PM Point of View by Final Milestone Productions & M Powered Strategies

04.01.2024

PM Discipline Integration in the Federal Government

Dive into the future of project management within the U.S. government in this engaging and insightful interview with key players from the USDA and NOAA. Hear from Jason Traquair, Kellie Cenzano, Daryl Frazier, and Joe Giraldi as they unveil...

03.16.2024

Risk and Resilience at the UMD PM Symposium (Revised)

Risk-- again! This episode with guests from the upcoming UMD Project Management Center for Excellence symposium is a thought-provoking discussion that takes a closer look at a crucial aspect of project management – risk management. We've gathered a dynamic trio...

03.15.2024

Risk and Resilience at the UMD PM Symposium

Risk-- again! This episode with guests from the upcoming UMD Project Management Center for Excellence symposium is a thought-provoking discussion that takes a closer look at a crucial aspect of project management – risk management. We've gathered a dynamic trio...

02.29.2024

People in Projects at the UMD PM Symposium 2024

Heralding the annual arrival of the flagship UMD Project Management Center for Excellence symposium, this episode has 3 of the presenters in the People and Projects track: Kevin Coleman, a visionary leader and the founder and CEO of KMC Empowerment,...

10.24.2023

Program Value Management

Challenged by the hosts, Kendall Lott and Mike Hannan, returning guest Steven Devaux takes his value break down structure (the "Golden Triangle") to a new level, looking at quantifying value of project within programs. That’s the obvious, the less obvious...

09.20.2023

Asteroids

In this podcast episode, co-hosts Kendall and Mike are joined by guest Roy Mazel, a retired NASA project leader and guest lecturer. They discuss the Project Management complexities of asteroid missions, specifically, the OSIRIS-REx Psyche missions. As you might guess,...

08.08.2023

Let it Flow, Success without Force

In this episode, Kendall, Mike, and Wolfram Mueller discuss strategies to improve business workflows using the Theory of Constraints (TOC) and Critical Chain Project Management, focused on two things: underloading system constraints and buffer management (having a signal that our...

06.30.2023

Getting Out of Our Own Way

The crux of any success? It isn't the plan, it isn't the desire, not even the WIIFM, its EXECUTION. And organizational change is no different. Today's episode discusses the difficulties that organizations face when it comes to executing change....

05.22.2023

PM Faceoff: Process vs Principles

So there we were at the 10th annual UMD PM Symposium, having the Great Debate of Process vs principles. Facing off were Crystal Richards, CEO of MindsparQ and Laura Barnard, CEO of PMO Strategies. One hour of back and...

04.18.2023

Listener Questions Revealed!

Elevating the Conversation about Project Management, with a twist. In this episode cohosts Mike Hannan and Kendall Lott take on some Listener Feedback. A running theme in the show is the actual and delineation of project manager, product manager, and...

03.23.2023

UMD PM 4.0 AI & Future for Project Managers

No Luddites here! Episode 3 of the UMD PM Symposium prequal and guests Al Zeiton, Marissa Brienza and Bill Brantley chat about the role of AI in Project Management and the potential risks and benefits of using it as PMs....

02.22.2023

So you want to Agile

We all talk Agile, and sometimes we "say we wanna do agile", so this conversation is about the challenges of implementing Agile in different environments with guests David Forsyth, Mike Mellane, and Caitlin Kenny. Co-host Mike Hannan takes our experts...

01.24.2023

Critical Conversations

First, "do no harm"--seems like a good adage, and is consistent with our guest Kevin Coleman who discusses some tenets of his UMD PM Symposium presentation coming this April, called "Unconscious Bias: Recognize it and correct it." Our second...

12.21.2022

Managing an AI Project

Oh Boy, AI projects…they're the worst!! Exploding scope…the endless project. The scale of risk when something goes wrong can literally be exponential. While we PMs always had to watch quality, and we always focused on scope and schedule…the...

11.19.2022

Value Integration in Project Management

Recognizing the importance of identifying "what is the work in front of us" co-hosts Kendall Lott and Mike Hannan discuss improved ways cracking scope to improve project delivery and project value with guests Steven Devaux and Sergiy Potapov. Get...

10.19.2022

Cognitive PM and Military Planning

Compound Security Threats. Sends a chill through us, yes? Our military expends huge effort in thinking about that future, long-term for planning, short-term planning for execution all to address increasingly complex security concerns. And as our listeners know, where there...

09.20.2022

The Beauty of AHP

Analytical Hierarchy Process--check this as it is a method (and you can get tools) that absolutely help you with project prioritization. Co-Host Mike Hannan and I talk with Stuart Easton, CEO of Transparent Choice, about this accessible approach tying decision...

08.23.2022

PM Techniques In Ukraine

Guest Sergiy Potapov and co-host Mike Hannan are at it again discussing precepts of TOC and Cynefin that connects with effective PM practices to produce results, even in shocking and shattering circumstances, such as found in Ukraine during the...

07.19.2022

Unleash Flow by Taming It…

Episode 100, where a theory based in manufacturing collides with the world of Knowledge Work (yeah, I'm talking about you, PMs) and we find a way to think about Critical Change Project Management. We consider how to get to...

06.22.2022

PM Pessimist Optimist Synthesis

[6/10 1:30 PM] Kendall Lott "PM is BS!" says Ben Damman, our (highly successful) guest today. Well, maybe...the concern is we have become ceremonial or process-centric over effectiveness. WE HAVE SO MUCH POTENTIAL, but WE...

05.16.2022

Ecosystem Designer

PMs as leaders you own understanding the design of the org, the ecosystem you sit in. But to what purpose? Join me and cohost Mike Hannan as we hear from Matt Barcomb who highlights understanding the organization as a...

04.21.2022

PM under Duress

PMs how about we get to look at our discipline in action? From the western border of Ukraine, Sergiy Potapov tells us how he chose to have impact by being a PM to deliver humanitarian aid, and what lessons from...

03.23.2022

Design Thinking

Design mindset, before you even get to design thinking, let's figure out the problem and check assumptions. Guest Charles Lambdin describes the need and method of creating a frame of thought that has us testing hypotheses of what we need,...

02.22.2022

Change Management and TOC

"I will do what I can, with what I have, where I'm at." This is a different take on change management; we break down what people say about change but linking it to the underlying framework from the Theory of...

02.22.2022

Scoping and Recording with April Mills

"I will do what I can, with what I have, where I'm at." This is a different take on change management; we break down what people say about change but linking it to the underlying framework from the Theory of...

01.29.2022

Cognitive Behavior

"Do all the humans on your team have brains?" Not a comment on ability but on cognition and hardwired biases; if they have brains, they make mistakes in regular patterns. PMs follow the same logical paths of cognition and shortcuts...

12.21.2021

Heretical Agile

In this episode, organizational change consultant and expert Agilista Leila Rao grounds us in the reality that investing in people is central to successful Agile transformation. While we’re often distracted by the allure of “Agile theater,” genuine system improvements are...

11.22.2021

Project Management Forward from the 2021 UMD Symposium

We know change is constant. So as business practices evolve and new systems & tools are developed, the role of Project Managers and the skills they rely on must change to meet the new demands. PMs who don't move forward...

10.26.2021

Where has PM Gone?

Guest Galen Low, from The Digital Project Manager (DPM), discusses the challenges of the conventional project manager and the ways we define the field. As Lowe addresses, the expansion of the digital environment and transforming customer have led project management...

09.22.2021

Effective Communication from the 2021 UMD Symposium

Transformation Attenuation: The loss of signal that occurs as a message moves down the chain from the C suite. Illusion: The assumption that communication has taken place, when in fact it hasn't. Here we explore these two phenomena in depth,...

08.26.2021

Product Management and the Toaster

A team, a technology, a toaster. A tale of the Product Manager and the Project Manager brought to life as co-hosts Kendall and Mike ride the narrative road with Tom Klaff, the CEO who made it happen. The story of...

07.22.2021

Avoiding Failure from the 2021 UMD Symposium

The statistics around project success vs. failure are less than heartening, to say the least. For all the tools and expertise PMs bring to the table, we somehow manage to miss the mark more often than we should. Here we...

06.25.2021

Expectations and Capacity

Kendall Lott and Mike Hannan with guest Hilbert Robinson explore exciting topics around product versus project management, setting expectations and how to address the variance between those and reality, the rounding of such expectations, and even the value of trade-offs...

05.25.2021

Estimations Oh My!

Estimations - they are at the very core of PM activities, the ability to estimate, the reliance others have on our estimations, our continuing white whale pursuit of improved estimations all work to empower us as masters of the universe,...

04.23.2021

85. Covid & the Art of Fundraising: A Theatre's Tale

It was summer 2020. Covid-19 lingered on, with no end in sight. After months of canceled performances, funds were dwindling at Washington, DC's Shakespeare Theatre Company. Their last hope, the annual fundraising gala, was set for October. As the...

03.22.2021

84. Pandemic at the University

How does a graduate program at a university - a program that has assiduously maintained a 100% face-to-face classroom ethos - swing into virtual reality at a moment's notice? The program in question here is Industrial Organizational Psychology. The university...

02.22.2021

83. Tips from Behavioral Science

Project management is about people: working with people, for people, through people. So it goes to reason that managers who have a deeper understanding of human behavior will be more effective. Beyond managing their teams, PMs are heavily involved in...

01.28.2021

2021 Update: How to Claim Your PDUs

Starting in January 2021, many of you reached out to us, wondering why you weren't able to claim a PDU for listening to PM Point of View® episodes. The short answer: You CAN continue to claim PDUs. But the process...

01.21.2021

82. View from the C Suite - Part 2

Where do projects go wrong? What tendencies or approaches of Project Managers are NOT helpful to executives? What do they want their PMs to focus on more? How can PMs move up the ladder? In the second part of our...

12.22.2020

81. Project Teams in a VUCA Context from the 2020 UMD Symposium

Covid-19 has changed the way we operate on every level, including how we manage projects. It has made clear the fragility of our reality, and the fancy dancing required, not only to survive, but to move forward constructively. In the...

11.20.2020

80. View from the C Suite - Part 1

What do executives want from their Project Managers? What are their expectations? What do they like about how PMs work? What do they not like? In this first of two episodes covering the Executive Point of View, we talk to...

10.27.2020

79. Agile Today from the 2020 UMD Symposium

Scrum with distributed teams. Agile in a traditionally non-Agile environment. Project Management in the time of Agile: is it still relevant? These are the topics we cover in the third episode of our series from the 2020 UMD Project...

09.23.2020

78. Project Perspective: The Bigger Picture

How can you manage a groundbreaking innovation project when you are surrounded by auditors and compliance- and risk-managers? And how can you ensure that what you deliver will truly benefit the organization and its stakeholders? Two presentations...

08.27.2020

77. Virtual PM: 2020 and Beyond

Ever since COVID-19 swept the globe, our world has shifted, and that includes the world of Project Management. A panel of digital project managers talks about the changes they have noted already and what they envision for the future vis-à-vis...

07.28.2020

76. Culture and Fit from the 2020 UMD Symposium

This episode, the first in a series featuring highlights from University of Maryland's 2020 Project Management Symposium, focuses on culture and the importance of fitting in. We examine the hiring process, and maintaining a culture designed to retain top-notch...

06.23.2020

75. Milestones in History

The 9/11 boat lift in New York City and the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-56 were both hugely successful projects, with important lessons for Project Managers. The leaders did speedy but effective planning and set clear goals. They hit all...

05.22.2020

74. Seizing Opportunity

An effective Project Manager can't be stuck in a pre-established plan. You have to be able to re-route in response to current circumstances and developments. To make good decisions, you must have a complete understanding of the organization's...

04.23.2020

73. Productivity

According to research and reports such as the Chaos report, the success rate for projects is far from great. Despite all the methods, tools and lessons learned, we seem to be in a holding pattern vis-a-vis increasing the success rate....

03.25.2020

72. Teamraising

If you think of leadership like parenting, then you can comprehend the concept of teamraising. Think nurturing. Good leaders foster an environment where good manners and civility prevail. They pay attention to the individuals on their team. They groom those...

02.24.2020

71. The Art of Negotiation

PMs deal with multiple stakeholders - the executives who commission the project; the project team who implements it; and the end users/recipients. They all have needs, requirements and limits. The better you can negotiate these competing concerns, the more fluidly...

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