Project management audio blog featuring monthly interviews with the most seasoned and recognized practitioners, thought leaders, project managers, and executives on industry-specific business problems to help C-level executives achieve success.
Project Portfolio Management (PPM) is as much about prioritizing project deliverables as it is about communicating priorities to the stakeholders involved. Carefully conveying the appropriate messages to all parties will ultimately determine the successful results of a PPM methodology put in place. Visibility to stakeholders in a consistent manner coupled with a standard approach to delivering the details of project performance and business cases to launch new projects ensure better results in stakeholder buy-in.
There is no better example than Hollywood when it comes to conveying a consistent message to its audience (i.e. its stakeholders). In this vein, this episode will examine how visibility delivered in a consistent manner can sustain the success to both a portfolio of projects and/or a single project to its stakeholders - regardless of their celebrity status .
Our show is divided into 2 segments.
In Part 1, we will be talking to industry insider, Kris Reynolds, who has over 10 years of project management experience and has led numerous projects in healthcare and software application development. He is the Director of the Program Management Office at Macrovision, formerly TV Guide, and currently serves as president of the Project Management Institute PMO Local Interest Group of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tonight Kris discusses how a solid project portfolio management strategy has enabled his PMO to sustain its success.
If you would like more information about Macromedia’s PMO, creating and maintaining a program management office, or about project portfolio management software, then check out Episode 26, Episode 25, Episode 24, and Episode 20.
In Part 2, Willie Mayket, our in-house project management specialist, sounds off in “Painfully Honest with Willie Mayket”. This episode’s target is the Hollywood sign and its evolution to stardom.
Often Project Management Offices (PMOs) are setup in response to an increasing volume of projects that are in desperate need to be managed, prioritized and tracked so that they deliver on the expectations of the corporations they serve. Whether these projects drive the organizations operations or are core to the services delivered to customers, aligning their outcome with corporate goals is key to their success in the eyes of both internal and external stakeholder at hand.
With this in mind, Project Portfolio Management (PPM) as a discipline is the governance framework of choice most PMOs embrace in order to efficiently and effectively manage the limited resources and long list of tasks on multiple projects residing at any given time within an organization. This careful balancing act between resources and projects PMOs seek to achieve, requires the necessary visibility PPM can provide so that prject leaders can strateigcally align their success with corporate goals.
In this episode, we examine how project portfolio management provides the necessary visibility into projects that impact an organization’s success by examining a manufacturing company and a media company.
Our show is divided into 2 segments.
In Part 1, we will be talking to industry insider, Beth Partleton, who has more than 30 years of project and portfolio management experience in manufacturing and construction. Beth recently retired from Miller Brewing Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she worked as the Director of Strategic Projects and was responsible for creating Miller’s project management office and for developing a better link between portfolio management and Miller’s corporate strategy. During her illustrious project management career, she was a founder, charter member and president of the Milwaukee/Southeast Wisconsin PMI Chapter; she was Chair of the PMI Educational Foundation Board of Directors, and lastly she served on the Board of Directors for PMI’s Manufacturing specific interest group. Today she will be sharing her insights and war stories around managing project priorities in a manufacturing environment.
In part 2, the Technology Corner, I sit down with Kris Reynolds, Director of the Program Management Office (PMO) at Macrovision, formerly TV Guide. Kris has over 10 years of project management experience and has led numerous projects in healthcare and software application development. His PMO was named one of the Top 20 Outstanding project management organizations in the October 2007 edition of PM Network magazine. Kris is a frequent author and lecturer on project portfolio management, PMOs, and project management, and currently serves as president of the Project Management Institute (PMI) PMO Local Interest Group of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tonight he discusses how his organization improved resource management, capacity planning and moved away from putting out fires to managing projects, all by switching from a system of spreadsheets, word documents and the ad hoc standard of the day to Daptiv PPM.
Special Announcement: Based on feedback from our audience, PM War Stories is partnering with the PMI Montreal Chapter to create and distribute the Product Development and Design Industry Report
The industry report will provide project managers, engineers, and executives insight into the technology and tools to develop, manage, design, and produce products from idea generation to commercialization. Examining key software vendors in project portfolio management, new product development and product life cycle management, the report will provide in-depth analysis of the state of the market.
Additionally, it will feature thought leadership, best practices and customer success stories in key verticals, such as aerospace, automotive, construction, consumer goods, electronics, industrials, life sciences, process manufacturing, financial services, publishing, and many others, to help project managers, engineers, and executives succeed.
Anyone interested in receiving a free copy of the report, which will be published in December, should complete the registration form today.
Many thanks to our audience, please keep the war stories and suggestions coming.
Music Notes
1. The opening of the episode - Torn Jeans 2. Interview with industry insider - East Ender 3. Technology Corner - Highlight Reel 4. The closing of the episode - Electric Rodeo
There is a new paradigm emerging in the world of project management. Where at one time project managers were solely focused on the successful execution of the projects they managed, today project managers are expected to take ownership of the strategic objectives of their projects. In the many cases where projects drive the business, project managers are in an excellent position to align both the tactical day to day activities and the overall objectives of their projects to the strategic goals of the organization. As a result, by keeping an open mind and collaborating with team members and stakeholders responsible for the business’ strategic objectives, project managers may discover additional benefits to the project and ensure a greater and longer lasting success in the organizations’ they serve.
In this episode, we’re talking about the importance of taking ownership of strategic objectives and how metrics can help.
Our show is divided into 2 segments.
In Part 1, we will go Roaming with the Salty Dogg and examine the Alaska Purchase. This historical event exemplifies the importance of incorporating perseverance, collaboration and stakeholder management to achieve the one’s strategic objectives.
In Part 2, we sit down with industry insider, Steve Rollins. He is the Chief Project Strategist for the ALLPMO Network and chairs the Project Management Institute’s International Metrics SIG. Steve has over 35 years of project management experience and is well recognized for developing and implementing organizational governance processes that lead to bottom line improvements. Today, he will share his insights and experiences
We hope you enjoy the show and encourage you to send your questions, issues, and war stories.
Music Notes
1. The opening of the episode – “Alaska to Wichita” by WildOscar 2. Roaming with the Salty Dogg – “Seward’s Folly” by Caustic Casanova 3. Interview with industry insider – “Value” by Jimmy Targosz 4. The closing of the episode – “Immature” by Pero (418)
In many organizations, more often than not, project sponsors play a critical role in either derailing or keeping a project on track . Effectively understanding your sponsor’s objectives will increase a project’s positive outcome. In contrast, heading into a project blind to a sponsor’s goals, or even worse, heading into a project with no sponsor, can kill the successful execution of a project plan. Often organizations fail to realize that the projects sponsor and project manager play equal roles in a project’s outcome. Consequently, even with the best project manager in place many projects are doomed to fail.
In this episode we will be examining how having the right project sponsor can be the difference between success and failure in ERP projects. Our show is divided into 2 segments.
In part 1, we will be talking to industry insider, Randy Banks, who is a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Project Management Professional with over 20 years of business experience. Today Randy will be sharing his experiences in rescuing troubled projects.
In Part 2, the technology corner, I sit down with David Stover, the Chief Financial Officer of Asahi Kasei Spandex America Inc. - a subsidiary of Asahi Kasei Group of Japan - to discuss its switch from SAP to Netsuite for its enterprise resource planning system. This case study demonstrates how the right sponsor, here the CFO, successfully led his organization to choose and implement the right ERP solution.
Music Notes 1. The opening of the episode – “Salty” by Last Page 2. Interview with industry insider – “Troubles” by paul sevy blues band 3. Technology Corner – “spandex_reloaded” by Oberhofer 4. The closing of the episode – “Montreal bound” by harpman64
Part one of our August show brought to light the realities project managers face when coping with risks and uncertainties in their projects. This episode will examine the consequences of both carefully managing and disregarding the signs of risk and uncertainty in projects. Project managers more often that not are faced with coping with challenges that can stonewall their projects. Those who have developed the appropriate coping skills to manage these challenges have a better chance in ensuring project success and being perceived effective in their jobs. Inversely, those who ignore the signs of risk will most likely result in project failure and in some cases the loss of credibility as an effective project manager.
In light of this, the second episode of our August show will provide insight in which risks and uncertainties in project management have lead to success and failure in two different instances.
In the second episode the show is divided into 2 segments:
In Part 1, we will bring you the second half of our interview with an industry insider. This month we will be talking to industry insider, Beth Partleton, the Director of Operations and Project Management for the Miller Brewing Company. Beth has more than 30 years of project and portfolio management experience in manufacturing and construction and her current focus is developing a better link between portfolio management and Miller’s corporate strategy. In this portion of her interview she will be sharing her insights and strategies around the sustainability and success of the project management office she created for the Miller Brewing Company
In Part 2, Willie Maykett, our in-house project management specialist, will sound off in Painfully Honest with Willie Maykett. This episode will examine “The Flamingo” hotel construction project and its colorful project manager Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel whose blatant disregard of risk lead to his failure as a project manager and his ultimate murder, despite his incredible vision that would set the stage for the development of the Las Vegas hotel strip.
We hope you enjoy the show and encourage you to send your questions, issues, and war stories.
There are many theories in terms of what separates success and failure in project management. However, the one common denominator in all theories is the human factor. Projects are driven by people, and it is people who will determine the direction and perception of a project’s outcome. Project Managers often focus on the activities that make up a project. However, organizations and stakeholders often judge success on the product or outcome of the project. Thus, project managers and PMO leaders need to recognize that group dynamics and stakeholder impact on projects. This episode will examine the critical role people play in making or breaking a project.
Our show is divided into 3 segments.
In part 1, we will go Roaming with the Salty Dogg and examine how consistently executing does not always ensure success. To do so, Wayne Thompson shares the dominant regular season success of one major league baseball team and its failure to attract fans to home play-off games.
In part 2, we talk to industry insider, Max Wideman, who has more than 40 years of project and program management experience in a wide range of projects and industries, including heavy engineering works such as hydroelectric projects and construction of major building complexes. Wideman is recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on modern project and program management. The Wideman PM Glossary is one of the most widely-referenced lexicons of project management terms and terminology in the world. In this episode Max will be sharing with us the importance of evaluating the project and its benefits or outcome when determining success.
In part 3, our in-house project management specialist, Willie Maykett, will sound off in Painfully Honest with Willie Maykett. Willie examines the historical development of the Leaning Tower of Pisa project and its centuries of evolution from failure to success.
We hope you enjoy the show and encourage you to send your questions, issues, and war stories.
Project Managers often face the reality of choosing between doing something that will provide quick, easy results and something that will produce long-term success but require significant time and planning. It’s human nature to take the shortest road to success. Even small, quick successes can earn a project manager praise, bonuses, promotions or more importantly, support for larger, more grandiose ideas.
From the perspective of the organization, successful projects directly impact the bottom line. Organizations are challenged by delicately balancing overlapping short-, mid- and long-term goals that can make or break a project’s success. Ultimately, an organization’s project success will depend on both the soft factors such as stakeholder management and the hard factors such as project execution – being on time and within budget.
In this episode, we look at how an electronics company, a consumer packaged goods company, and a tower designer made choices between short- and long-term goals in project management.
Our show is divided into 3 segments.
In part 1, we will go Roaming with the Salty Dogg and explore how much it really costs when you get something for free. To illustrate the hidden costs and risks of getting something for nothing, Wayne Thompson shares the experiences of a British electronics company during its selection and purchase of enterprise software.
In part 2, we will be talking to industry insider, Hugh Woodward, who has over 35 years of project management experience. Hugh served two terms as Chair of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and almost six years as a member of PMI's Board of Directors. Tonight Hugh will be sharing with us the importance of project portfolio management in the consumer packaged goods industry
In part 3, Willie Maykett, our in-house project management specialist, will sound off in Painfully Honest with Willie Maykett. This episode’s target is Gustave Eiffel – the designer and project manager of the Eiffel Tower, the gateway to the 1889 World’s Fair (Exposition Universelle de 1889) and the tallest structure in Paris, France.
We hope you enjoy the show and encourage you to send your questions, issues, and war stories.
