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Project Portfolio Management (PPM) describes a methodical approach for analyzing and collectively managing a group of current or proposed projects based on numerous key characteristics. And yes… you’ve heard me say this exact sentence about 2 weeks ago as I introduced the interview with Rick Moreau from Compuware. The reason why I am repeating this sentence here is because you are going to hear from 8 companies who were exhibitors at the Gartner PPM & IT Summit and learn more about 7 PPM Solutions and 1 online project management community.

The original plan was that I would have a short interview with every single one of the solution providers at the exhibition for you. Unfortunately in the end only the following7 solution providers and 1 media company had a representative who found the time to talk to me:

• www.daptiv.com
• www.compuware.com
• www.portfoliodecisionware.com
• www.gantthead.com
• www.myclarity.com
• www.planview.com
• Update: Some companies are no longer in business, so we removed their links above.

The order in which they are listed and in which you will hear these interviews in this episode is completely at random. I got a business card from each of my interview guests, tossed them into a hat and drew them out one by one. And the way they came out of the hat is the order we present them to you.

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I attended the Gartner PPM & IT Governance Summit in Orlando, FL last month. During this time I got a chance to speak with Gartner's Audrey Apfel and learn more about specific findings and recommendations that Gartner has for it's clients.

Unfortunately, I was 25 minutes late to our 30 minute meeting.

However, Audrey was kind enough to get with me over the phone, so that we could still discuss the summit, what she sees as surprising research findings that were presented, her personal thoughts on important Project Management Office (PMO) strategies that organizations should keep in mind and lastly we also look at her recommendations in regards to Project Portfolio Management and Governance that companies with an existing structure and those who are just starting out must know about.

She has some excellent advice for all of us.

If you are interested in learning more about Gartner's services please visit www.gartner.com. Also, the tentative dates for the 2010 PPM & IT Governance Summits are May 2010 in London and June 2010 in Orlando, FL.

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In our first interview with Rick Moreau from Compuware (www.compuware.com) we looked at how to blend Project Portfolio Management (PPM) and agile software development methods for your organization.

One facet of the equation is a solid PPM tool – but as I always like to say “A fool with a tool is still a fool”. So how exactly can we ensure that our PPM tool helps us increase project success? What are the features to look for and use in these applications? And how do we implement it to ensure that our project managers are more than just "fools with tools"?

Well… who better to ask than someone who is at the forefront of PPM tool development? Say someone like Rick Moreau, who is the Field Enablement Director for Compuware's Changepoint PPM solution? In this premium episode rick and I explore this topic in more depth.

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In this episode you will hear a roundtable discussion with Ron Holohan and Shawn Futterer on The Virtual Project Management Office (PMO).

Ron works for a large consumer electronics company and a number of project managers directly report to him. He also created the company’s internal PMO portal. Shawn works for a telecommunications provider and is in charge of one of several large projects and also has other project managers who are reporting to him.

We talk about what we think a virtual PMO is and then I go and I kind of ambush the guys to determine if they have all the necessary components it takes to build a virtual PMO. Oh… and we are also joined by Mark Perry – but only virtually.

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Last week you heard part 1 of Margaret Meloni’s excellent discussion titled “Congratulations, you’re out of work” and part 2 will be coming your way next week.

For this premiium episode, I decided to give Margaret a call and dig a little bit deeper into the subject, with an emphasis on what we project managers can / should do when we get laid off.

You may now be thinking “Hey… I still have a job and I don’t need this” and I would beg to differ. Listen in to what Margaret has to say. She is so incredibly positive about this and even if you have a very secure position, I bet that you know a project manager whose project was recently finished and he/she is out of work. I certainly do and I promise you that I will paraphrase what Margaret says and help my friends deal with their situation.

If you want to hear part 2. visit Episode 114: Congratulations You're Out of Work (Part 2)

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About two weeks ago, Margaret Meloni, PMP sent out an email that was titled “Congratulations You’re Out of Work”. Of course I immediately opened and read it because it was such an odd subject.

This email led to a discussion between us and I quickly realized that what she has to say can be of enormous help to the project management community. After all, not a day goes by on which we don't hear about yet another company that is reducing their staff by several thousand. Some of you may be affected. I decided to bring Margaret back. So here is part one of Margaret Meloni’s discussion on how you can turn being laid off into a positive experience.

Part two will be published in about 2 weeks.

If you want to hear part 2. visit Episode 114: Congratulations You're Out of Work (Part 2)

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This is Part 2 of a presentation by Margaret Meloni.

About a month ago, Margaret Meloni, PMP sent out an email that was titled “Congratulations You’re Out of Work”. Of course I immediately opened and read it because it was such an odd subject.

This email led to a discussion between us and I quickly realized that what she has to say can be of enormous help to the project management community. After all, not a day goes by on which we don't hear about yet another company that is reducing their staff by several thousand. Some of you may be affected. I decided to bring Margaret back. So here is part two of Margaret Meloni’s discussion on how you can turn being laid off into a positive experience.

I encourage you to visit Margaret's website at https://pmstudent.com/ to check out her blog and her take away programs.

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This is the third of four special episode of The PM Podcast where we introduce you to the Manager Tools approach to Project Management. Here is what Mark and Mike have to say about this episode:

In this cast we describe Horstman's Law of Project Management: Who Does What By When.

We've talked and joked about it many times, and this cast will put to rest the details of Horstman's Law of Project Management (HLPM). Mark came up with it several years ago, to help a group of young managers get over their fear of working on fairly complex software development projects. It was actually born over a dinner at Mexican restaurant in Dallas!

The concept is simple: all projects are simply tasks, done by people, within certain time frames. Despite all protestations to the contrary, no matter how complex the project, they all boil down to who is responsible for doing something, what they're responsible for, and when they have to have it done by. Complex tools can be helpful, but only on really large projects (and almost nobody looks at them anyway ;-) ).

Keep it simple with HLPM. Here's how.

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This is the fourth and final special episode of The PM Podcast where we introduce you to the Manager Tools approach to Project Management. Here is what Mark and Mike have to say about this episode:

In this cast we describe Horstman's Law of Project Management: Who Does What By When.

We've talked and joked about it many times, and this cast will put to rest the details of Horstman's Law of Project Management (HLPM). Mark came up with it several years ago, to help a group of young managers get over their fear of working on fairly complex software development projects. It was actually born over a dinner at Mexican restaurant in Dallas!

The concept is simple: all projects are simply tasks, done by people, within certain time frames. Despite all protestations to the contrary, no matter how complex the project, they all boil down to who is responsible for doing something, what they're responsible for, and when they have to have it done by. Complex tools can be helpful, but only on really large projects (and almost nobody looks at them anyway ;-) ).

Keep it simple with HLPM. Here's how.

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This episode is sponsored by:

In today’s episode I am talking with Kristine Hayes Munson, PMP.

Kristine was my first ever interview guest and she has been on the program several times since then. She has come back because of some recent developments on her team: They have had some layoffs and her team lost a number of people. “How do you deal with that?” is the question of the day and many of you may have to go through a similar situation.

You might be leading a project team that loses some of its members or, like Kristine, you might be the manager of a team of project managers and the economy is forcing you to shrink. Kristine and I talk about the approach that she has found effective in helping your team cope with this situation.

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In this week we revisit Episode 34 of the PM Podcast.

That particular episode was released on May 27, 2006 and it was an interview with Kristine Hayes Munson on her methodology of managing projects in an organizational environment where the project team has no formal authority. It was called "Getting It Done". Until today, the episode has been listened to just about 31,000 times and Kristine’s presentation on the topic is nearing 50,000 downloads.

So we thought that it might be a good idea to revisit the process of Getting It Done and see what she has learned. After all, almost 2 years (and not 1 year as I claim during the interview) have passed, Kristine has presented her process to a number of professional organizations in the USA and she has tweaked and perfected it. So here are the Lessons Learned from Getting It Done.

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This is the first of four special episode of The PM Podcast where we introduce you to the Manager Tools approach to Project Management. Here is what Mark and Mike have to say about this episode:

In this cast we describe Horstman's Law of Project Management: Who Does What By When.

We've talked and joked about it many times, and this cast will put to rest the details of Horstman's Law of Project Management (HLPM). Mark came up with it several years ago, to help a group of young managers get over their fear of working on fairly complex software development projects. It was actually born over a dinner at Mexican restaurant in Dallas!

The concept is simple: all projects are simply tasks, done by people, within certain time frames. Despite all protestations to the contrary, no matter how complex the project, they all boil down to who is responsible for doing something, what they're responsible for, and when they have to have it done by. Complex tools can be helpful, but only on really large projects (and almost nobody looks at them anyway ;-) ).

Keep it simple with HLPM. Here's how.

Play Now:

This is the second of four special episode of The PM Podcast where we introduce you to the Manager Tools approach to Project Management. Here is what Mark and Mike have to say about this episode:

In this cast we describe Horstman's Law of Project Management: Who Does What By When.

We've talked and joked about it many times, and this cast will put to rest the details of Horstman's Law of Project Management (HLPM). Mark came up with it several years ago, to help a group of young managers get over their fear of working on fairly complex software development projects. It was actually born over a dinner at Mexican restaurant in Dallas!

The concept is simple: all projects are simply tasks, done by people, within certain time frames. Despite all protestations to the contrary, no matter how complex the project, they all boil down to who is responsible for doing something, what they're responsible for, and when they have to have it done by. Complex tools can be helpful, but only on really large projects (and almost nobody looks at them anyway ;-) ).

Keep it simple with HLPM. Here's how.

Play Now:

This episode is sponsored by:

Kanban is a concept related to lean and just-in-time (JIT) production. The Japanese word kanban is a common everyday term meaning "signboard" or "billboard" and lacks the specialized meaning that this word has acquired in English. According to Taiichi Ohno, the man credited with developing JIT, kanban is a means through which JIT is achieved.

It was out of a need to maintain high level of improvements that the kanban system was devised by Toyota. Kanban became an effective tool to support the running of the production system as a whole. In addition, it proved to be an excellent way for promoting improvements because reducing the number of kanban in circulation highlighted problem areas.

In project management, Kanban can be described as a signaling system to trigger action. We welcome Eric Landes (http://aspadvice.com/blogs/elandes/default.aspx) and we get a wonderful introduction to Kanban. We discuss what Kanban is, what its benefits are, how it overlaps with project management, what you see when walking into a Kanban environment, if it works in an environment where no physical products are produced and we introduce you to a great number of resources.

And in our Gizmo's segment we present The Project Perfect Whitepaper Index. It contains about 100 white papers on project management topics. Sign up for the Project Perfect White Paper Mailing List and you will receive an email whenever a new paper is published. Highly recommended.

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This episode is is a continuation of last week's discussion with Eric Landes on how to use Kanban in Project Management. Last time we looked at the theory of Kanban and today we look at the practice. Specifically we are going to discuss how Eric introduced Kanban in their department at Robert Bosch as a case study.

We’ll start out with the overall goal they had set themselves and then move pretty quickly to the hands on of how it was implemented, how the team received the change, how the customer received the change, the learning curve, the metrics used, improvements as compared to before and Eric will also give you his recommendations of what worked and what didn’t work for them so that you can try implementing Kanban yourself but avoid some of the pitfalls.

And then you are even going to hear a segment of our discussion from AFTER we stopped the official recording.