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In this episode we welcome Terry Doerscher, who is Planview's Chief Process Architect and we discuss the PMO 2.0 Survey Report that was released earlier this year. The survey was sent out in September of 2008 and it contains 455 responses from a diverse group of companies. It was a rather large survey that required a lot of patience from the respondents.

Questions in the survey focused on PMO performance, operational challenges, organizational challenges, and the organization's future plans. The most surprising result that Terry found was that the PMO had increased the scope of the service within the companies. It is no longer just a Project Management Office, but that they are now reaching out to broader involvement of resource and operations management throughout the complete organization.

In our last episode we announced the giveaway of 2 PM Lectures Leadership Challenges of Complex Projects. And the winners are: Joseph Horowitz (Premium Podcast Subscriber) and Mohammed Amin (Free Podcast Listener). Congratulations!

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In our last episode we heard Terry Doerscher discuss the results of the Planview PMO 2.0 Survey Report.

So I decided this week to follow up with Terry. We discuss what PMO 2.0 means to him, where PMOs bring the biggest benefit to a company, whether they should be centralized or decentralized and we discuss the 8 functions which he says are the primary functions that a PMO should support: gathering Information, managing demand, perform analysis, coordinate collaborations, identify issues, manage capacity, provide processes & tools and deliver internal consulting.

Oh… and we also discuss PMO 1.0 and PMO 3.0

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Many aspects of culture are invisible, yet culture has an enormous impact on our projects. If ignored, these aspects can lead to misunderstanding, stress and conflict. Alternatively, if attention is given to the invisible aspects, it can enhance productivity, improve project teamwork and create more joy on the job.

Dealing with cross cultural issues on a multi-national projects can be like trying to control an invisible elephant. The issues are real and crucial as we journey into the new era of increasing globalization.

That is why I am very happy to welcome Tom Verghese (www.culturalsynergies.com) on The Project Management Podcast. Tom is the author of the book The Invisible Elephant - Exploring Cultural Awareness. We are going to discuss, what culture is, how cultural awareness and cultural intelligence will help you to better deal with your project teams, and Tom will give you some very specific tips on how to increase cultural synergies on your projects.

In this episode we are giving away 2 copies of his book, 1 copy of his CD "Raising your cultural IQ" as well as 2 copies of his CD/DVD "Sourcing Across Cultures". Listen in to learn how to participate.

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In our last episode we met Tom Verghese (www.culturalsynergies.com) and we discussed Cultural Awareness as well as his book The Invisible Elephant - Exploring Cultural Awareness. We continue this discussion today with a look at the back of Tom’s book where we find The Cultural Mirror. An absolutely fabulous tool to visually display cultural differences between people and cultural groups.

We talk about how to use it on your project, how to interpret it’s results and translate them onto your project, and the importance of understanding your corporate culture for your project.

We continue to give away 2 copies of his book, 1 copy of his CD "Raising your cultural IQ" as well as 2 copies of his CD/DVD "Sourcing Across Cultures". Listen to last week's episode to learn how to participate.

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Have you ever seen Microsoft SharePoint? And after you saw it, did you feel like this was a tool that you’d like to use in order to manage your projects? If the answer is no then you are like most companies who don’t understand MS SharePoint’s power and use it simply to share documents or spreadsheets. That is where the book “SharePoint for Project Management” comes into play. It demonstrates how SharePoint can also help you organize and manage complex projects.

In today’s episode we welcome Dux Raymond Sy, who is the author of SharePoint for Project Management. It turned out that in the interview we talked less about the book and more about the fact that the most important factor of solid project management are the processes that need to be in place first and that the book & SharePoint are just tools to help you eliminate waste.

We also talk to Jennifer Girdish who is the content editor of our Gizmo: PM Boulevard [Update: the template website is no longer available, so we removed the link] .

We are giving away two copies of Dux's book SharePoint for Project Management - listen in to hear how to participate.

And the winners of our last promotional giveaway are:

• Tom Verghese's Book The Invisible Elephant: Fernando Lenga from Buenos Aires, Argentina and Robert Bessette (Premium Subscriber)
• Tom Verghese's CD Raising Your Cultural IQ: Otba Alsboul, from Ryad in the UAE
• Tom Verghese's recording Sourcing Across Cultures: CD: Sayyed Saheer, Tumba Sweden & DVD Amane Nakayama (Premium Subscriber)

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Companies and project managers have believed for years that their only responsibility was mainly a financial one – maximizing value for shareholders and finish your projects on time and on budget. Sustainability is a new idea, where the corporate sector incorporates social and environmental concerns in its strategies and plays a more responsible role in the world.

But why should project managers care about it?

Our guest today is Jennifer Russell, PMP (www.mastodonconsulting.com) who argues that with some effort and foresight, sustainability can be integrated seamlessly in the goals of almost all projects and organizations. Furthermore, it is not necessarily the chief executives who must always initiate and implement sustainability. Project managers have the ability to introduce sustainability in their work and promote social good within the firm. If properly understood and executed, sustainability is a win–win strategy that benefits the project, the company, as well as society.

In our Gizmo's section we talk to Kay Wais who is the creator of the Project Risk Board Game, a fun way to get your mind in shape for project risk management. We are giving away to copies of the game - listen in to hear how to participate.

And the winners of two copies of Dux Raymond Sy's book SharePoint for Project Management are:

• Glenn Rogers, Ontario, Canada (Premium Listener)
• Eliseo Pita, A Coruna, Spain (Free Listener)

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The number of social media websites is sheer overwhelming. There are Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, Myspace, Skype, Google Chat, Plurk, Bebo, Xing, Hi5, Orkut, Pownce and LinkedIn. And these are just the more popular ones. But why should you as a project manager care about this?

Bas de Baar (http://blog.softwareprojects.org/) thinks you should. Bas argues that social media will help you personally by growing your visibility within the worldwide community of project managers and he also argues that social media helps your worldwide, virtual project team to grow together faster and deliver better projects.

As we were recording the interview we requested live questions from our Twitter followers. Three of them responded in time and the questions from @CobPEZ, @CoachM and @jgodfrey were answered right there and then. It's the start of integrating social media into The PM Podcast as well.

Bas also offers a free video blog at http://blog.softwareprojects.org/category/video-chat [Update: The web page is no longer available so we removed the link].

This Premium episode is available to all listeners. Enjoy!

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Last week's discussion with Bas de Baar on "Everything a Project Manager should know about Social Media" largely focused on how you as a project manager can use social media for career growth. We also touched upon how social media can be used in your projects.

In this Premium Episode we welcome Elizabeth Harrin (Author of Project Management in the Real World) to look more in depth into how a project manager can use Project Management 2.0 and Social Media on your projects. We discuss if and how we should use these tools, how confidentiality plays into this, how the increasing availability of easy to use online project management tools will turn the "technical" project management skills into a commodity and we touch upon the presentations that Elizabeth gave at the BPUG and APM on these topics.

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Are you working in a Project Management Office (PMO) or are you currently trying to set one up? Wouldn’t it be great if you could read the lessons learned files of over 20 PMO executives and subject matter experts and learn from their experience? We can help you.

In today’s episode we welcome Mark Perry (www.botinternational.com) who is the author of the book “Business Driven PMO Setup”. In this book, Mark merges his personal experience of working with over hundred PMOs with the knowledge of over 20 PMO experts from around the world. The book challenges various traditional approaches and strategies for the PMO and will show you how to implement a PMO using an extensively proven roadmap that is adaptable to any type or size organization.

And yes… you can of course win one of Mark's books - please listen in to learn how to participate.

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"With the exception of some in the vendor community who have a biased perspective toward their products and some in the community of pundits who simply have an outdated perspective, most contemporarry information technology and Project Management Office (PMO) executives think in terms of architecture, not tools. Tools and applications are important, because they provide individuals and departments with rich feature sets and database-driven capabilities, but it is the architecture that provides integrated information management to the enterprise."

These are Mark Perry's opening words when he discusses the architecture based approach of setting up a PMO in his book “Business Driven PMO Setup”. In this second interview Mark and I delve into this chapter of his book and look at the available tools, analyze architecture approaches and most importantly we talk about the components of a solid PMO architecture.

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Would you like to be twice as productive on your projects and still leave the office early? Peter Taylor, PMP (www.thelazyprojectmanager.com) has a suggestion for you: Become a "lazy" project manager. Peter is well-known on social media for project managers for his fun presentation style and knowledge of the industry. In his book The Lazy Project Manager he reveals how adopting a more focused approach to life, projects and work can make you twice as productive.

In today's interview we talk about productive laziness and how you can apply Peter's simple techniques and approaches in your own projects. We look at how to manage them from a 'Productive Lazy' point of view. Peter is not by nature, a lazy person and neither is our show host Cornelius Fichtner, but both of them have many other things to do in life, beyond the projects and podcasts that they manage.

Therefore, Peter's approach helps to balance life, projects and work. And of course, if you are involved in project manager coaching and mentoring for your team, you can pass on the tips to your colleagues.

Agile teams are by their nature set up to be productive and track work, but if you have the role of project manager in SAFe agile or, indeed any other agile environment, you will still find this interview eye-opening. I certainly did!

And as always when we speak to a published author you get a chance to win a copy of Peter's book. Listen in to participate and you may find The Lazy Project Manager in your mailbag.

The winners of our last contest where you could win a copy of Mark Perry's book "Business Driven PMO Setup" are:

• Anthony Warrix
• Stanley Kolodziej

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What do we project managers spend about 70% of our time on? That's right... communications.

So how would you like it, if you could be "lazy" on your projects about 70% of the time? Enter Peter Taylor, PMP (www.thelazyprojectmanager.com) whose book The Lazy Project Manager has some great advice on how to be "lazy" in your communications. Get the most out of your productive laziness and learn the top tips from Peter on how get the most out of your communications and still leave the office early.

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In this episode of our program I am welcoming back Ron Holohan, PMP and Shawn Futterer, PMP to a roundtable discussion on the 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 begin our roundtable with Ron’s definition of what a PMO is, compare how this fits with all our understanding and then we discuss various aspects, tips & tricks from our PMOs.

The winners of two copies of Peter Taylor's book The Lazy Project Manager are:

• Marcos Diclei Barros – Toronto, Canada
• Shannon Vettes – Premium Subscriber

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This is just a quick note to let you know that Episode 106 will be a few days late. I am going on a business trip to Paso Robles, CA, so I won't be able to publish the new episode on the 11th. Instead it will be released on the 14th.

But the good news is that because of this we are extending the deadline for the promotional giveaway of  the PM Lectures "Dealing with Difficult People " until Monday 13th. All you have to do to participate is to go to https://www.pducast.com and sign up to the newsletter. Use the sign up for that you see in the left hand navigation. The prize is worth $60 and 2 PDUs. And just for participating in the contest you will receive a 10% discount coupon.

Oh and we also have a new sponsor, so I want to say thank you to Boeing for supporting us!

Until next time!
Cornelius Fichtner, PMP

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Having a solid project management methodology that everyone in your organization follows is one of the most basic building blocks that any company needs. Jason Westland (www.mpmm.com) is joining us on the program today to discuss how to first select and then implement a project management methodology that fits your company needs and also your corporate culture. Jason will introduce you to a simple 5-step process that will guide your project management methodology implementation from start to finish. And because Jason has such a vast project management experience we also wanted to know from him why it is, that so many methodology implementations fail and give us his recommendations on what can be done about it.

We also announce the lucky listener who wins 1 professional edition of Insight Tree.