #3: Schedule the Big Rocks. Don’t Sort the Gravel31:14 … Best Way to Teach This to Your Team33:42 … Choice #4: Rule your Technology. Don’t let it Rule You37:59 … Choice #5: Fuel your Fire. Don’t Burn Out42:17 … Sleep on It43:45 … Connect with Kory44:27 … Closing

KORY KOGON:  So those three challenges – decision management, attention management, and energy management – have risen to the top because, if you master those, you will end up with time management and go to sleep at night feeling accomplished.

WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  I’m Wendy Grounds, and joining me in the studio is Bill Yates.  Welcome, Bill.

BILL YATES:  Good to be in here with you.

Meet Kory

WENDY GROUNDS:  Today we are talking to Kory Kogon.  Kory has over 25 years of business expertise.  She is FranklinCovey’s Vice President of Global Sales Enablement.  Kory has been featured on Inc.com and in its Productivity Playbook online series, on FastCompany.com, Forbes.com, and in Investor’s Business Daily.  She has also appeared on NBC’s Today with Hoda Kotb.  And we’re very privileged to have Kory with us today.

BILL YATES:  Yes, we are.  And I’m so excited to talk with her about her book.  She’s a co-author of the #4 Wall Street Journal Bestseller, “The 5 Choices:  The Path to Extraordinary Productivity.”  She also wrote “Project Management Essentials for the Unofficial Project Manager” – we may have to have another conversation with her about that – and “The Presentation Advantage.”  This book at that we’re going to focus on, “The 5 Choices:  The Path to Extraordinary Productivity,” is so full of great advice.  And you know, one of the things I appreciate is she’s going to talk about the science behind some of this, too.

WENDY GROUNDS:  Yes.  Sometimes we struggle to get everything done that we need to do in a day.  And she’s just going to give us advice on how to choose what we need to do and what’s important.  And I think it’s going to be a great conversation.  Kory, welcome to Manage This.  Thank you so much for being our guest.

KORY KOGON:  Well, thanks for having me.  I’m excited to be here with you.

WENDY GROUNDS:  Yeah, we’re looking forward to getting a little deeper into this book that you’ve written.  But what we like to find out from authors is why did you write the book?

KORY KOGON:  Well, you know, I am part of FranklinCovey, who is very well known, like, oh, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” and within that “First Things First” and our whole background around principle-based time management, life management.  Over the years we’ve iterated based on pointing those principles at the relevancy of particularly the workplace.  And so a few years ago we again updated our work around those principles in relevancy.  And it was just an honor to be able to, with my colleagues, really take this work into the 21st Century – when people are busier than ever before, and a little crazed – and, under the conditions pre-pandemic, able to really help people accomplish the most important things in their life.

Extraordinary Productivity

BILL YATES:  There are so many principles that we’re going to get into that are in the book that resonate with me and,

Negotiating, recruiting, career planning, interviewing... rarely taught, crucial skills that are indispensable to career success. Listen in as Mark Herschberg, author of The Career Toolkit, Essential Skills for Success That No One Taught You, gives valuable career advice about pivoting and about the value of knowing your Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA) tactic to deliver significant negotiating power.  

Table of Contents

01:40 … Meet Mark02:58 … Pivoting Your Career04:56 … Impact Of COVID on Career Progress06:27 … Post Pandemic Work Shift08:19 … Being Intentional with Relationships11:01 … How to be Better at Interviewing15:11 … What are Good Interview Questions?21:17 … Preparation for Negotiations23:48 … The BATNA Approach27:10 … How to Anchor your Negotiations31:37 … How to Contact Mark32:48 … Closing.

MARK HERSCHBERG:  So you want to prepare ahead of time, think about what is it that you want to get out of this negotiation.  What’s your ideal outcome?  What’s your BATNA, your Best Alternative To Negotiate Agreement?  That’s the point at which you walk away.  You shouldn’t take anything less.  What are some possible scenarios that might come up?  What are some tradeoffs you might want to do?  And what might the other side be doing? 

WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Thank you for joining us today.  I am Wendy Grounds, and joining us on Skype is Bill Yates.  Today we’re talking to Mark Herschberg.  Mark was educated at MIT, and he’s spent his career launching and fixing new ventures at startups, Fortune 500s, and academia.  Mark helped create the Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program, MIT’s career success accelerator, where he’s taught for 20 years.  Bill, you’ve read Mark’s book, and you’re going to tell us a little bit about that.

BILL YATES:  Yes.  The goal of his book is to be a career success accelerator, just like you mentioned.  And there is so much application to project management.  He’s got a chapter on communications, and the leadership chapter talks about how do we motivate team members, different ways to do that.  There’s some familiar topics here, things like Tuckman’s Ladder, the five different stages for project team development, looking at the 5 Whys technique, the Iron Triangle.  So he goes into some of these things that we’ll look at as project managers and go, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I get that.  And then he goes deeper, and those are the topics that we want to talk to him about today, things like negotiation, interviewing, tips that I think project managers can really benefit from.

Meet Mark

WENDY GROUNDS:  Mark, welcome to Manage This.

MARK HERSCHBERG:  Thanks for having me.  It’s a pleasure to be here today.

WENDY GROUNDS:  I want to hear a little bit about your book.  You authored “The Career Toolkit:  Essential Skills for Success That No One Taught You.”  What prompted you to write this book?

MARK HERSCHBERG:  Years ago, when I first started hiring people, software engineers, project managers, I found when I had asked them a technical question, I’d get a technical answer.  But when I would ask a question like what makes someone a good teammate, what are the communication challenges we face, I would get blank stares.  And I realized we never teach this in our undergraduate curriculum.  So I had to start training up folks that I was trying to hire.

At the same time, MIT was getting similar feedback from corporate America and began to put together their own program.  So I heard about this.  I was about a year ahead of them.  I said, “You know, I’ve been working on this.  Can I help?”  So I then got involved with MIT.  I helped develop this program.  I’ve been teaching for the past 20 years.  But of course these skills, it’s not just for MIT students.  It’s not just for students.  They are universal skills.  Again, corporate America said these are the skills we want to see,

The podcast by project managers for project managers. If your team alignment is off, this misalignment becomes amplified with remote teams. Hear about tools to manage the human side of your project as we take look at The Team Alignment Toolkit.

Table of Contents

02:34 … Meet Stefano03:17 … Interest in Team Alignment06:45 … Impact of Pandemic on Team Alignment09:44 … Mastering Your Technology13:20 … Challenges to Remote Work17:34 … Effective Use of Online Communication Tools21:48 … Hybrid Teams are Here to Stay24:47 … Wrong Channel Selection27:53 … Team Alignment Toolkit29:01 … The Team Alignment Map32:08 … The Team Contract34:35 … The Fact Finder35:43 … The Non-Violent Requests Guide37:05 … The Respect Card39:44 … How to Get the Tools43:56 … Closing

STEFANO MASTROGIACOMO:  And these two root reasons, mutual understanding and psychological safety, have been at the core of the creation of the tools that are, you know, “High-Impact Tools for Teams.”  Because these were the missing plugins in my own practice to deliver more successful projects.  I think we have amazing tools out there, both Agile, non-Agile, or typical Waterfall.  All tools are good, depending on the type of project we have.  But I was missing the human component embedded in the tools, you know, mixing both, because we’re humans, and language fails, and trust is not always at super levels.  And these are two essential requirements for succeeding as a team.

WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Every couple of weeks we meet to talk about what really matters to you as a professional in the field of project management.  We aim to bring you top experts in the field, those who can speak to the challenges you face and draw on their own experience.  I’m your host, Wendy Grounds; and joining us on Skype is Bill Yates.

I want to take a quick moment to 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 always appreciate your positive ratings on Apple Podcasts, or whichever podcast listening app you use.

Our guest today is Stefano Mastrogiacomo.  He is a management consultant, professor, and author.  He has been leading digital projects and advising project teams in international organizations for more than 20 years, while teaching and doing research at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.  His interdisciplinary work is anchored in project management, change management, psycholinguistics, evolutionary anthropology, and design thinking.  And he’s the designer of the Team Alignment Map, the Team Contract, the Fact Finder, and the other tools presented in his book.

BILL YATES:  Wendy, the Team Alignment Toolkit that Stefano and his colleagues have come up with is really impressive.  It’s so practical.  This is applicable whether you’re using an adaptive approach, a predictive approach, it doesn’t matter – Waterfall, Agile, Scrum, whatever flavor of project management you’re using.  You have, at the core, you have people and a team that you need to keep healthy so that they can produce good work.  And his tool set gets into that.

Meet Stefano

WENDY GROUNDS:  Stefano, welcome to Manage This.  Thank you for joining us today.

STEFANO MASTROGIACOMO:  Thank you for having me, and welcome to our listeners.

WENDY GROUNDS:  Yeah.  So you’re Italian, and you’re working in Switzerland.  How did that come about?

STEFANO MASTROGIACOMO:  No, I was born from Italian immigrants during the ‘60s in Switzerland, actually.  I was born in Switzerland.  However, my parents had always the dream to go back to Italy.  So when I was five years old we moved back to Italy.  I started my school there, did part of my education in Italy before returning to Switzerland and staying here.  So I think I have both cultural backgrounds now.

Interest in Team Alignment

BILL YATES:  One of the fun things that we were talking about ah...

The podcast by project managers for project managers. Hear about an award winning project to repurpose a 125-year old train station into an aquarium. A project that includes designing destinations and creating animal habitats that tell lasting stories.

Table of Contents

02:07 … Meet Emily03:23 … PGAV, Destinology and Building Memories05:23 … Emily’s Role at PGAV07:35 … Researching a Project10:00 … Who Comes First in Designing Destinations?11:16 … A Persona, Goals, and a Storyline13:21 … Managing Challenging Sponsors14:57 … St Louis Aquarium17:54 … National Historic Landmark Constraints19:49 … Designing Destinations Process21:00 … Budget Impact on Scope and Schedule24:39 … Leadership Lessons26:50 … Relationship with Construction Partners28:24 … Overcoming Obstacles29:37 … Lessons Learned31:54 … Find Out More32:51 … Closing

EMILY HOWARD: ...And our latest of course is St. Louis Aquarium and the entry experience there.  How that came about is I almost need to tell the story of the St. Louis Aquarium first, which we were challenged with putting an  aquarium into a building that was built over 125 years ago; ...  So that was a challenge in itself.  But what really came out of it was the story.  And how do we tell the story of the building, but then bring that into an aquarium, as well?  So how do you mesh those two?

WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  We hope you’ll continue to tell us what you like and to offer your suggestions.  You can leave us a comment on Google, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, whichever podcast listening app you use.

I am Wendy Grounds, and joining me on Skype is Bill Yates.  Welcome, Bill.

BILL YATES:  Hi, Wendy.  It’s great to be a part of this podcast today.  You know, I was thinking about the types of podcasts that we typically do.  I think they kind of fall into two categories.  There’s project management in theory, and project management in practice.  And with project management in theory, you know, we’ll have a guest, you’ll find some author or someone who has a different approach to risk management, for instance, and we’ll have that person talk to us about the tools, the techniques, the theory of project management.

And then we also really enjoy the second type, which is project management in practice, where we want to talk to project managers who are out there, you know, they’re just like me and you.  They’re trying to get things done through projects.  And sometimes they go amazingly, and other times they don’t go as well.  There’s always lessons to learn.  And you’ve been doing a phenomenal job of finding interesting projects, too.  So the project management in practice typically is a pretty darn interesting project.

WENDY GROUNDS:  I get very excited when we find someone who is working on an exciting project.  And they might not have the title Project Manager, but they are the project managers on that project.  They’re leading it.  They’re leading a team.  And they’re doing some incredible things.

Meet Emily

And that brings me to today’s guest.  We’re talking with Emily Howard.  And Emily has worked on an incredible project at the St. Louis Aquarium.  And she’s going to be telling us more about that today.  Emily attended the Master of Architecture program at Washington University.  In part of her program she studied in Barcelona, Spain and in Durban, South Africa.  And then she became part of the design team at PGAV Destinations in St. Louis.  She’s a leader of zoo and aquarium design at PGAV.  And she keeps busy traveling all over the world for her incredible projects.

Emily, welcome to Manage This.  Thank you for being our guest.

EMILY HOWARD:  Thank you so much for having me.

WENDY GROUNDS:  We are excited to hear about your projects.  I loved hearing your passion when I researched you.  I found just how passionate you are about your job, and I’m excited to share that with our audience.

The 2020 national elections proved to be divisive and controversial. Join us as we take a look behind the scenes with Gabriel Sterling, who became the face of Georgia elections. Gabriel publicly debunked election conspiracy theories and confronted the provocation of threats against election workers. We talk with Gabriel about people, processes, and technology as he describes the unique challenges he faced as the project manager in the role of Voting System Implementation Manager. He explains the request for proposal (RFP), procurement process, and negotiations on a project that aimed to launch the largest implementation of a technology platform for elections in the history of the United States.

The podcast by project managers for project managers. As leaders we should bring clarity of purpose into our teams in times of crisis. Hear how to take action when things look overwhelming, stay grounded during crisis, and lead through tragedy. In times of crisis, it’s not the title you have but what you do.

Table of Contents

02:45 … Peter’s Early Career04:13 … A Forensic Investigator06:17 … Entering a Project as a Subject Matter Expert08:40 … International Assignment: Bali10:45 … Performing in a Hostile Environment15:58 … International Assignment: Thailand18:32 … Leading Through Tragedy21:59 … Four Stages of the Crisis Clock27:13 … When a Project Changes Your Perspective31:20 … Finding Purpose: Hands Across the Water34:11 … Measuring Success38:48 … Shared Benefits of Corporate Social Responsibility42:56 … Food for the Soul44:19 … Find Out More45:04 … Closing

PETER BAINES: The most important stage I would suggest is that third stage where our energy is so low.  That’s when we need the leaders.  That’s when we need to understand our real clarity of purpose, or why we do what we do, the importance.  And for leaders it’s when we should be bringing that into our teams.

WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast for project managers by project managers.  I am Wendy Grounds, and this is the part where I usually say, “In the studio with me is Bill Yates.”  However, Bill is not with us in the studio today.  But he is joining us from home.  Welcome, Bill.

BILL YATES:  Thank you, Wendy.  Appreciate it.

WENDY GROUNDS:  Today we’re talking to Peter Baines.  We came across Peter and discovered some of the work that he is doing, an incredible story.  He was a forensic investigator, and he worked in Bali in 2002 after the terrorist bombings, as well as in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.  He went to Thailand and worked there as a forensic investigator after those disasters.  And he’s going to talk more about that on the podcast.

BILL YATES:  Yeah, Wendy, this is going to be an interesting conversation with Peter.  He has had unique experiences that kind of hit a theme that we’ve had some prior episodes on.  We had conversation with Dr. Chuck Casto about the Fukushima nuclear disaster.  We talked with Dave Gibson about the development of the MRAP team.  More recently we spoke with Matt Harper about the USS Cole bombing.  And we had a conversation with a fire chief, Mark Von Tillow, who’s been chasing wildfires.

So there’s a common thread there of times of incredible crisis that Peter can speak to, and through that he’s got a lot of wisdom to share with us.  He can help give us perspective on our projects of what actions to take when things look overwhelming, how to stay grounded during crisis, and just how to lead through it. 

WENDY GROUNDS:  Yeah, just a little more about Peter which we don’t cover in the podcast is he worked for Interpol in France, leading counterterrorism projects.  He also spent time advising the United Nations Office in Drug and Crime in Southeast Asia on leadership and counterterrorism.  And he will go on to tell us about a charity that he started called Hands Across the Water.  And we’re very excited to hear about the work that he’s been doing there.  Also he was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for his international humanitarian work in 2014, and in 2016 he received the Most Admirable Order of Direkgunabhorn awarded by the king of Thailand for his services to the kingdom of Thailand.  We really are so honored to have Peter with us today.

Welcome, Peter.  Thank you so much for joining us on Manage This.

PETER BAINES:  It’s so nice to join you.  Thank you for the invitation.

Peter’s Early Career

WENDY GROUNDS:  I want to go back and find out about your career, how you became a forensic investigator.  What led you into that field?

PETER BAINES:  So I joined the New South Wales Police, and I was a serving police officer here for several years.