The Project Management Podcast

Listen Now: {audio}http://traffic.libsyn.com/pmpodcast/PM_Podcast_216_2012_06_29_-_Consumer_Goods.mp3{/audio} This episode is sponsored by The PMP Exam Simulator: In 2001, seventeen software developers met at a ski resort in Snowbird, Utah. They all faced the same problem: the need for an alternative to the slow moving, waterfall approach to improve their software development projects and the “agile” model for software development was born. So, how does this innovation apply to new product development in the consumer goods industry? The benefits of the agile software development process - increased speed-to-market, reduced costs, enhanced focus, and minimized wasted time in development - apply to any development organization, whether the end result is a consumer product or software application. These gains are especially important in today’s economic climate where development budgets are constrained, competition is fierce, and expectations from both senior leaders and consumers have greatly increased. To explore how to best do this I invited Matt Priest (www.kalypso.com) onto the program and give us his insights on the topic. He’ll not only answer all my questions but also introduce us to the three simple Agile principles that we should be using when developing new consumer goods, which are: engage the consumer early collaborate iteratively throughout the development process institute a closed-loop learning process   {loadposition content_adsense468}

Click to download the video: {youtube}R0fjBYB7Vsk|640|360|0{/youtube} Josh Nankivel writes about this: My family and I had a fantastic time earlier this month at the Walk for Autism Speaks Event! And thanks to the sponsorship of pmStudent readers like you, we raised $12,211 for Autism research. In this video I thank you for your sponsorship and tell you a bit about what you did, share some pictures and details from the event, and talk a little about the online self-paced project management training I offer for you online. I hope all of my 455+ new students get a ton of value out of your courses, and give me some feedback about how the training impacts your career in project management. Episode 215 Transcript: Josh Nankivel: Hey, This is Josh from www.pmstudent.com recording this video to say Thank You to everyone who sponsored me for the Autism Speaks walk. If you don’t know, I did a little thing where I offered to give away free courses at www.learn.pmstudent.com for anybody who wanted to sponsor me and support me in the Walk Now for Autism Speaks for South Dakota which is where I live. And the response was overwhelming. I am very, very happy. I think my initial goal that I set was $1,000 or something like that. I wasn’t really sure what kind of response I was going to get. But I was extremely pleased not only through my website at PM Student but a lot of you probably found out about the offer through my friend, Cornelius Fichtner, who does The PM Podcast and The PM PrepCast. He was really awesome and sent out notification to his subscribers about the event and the sponsorship. Again, I just wanted to say Thank You. We end up raising $12,211 which is fantastic. That was actually the highest amount raised by any individual at least for South Dakota. So again, thank you very much. I got props at the walk and everything. They made me stand up and called my name and got a standing ovation and everything. So that was pretty cool. But you know, the most important thing is that we raised a whole bunch of money for really a great cause and so I am just really overjoyed about it and wanted to thank you for that. And if you didn’t miss out on that…I think I’ll probably do it again. It was so much fun. It was a lot of work getting everybody set up for the courses and stuff because normally, when you pay for a course, that’s an automated process. I might put a lot of work in the backend to make that an automated process. But I have to do all of these individually so there was a lot of spent many hours. I have to hire somebody to do that for me next time I think. But if you didn’t miss out and you didn’t get in on, go over to www.learn.pmstudent.com. The courses that I have are meant to be different than most project management training that you’re going to see. I don’t do PowerPoint slides. I do go through concepts but I share a lot of stories to illustrate those concepts. And a lot of the courses are actually just me sharing my screen and going through whatever it is I’m teaching you to do, I’m actually doing it. So in the project management plan course, I start with the blank Word document and I create an outline right in front of you and talk through to it all the different pieces and we actually go through and create a project management plan together in about I think that’s like a 7 or a 6-hour course, I think it is. So over the course of 6 hours, you see me create a project management plan from scratch and go through all of the concepts and thinking behind how do I do a project management plan. I think it’s really valuable and it’s really inexpensive too. If it’s something that you’re interested in, go to www.learn.pmstudent.com and check it out. And look to maybe, I don’t want to do this too often, but maybe a year from now or something like that, I’ll go ahead and do another sponsorship event like this. I’m also pretty active in things like the Special Olympics. I do a lot of disability advocacy-type work too. It may not be Auti

Click to download the video: {youtube}-ERuUYI44nA|640|360|0{/youtube} http://www.pducast.com The PDU Podcast is the easiest and most convenient way for certified Project Management Professionals (PMP) to earn their Professional Development Units (PDU): Download and watch the webinars - Earn PDUs - Repeat. The PDU Podcast: Earning PDUs Made Easy Transcript: Cornelius Fichtner: Hello! I am Cornelius Fichtner, PMP and I have a mission: I want to make earning PDUs as easy, simple and straightforward for you as possible. And in order to achieve this mission, I have created The PDU Podcast™. The PDU Podcast™ is a series of video webinars that you download to your portable player like a smart phone or a tablet PC and then you watch them whenever and wherever you want. For example, you can watch them in the gym, while you are walking the dog, doing your household chores, or while you are relaxing at the beach. But the best thing about these webinars is that each of them will earn you at least 1 Category‑A PDU which are the PMI pre-approved PDUs. So when it comes to maintaining your PMP certification, then The PDU Podcast™ is the zen of earning your PDUs. It’s as easy as download and watch the webinars, earn PDUs and repeat. With The PDU Podcast™, you are on auto-pilot to your PMP or PgMP recertification. So stop by at www.pducast.com. That’s p-d-u-c-a-s-t.com and then simplify the way you earn your PDUs. Until next time.

Listen Now: {audio}http://traffic.libsyn.com/pmpodcast/FREE_PM_PrepCast_Inter_06_Kevin_Reilly.mp3{/audio} In this episode of The PM Podcast we bring you a brand new interview that I did with Kevin Reilly, PMP for our sister podcast The PM PrepCast. Kevin and I discuss how he prepared and studied for the PMP Exam. We learn about his experience of becoming a PMP as well as his study plan and approach. At the end Kevin also shares his inspiring closing remarks with us. For more information, please visit http://www.project-management-prepcast.com

Listen Now: {audio}http://traffic.libsyn.com/pmpodcast/PM_Podcast_215_2012_05_31_-_Autism.mp3{/audio} Today, we are going to do something that we have never done in the history of The PM Podcast. This episode serves only one single purpose: We want to help you win a free project management course. To participate in the giveaway, please send an email to info@pm-podcast.com before June 09, 2012. And by doing this we are also sponsoring Josh Nankivel from PM Student in his quest to raise awareness for a good cause. So... would you like to win a free course and learn something new about Project Management... Yes? Well then... listen to this episode. If you want to sponsor Josh as well, please go to http://pmstudent.com/autism

Listen Now: {audio}http://traffic.libsyn.com/pmpodcast/PM_Podcast_213_2012_05_18_-_PM_Potential.mp3{/audio} This episode is sponsored by The PMP Exam Simulator: Would you like to become the best project manager possible? Yes? Did you know that it takes just six steps to reach your Project Management and leadership goals! All you need is to follow the advice that Susanne Madsen (http://www.susannemadsen.co.uk) outlines in her book The Project Management Coaching Workbook: Six Steps to Unleashing Your Potential. The advice she gives is based on her experience as a coach and mentor. Susanne Madsen offers a method designed to help you understand and articulate what you want to achieve—and then assists you in achieving those goals, like: Effectively managing a demanding workload Leading and motivating a team Building effective relationships with senior stakeholders Managing risks, issues, and changes to scope Delegating effectively And in our discussion today, we are going to start you off on this journey by looking at four areas to consider: We have to begin with the end in mind (both for your career as well as on any project you manage), we look at the difference between leadership and management (with a strong focus on people rather than tasks), the importance of effective time management and delegation, and how to stay motivated to progress personally and professionally on such a journey by taking action and not procrastinating. {loadposition content_adsense468}

Listen Now: {audio}http://traffic.libsyn.com/pmpodcast/PM_Podcast_211_2012_04_27_-_PM_for_non_PMs.mp3{/audio} This episode is sponsored by The PDU Podcast: The projects that you and I manage are crucial to implement change within our organizations. To succeed, we routinely depend on the functional managers - the person who runs the department or division, who resolves day-to-day operational issues, and who is responsible for ensuring that the project team has the resources it needs and keeps its goals aligned with the company’s overall strategy and vision. Unfortunately, there are only few functional managers who speak our language or even have firm grasp on the most fundamental of project processes. Too often, this knowledge gap leads to poor communications, conflict, schedule delays, cost overruns and lost business opportunity. And who gets the blame? Yup... we do. To help bridge this gap we are interviewing Jack Ferraro, PMP (www.myprojectadvisor.com) who wrote the book “Project Management for Non-Project Managers”. We discuss the many ways in which functional managers can get involved in project success and we also discuss the four key project management skills that any functional manager needs: Articulating the real customer need and business case Staying focused on project deliverables Understanding your key dependencies Being proactive about project risk. {loadposition content_adsense468}