Project Management Operating Room

In Episode 11 of the Project Management Operating Room, we look at three cases:

Malignant Personality - A PM struggles in a new role after getting fired from a previous role, put on a PIP at a role before that, and job hopping 5 times in 2.5 years

Stage Gate Sclerosis - A new PM struggles to figure out how to contribute to the team while also believing there is not enough structure

Capability Gap Syndrome - A PM overcomes a battle with mental health to start a new role, but the new role proves challenging when there is a heavy PMO governance model

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In this episode of the Project Management Operating Room, we look at 3 cases:

Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome - A junior engineer is promoted to PM and inherits a project where incorrect material has been ordered and the team is unable to do their work as a result

Clinical Observer - A PM is concerned that an executive has established a deadline and resource plan without being able to confirm the scope of the project

Autonomic Anarchy - A PM quietly quits in an organization that lacks any structure, governance, or accountability

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In this special episode of the Project Management Operating Room, we continue on our series from August on debunking project management "thought leadership" posts from Linkedin. Today, we cover:

AI Evangelist - A person who believes AI use in project management is more prevalent than it is and who believes there could be fully autonomous PMOs

PM Fundamentalist - An author who believes that PMs can work in any industry despite being in a highly competitive market

The Scream Tester - A new PMO lead decides to turn off 12 reports to see if anyone in leadership notices

The Hallway Hero - A PM talks to a senior leader in the hallway and commits the team to a new scope of work without checking with the team or checking the project plan

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In Episode 9 of the Project Management Operating Room, we take a look at 3 cases:

Code Blue in the PMO - A junior PM lands a job in a banking company where PMs are assigned 40-70 projects at a time

Symptom Blindness - A PM uses AI recordings to identify key dependencies that affect an imminent project launch

Infectious Blame Syndrome - A PM tries to navigate an environment where leadership blames the team first when things go wrong and asks questions later

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In this special episode of the Project Management Operating Room, we examine a post where a new project manager declared other PMs were "lazy" for using AI to generate a WBS and project plan.

We examine whether there is any validity in this very bold claim. We also talk about how critical it is to apply experienced project management human judgement to any AI output.

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In Episode 8 of the Project Management Operating Room, we look at 3 cases:

Unlicensed Practitioner - A "Junior Developer" in job title is made the project manager for 2 projects and struggles to keep the team allocated with sufficient tasks.

July Resident - A new PM joins a commercial construction project and is requested by the property owner's president to be removed from the project due to a very direct communication style.

Fibonacci Fraud - A Scrum Master decides to implement a very unusual Fibonacci scale, creating confusion within the team along with concerns about "ticket padding."

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Note: I apologize for hitting the mic a few times causing some static towards the end of the episode.

In Episode 7 of the Project Management Operating Room, we look at what happens when risk management is done from a project manager relegated to working on the sidelines. This episode covers:

Hyper Hubris - A 2 person team decides they are no longer happy with the UI of their SaaS PM tool and decides to create one from scratch

Sensory Deprivation - A new PM joins the team and is asked to manage risk, but is not invited to all of the meetings and feels like they are not contributing to the project

Over Prescription - A new PM is trying to lead a small Indie game development team, but is getting hung up on what tools to use and what work to assign

Feedback is always welcome at [email protected]

If you scroll through Linkedin and immediately want to close the tab, this episode is for you.

In this special edition of the Project Management Operating Room, we look at some of the "thought leadership" posts on Linkedin and break down how so many of these viewpoints don't hold up outside of social media.

00:00 - The LinkedIn "Thought Leadership" Problem

00:28 - Case 1: Spiderwoman: The Dependency Mapper

04:26 - Case 2: The Translation "Miracle"

10:14 - Case 3: PM Responsibility in Changing Organizations

16:14 - Case 4: AI Requirements "Shortcut"

22:10 - The Takeaway: Why Real PM Work Isn't One-Size-Fits-All

All feedback is welcome at [email protected]

In Episode 6 of the Project Management Operating Room, we look at 3 cases:

Acute Spinelessness - A PM refuses and is unwilling to stand up for the team during messy handoffs from sales

Platform Rejection - A PM decides to use tools against company security policy because they don't like Microsoft tools

Contagious Panic - A PM struggles to navigate a toxic work culture during a company-wide panic, but in the process adds fuel to the fire

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In this episode of the Project Management Operating Room, we focus on a case file of a project manager who demands that two developers who aren't doing what the PM says be made direct reports of the PM. We take a look at the many misconceptions this PM has, examine the other advice on Reddit and why it is misguided, and then offer practical solutions.

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