People and Projects Podcast: Project Management Podcast

What I Taught Today We continue our series of brief videos about something I've recently taught or learned. Earlier today I was interviewed by Laura Barnard about her upcoming PMO Impact Summit . In this 2-minute video, I share a lesson about how to make better choices (and it's only three words--easy to remember!). Let Me Hear From You! What have you been learning lately? What are you reading? Pl...

Taking Responsibility Think back over the last week or so, when something went wrong. Maybe you had a team member or other stakeholder who dropped the ball. They were supposed to deliver and they didn't and now it's impacting your project. Or something didn't go well in a meeting you were running--perhaps there was a problem with the A/V or the video conferencing system. Or something at home. Some...

What I Taught Today We continue our series of brief videos about something I've recently taught or learned. In this 4-minute video, I share a habit that is critical for us all to develop: deciding where to draw the line with our time and attention. Let Me Hear From You! What have you been learning lately? What are you reading? Please e-mail me (show [AT] PeopleAndProjectsPodcast [DOT] com) or leav...

What I Taught Today We continue our series of brief videos about something I've recently taught or learned. In this 4-minute video, I share a reminder about ending well. What endings do you have this week? End them well. In this episode, I mention the interview with Dan Pink, which you can find at https://PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/197 . Let Me Hear From You! What have you been learning lately?...

What I Taught Today We continue our series of brief videos about something I've recently taught or learned. In this 2-minute video, I share a question that I'm talking with executive coaching clients today. Your answer to the question can pinpoint a key area to focus on for your personal and team productivity. Let Me Hear From You! What have you been learning lately? What are you reading? Please e...

What I Taught Today We continue our series of brief videos about something I've recently taught or learned. In this 2-minute video, I share a lesson learned while walking to teach an MBA class on an early Saturday morning in Chicago. It's a lesson you can apply every day. Let Me Hear From You! What have you been learning lately? What are you reading? Please e-mail me (show [AT] PeopleAndProjectsPo...

What I Taught Today We continue our series of short videos talking about an idea or observation that was recently learned or taught. In this episode, I share some thoughts about how to apply an idea from Scrum to your meetings and management practices. Let Me Hear From You! What have you been learning lately? What are you reading? Please e-mail me (show [AT] PeopleAndProjectsPodcast [DOT] com) or...

Your Agile Journey If you spend enough time leading projects, you can't miss the fact that agile approaches continue to gain in popularity. What seemed initially relevant to only software development projects is now increasingly being used outside of software. Whether you're a believer or a skeptic, agile is not a passing fad. It's also not a cure-all. There are plenty of skeletons and shipwrecks...

What I Learned Today We continue our series of short videos talking about an idea or observation that was learned or taught this week. In this episode, I share some thoughts about not missing out on some of the most important learning opportunities. When we're feeling defensive, anxious, or upset, we often miss the fact that this is an enormous learning opportunity! Let Me Hear From You! What have...

What I Taught Today We continue our series of short videos talking about an idea or observation that was recently taught. In this episode, I share some thoughts about one of my favorite ways to coach someone. Let Me Hear From You! What have you been learning lately? What are you reading? Please e-mail me (show [AT] PeopleAndProjectsPodcast [DOT] com) or leave a message on our Listener Feedback Lin...

How To Build an 'A' Team A continual challenge for those of us who lead teams and projects is this: how can we help our team perform at their best? Project demands are only growing and the only way to meet those demands is to have a high-performing team, yet how do you do that? How do you build an 'A' team? Whitney Johnson has some ideas about that and includes them in her new book Build an A Team...

What I Learned This Week We continue our series of short videos talking about an idea or observation that was learned this week. In this episode, I share some thoughts about pluralistic ignorance --a concept that can change how you experience meetings as a participant and as a leader. Click here to watch a video of Daniel Ariely demonstrate the idea in his class at Duke's business school, Let Me H...

Work Smarter, Not Harder? Organizations are constantly trying to find ways to do more with less. How often have you heard someone say that we need to work smarter, not harder? It's a cliché that U.C. Berkeley Management Professor Morten Hansen decided to tackle with rigorous research--what does it mean to work smarter, not harder? The results are now available in Morten's book Great at Work: How T...

What I Learned This Week We continue our series of short videos talking about an idea or observation that was learned this week. I recorded this before hopping on a red eye back to Chicago after a great day of speaking and learning at PMI Mile Hi's Symposium in Denver. I share some lessons from a conversation with a podcast listener as well as from a keynote from Marcus Buckingham. Let Me Hear Fro...

Sustainable Pace There are so many ideas in agile project management that I appreciate, and one of my favorites is the principle of sustainable pace. The idea of sustainable pace is that whatever effort we're putting into our projects, we should be able to sustain it for the long haul. This agile principle acknowledges that our ability to deliver value is harmed when we're not maintaining a sustai...

What I Learned This Week We continue our series of short videos talking about an idea or observation that was learned this week. As we celebrate episode 199, I talk about some lessons based on a New York Times Opinion piece. There's so much to love about convenience. Yet where can convenience creep into our lives as leaders, in a way that actually hinders us? You can read the article at https://ww...

Leadership Lessons I'll bet you recently walked by a beautifully landscaped area—maybe it was someone's home, or on a college or corporate campus. You walked by that beautiful area and perhaps you told yourself, "Wow. That's stunning." But here's something I bet you didn't say to yourself: "Wow. That's stunning! This place must have an amazing program to develop outstanding leaders!" I bring this...

'When To' Instead of Just 'How To' We are faced with all kinds of decisions that require us to figure out what to do . The world is filled with books that tell us How to do things, but here's a thought.... Could it be that When To is just as important--maybe even more important--than How to ? That's the premise of a new book from my guest today, Daniel Pink. Dan joined us back in episode 88 , and...

Learn How to Learn Learning to learn is what experts call the ultimate survival tool , one of the most important talents of the modern era, the skill that precedes all other skills. The idea is that once you know how to learn, you can learn almost anything. And in today's world of constant disruption and automation, if you and I are not learning, it's only a matter of time before our current skill...

The Lost Art of Conversation George Bernard Shaw once said "The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." As leaders of teams and projects, that's a serious problem since so much of our success depends on our ability to communicate effectively with those around us. For all the wonders of technology, one of the unintended consequences is we're getting worse a...

Influencing Skills for Leaders For those of us responsible for leading teams and projects, there are a core set of skills we need to develop. We need to manage our time. Deal with conflict. Develop relationships across the organization. We need to think strategically and learn to deal with change. Oh yeah, and develop confidence as we do all of that! All of these are true. But one area that I see...

Everything Comes Down to Relationships It's the dirty little secret of business. Your career will be boosted or restrained by how well you build and maintain relationships. In this episode, FranklinCovey's Chief People Officer Todd Davis joins us to talk about his new book Get Better: 15 Proven Practices to Build Effective Relationships at Work . It's packed with practical lessons that can help yo...

What Susanne Learned This Week We continue our series of short videos talking about an idea or observation that was learned this week. This week I invite my friend and highly esteemed colleague Susanne Madsen to share lessons from her recent business trip to Italy. Learn more about Susanne at https://www.susannemadsen.co.uk/ Let Me Hear From You! What have you been learning lately? Please e-mail m...

What I Learned This Week We continue our series of short videos talking about an idea or observation that was learned this week. This week I share some thoughts during a bike ride about the tradeoffs between playing it safe by blending in and taking the risk of standing out. Let Me Hear From You! What's your take? Let me know how you've wrestled with the issue of blending in and standing out. What...

What I Learned This Week We continue our series of short videos talking about an idea or observation that was learned this week. This week I share some thoughts from two quotes that I came across this week. Where we focus makes all the difference, and there's a danger if we focus too much on ourselves instead of the customer. The second quote is related to getting support and buy-in. Let Me Hear F...