PMI Board Chair Jennifer Tharp - Staying Relevant and Finding Joy

PMI Chair Jennifer Tharp joins this episode to talk about how to stay relevant, find joy, and design ways to stay excited about work.

During the conversation we talk about:

• What is the best movie about project management
• What fictional character best represents your inner project manager
• Has the profession of Project Management at an inflection point
• What you need to do in order to stay current and relevant as our profession evolves
• How to find ways to keep finding things to keep yourself excited and interested about working in this field
• The importance of play in work
• How to come up with ideas for a presentation to give at a conference
• Why you might not want to work in the field you are most passionate about
• How to make the most of being a remote worker
• Finding joy in the work you do

You can find the podcast here: https://bit.ly/42wcHqT

The Future of Project Management with Howard Sublett

This week I am joined by Howard Sublett. Howard is the former CEO of the Scrum Alliance, a good friend,  and someone who has been working in the Agile space for a very long time. During our interview, we talk about where Agile and project management are headed and exactly how dystopian is the future going to be?

You can check out the podcast here.

(Re)Start Your Team Using Modus REE with Erich Hahn

Erich Hahn joins me to talk through the experience he and his team had in working through the Modus Right Environment Exercises (REE).  If your team is struggling and can't seem to get beyond simply working together and  becoming a high-performing team with a shared understanding of how they work, why they work, and how they can show up and support one another every day, this podcast offers a case study of how they can begin to develop the type of connection they need to rise and thrive together.

You can find the video version here: https://bit.ly/3JhN5Xg

You can find the audio version here: https://on.soundcloud.com/vCBCm

Artificial Intelligence and Project Management with Ricardo Vargas

PMI Fellow Ricardo Vargas and Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez recently had an article published in Harvard Business Review called: How AI Will Transform Project Management. It is a very interesting read and you can find it here: https://hbr.org/2023/02/how-ai-will-transform-project-management

After reading it I had a lot of questions so I reached out to Ricardo and asked if he would be willing to do an interview. He was kind enough to share some time to answer my questions and dig a little deeper into how prioject management is changing as a result of Artificial Intelligence, and how AI is going to completely redefine the role of the PM in the very near future. 

You can find a video version of the interview here

You can find an audio version of the interview here

Sprint Goals and Sprint Planning with Chris Li

Chris Li is back for a conversation about Sprint Goals. While Chris and I both agree they are critical, we approach creating them very differently. If you are trying to get your head around when and how to create a Sprint Goal that can work for your team, you'll get plenty of ideas from this conversation.

Video Version

Audio Version

Lead Without Blame with Tricia Broderick

Tricia Broderick joins me to discuss Lead Without Blame, the book she co-wrote with Diana Larsen. If you are looking for ways to help your team raise their game, there is a lot the book, and this interview has to offer. 

You can find the video version of the interview here: https://bit.ly/3GwO2rg 

You can find the audio version of the interview here: https://sbit.ly/3YdZbFl

In Defense of Frederick Taylor with Christine Li

In this episode, I am joined by a very special guest, Christine Li, for a conversation I have been waiting to record for quite a while now. 

I am closing in on 30 years of work in Project Management and for most of that time, I, like many of you, have been talking smack about Frederick Taylor. My opinions were based on the things I learned from others along the way and were (obviously) deeply informed by moving from traditional PM over to Agile. As far as I was concerned, this guy was the birth of work misery. But, I had never actually taken the time to read The Principles of Scientific Management... so I did. I was amazed at how completely off the mark I was. Yes, there are some obvious glaring issues with how he separates the workers from the thinkers, but there is also a ton of really good stuff in there and a lot that comes pretty close to an agile mindset.

After reading it, I was at a lunch and happened to mention my newfound Taylor Fanboy-ness and Christine Li showed up like Yoda, deep with the PM history geek. She took me to school and that is where this conversation starts. 

FLY EAGLES FLY!

My hope is that even if you think Frederick Taylor is the Sauron of Project Management, you’ll give this a listen. Maybe it will challenge your understanding of him and his work. Maybe it will (I hope) entice you to read his work. And even if you’ve read his work and can see the good in it, the things Christine shares will level up your understanding as well. 

You can find the podcast here.

Story Points are Good AND Evil with Ryan Ripley

 A few weeks ago Ryan Ripley posted a tweet about Story Points...

And as soon as I saw it I reached out to him to ask if we could do a podcast discussing his post. I come to this topic as someone for fought against Story Points for about four years when I started working on Agile teams. Now, I can't imagine not using them.  I  teach Story Points in my CSM classes because I think that when used effectively they can be incredibly valuable to a Scrum Team. I also agree with Ryan's views on this topic

This podcast is the two of us debating the value of Story Points, when and how they can be used for good, and when, as Ryan often says, Story Points are trash.

Video version

Audio version

Value Stream Management with Derek Huether

Derek Huether is back for this episode and we’re focusing on Value Stream Management. Value Stream Mapping is about understanding all the steps from the inception of an idea to putting something valuable in a customer's hands, and using that information to optimize the flow of value through the system. But, within a business, you will have many value streams and we need to understand how best to coordinate those streams to optimize the overall value generated by the company across multiple value streams. If your brain is wired for traditional project management, you could think of this as creating a system that optimizes a portfolio management level view of all the value streams in the org.

• Video version: https://youtu.be/nxGvpnWgoIM
• Audio version: https://on.soundcloud.com/dAVHR

Improving Value Delivery In Your Organization with Gil Broza

Gil Broza joins me to provide a walkthru of Square, a new tool he has developed that will help you assess product development in your organization and determine what improvements will have the biggest impact on your ability to deliver value. 

You can find the interview here.