People And Projects Podcast: Project Management Podcast

Time to Reflect As we near the end of the year, it's a great time to reflect. What's going well with your teams? What's not so stellar? As you consider the year ahead, what changes do you want to see? What needs to be turned around?   Time for a Turnaround? Joe Frontiera and Daniel Leidl released a book this year entitled Team Turnarounds. It's a helpful playbook for taking an underperforming team to a new level. I had the opportunity to talk with Joe and look forward to sharing that interview over the course of two episodes.   What Do These Have in Common? In this episode we talk about the power of denial and how that holds us back from team turnarounds. We also talk about the value of tough goals. But we start the conversation with this: What do Domino's Pizza, Indianopolis Colts, State of Michigan, and the Broadway Musical Spiderman have in common?   Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!  

Agile Project Management Agile project management continues to gain momentum around the world, especially with regards to software development projects. Yet moving to agile is more than just adopting a bunch of new processes. It's as much a mindset as it is a set of tools and techniques, and the challenge of dealing with the human side of agile is often overlooked. The Human Side of Agile Well, to address that today you're going to hear from Gil Broza in this episode. His book The Human Side of Agile: How to Help Your Team Deliver was just released a couple weeks ago and it is packed with practical insights on this important aspect of leading agile projects. Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week! Total Duration 27:01 Download episode 84  

Too Much To Do, Not Enough Time To Do It! Can you relate to that? This is a common theme that I hear from participants in our keynotes and workshops as well as the participants in our Leadership Fast Track Program.   What is the Scarcest Resource? In my interview with Cathy Davidson last year regarding her book Now You See It!, we talked about the scarcest resource. What would you say is the scarcest resource? Most people respond with time--that the most constrained resource we have to deal with is the clock on the wall. Or sometimes I hear people respond that money is the scarcest resource. In Cathy's opinion, it's neither. Rather, it's attention. We all get the same 24 hours. It's what we do with those 24 hours--what we put our attention to--that makes all the difference.   The Attention Habits of the Highly Productive So, what is most worthy of our attention? How can we use the limited time that we have to be most productive? I'm really excited about a new book released just this week. It's entitled Extre

Contented Teams OK, I have another confession to make in this episode! Once again, you'll have to listen to this premium episode to catch it. Beyond what I think about Bill and Richard's book title, this premium episode includes additional coaching on topics from the book and the interview. Enjoy! Make sure to let me know if you're interested in the free license to our Advanced Project Management workshop!   Join our Facebook Page I invite you to stop by our podcast Facebook page! "Like" it and then join the discussion. Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

Could You Use Some Extra Hands On Deck? Could you use some extra staffing on your teams these days? I’m glad to say that I'm seeing more organizations hiring, which is a refreshing change from when our economy was at its worst a few years ago. But even those who are hiring typically aren’t planning on doubling their staff any time soon. So what if you need more staffing but your company isn’t hiring? How can you keep up with the demands when the capacity of your team seems to be tapped out?   Contented Cows Give Better Milk What about tapping into the discretionary effort reserve that most people have but leave untouched in the day-to-day grind of work? What is discretionary effort and how does that relate to the capacity of your team? In this episode I share a recent discussion with Bill Catlette. This last summer Bill and his co-author Richard Hadden released their new book entitled Contented Cows Still Give Better Milk, Revised and Expanded: The Plain Truth about Employee Engagement and Your Bottom Line, a

Everything's a Project OK, I have a confession to make! You'll have to listen to this premium episode to catch it. Beyond the confession, this premium episode includes additional coaching on topics that Ben and I discussed during the interview. Enjoy!   Join our Facebook Page   I invite you to stop by our podcast Facebook page! "Like" it and the join the discussion.   Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!  

Everything's a Project Everything's a Project.... That's not only a great name for a book--which it is--but it's also a great way to look at many things at work and in life. Looking for a job? It's a project. Need to create a report for your boss? It's likely a project. Looking for ways to develop your skills? You guessed it--your personal development is a project. Now, of course, not everything is a project. But most leaders would benefit if we thought of our work as projects and applied lessons that we've learned from the world of project management. Well, Everything's a Project: 70 Lessons From Successful Project-Driven Organizations is the title of a book published earlier this year by my friend and colleague Ben Snyder. In this episode I look forward to sharing with you a recent discussion I had with Ben about his new book. Don't miss the normal end of episode outtakes!   More About Ben To learn more about Ben and his organization, check out http://www.systemation.com.   Keynotes for Your Company Meetin

Free Premium Episode I am immensely thankful for the many people who are premium subscribers to the People and Projects Podcast. By making this investment in their personal development, they receive extra episodes for additional insights into the topics covered by our free episodes. In addition, this investment helps cover part of our costs for our free episodes. So here's a big thank you to our Premium Subscribers! To give you an idea of what Premium Subscribers get with each episode, I'm including this Premium episode in the free podcast stream. If you'd like to get these additional episodes each month to further your application of the material, please go to http://bit.ly/PremiumSubscribe to learn more.   Follow-Up to the Tom DeMarco Interview I trust you had the opportunity to listen to both episodes of my interview with Tom DeMarco. He's a guy who has uniquely impacted the world of projects, and it was certainly a pleasure for me to talk with him. His books are insightful, practical, and even a bit quirk

The Deadline In this episode, I continue my discussion with Tom DeMarco, with insights related to his writing in books such as The Deadline. If you didn't listen to the first part of my interview with Tom, I recommend you listen to that one before continuing. In this episode, Tom addresses topics such as knowing what we don’t know, dealing with jerk bosses, and what he writes and speaks about but has trouble doing himself. Make sure to stay tuned after the interview for a very transparent story from Tom about his career.   Tom DeMarco Resources Want more from Tom DeMarco? Here are some recommended resources: The Deadline Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams (Second Edition) Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency Waltzing With Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies: Understanding Patterns of Project Behavior   Join our Facebook Page I invite you to stop by our podcast Facebook page! "Like" it and join the discussion.   Thank you

The Deadline A couple of months back I was teaching a PMP®Exam Prep workshop. One of the participants mentioned that he was reading Tom DeMarco's book entitled The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management. It's a book that I had wanted to read many times since it was originally published in the late 1990s but it never bubbled up to the top of my book list. But when this workshop participant continued to rave about the book, it ended up on my iPad Kindle Reader before the day was done. And in the coming days, I couldn't put the book down. If you're not in the software side of project management or leadership, you might not have heard of Tom DeMarco before. But if you do work on that side of the house, Tom DeMarco has likely impacted you and your job more than you know. He's been a leading thinker and practitioner in this space for decades, and in the next two episodes, you have a great opportunity to hear from this industry giant. Even if you're not in the software development arena, you'll get some practica

I seem to be encountering a lot of favorite books these days, and the one we’re talking about today is no exception. I really like How Will You Measure Your Life? Perhaps my favorite thing about the book is how it takes business practices and ideas and applies them to life. Frankly, if you haven't read much of Clayton's work or just haven't had much training in topics such as strategic planning, the book is worth the price just for the business concepts. But then applying those concepts to life is powerful.   Thank you for being a premium subscriber to the People and Projects Podcast! It is a privilege to be part of your personal development strategy. Please let me know what questions you have and if there's anything I can do to help you lead and deliver. Thank you for joining me for this premium episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!  

How Will You Measure Your Life? In this episode, I continue my discussion with Karen Dillon about her new book entitled How Will You Measure Your Life? Karen talks about success with the important relationships in our life as well as a powerful concept they refer to as "Just This Once."   Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

Sara Adam: Making a Difference With Her Life I am recording this episode from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where I have the privilege of speaking at a conference this week. Since this is a very special destination, my wife and family have joined me on the trip, which included prior stops in London, Nairobi, and Doha. If all goes as planned, we hope to go all the way around the world as a family over the course of three weeks. While in Nairobi we had the opportunity to spend time with some very close family. And one of the real treats was spending time with my niece Sara Adam. Sara will soon be starting up her senior year at Duke, but she's not waiting until graduation to make a difference. Despite her age, Sara is building an amazingly cool clothing and accessory business that is based in Kenya. Along with her business partner Anna, they are growing a business they name Judith and James. They are developing marketable sewing skills for vulnerable women, most of whom live in the Nairobi area slums. As these skills a

I trust you were able to take away an idea or two from the discussion with Keith Murnighan. Between his book Do Nothing!: How to Stop Overmanaging and Become a Great Leader and the forthcoming interview with the author of How Will You Measure Your Life? these are two of my favorite books in some time. In this premium episode, I call out some specific ideas from Keith's book that I got to benefit from, with the intention to help you grow in your ability to lead and deliver. There is so much from Do Nothing! that you’ll find helpful to your calling of leading people and projects. I strongly encourage you to add this book to your personal or team library. And if you'd like to help develop the leaders in your organization, I invite you to contact me! Between our keynotes, workshops, and executive coaching, we can help you and your organization learn how to more effectively lead and deliver.   Thank you for being a premium subscriber to the People and Projects Podcast! It is a privilege to be part of your personal

Beware: Management Heresy Ahead! In this episode, I continue my discussion with Keith Murnighan about his new book entitled Do Nothing!: How to Stop Overmanaging and Become a Great Leader. Keith talks about why some long-accepted management practices might just get in the way of our team successfully delivering. And you’ll find that he offers some intriguing alternatives to help you become a more effective leader. You can find the first part of the interview with Keith here.   Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

Is it possible that we make difficult situations worse by overmanaging them? Keith Murnighan responds with a resounding "Absolutely!" In the next two episodes, I talk with Keith about his new book Do Nothing!: How to Stop Overmanaging and Become a Great Leader, which hits the shelves this week. Keith will tell us how we can, perhaps surprisingly so, be more successful when we Do Nothing!   Make Sure to Listen to The Rest of the Interview Join us in the next episode when Keith will talk about such heresy as ignoring performance goals and de-emphasizing profits. I trust you'll find it helpful in your quest to more effectively lead and deliver.   Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

So have you spent some time trying to better understand agile project management? I know some of our premium subscribers are avid agile practitioners, so good for you. But for many people, it's a topic that you know you should be looking into more but have been standing on the sidelines for too long. In this premium episode I follow-up on some points from my discussion with Andy Crowe about agile project management. Thank you for being a premium subscriber to The People and Projects Podcast! Total Duration 7:48 Download the premium episode "PMI", "PMBOK, "PMP®" and "PMI-ACP" are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

Agile is getting plenty of attention these days and for good reasons. When done well on aligned projects, great customer value can be delivered. Many people who listen to this podcast are certified PMP’s or are at least considering certification in the future. You may be aware that Project Management Institute has a relatively new agile certification: the PMI-ACP℠. One of the best new books available to help people pass the ACP exam is from Andy Crowe. You likely know Andy as the author of the popular book entitled The PMP®Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try. Andy recently released The PMI-ACP Exam: How To Pass On Your First Try. In this episode, I talk with Andy about agile, about the certification, and about project management overall. Links to Resources To learn more from Andy, check out his blog at http://www.velociteach.com/blog/. I invite you to check out his books on Amazon, including The PMP®Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try The PMI-ACP Exam: How To Pass On Your First Try Alpha Project Managers:

In this premium episode, I'm going to share some additional thoughts to help us personally apply this learning. I talk about why you need a social media strategy, why you need to be using social media if you're not, and why a solid understanding of personality styles is critical for those who seek to deliver projects and lead teams. Here's the freebie for you as a Premium Subscriber! Send me a link to up to 3 of your social media profiles (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter). I would be glad to review them and give you a free analysis from an executive coaching perspective. Just send an e-mail with the links and I'll get back to you with feedback.   Thank you for being a premium subscriber to The People and Projects Podcast!  

So let me ask you... What does your Facebook profile really say about you? Or maybe you're not a Facebook person. How about LinkedIn? If a prospective employer was to scan your online presence, what conclusions would they draw? Earlier this year a study was published that indicates your life online could be saying more than you realize about your personality, your likelihood of getting hired, and even your future job performance. Since using social media sites can be part of our strategy as leaders to build and maintain relationships, it's critical that we understand whether or not our online presence is helping or hurting us. To help us better understand the study, I got a hold of Don Kluemper, the lead researcher on the study. In this interview, you'll hear from Don about what he found and his advice to help us avoid the landmines in social media.   Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!