The Project Chatter Podcast

By Dale Foong and Val MatthewsBusiness

The Project Chatter Podcast episodes

February 27, 2022 S5E108: The Project Controls & Benefits Management Standard with Steve Wake

In this week’s pod, we welcomed back Steve Wake to discuss the Project Controls & Benefits Management Standard.
Steve is at the forefront of the development of national and international standards in Project Controls and Management. A genuine thought-leader. A super-connector. A maven.
He is Chairman of the Management Standards committee of the BSi. Currently progressing Project Controls and Benefits Management. He is an internationally acknowledged expert on Earned Value Project Management.
Steve works with government, national and international bodies and academia as a subject matter expert as well as on matters of governance. Steve was one of the authors of Agile Portfolios with ABC. He has worked in the automotive, print aerospace, defence, insurance and I.T. industries as a project manager and consultant.
He led the Association for Project Management to their award of Royal Charter. He is Chief examiner for EVM and Planning with APMG. He curates and chairs his own highly-regarded EVA conferences - now in its 26th year!
He is a visiting lecturer at Warwick WMG, Cranfield and UCL. He has an MA in Manpower specialising in the sociology and psychology of organisations and is a member of the London Mozart Players Development Group. His long passion for all kinds of music is almost matched by his continued appreciation of silence.
The main topics we discussed on the podcast were as follows:
Benefits Management came about from a British Standard document (BS 6079)
Many contracts are adversarial. Law is about consent, not compulsion.
The Project Control Implementation Standards guide is still being written
Having a common data format across all projects would enable better data analytics
Anyone can contribute to the development and elaboration of a Standard
It is possible to time phase the benefits over the course of a project. The Project Controls community can assist with the monitoring and measurement
Having a British Standard on Benefits Management will help contract practice
We should try and incentivise Contractors to think about Benefits
Here are links to a some of the concepts we discussed:
EVA 26 - Steve Wake's EVA in the UK - Conversation Club - https://evaintheuk.org/
BS 6079 Project Management Principles and Guidance - https://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/standards/bs-6079-project-management/
Practice Standard for Earned Value Management: https://www.pmi.org/pmbok-guide-standards/framework/earned-value-management-2nd
Projects Leaving the Government Major Project Portfolio: https://www.nao.org.uk/press-release/projects-leaving-the-government-major-projects-portfolio/
Tune in next week when we’re joined by Rupert Taylor to talk about how to kill the Powerpoint and Excel ‘industry’.
For more information, blogs or to support our charities visit www.projectchatterpodcast.com
If you'd like to sponsor the podcast get in touch via our website.
You can also leave us a voice message via our anchor page and let us know if there's something or someone specific that you would like on the podcast.
Proudly sponsored by:
JustDo - https://www.justdo.com/
PlanAcademy - https://www.planacademy.com/chatter/ ($75 off any course)
InEight - https://ineight.com/
Prosci - https://empower.prosci.com/project-ch... (FREE resource kit)
Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it!
#ProjectManagement #Blockchain #PMO #ProjectControls #Leadership #Culture #ProjectCertifications
#EVA25#EVA25
eVa23 – Anticipation
The best independent event for the project professionals who like to think about what they do!
bsigroup.combsigroup.com
BS 6079 Project Management
BS 6079 Project Management (457 kB)
https://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/standards/bs-6079-project-management/
pmi.orgpmi.org
Practice Standard for Earned Value Management
Earned Value Management (EVM) helps you clearly and objectively see where your project is headed and compare that condition to where it should be regarding scope, schedule and costs
1 hr 23 min
February 21, 2022 S5E107: Gardeners Not Mechanics: How to cultivate lasting change with Gary Lloyd

In this week’s pod, we welcomed Gary Lloyd to discuss how to cultivate lasting change in organisations.
Gary has been leading change for the last 25 years as an executive and a consultant. His roles have ranged from creating retail banking processing centres to creating an electronic derivatives exchange in Tokyo.
Alongside his change leadership work, for the last ten years, he has been an executive coach and a mentor to students and alumni from Warwick Business School. He is also a steering committee member for the school's mentoring programme, which has now helped over 1,000 executives and entrepreneurs.
Gary's core philosophy is that the world of work is an ecosystem and not a machine. To make lasting change, therefore, we need to think and act like gardeners, not mechanics. Success depends on recognising and embracing unpredictability, not pretending it doesn't exist or trying to control it.
He is the author of two books:
Gardeners Not Mechanics: How to cultivate change at work.
Business Leadership for IT Projects.
He is also the author of numerous articles in professional journals.
The main topics we discussed on the podcast were as follows:
Change management projects are about delivering value and developing relationships with stakeholders
Statistically, many project managers don’t actually have the chance to work on many projects due to their durations
There seems to be a tendency to separate the project management and change management communities. They should be the same function
Many Project Management qualifications do not put enough emphasis on relationships. Recruiters often focus on the qualifications
Machines are complicated, eco-systems are complex
Anything that involves people becomes complex. Humans are unpredictable
Projects that have lasting value are often delivered incrementally rather than big bang
Many IT project can be delivered in multiple “chunks” of lasting value
How can we test the key business case assumptions as quickly and cheaply as possible?
People have been using Kotter’s theory for over 30 years and it is too top down and machine like
“Getting buy-in" is an outdated phrase. It implies the solution has already been developed and being forced upon people rather than a collaborative approach
Businesses need to understand the ecosystem of a change rather than trying to shoehorn it into existing processes
When joining a change project, hunt down the moaners, they often have a good point!
Try to draw the project ecosystem and update as you go along
“If you approach a negotiation thinking the other guy thinks like you, you are wrong. That's not empathy, that's a projection” Chris Voss – ex FBI Lead Hostage Negotiator
Here are links to a some of the concepts we discussed:
Gardeners Not Mechanics: How to cultivate change at work: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gardeners-Not-Mechanics-cultivate-change/dp/B08S2ZXSWM/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Gardeners Not Mechanics Blog: https://www.gardenersnotmechanics.com/
Chris Voss Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26156469-never-split-the-difference
Tune in next week when we’re re-joined by Steve Wake.
For more information, blogs or to support our charities visit www.projectchatterpodcast.com
If you'd like to sponsor the podcast get in touch via our website.
You can also leave us a voice message via our anchor page and let us know if there's something or someone specific that you would like on the podcast.
Proudly sponsored by:
JustDo - https://www.justdo.com/
PlanAcademy - https://www.planacademy.com/chatter/ ($75 off any course)
InEight - https://ineight.com/
1 hr 11 min
February 13, 2022 S5E106: Risk in endurance events & the relevance to construction with Richard Newey
In this episode, Dale and Val speak to ultra-athlete and risk expert Richard Newey about the parallels of these mentally grueling and extreme endurance events, to projects. Richard takes us through how he copes with endurance talking about mind games, keeping it simple and marginal gains. Preparing for a race or event like this takes a lot of planning and Richard likens this to how we manage projects.
Projects need risk as an important part of their ability to complete on time, cost, and quality.
Richard has over 30 years of construction experience starting his career as a setting out engineer and now Head of Risk &Controls for AECOM. He has worked on 2 Olympic Games and many other blue-chip projects.
In sport, he is one of a handful of UK people to have completed the Race across America riding 3000 miles in 10 days on 18 hours sleep. Additionally, he has been to 8000m on Everest, raced the Ironman World Championships 3 times and last summer raced the Tour de Geants a 330km ultramarathon off only 7 hours sleep in 5 days.
Proudly sponsored by: JustDo.com | PlanAcademy.com | InEight.com | Prosci.com
FREE resource kit: www.prosci.com/projectchatter
$75 off training: www.planacademy.com/chatter
Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it!
1 hr 13 min
February 06, 2022S5E105: Productivity, Prioritisation & Focus with Nigel Creaser
In this week’s pod, we welcomed Nigel Creaser to discuss Productivity, Prioritisation, and Focus.
Nigel is a Project Manager from Shropshire in the UK. He has over 25 years in the industry, delivering multi-million-pound projects across a myriad of sectors.
He is also the host of the Sunday Lunch Project Manager Podcast and author of several books in the Project Management profession, with a couple of them poking fun at the profession.
The main topics we discussed on the podcast were as follows:
Productivity is effectively making time to allow you to do the things you want to do rather than have to do
Time management skills are often perceived as a soft skill therefore it doesn’t get the same level of attention as more technical tasks
It’s assumed you’ll find a way to do it rather than a subject that is taught at school
The difference between productivity and efficiency is down to effectiveness. Businesses can be very efficient at producing poor quality outputs
If you don’t manage yourself it is easy to get diverted to something more exciting
All meetings need to have a clear agenda and attendee list
If you choose not to decide, you have still made a choice
Calendar management is ultimately your responsibility. There may be consequences to certain decisions but you should own this as it is your time
Try to avoid context switching which leads to distractions. Plan time to do the more mundane tasks and do them effectively
There is an art to knowing what is important. Be prepared to offer feedback and training when you see other people who are struggling to prioritise
Be conscious that other people will prioritise for you if you do not take charge of your prioritise. This may not be the right thing for you
It is useful to measure the amount of time you are interrupted in your day job and assess techniques to alleviate
Use technology to stop non-productive distractions e.g. mute button on Whatsapp or rules in Outlook
Here are links to some of the concepts we discussed:
Nigel Creaser – Project Manager Productivity Hacks: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Project-Manager-Productivity-Hacks-2021-ebook/dp/B094DJ9M38
Manager Tools Podcast: https://www.manager-tools.com/all-podcasts
How to Create Rules to move email messages to different folders in Outlook Office 365: How to Create Rules to move email messages to different folders in Outlook Office 365  Workplace Jazz: https://workplace-jazz.com/
Eddie Obeng – Qube: https://qube.cc/what-is-qube/  Tune in next week when we’re joined by Richard Newey to discuss Risk Management in endurance sports.
For more information, blogs or to support our charities visit www.projectchatterpodcast.com
If you'd like to sponsor the podcast get in touch via our website.
You can also leave us a voice message via our anchor page and let us know if there's something or someone specific that you would like on the podcas
1 hr 30 min
January 30, 2022 S5E104: The Problem with NEC contracts with Glenn Hide
In this episode Val and Marco get contractual! Not any contract but the NEC which is widely used in the UK and Europe on major programs. Val and Marco (Dale's handsome gues host) explore the challenges of an NEC contract and how we might overcome certain constraints and limitations within an NEC environment. For Project Managers and PMO NEC can be a great tool for further client and contractor collaboration. Glenn wastes no time sharing his views and experience on the construct of NEC's for good and bad.
For that interested Glenn offers a fascinating and informed insight, we love having him on Project Chatter.
Glenn Hide is the director of GMH Planning which is a consultancy that specialises in NEC forms of contract. Glenn focuses on providing NEC training, consultancy, and resources to the construction industry.
Glenn has presented on aspects of the contract at various national conferences and has published a number of articles for the ICE Procurement, Management, and Law publication and the NEC user-group newsletter. Glenn provides training to most of the large Client & Contractor organisations in the UK construction industry.
Having exclusively used the NEC form of contracts for the past 20 years, he offers insight and practical advice on how users within the industry should understand and maximise the effectiveness of the contract on their projects/businesses.
He is the founder of the NEC People LinkedIn group which is the largest and most successful discussion forum around NEC contracts and he also manages Reachback – the largest Q&A portal where users can ask NEC-related questions.
Glenn is also a lead developer of FastDraft which is a new cloud-based portal for comprehensively managing the flow of NEC communications on projects ensuring all parties are following the correct processes and timescales.
To get in touch with Glenn and his team you can reach out to them here https://gmhplanning.co.uk/
Do check out their newsletter, blogs and check out their LinkedIn Page for more info https://www.linkedin.com/groups/2893228/
Proudly sponsored by:PlanAcademy.com | InEight.com | Prosci.com
Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it!
1 hr
January 23, 2022 S5E103: The Project Economy with Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez
In this epsiode, Dale and Val catch up with Antonio on the interesting world and growth of project management across the globe. With an economy shaken by the pandemic, it seems projects are becoming more and more important, not just to the client and sectors they serve, but more broadly as a product unto themselves, contributing directly to the countries GDP.
Our guest in this episode is no stranger to the trends of project management and provide clarity and insight as an author on this subject, in various online forums and books.
VM - Author of the Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook and four other books, Antonio is the creator of concepts such as the Project Economy and the Project Manifesto.
His research and global impact in modern management have been recognized by Thinkers50. Former Chairman of the Project Management Institute, he is the founder of Projects&Co and co-founder of the Strategy Implementation Institute.
>>>>>
Born in Madrid, Spain, and educated in Germany, Mexico, Italy, and the United States, Antonio is fluent in five languages. He has an MBA from London Business School. He is a member of Marshall Goldsmith 100 coaches. You can follow Antonio through his LinkedIn Newsletter - Lead Projects Successfully and website.
Proudly sponsored by:PlanAcademy.com | InEight.com | Prosci.com
Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it!#ProjectManagement #Technology #PMO #ProjectControls #Leadership #Culture #ProjectCertifications
1 hr 8 min
January 16, 2022 S5E102: Program and Project Controls - the ghosts of past, present and future with Aidhean Camson
In this episode, Dale and Val talk about the experience and the future with Aidhean Camson.
Where have we gone, where are we now, and where are we going are filled with injectors and interest as they go on a journey with Aidhean, who took of his early programming days, to the wonders of project and technology today.
Aidhean has spent over 20 years working on infrastructure programs across the globe and has personally started up over $100bn USD of programs.
He's worked at all levels of project and program controls making sure that systems are operable from the worksite to the corporate board level.
His degree is in Computer Science and he believes that we are moving into a time where program controls technology can truly 'move the needle' in the delivery of infrastructure.
Proudly sponsored by:PlanAcademy.com | InEight.com | Prosci.com
Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it!#ProjectManagement #Technology #PMO #ProjectControls #Leadership #Culture #ProjectCertifications
1 hr 27 min
January 11, 2022S5E101: Can technology really improve project delivery? with Greg Lawton
In this week’s pod, we welcomed Greg Lawton to discuss whether technology can improve project delivery.
Greg is an Astrophysicist who spent the last 7 years of his career in BAE Systems (UK). He managed large defence programmes (£100M+), advised the Board of Directors on International Strategy, and owned key relationships with the UK Government and MoD.
The main topics we discussed on the podcast were as follows:
What is GAAS?

The effects of automation and the changing behaviours of project professionals

What will the future of project delivery look like
Tune in next week when we’re joined by Aidhean Camson to talk about the ghosts of project and programme management past, present and future.
For more information, blogs or to support our charities visit www.projectchatterpodcast.com
If you'd like to sponsor the podcast get in touch via our website.
You can also leave us a voice message via our anchor page and let us know if there's something or someone specific that you would like on the podcast.
Proudly sponsored by:
PlanAcademy.com | InEight.com | Prosci.com
Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it!
#ProjectManagement #Technology #PMO #ProjectControls #Leadership #Culture #ProjectCertifications
1 hr 30 min
December 20, 2021 S4E100: Talking Transport Projects with COO Magda Robertson
In this episode, Dale and Val talk about transport and operations, what's involved and an experiential journey of a woman on the rise in transport with a passion for the industry. There is something for everyone in this episode as we talk about improving performance, why transport projects are sexy and what interesting roles inspired our guest.
Our guest, Magda Robertson is an accomplished senior leader with 20 years of experience in the transport industry (heavy rail, light rail & buses), both in the public and private sectors. She possesses exceptional client and stakeholder engagement capabilities along with contract management, both as the client and operator. She has a blend of operational, corporate and strategic leadership experience and has led various teams ranging from service delivery, network operations (train control & signals) asset management, infrastructure (civil, electrical & technical), engineering, maintenance, fleet & security operations. Her operational & technical expertise is underpinned by an MBA from a leading Australian Business Institute She is also an experienced rail operations advisor with large project management capabilities and delivery aspects for both greenfield and brownfield developments and major renewal projects. Magda harnesses safe and best practices with an objective to optimise business outcomes and deliver results. She has experience in delivering business transformation, lean end to end system integration, governance, building high-performance teams and reform in highly industrialised and safety-critical transport environments.
If you'd like to sponsor the podcast get in touch via our website. You can also leave us a voice message via our anchor page and let us know if there's something or someone specific that you would like on the podcast.
Proudly sponsored by: PlanAcademy.com | InEight.com | JustDo.com
Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it!
1 hr 7 min
December 12, 2021 S4E99: The Philosophy of Project Management with Paul Goodge & Warren Beardall
In this week’s pod, we welcomed back Paul Goodge and Warren Beardall to discuss the philosophy of project management.
Paul is internationally regarded as a Programme Management and Change Management specialist. He is noted for his ability to swiftly and accurately diagnose issues and evolve solutions both from a technical and a behavioural point of view. Over his career he held a variety of roles both in line leadership and a number of functional responsibilities, providing him with insights across the whole of the enterprise. He has Chaired or sat on a wide variety of internal and external committees and steering groups. An ex-Board member of the Association of Project Management he has continued to work very closely with the organisation and was in the first cohort to achieve Chartered Project Professional status. He achieved an MBA from Cranfield University in 1994. Paul retired from full-time employment in 2012 and enjoys a wide range of interests. His portfolio encompasses consultancy work to various companies, the P3M profession, Executive Coaching and extensive work with various charities, operating locally, nationally and internationally.
Projects to Warren are principally associated with the construction industry. He worked for 25 years within the construction related insurance industry. Three years ago Warren made a decision to reset his career. He joined a consulting practice offering specialist risk, internal control and assurance advice to large scale construction and professional service providers. Career project experience was predominantly centered around Public Private Partnerships. Advising senior debt lenders, project equity Special Purpose Vehicles, Government entities or Construction Contractors. UK PFI, US and Canadian P3, Turkish and European PPP. This experience became the center-piece of his MSc dissertation. The interim conclusions of this ongoing research is that Partnerships were never truly there. And that this is deemed no different in our wider construction endeavor. The suggested answer to the paradox is that projects are either set up to collaborate, or they are set up to fail. That is what he is here to discuss.
If you'd like to sponsor the podcast get in touch via our website. You can also leave us a voice message via our anchor page and let us know if there's something or someone specific that you would like on the podcast.
Proudly sponsored by: PlanAcademy.com | InEight.com | JustDo.com
Stay safe, be disruptive and have fun doing it!
#ProjectManagement #Blockchain #PMO #ProjectControls #Leadership #Culture #ProjectCertifications

1 hr 28 min

About The Project Chatter Podcast

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Welcome to Project Chatter, the podcast where project professionals, specialists and experts from various sectors talk about the latest trends in project management and PMO. Listen to Val and…

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About The Project Chatter Podcast