Project Management Office Hours

How has your life been impacted by a Curve Bender? What is a Curve Bender? What is next for all of us in the Project Management Community impacted by the pandemic? In this episode Jennifer Bridges and David Nour share with us their personal stories and also their experiences as leaders within the community.

Lots of laughs in this episode and fun with Jennifer and David. We laughed about the "Punch it" story with David and Jennifer out riding motorcycles. David shared his immigration story coming to the US from Iran alone as a teen back in the 1980s. Jennifer reminds us all to embrace compassion and think how COVID may be impacting our team and partners.

We also have a great discussion about work-life blending and the value of time and relationships in our lives. We chat about the special relationships we've had in our lives and how they've had an impact on us. David calls these relationships “curve benders,” and in his upcoming book, Curve Benders, he identifies who and where they are, how to find and engage them, and, equally valuable, how you can become a curve bender to impact the lives and livelihoods of others profoundly.

Jennifer shares the origin of PM Next which resulted from common themes and struggles people experienced during the pandemic. The program is a collection from several presenters with great content, insights, and lessons. PM Next is a fantastic example of collaboration effort between industry leaders to learn the new skills and competencies needed to thrive in the current context and take advantage of the changes happening in the world

Listen to the full episode to hear more of the discussion with Jennifer and David. To learn more about Jennifer and David visit:

Jennifer Bridges -www.pdus2go.com
Jennifer on LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferbridgesalabama/

David Nour - www.nourgroup.com
David on LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/davidnour/

Subscribe to Project Management Office Hours to hear all prior episodes and view upcoming guests by visiting www.projectmanagementofficehours.com.

​Thanks to our sponsors The PMO Squad and The PMO Leader.

Learn more about The PMO Squad visit www.thepmosquad.com
Learn more about The PMO Leader visit www.thepmoleader.com

Do you know the history of International Project Management Day? How do you describe your career as a Project Manager? Have you ever sung the Project Management Blues? In this episode Frank Saladis PMI Fellow and the Father of International Project Management Day shares his story and the many lessons learned during his long storied career.

Frank chats with PMO Joe about the origins of IPM Day and how it has progressed over the years. Frank shares this thoughts and backstory for the books and articles he has written. We also hear the humorous story behind The Project Management Blues, a song Frank has recorded.

Frank has been involved with PMI for several years and has run the NYC chapter for years. He was one of the early PMPs and has vast experience to help individual PMs be technically credible while not being a domain expert.

Listen to the full episode to hear more of our discussion about project management careers, positive leadership, organizational change management, and life in New York City during the covid pandemic.

Visit Frank Saladis - https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-saladis-pmp-pmi-fellow-4aa226/

Subscribe to Project Management Office Hours to play all prior episodes and upcoming guests by visiting www.projectmanagementofficehours.com.

​Thanks to our sponsors The PMO Squad and The PMO Leader.

Learn more about The PMO Squad visit www.thepmosquad.com
Learn more about The PMO Leader visit www.thepmoleader.com

What do Project Management, PMOs, and Tennis have in common? Take in this episode to hear from Bill Dow as he shares his journey to becoming one of the top PMO Leaders in the world and an avid tennis fan.

Bill chats with PMO Joe about starting his career as an Accidental Project Manager and then finding his passion in project management. Bill is now leading his 10th PMO and he shares many of his lessons learned along the way and how to avoid a failed PMO. We also learn about the books has written during his career including his most current, The PMO Lifecycle, Building, Running and Shutting Down.

Bill is also a trainer and has a long list of project management training courses for Project Managers and PMO Leaders. In addition to training PMs, Bill is also a certified tennis coach. His most current passion is training wheelchair tennis. We also learn he is a huge Roger Federer fan!

Listen to the full episode to hear more of our discussion about project management careers, PMOs and PMO Leadership, industry trends and the fun side of Bill and his love for tennis.

Visit Dow Publishing - https://www.dowpublishingllc.com
Visit Bill Dow - https://www.linkedin.com/in/billdow/

Subscribe to Project Management Office Hours to play all prior episodes and upcoming guests by visiting www.projectmanagementofficehours.com.

​Thanks to our sponsors The PMO Squad and The PMO Leader.

Learn more about The PMO Squad visit www.thepmosquad.com
Learn more about The PMO Leader visit www.thepmoleader.com

What is the Agile Management Office and how do you use the AMO Method? Hear the backstory and concepts from Fatimah Abbouchi as she shares her journey to becoming one of the leading PMO Influencers in the world.

Fatimah chats with PMO Joe about several topics during this fast paced chat between global PMO Influencers and the partnership they have formed with The PMO Leader global community site. Fatimah shared the story of how she founded the Agile Management Office and the success she has had from the AMO Method White Paper.

We also discussed Fatimah's history with Anxiety and Mental Health Awareness. We discussed the importance of removing the stigma associated with anxiety, depression or other mental health disabilities. The Project Management profession is a high stress profession and we need to do more to understand and support our team members who are living with mental health challenges.

Listen to the full episode to hear more of our discussion about women in project management, global recognition and rewards for project excellence, diversity and global leadership perspective.

Visit Agile Management Office - www.agilemanagementoffice.com
Visit Fatimah Abbouchi - https://www.linkedin.com/in/fatimahabbouchi/

Subscribe to Project Management Office Hours to play all prior episodes and upcoming guests by visiting www.projectmanagementofficehours.com.

​Thanks to our sponsors The PMO Squad and The PMO Leader.

Learn more about The PMO Squad visit www.thepmosquad.com
Learn more about The PMO Leader visit www.thepmoleader.com

Are you familiar with Design Thinking? Are you utilizing Design Thinking to run your projects? In this episode we chat with Bruce Gay, Founder of Astrevo to understand the fundamentals and benefits of Design Thinking as well as touching on several other topics.

Bruce is a leader in the PM Industry and is an active community builder. He is a PMI Volunteer with PMI Pittsburgh, leads a Healthcare PMO, teaches part time at Norwich University and started his own firm, Astrevo.

In our discussion Bruce shares that Design Thinking allows groups of people to take time and look at their customers needs to deeply understand a problem and to start to brainstorm and down select solutions to solve those problems. The benefit to using Design Thinking is you get closer to your customer's needs and pain points to help you identify defects earlier in the process which is less expensive than defects found later in the process.

We also hear Bruce's perspective on trends in the industry and a few of his favorite books he recently read. We also learn about Bruce's Project Management Insights monthly list of updates and insights within our industry.

To subscribe to Bruce's Project Management Insights visit www.brucegay.com/signup.
To learn more about Astrevo visit www.astrevo.com
To connect with Bruce on LinkedIn visit - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brucegay/

​Thanks to our sponsor THE PMO SQUAD. Visit www.thepmosquad.com to learn to Empower People to Deliver Results and assist your PMO as you evolve in the new post-COVID business world.

Check out all prior episodes and upcoming guests by visiting www.projectmanagementofficehours.com.

Imagine the impact to your life being born a girl in Iran during the height of the Iranian Revolution. Then as you reach school age the ravages of the Iran - Iraq war shake your very existence. These are the early stages of Amireh Amirmazaheri's journey. She shared her story with us and how it has impacted her life as a leader in the Project Management industry.

As a first time mother in Australia forced by COVID to be confined at home with her daughter and husband, Amireh has had plenty of time to reflect on her early years. The home schooling, use of art and creativity and lessons learned from her parents in Iran.

In addition to her past we also discussed her role in the PMO industry and her dream, a world without war. Amireh is the Chief Project Officer for the PMO Global Alliance, Organizer for the PMO Sydney meetup and Founder of PMO Solutions. Take the time to listen to our chat and hear about the humanity and personal reality of project management for Amireh.

Thanks to our sponsor THE PMO SQUAD. Visit www.thepmosquad.com to learn about the Purpose Driven PMO and assist your PMO as you evolve in the new post-COVID business world.

Check out all prior episodes and upcoming guests by visiting www.projectmanagementofficehours.com.

Visit The PMO Leader global community site (www.thepmoleader.com) to get more amazing content from authors, bloggers and podcasters as well as find the Coaches and Trainers to help you advance your career.

Listen to Billy S Mwape share his fascinating story and the exciting news of the birth of his new son! Billy joined us from Zambia as our first guest in 2021 and our first guest joining from Africa. He shares the Zambia culture, challenges he pushed through in 2020 and the exciting future he is building.

Billy was a featured speaker in the TED@PMI event in 2020 and he shared the experience with us. As parents we know that it is a hard job but it is especially challenging with a child with special needs. Billy shares how he and his family used the concepts and tools he has learned from Agile to help with his special needs child. You can watch his talk here - https://www.ted.com/talks/billy_samuel_mwape_an_innovative_way_to_support_children_with_special_needs

2020 was a challenging year but Billy helped to stand up a new PMI chapter, PMI Zambia during the global pandemic. The chapter founders had to establish the chapter remotely working to build membership and value to the Project Management community in Zambia. Billy also shared he is building a music based Project Management Master Class. The class will preach unity and leadership bringing PMs together through the rhythms of music.

PMO Joe also shared the launch of www.thepmoleader.com a new global PMO Leadership community. The site provides PMO Leaders and team members access to Blogs, Books, Coaching, Consultants, Podcasts, Peer to Peer interaction, Speakers, Technology and Training. Use code PMOH to receive 20% off a Community Membership.

​Thanks to our sponsor THE PMO SQUAD. Visit www.thepmosquad.com to learn to Empower People to Deliver Results and assist your PMO as you evolve in the new post-COVID business world.

Check out all prior episodes and upcoming guests by visiting www.projectmanagementofficehours.com.

Kiron Bondale was our special guest in this final episode of 2020. Kiron shared his career story with us including how he starting in project management and the 3 key career moments which have helped to shape his career.

Kiron also provided insights for PMs to help take your career to the next level. His time as a PM, PMO Leader, and PM Trainer has given him an opportunity to observe what works for PMs of all experience levels. We also hear his thoughts on training in the Post-Covid world as well as his perspective on a love-hate relationship with PMI.

Kiron joined us from outside Toronto, Canada as we continued our discussions with global PMO leaders. This year we chatted live with influencers from Australia, Canada, India, UK and the US. Next year we'll continue our global trek with confirmed guests in the first quarter from Africa, Australia and the US.

​Thanks to our sponsor THE PMO SQUAD. Visit www.thepmosquad.com to learn how they can help you with your Project Management challenges including PM resources, PMO improvements, Agile Transformations and Custom PM training.

Check out all prior episodes and upcoming guests by visiting www.projectmanagementofficehours.com.

Listening to this session as we chat with Cornelius Fichtner and learn about his career and lessons learned on his project management leadership journey. We hear how he started The Project Management podcast (www.project-management-podcast.com) back in 2005 and why it might not be a good idea for you to start your own podcast.

Cornelius also explains how he had to learn the language of Project Management and how that can be a challenge for non-English speaking PMs preparing to take the PMP exam.

Cornelius also shared how volunteering within a PMI chapter helped springboard him towards starting his PM training company. Listen to hear the story how he started OSP International and how he is adjusting to the new rules PMI has set for PMP training.

Cornelius also shares the Project Business Foundation (www.project-business.org) which is an emerging topic in the industry. The Project Business Foundation is a nonprofit association and is the professional home association for individuals and organizations dealing with project business as clients, contractors, or as experts.

​Thanks to our sponsor THE PMO SQUAD. Visit www.thepmosquad.com to learn to Empower People to Deliver Results and assist your PMO as you evolve in the new post-COVID business world.

Check out all prior episodes and upcoming guests by visiting www.projectmanagementofficehours.com.

Have you thought about starting up a Project Management SaaS company? Are you curious about how to leverage your experience as a Project Manager to solve technology problems? In this episode we hear from Jason Westland who is the CEO of ProjectManager.com.

Jason founded the award-winning business ProjectManager.com, a SaaS product that is used in over 100 countries by organizations like NASA and The United Nations. He shares his origin story how a lunch break in a industry conference jump started his idea to become a reality. We learn the many lessons learned and risks he has worked through building the company to the success it is today.

His journey includes time in France, New Zealand and eventually the US. Jason shares the importance of listening to your customer and having a Board to advise and keep you focused on your targets. We also hear about the ProjectManager.com features and complimentary content they provide to assist PMs.

Founded in 2008 ProjectManager.com offers advanced level project management features with a simple-to-use interface that requires no training for teams and no expensive consultant onboarding costs. ProjectManager.com is used by IT, marketing, manufacturing and professional services teams in many industries to collaborate on projects in their organizations.

​Thanks to our sponsor THE PMO SQUAD. Visit www.thepmosquad.com learn more about the premier PMO consulting firm in the US. Utilize our industry leading services such as PMOaaS, Purpose Driven PMO, PM & Agile resources and training.

Check out all prior episodes and upcoming guests by visiting www.projectmanagementofficehours.com.