People, Process, Progress with Kevin Pannell

How my Wife and I Made it To 20 Years of Marriage (and How You Can Too!) | PPP #88

Sharing 10 things (5 from my wife, 5 from me) we felt helped us make through the first 20 years of our marriage.

Brighten Someone Else’s Day Today | FF36

Inspired by a beautiful sunrise, cool mountain air and a quote from Jhiess Krieg. Through little things we can help make someone else stay better and intern our own.

Just Start Dancing | FF35

Sharing my two cents on a key tenant my wife and I have practiced and are now two decades of marriage.

These are the Key Components of A Home or Garage Gym | PPP #87

In addition to the myriad of body weight exercises, in this episode I share 5 items that are accessible, relatively cheap and mostly mobile that will help you kick off your home exercise journey.

Embracing "Good" by Jocko Willink | FF34

Sharing how Jocko Willink's "Good" helps frame my mindset during hard times and how we can all benefit from accepting hardship and looking for the "Good" that comes from it.

How America Made it to and Established the Labor Day Holiday | PPP #86

A poem to pay homage to all that contributed to America and the hardships that lead us to Labor Day.

To Push or Pull Communications? | FF33

When considering our communications strategies we should think about what we want to push to people, what we want to set up as a pull of information that people can go to and look at how we are interacting with folks virtually and in person.

How to Plan for and Execute Effective Communication Plans | PPP #85

Finishing out the 'Foundational 5' series with a definition of 'communication', importance of vertical and horizontal comms, the C.U.D.C. concept, active listening tips and guidance for IMTs and Project Teams.

People - Our Most Valuable Resource | FF32

Reminders of the concepts of resource Kinds, Types and CSALTT for resource ordering. Resources to help U.S. Military families and our Afghan allies. Taps to honor the fallen.

Best Practices to Request and Coordinate Resources | PPP #84

Sharing tips on how to effectively request, coordinate, care for and release resources for Incident Management Teams (IMT), Project Teams and more!

Logistics Makes Things Happen | FF31

Without the logistical planning for stuff, facilities and transportation, none of our plans can be realized.

How to Create an Effective Team Organizational Structure | PPP#83

Whether functional, geographic based or a combination of both, pulling together a working organizational structure is key to meet program objectives and ensure alignment with leader's intent.

How to Create SMART Objectives | FF30

Providing SMART Objectives is critical for teams to be able to plan tactics to achieve them.

Learn to Create S.M.A.R.T. Objectives for Safer and More Effective Projects and Responses | PPP #82

Sharing background, guidance and tips to create S.M.A.R.T. objectives for response, special events or projects

How to Provide Leader's Intent by Providing the Task, Purpose, and End State | FF29

Pulling out three key elements of Leaders Intent from NWCG discussed in PPP81.

Here's How to Give and Receive Leader's Intent | PPP #81

From Commander's Intent in the U.S. Military to Leader's Intent applied by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group and Lean teams, this first of the 'Foundational Five' is the key to setting teams in the right direction to accomplish the mission.

What Is Your Kryptonite? | FF28

Just as Superman faces his enemies when they have his weakness kryptonite as a weapon, we as normal people can face our own weaknesses every day.

What Hiking a Mile High Can Teach Project Managers | PPP #80

Sharing 5 lessons learned from a family trip to Mt. Rogers, Virginia that can be applied to the professional world.

We Must Make Time to Disconnect | FF27

The benefits of getting into nature and disconnecting from work and technology for a bit are many. In this week’s episode I share my feedback on my opportunity to have done just that.

Leverage Differences in Your Team | FF26

Our children, our fire engine crews and our project teams are filled with people that have various strengths. As leaders we have opportunity to leverage the best in each of these people and build cohesion amongst them.

Let them Grow Up Some More | FF25

Inspired by the movie “Glory”. Sometimes as parents and as project managers we need to let our people face a little bit of adversity so they can come out better on the other side.

Learning to Anticipate Project Chaos by way of the "Butterfly Effect" | PPP #79

We can follow a process and plan all day long, but we cannot control all the variables. So let's embrace the "Butterfly Effect" and lessen the impact of potential disaster in the later stages of a project.

Don’t Sugarcoat the Briefing | FF24

Whether you are briefing a team to go into the field or a project team that’s deploying new software, let them know up front the reality of the situations they may face.

How to Survive as a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) White Belt | PPP78

Using the 'Foundational Five' structure to share intent, objectives, organization, resources and communications to help brand new Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) intro students through BJJ White Belts on the cusp of earning their Blue Belt to survive. The principles: INTENT: Help White Belts from intro class to those on the cusp of Blue Belt to survive the initial BJJ storm OBJECTIVE : Try an intro class, arrive ahead of time, accept… ORGANIZATION : Professor, Instructors, BJJ belts of… RESOURCES: Ath...

P.A.C.E. Planning for Your Project | FF23

Emotional Intelligence Trumps Data | FF22

As leaders we should always be aware of the emotional health of our team. This will always be more important than data points and tasks.

Help the New People | FF21

Inspired from a recent Jiu Jitsu session as I helped some brand new folks learn about frames and shrimping, but also thinking about how we can help our teammates on projects and public safety responses

Improvise - Overcome - Adapt | FF20

Sharing inspiration from the Netflix show 'High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America' and how we as Project Managers need to keep our plans and planning dynamic just as African Americans did with their foods in the 1800s-1900s.

The Long Weekend in May - A Brief History of Memorial Day | PPP #77

Sharing the devastating loss of life of American Servicemen and Servicewomen and some advancements that came from the terribleness of war. Pause and remember them on May 31, 2021 at 1500. Godspeed all.

Give Your Attention | FF19

Sharing a sentiment from Simon Sinek's 'Leader's Eat Last' about the importance of giving our attention and being present, not locked into the world of our smartphones.