5 Minutes Podcast with Ricardo Vargas

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about the Problem Statement. He explains that we often receive a problem with a solution from our customers. The given solution is not always the correct one; before thinking about how to implement the solution, we need to be clearer about what problem our project is trying to solve. It is necessary to listen to the user and write down everything to understand...

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about the many ways to gain experience in project management that go beyond formal education, courses and certifications. He also mentions that you don't start a career in projects managing gigantic or highly complex projects. The main part of the podcast is in the three tips you can follow to increase your experience and make project management part of your D...

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about the relevance of early warning systems. He comments that one of our biggest aims in risk management is to anticipate the knowledge and awareness of unexpected events. Ricardo gives some examples and explains that one of the mechanisms that help us identify threats is project indicators, showing clear signs of a problem without having the pain. The sooner...

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about how you show your experience in projects and in product development for a job interview or when you are preparing your CV or applying for a postgraduate course, for example. He gives three tips on which aspects to consider: The first: What type of project have you worked on, engineering, technology, digital transformation, etc. The second: What was the m...

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about the exponential growth of problems in the project. He explains with several examples what exponential growth is, such as the behaviour of social networks when a post is shared with ten people and that each one will share with another ten people. So on, the number of views has a massive growth. We often rely on intuition to make a future prediction, imagi...

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about cadence in the project. He explains that cadence dictates the rhythm of project deliveries and gives some examples of cadence, such as the frequency of the heartbeat and the rhythm of a military parade. Ricardo talks about the four types of cadence, which are not necessarily linked to shorter or longer intervals but rather the project's ability to make d...

In the first episode of 2022, Ricardo decided to share four books and three online courses/platforms you should look at right now to start your year with the right foot. The books have two things in common: none are about Project Management, and he wrote none of them :). They cover aspects of uncertainty, culture, mindset, and career. Listen to the #5minpodcast to know more.

This episode is the last #5minpodcast of 2021. This week Ricardo shares five key lessons he learned about 2021 that are paving his way to 2022 and can also help you make a better 2022. He also made a LinkedIn article with a few things that are keeping him awake at night. You can read it in full at https://rvarg.as/lookingback . Listen to the podcast to learn more.

This week's episode is super special, with Ricardo talking about the launch of the James Webb Telescope, scheduled for December 24th. He explains that the project to build this telescope is extremely complex (we haven't found an even bigger term to describe how complex the project is). And for a project of this size, the level of competence of the professionals involved doesn't matter. Even having...

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about the book "The Rule is No Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention", whose subject is the culture of Netflix. Ricardo explains that he read this book recently, which is based on an interview @reed Hastings gave to @Des Dearlove from @Thinkers50. Ricardo comments that Netflix breaks the chain of command and control and adopts a policy (or maybe no pol...

In this week's episode, Ricardo explains the difference between agility and agile methods. He says that if the project uses an agile method, it may not necessarily have agility. And on the other hand, a project that uses the predictive model may have agility. Ricardo comments that, regardless of the method used, it is first necessary to have a critical sense of urgency, agility and adaptability in...

In this second episode of the series, Ricardo talks about three challenges to applying Artificial Intelligence in project management and product development in general. The first challenge is regarding the quality of the data that will be used. Ricardo explains that in project management, a clear business rule is not respected, which makes it much more complex to have reliable data for artificial...

In this week and next, Ricardo talks about the uses, benefits and challenges of artificial intelligence applied to the project scenario. He explains that artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science that seeks to develop equipment and software capable of performing tasks that are typically human, giving examples of products that use artificial intelligence to replace and facilitate our...

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about the fears we have during the development of a product, where situations are not totally in our control. Whether in the speed with which we have to carry out our deliveries and releases or in the concern of not delivering the value expected by our client, which leads us to the fear of failing and not being accepted as a leader in the project. He explains...

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about resilience and adaptability. He says that when big disasters happen, we first think about resilience, and we associate this term with resistance and more solid constructions that can withstand impacts. But there is psychological resilience and organizational resilience related to developing skills in the project team, in the organization, and ourselves....

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about our perception of time when we try to assess values, risks, and scenarios in the more distant future. Time significantly affects our ability to judge, understand and evaluate scenarios. He makes an analogy between the promises made at COP 21 for the years 2070 and 2100 and comments that it is impossible to project an event for the year 2100 without havin...

In this week's episode, Ricardo explains the concept of Systems Thinking. He compares systems thinking with traditional analysis, where the system is broken down into smaller components to assess problems, impacts, and improvements. In Systems Thinking, the process is practically the opposite. The focus is not the components but the connection and interactions between them and their behavior over...

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about "The Great Resignation", a term created by Anthony Klotz, a professor at the University of Texas, A&M University. He explains that in the first few months of this year, 4.3 million people resigned in the United States. This phenomenon is not unique to the US. It is happening worldwide. Ricardo comments on the influence of the pandemic on this behavio...

Ricardo talks about affinity diagrams in this week's episode and how this technique can help you and your team organize ideas. He explains that when structuring a process, the scope of a project, risks, and other ideas, we usually create groups and distribute information within these groups. We will think differently using the affinity diagrams; first, we will have the pictures and then group; it...

This week we return to the theme from a few weeks ago, how technology projects are riskier than most people imagined. Surprised by the paralysis of Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp, we were more than left out of communication. The damage caused throughout the world by the hours out of the air on these platforms is incalculable. What to learn from what happened? How to deal with this dependence on...

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about self-knowledge and how it can improve the results of your projects. He explains that when you are more aware of your strengths and weaknesses, you can adjust your project approach, assuring the project's success. He comments that if a person knows their weak points to carry out an activity, they will mitigate the project's risk by, for example, putting a...

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about the risks that can be associated with technology projects. He explains that the approach to managing technology projects, where releases are delivered faster and more frequently, can allow aspects that are not thoroughly thought out and validated to produce security flaws, risks, and even use and encouragement of unexpected behavior when used. Ricardo co...

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about the legal aspects of project management. He explains that the project manager often may perceive that their work is being delayed due to the requirements of other areas, for example. Ricardo explains that these requirements are made to protect the project and, in the end, your organization. Often in the eagerness to do things quickly and be agile, the pr...

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about the importance of having clear criteria as a reference when we evaluate a project. He explains that people's perception is different, and if we create a personal reference, it will have a different interpretation. Ricardo shows many examples of not explicit references, and besides that, the evaluation for these criteria will generate ambiguity. He also s...