The Everyday PM: Project Management Principles for Your Everyday Life

Welcome to episode 20 of The Everyday PM Podcast where we discuss focusing on the end goal always and tips for staying on-track throughout the course of your project. Let's face it, staying focused in a world full of distractions is challenging. In our everyday lives, we have that singular goal for the day. Maybe it's optimizing our production to be better than the day before. But what happens thr...

Welcome to episode 19 of The Everyday PM Podcast where we discuss Change Management principles, tool and techniques. Change, whether it is in our personal lives or professional lives, can be daunting. Most people do not like change. Why? Perhaps it is the uncertainty that it carries. That is why it's important for us as project managers to be the champions of change to help expel the worry and anx...

Welcome to episode 18 of The Everyday PM Podcast where I look back at the age old debate of degree versus experience. As the project management industry continues to grow and evolve, as does its' candidate pool. The rigid dichotomy between degree versus experience presents a question mark for everyone competing for project manager roles. Those candidates who are fresh out of college lack the exper...

Welcome to episode 17 of The Everyday PM Podcast where we discuss making the connection between project work and business strategy. Making this connection in our everyday lives starts at a young age. As early as we can start talking, outside of what's your name and can you say your ABCs, we're asked "What do you want to be when you grow up?" And very early on, we are being asked to start thinking...

Welcome to episode 16 of The Everyday PM Podcast where we introduce a new segment called "Retrospective." Retrospective episodes will look back at recent project project management hot topics. For the inaugural retrospective, I am looking back at Citizen Development. What is Citizen Development? Simply put, it's taking non-IT trained employees and training them to become software developers. I fir...

Welcome to episode 15 of The Everyday PM Podcast where we discuss team member personalities and provide tips on how to manage them. A huge part of our role as project managers is to deal with people. In Episode 14, Ryan and I discussed the process of stakeholder management. We continue the conversation in Episode 15 as we walk through various team member personalities as described in an article wr...

Welcome to episode 14 of The Everyday PM Podcast where we discuss stakeholder management and dealing with various personality types. A huge part of our role as project managers is to deal with people. Stakeholders are defined as a person or party with an interest in your project. The process of stakeholder management starts with identifying who has an interest in the project and what their needs a...

Welcome to episode 13 of The Everyday PM Podcast where we debate Agile versus Waterfall methodology. Agile versus Waterfall continues to be widely debated. Many argue that Waterfall is an antiquated methodology, despite it still being the most widely used methodology by traditional organizational environments today. Proponents of Agile believe its advantages far outweigh its disadvantages, making...

Welcome to episode 12 of The Everyday PM Podcast where we discuss the Project Management Professional (PMP) exam from preparation strategies to the exam structure With the continuous growth of the project management industry, it is by no surprise that more and more working professionals are looking to obtain the PMP or Project Management Professional certification to stand out from the crowd. The...

Welcome to episode 11 of The Everyday PM Podcast where we discuss the Top 6 Project Management Trends emerging in 2021 from an article written by Tim Stobierski on July 8, 2020 as published in the Northeastern University Graduate Programs blog. Change is inevitable in every project, let along the entire project management industry. Due to advancements in technology and a growing job scope, the pro...

Welcome to episode 10 of The Everyday PM Podcast where we talk about women in project management. Statistics available from the Project Management Institute (PMI) show that "women currently constitute an estimated 20–30% of the project management staff worldwide." What is causing this imbalance in gender equality across the industry? Christina Olivarria, MSPM, PMP, HACP, LBBP , Project Manager/Com...

Welcome to episode 9 of The Everyday PM Podcast where we talk about lessons learned. Projects can teach many valuable lessons about teams and processes over time. Those insights can then be used to create process change, run more efficient projects, and work better as a project team. Project failures can also say a lot about processes and communication when those failures are analyzed to determine...

Welcome to episode 8 of The Everyday PM Podcast where we talk about risks versus issues and how to manage it. Risk management can proactively safeguard businesses against negative risks today, while taking advantage of positive risks tomorrow. There is much value in cultivating a strong risk culture. However, in order to enhance risk culture, a business needs to establish and grow risk management...

For many of us, adopting a new way of working as a result of global pandemic has presented challenges and welcomed benefits. Brian Summons , Senior Project Manager at CHOC Children's Hospital, and I found commonality in being virtual new hires. In this week's episode, we cover topics spanning from virtually onboarding into a new role, cultivating stakeholder relationships, facilitating and driving...

Change management provides a structured approach for supporting individuals and/or your organization to move from current state to future state. The discipline itself is what guides how we prepare techniques and equip tools to support individuals in successfully adopting change to drive organizational success. What is change management? What tools and techniques can we employ to help champion chan...

Scope creep... It happens. Simply put, scope creep occurs when the scope, deliverables, or features on a project expand from what was originally set—without being accounted for in additional time or budget. How do project managers play a role in scope creep? How can scope creep hurt your projects?  Managing scope creep is an intricate art, as it can have both positive and negative effects on...

Welcome to episode 4 of The Everyday PM Podcast where we talk about gaining confidence to change careers. More often than not, I come across prospective project managers that are looking to pivot from a completely different role. I am also of the majority of project managers that sort of 'fell into' the role, meaning we did not start off professionally looking to achieve project management greatne...

What types of degrees and certifications are available in Project Management? With the PM industry expanding, considering higher education or a certification can help set you apart from the competition. Oscar Arciga and Ann Campea, University of Southern California alumni, discuss the differences between a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification and a Master of Science in Project Manag...

Projects and work environments are becoming increasingly complex due to the pandemic, with teams dispersed virtually and having to find new ways to adapt to this complexity. Project/program managers must shift their mindset to one of project leadership, learning to exhibit soft skills in the virtual environment or even when interviewing for a new job opportunity.  We share our thoughts on how...

The Everyday PM podcast is a conversation amongst industry professionals with varying experiences and perspectives on the topic of project management including advice, insight, and maybe a laugh or two. In the inaugural episode of The Everyday PM podcast, we discuss the challenges of breaking into the project management industry including trends and tips for both newcomers and those looking to tra...