Project Podcast

In this episode, Project journal editor Emma De Vita meets Evan Davis, presenter of BBC 4’s daily news programme PM, and former main presenter of Newsnight and the Today programme. He is also well known as the presenter of business reality show Dragons’ Den and on Radio 4 he hosts a weekly business discussion programme called The Bottom Line. His latest book is Post Truth, which sets out to explain why there is so much mendacity and nonsense in public discourse and why it became more of a concern in 2016.

In this podcast, Evan gives an informed outsider’s perspective on the importance of projects to the economic, political and cultural life of a country.

In this episode, Emma De Vita, editor of Project, meets Marcos Fuentes, recipient of APM’s 2022 Festival of Education and Research award for Doctorate of the Year.

The focus of his thesis was how to co-create value for the long term, from the project planning stage and then throughout the development cycle of a project. The thesis originally established eight ways to achieve wider sustainable value, such as social, environmental, experiential and emotional elements beyond traditional short-term criteria such as time and cost.

Marcos originally hails from Mexico, and spent a decade in the US and Europe, including six years in London, but recently returned to Mexico to work for its National Audit Office, where he is a Strategic Adviser. He is an Honorary Researcher at University College London, at the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, with a focus on the exploration of megaprojects in the Latin American market, of which he has first-hand knowledge.

In this podcast, Marcos first shares his practical advice for project professionals based on his award-winning PhD findings, and second, shares his expertise from the world of challenging megaprojects in Latin America.

Adam Boddison, APM chief executive, meets Mark Thurston, CEO of Europe’s largest infrastructure project, HS2. The pair discuss the evolution of the project profession, areas for growth and the pressures associated with managing an era-defining megaproject.

Mark also gives his thoughts on the levelling-up agenda, sharing lessons learned and what makes an effective project leader.

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In this episode, Project journal editor Emma De Vita meets NASA’s Bill Ochs, project manager for the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest space science telescope ever developed, which was successfully launched on Christmas Day on a journey of close to one million miles from earth. Hubble’s replacement gives humanity a new eye in the sky with infrared sensors that will peer into the farthest reaches of the cosmos to observe the universe’s first galaxies, reveal the birth of stars and planets, and look for exoplanets with the potential for life.

In this podcast, Bill, who is based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre, gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to lead a project like this and what you need to get right to achieve a successful mission.

Contact: [email protected]

In this episode, Project journal editor Emma De Vita meets Simon Fell, director of events, festivals and leisure at London’s Alexandra Palace (or Ally Pally as you might know it). He has significant experience of delivering, programming and promoting large-scale public entertainment events with capacities of up to 50,000. He set up Ally Pally’s Kaleidoscope Festival in 2018, which is a 12,000-capacity boutique arts and music festival set within the grounds of the venue.

In this podcast, he gives us a VIP backstage pass to what it takes to project manage Alexandra Palace and how the pandemic empowered him to take a different approach. Listen to discover what lessons you can learn from the world of festivals and events, which might inspire you to try out new things on your own projects.

Get in touch: [email protected]

In this episode, Emma De Vita asks what mentoring means, what benefits it brings for people and organisations and how to do it well.

Our guest panellists:

All have experience being mentors and being mentored themselves. Vicki was part of the team that set up the Women in Project Management mentoring scheme for APM, while Ewelina was involved with the pilot of APM’s broader mentoring programme, which launched at the end of January.

Find out more here: https://www.apm.org.uk/news/association-for-project-management-launches-apm-mentoring/

Get in touch: [email protected]

In 2022, APM is celebrating its 50th anniversary, so throughout the year we’ll be sitting down with some of the movers and shakers who have shaped the project profession across the last few decades. We’ll be asking them how the profession has evolved, where the untapped potential lies, and what the future might hold.

In this episode, Andrew Saunders, journalist and regular contributor to Project journal, sits down with Darren Dalcher, professor of strategic project management at the University of Lancaster.

Few people have studied project management as closely or for as long as Darren, who is also a director of the National Centre for Project Management, and co-editor of the 7th edition of APM’s Body of Knowledge.

In a career spanning more than 25 years, Darren has become a respected voice for innovation in the sector thanks to his fascination with the power of projects and in particular why some fail and others succeed.

If you enjoy this episode, look out for the spring edition of Project journal, out in March, which features extra material from Andrew’s interview with Darren.

Please rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts. You’ll find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and more. Get in touch at [email protected]

It’s fair to say the past year has been another challenging one for project professionals, who have continued to navigate the complexities of the Covid pandemic, with schedules and budgets liable to change last minute and teams continuing to adjust to working remotely. Add to that the teething problems we saw following Brexit – and it’s clear that 2021 was a year in which project professionals had their work cut out.

However, as our podcast guests have pointed out on many occasions, the most powerful lessons often emerge from periods of adversity. Many of the lessons learned during the first 18 months of the pandemic will feed into project plans and personal development goals as we move into 2022.

So, on that note, in this episode of the podcast, Project’s online editor Mike Hine looks back at the past 12 months and presents some of the key project lessons of 2021, as told to us by our guests.

So how did NASA put a rover on Mars amid a global pandemic? What are the untapped opportunities of project data analytics? And what might the UK’s vaccine taskforce programme teach us about how to streamline processes to enable quicker delivery when it really matters?

Get in touch: [email protected]

In our From the Frontline season, Project journal editor Emma De Vita is meeting project professionals who are working on cutting-edge projects and academics whose research is at the forefront of project management techniques.

In this episode she speaks to Mike Bradley, a senior research associate at the Engineering Design Centre at the University of Cambridge; and Neil Smith, inclusive design lead for HS2 Ltd and one of the Mayor of London’s Design Advocates.

They’ll be explaining exactly what inclusive design is, why it matters for your projects and how to do it well.

In this episode, Project journal editor Emma De Vita speaks to Tim Rose, programme manager at Energy Superhub Oxford, a four-year, £40m demonstrator project to explore potential innovation in using batteries to support grid stability, electric vehicle infrastructure and smart renewable heating. It aims to save 10,000 tonnes of CO2 every year once opened, increasing to 25,000 tonnes by 2032. Part of the Superhub is the UK’s first grid-scale hybrid battery energy storage system, led by Pivot Power (part of EDF Renewables), which plugs into the National Grid.

The project is part funded by a £12m Innovate UK grant to demonstrate a model for other towns and cities and to improve air quality and support Oxford’s plans for rapid decarbonisation.

In this podcast, Tim shares his experience of working on a highly innovative, cutting-edge project at the forefront of climate action, and gives his advice to project professionals on what they can learn from projects like these – and the skills you need to work in the area.