Are you looking for a PM job? If not now, one day you may be. So, why not talk to a pro who knows the market and help you find the right job? A Project Management Recruiter! Building a relationship with a recruiter can be a gateway to a great PM career, or to your next step in that career. In this episode we speak with Norma Gutierrez, an experienced Project Management recruiter who shares with ous what you can expect from a recruiter, how they can help you, and what they look for. OUR AMAZING G...
Oct 09, 2020•51 min
Do I need a Project Management Office (PMO)? Does anyone REALY need a PMO? Why, aren't those all going away because of Agile? What value can a PMO give to an organization? And when does it not make sense to have a PMO? We go through all this and more on this 2 part podcast - check it out! JOIN THE HAPPY HOUR! Get access to all podcasts, PDU certificates, bonus content, exclusive member Q&A webinars and more from our membership! https://pmhappyhour.com/membership STUMP THE PM'S! We love to he...
Aug 18, 2020•40 min
Do I need a Project Management Office (PMO)? Does anyone REALY need a PMO? Why, aren't those all going away because of Agile? What value can a PMO give to an organization? And when does it not make sense to have a PMO? We go through all this and more on this 2 part podcast - check it out! JOIN THE HAPPY HOUR! Get access to all podcasts, PDU certificates, bonus content, exclusive member Q&A webinars and more from our membership! https://pmhappyhour.com/membership STUMP THE PM'S! We love to he...
Jul 31, 2020•53 min
We get asked a lot about what project management is about, what it's like to get into the profession, and what are the most important things to do as you get into the field. There are so many things to think about, so many considerations that it can be hard to think of a simple answer to 'what is project management like?' But one answer we fall back on often is that Project Management is about: Saying what you are going to do Do what you said you did, Say what you did We of course didn't come up...
Jun 22, 2020•26 min
Project Management can be tough - full of stress, emotion, passion and… more stress. You, your team and your stakeholders are trying to make big changes happen in the intense pressure cooker that is a project. And if you've been around long enough you will know that tears sometimes happen in the workplace. But how do we handle that - if we work with someone and they shed tears, or if it's us? In this episode, we get real and honest about tears in the workplace - that it's not a sign of weakness,...
May 12, 2020•45 min
Many of us are suddenly finding that we - and our teams - are working remotely from home. While this is normal for a lot of our workforce, it can represent a very big change for a lot of teams. How do we stay focused and stay productive - and help our team stay focused as well? And how do we do that in a way that keeps us all sane? In this webinar, Kate and Kim talk through this process from how to setup a productive workspace from home, what tools you can use to optimize collaboration to how to...
Mar 25, 2020•1 hr 17 min
Projects are about change - but what are you doing to manage that change in your project? Fortunately, there's an entire field of practice to make changes stick - Organizational Change Management Today our guest walks us through the Prosci ADKAR model for implementing change - one of the most well known and popular methodologies for managing change. OUR AMAZING GUEST AND PM HAPPY HOUR MEMBER Kornelia Homewood, Kori for short, is passionate about all things project management. She is a certified ...
Feb 25, 2020•1 hr 9 min
Whether we realize it or not, we all have bias in the way we think about things. Maybe you have a bias to be overly optimistic in your estimates, or under estimate the impact of risks. Planning fallacy, illusion of control, confirmation bias - the list goes on of different ways bias can mis-shape our perceptions and our decisions This week's amazing guest, Jennifer Chandler, brings her depth of experience as a project manager and expertise in organizational leadership to help us understand bias ...
Jan 21, 2020•51 min
Hiya listeners, in this episode we share what we've been up to and why we've been a bit quiet, some amazing PDU stats and share some things that we're thankful for. Cheers! And thanks to our amazing listeners JOIN THE HAPPY HOUR! Get access to all podcasts, PDU certificates, bonus content, exclusive member Q&A webinars and more from our membership! https://pmhappyhour.com/membership STUMP THE PM'S! We love to hear about your tough PM issues, so please hit us up at podcast@pmhappyhour.com or ...
Dec 08, 2019•32 min
For this episode the tables are turned - Kate and Kim get interviewed! Arizona State University student Krystal Ebadi contacted us and asked if she could interview us for her PM class about the realities of studying PM and getting a job. Of course we said yes! And Krystal let us share that interview with our listeners. Thanks Krystal! Join us as we talk about studying project management in a University, how to prepare to get a PM job, and how to break into the field. This episode covers some of ...
Sep 16, 2019•1 hr 11 min
This episode we talk with one of our amazing listeners, Josh Mildren, who shares his story about how he became a project manager - or rather, how he realized he was a project manager all along. Like a lot of our Happy Hour listeners, Josh was looking for new ways to address challenges his organization was struggling with, and found that a pragmatic approach using Project Management principles has a huge impact - so much so, that it propelled him to employee of the year! Congrats Josh! Join us as...
Aug 04, 2019•51 min
This episode we talk about that make-or-break moment in project closing: handing over your project deliverables. If you plan your project right, this can be a moment of victory for your team, your stakeholders, and for yourself. But if you don't plan for it, handover can become a never ending death march to nowhere. Kate and Kim talk about how to setup this key transition for success, and talk about some pitfalls you are going to want to avoid! JOIN THE HAPPY HOUR! Get access to all podcasts, PD...
Jul 07, 2019•29 min
We love our listeners, and we love to answer your questions! In fact, this episode comes straight from a call for help we received from one of our listeners. She shared with us that her manager told her that she was "too nice" with her project team, and asked us for help in how to deal with this ambiguous feedback. Most of us have received ambiguous feedback like this. "You need to be tougher," "you are too abrupt," "You need to present better to executives," or something else like that. But how...
Jun 24, 2019•39 min
Ever have a project that costs money? Well, this podcast is for you! In this episode, Kate and Kim give you the quick and dirty rundown of basic project financials - not just within your project, but how money gets to your project, and how your finance team may view those financials. In a study Kim's company did at PMO symposium, they found that tracking project financials correlated with success by every measure of project success - scope, schedule budget (obviously), resource management, custo...
May 30, 2019•58 min
Communication is a critical part of a Project Manager's job, and perhaps no aspect of comms is more important than ensuring that what is communicated is correct and truthful. But when someone is not being truthful - to themselves or others - how do you call that out? Or, as we say, how do you "call bullsh!t" on someone without it wrecking your relationship or the support you need from that stakeholder? This episode Kate and Kim get really, really real about calling out BS when you see it - why i...
May 20, 2019•39 min
Many Project Managers are on a trajectory that takes them from a more technical or tactical focus to a more leadership focus in their career, possibly transitioning from Project Management eventually to the Board Room. But how do you do that? How do you make the transition from being known for technical execution to strategic leadership? Well, one of the main things to consider is how you brand yourself. To help us learn about personal branding and growing from a tactical role to a strategic one...
May 01, 2019•53 min
Burning Man is a famous event held in a temporary city the middle of the Nevada desert, dedicated to self expression and artistic freedom with 80,000 people. Can you imagine managing a project there?! One of our very own PM Happy Hour members does so every year! This episode we are joined by Kayla Glenn, a project management consultant and a project manager for a camp at Burning Man. Kayla will share her lessons learned from managing a team of volunteers - lessons which translate very well to an...
Mar 12, 2019•42 min
We all assume that following process, better data and improved maturity will fix all our PM issues. That make sense, but is it true? What does the data say? This was our question last fall going into PMO Symposium. Then we realized, we'd be surrounded by hundreds of amazing Project and PMO leaders who could help us understand this better! So, we engaged with 65+ Project and PMO leaders to collect data measuring different aspects of project success, what processes & tools they used (or didn't...
Feb 18, 2019•42 min
Today we are joined by Rolondo Talbott who gave an amazing presentation at this year's PMO Symposium. He is going to share with us an amazing story from his time in the military which inspired him to come up with the concept of Entrepreneurial Project Management. If you've heard about us contrasting "box checker" PM's with being the CEO of your project, Rolondo takes it to a whole new level. With this approach, we look past the obvious or even stated goals of our project and engage at a deeper l...
Feb 09, 2019•49 min
In today's world we are bombarded with more information than ever before - it's on our mobile devices (social email, etc.), daily stand-ups, 24 hour news networks telling us about how the world is collapsing every day, so much going on. That's a lot of information coming in - so how do you sort through it? With that much information coming in and going out, it can be hard to really feel like we are on top of our projects. Especially in two circumstances: We have a large number of projects we are...
Feb 03, 2019•42 min
A natural stage in PM professional development is when you become the 'fixer' - the one called in to take over or fix 'broken' critical projects. This is hard, stressful work, and you may wonder why you get (or keep getting) the 'dirty' jobs. But these assignments mean your management team has a lot of confidence in you. Embrace it! In this episode, Kate and Kim talk through how to approach taking over broken projects, and take you step-by-step through the remediation process. Kate and Kim share...
Jan 07, 2019•46 min
A defining characteristic of a project is that it ends. Finally. Just finish it, right? If it were only that easy! This episode Kate and Kim talk about what it means to close a project, and walk through some typical scenarios where closing can be really tough, and then share some practical tips on how to get to done. JOIN THE HAPPY HOUR! Get access to all podcasts, PDU certificates, bonus content, exclusive member Q&A webinars and more from our membership! https://pmhappyhour.com/membership ...
Dec 17, 2018•37 min
Have you ever had to justify the value of Project Management in your organization? Doh! So do we. Listen in as we share our best responses to, "is PM really needed?" You don't have to justify the existence of the Finance team. Or Sales & Marketing. Or Executive Management. So why do we have to justify the existence of Project Management? This week we explore this question and share some of our favorite responses to help educate our stakeholders and show the value of what we do. JOIN THE HAPP...
Nov 22, 2018•44 min
Many companies employ personality assessments to help their team members understand their strengths or communication styles. Are these a waste of time? Or do they have value we can leverage as PMs? Today we are joined by Fai Mo, long time project manager and manager of project managers. Fai will share his experience in leveraging one type of assessment, Strengthfinders, and how he helps his team leverage this tool to improve their management skills. ABOUT OUR AMAZING GUEST, FAI MO Fai Mo is an a...
Nov 12, 2018•48 min
As we gorge on our kid's leftover Halloween candy, we answer a number of Listener questions left on our Facebook and Linkedin pages. What are some good ways to describe PM-ish duties on a resume/CV? What are some tips on holding someone accountable? How do you create a timeline for a project with a new technology you don't know about? When and how do you call out a team member who is not doing their job? What are some tips on working with an external IT vendor PM? And more! Got your own question...
Nov 05, 2018•51 min
"What are we even doing in this project?" If you've ever asked yourself (or been asked) this question, go back to your Project Charter right now! The Project Charter is a keystone project artifact, authorizing the very existing and base assumptions and structure of your project. It can be called many things - a statement of work, a project initiation document - but whatever, if you don't have some kind of document that authorizes your project, you may be in trouble! In this episode we talk about...
Oct 28, 2018•44 min
This episode we are joined at Happy Hour by prominent PM thought leader, Naomi Caetti. We chat with Naomi about what it takes to transition from being "just" a Project Manager to a Leader - both for your project and your organization. Check out this episode to learn how to take your game to the next level! OUR AMAZING GUEST NAOMI CAIETTI Naomi Caietti is an award-winning business woman, widely respected global virtual thought leader in the project management community for over 25 years, and an h...
Oct 21, 2018•44 min
This episode, we get the great opportunity to speak with Hussain Bandukwala, PMO Coach and founder of the PMO Virtual Summit this October. Hussain helps us understand what a PMO really is (and should be), then shares some great insights into the career path of someone who wants to be a PMO leader. Some great tools Hussain shared are linked here: Article about co-existence of product & project management for startups: https://www.parwaazcc.com/5-reasons-why-project-management-is-a-no-brainer-...
Oct 11, 2018•46 min
Whether you are an "accidental" Project Manager or eager to get into the field, the PM Happy Hour membership can help you with your "How to PM" questions! We focus on practical advice and tips and make it easy (maybe even fun) to listen to! Promo warning - This episode we share a bit about our PM Happy Hour Membership! What the heck are you waiting for?! Join the Project Management Happy Hour Membership and be part of the community! If you join by October 9, you can still get in on the launch me...
Oct 07, 2018•7 min
Project Management Happy Hour means Painless PDUs and dare we say, "FUN!" PDUs! Check out this video podcast to find out more. Promo warning - This episode we share a bit about our PM Happy Hour Membership! What the heck are you waiting for?! Join the Project Management Happy Hour Membership and be part of the community! If you join by October 9, you can still get in on the launch membership special, and lock the price in for life at $4.99/month or $49.99/year. Check us out at pmhappyhour.com/me...
Oct 05, 2018•6 min
