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Show notes: As a project manager you will face conflict in your projects. Period. In today's episode of The Project Management Podcast we take a look at the fundamentals of conflict resolution and we feature an interview with Anthony Chan, PMP, who is talking to us about the conflict situations he had to face in his career, how he solved them and what his lessons learned are. These lessons learned and his key findings to resolving conflicts are available as a PDF document. Like every week, we have several great helpful resources and we announce the winners of our book giveaway.

And the winners of our giveaway of two copies of Jerry Manas's new book Napoleon on Project Management (Amazon Link) are: Mariusz Matrejek from Poland and Eric Vale from Brazil. Congratulations!

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If you look up the Triple Constraints in project management methodology books, you will find that they don't agree on just three, but that they list cost, schedule, quality and scope. In today's episode, we don't look at these from a purely theoretical point of view, but from the point of view of how you as a project manager can use the Triple Constraints to manage your customer's expectations. Like every week we have several great resources for you and our tip of the week tells you what you are supposed to do with your PM methodology book.

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The Project Management Podcast now has a phone number where you can leave your feedback that will be played on the show: +1 206 339 6520. The phone number is also listed under "Contact Us" on the left hand side on the blog.

The PMI's Consulting SIG is today's main topic. A SIG is a Specific Interest Group, which brings together project managers from all over the world who share a common interest. The PMI currently has about 30 SIGs. We interview the chair of the Consulting SIG, Frank Parth, PMP (President of Project Auditors). We discuss what the SIG does, how it overcomes the obstacle of having a worldwide membership and what benefits you receive in becoming a member of the Consulting SIG. In our weekly segments we look at four great helpful resources and the Tip of the Week was sent in by Sai Prasad, PMP, from Chennai in India.

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Allright... you are a Project Manager. What now? In today's episode of The Project Management Podcast™ we look at how you can increase your value as a PM. And that of course translates into training, followed by a recognized PM certification. But which certification? We are giving you an overview of the most common and some not so known PM certificates and training opportunities from around the world with a particular focus on the PMI’s brand new Program Manager Certification. We also have a new giveaway contest and you can win a copy of the professional services automation software allocPSA (www.allocpsa.org)

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If you have ever worked in a PMO you know that it can be a lonely job because you are the only one in your company doing exactly what you are doing. You also know that working for or running a PMO is a very challenging task. You need to develop strategies and processes for your company that work and you have to get the buy in from all your stakeholders. It can be difficult to say the least. Joining the PMI's PMO SIG is not only a great way of improving your own skills in regards to PMOs but also opens the doors to thousands of PMO managers around the world to you. We explore what the PMO SIG can do for you with our interview guest Derry Simmel, the PMO SIG's Vice Chair of  Membership. We also continue our software giveaway for 10 copies of the professional services automation software allocPSA ( www.allocpsa.org)

(Read Thushara Wijerwardena's comment about the announcement we made in this episode about Sri Lankan blogs... )

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In this week's episode The Project Management Podcast™ welcomes David L. Davis, PMP to discuss Project Portfolio Management Tools. We define what portfolio management is, we look at ease of implementation of modern tools and their benefits, at what company size these tools make sense, best practices for implementation and more. Part 2 of the interview will be available next week. We also announce the winners of the software giveaway for the professional services automation software allocPSA (www.allocpsa.org)

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This week The Project Management Podcast™ continues our discussion with David L. Davis, PMP on Project Portfolio Management Tools. We look at Dave's blog , his passion for project portfolio management, some great implementations he has seen and we discuss Dave's predictions for the future of PPM. We end the interview (of course) with our standard 10 questions. A special welcome goes to all our new listeners who found us through the recent article in PM Network Magazine.

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What's better - Agile or Plan Driven Methodologies? If you look around and read articles in magazines or on websites the answer almost seems like a religion. This week The Project Management Podcast™ discusses the question of the "correct" approach with Craig D. Wilson, IT Management Consultant. His conclusion will surprise you! A special welcome goes to all our new listeners who found us either through the recent article in PM Network Magazine or our sponsorship of the August PMNetwork Newsletter . Welcome and keep on listening.

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Project Management is not just different from project to project or company to company but also from country to country. Kay Beewen (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) has worked as a PM in France, Germany, Japan and the USA. We discuss his experience in general, talk about cultural differences, where to put your focus as a PM in Japan and his advice to foreign PMs working in Japan. While the interview only represents one PM's experience working in a different culture, it will nevertheless give you a glimpse into what hurdles and culture shock you will have to overcome if you leave your own culture and begin working in another. And those lessons learned are valuable whether you are a German PM going to Japan or a Japanese PM going to Namibia. In our Helpful Resources segment  we start looking at the upcoming launch of The Project Management PrepCast™ by introducing you to three websites that offer free PMP exam preparation information.

In the interview we refer to this drawing Kai created as an analogy of how projects move in the western world vs. his experience in Japan (click to enlarge):

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A project management methodology can be defined as "A documented process for management of projects that contains procedures, definitions and roles and responsibilities". But what do you do, if your company has small projects, medium sized projects and large projects? Do you need three separate methdologies? Our interview guest Tom Mochal, president of www.tenstep.com answered this question several years ago, when he developed the scalable TenStep methodology. We discuss the value of PM in general, the results that companies should expect when implementing a project management methodology and of course the benefits and characteristics of scalable PM methodologies. Our weekly Helpful Resources complement this interview by offering links to various methodology related sites.

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This week The Project Management Podcast™ continues the discussion on Scalable Project Management Methodologies with our interview guest Tom Mochal, president of www.tenstep.com. We look at the TenStep line of products, look into the future of project management methodologies and Tom gives us his in-depth answer to our "Final 10" questions. Our weekly Helpful Resources will introduce you to two brand-new project management podcasts that are freely available.

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In this week's episode The Project Management Podcast™ welcomes Thushara Wijewardena, PMP (http://projectized.blogspot.com) who is the general manager of a PMO in a software development outsourcing company in Sri Lanka. We discuss the challenges that she faced in initially setting it up and how she addresses today's needs of her worldwide clientele who require her to utilize multiple project management methodologies concurrently throughout the company. We complement the interview with a look at 3 helpful resources that will make your project management office shine. You will also hear listener feedback from our feedback phone at +1 206 339 6520 and we answer a listener question about the required 35 contact hours needed to apply for the PMP® exam.

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One of the most difficult tasks project managers and business analysts face is obtaining customer requirements. Even when business customers and the business analyst work in the same building, misunderstandings are bound to arise. It’s a challenge to ask the right questions, get the right people involved, and document unambiguous requirements, regardless of the backgrounds of those participating. When the project includes multi-cultural stakeholders, particularly if they comprise a virtual team working in geographically dispersed areas, the job becomes much harder. On this week's episode of The Project Management Podcast™ we hear from Richard Larson, PMP, and Elizabeth Larson, PMP, of Watermark Learning (http://www.watermarklearning.com/) what interpersonal skills, approaches and tools you as a project manager can utilize to address these issues.

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Happy Birthday Project Management Podcast™! Today we are publishing our 50th episode and are also celebrating one year on the air. To celebrate, we invited former PMI president and chairman of the board Max Wideman. Mr Wideman has been in the business for quite some time. He has been involved in a lot of projects, from big ones running many years to little ones lasting only days; in many different types from heavy engineering to building construction, to social and environmental impact studies, to information systems and software. The Project Management Podcast™ first recommended Mr Wideman's website www.maxwideman.com back in episode 7 as one of the leading project management reference websites today. We welcome Mr Wideman to discuss the topic "Project management basics typically overlooked". You will also hear Helpful Resources that are recommended by listeners, a  congratulatory voicemail from the Controlling Chaos Podcast and we are giving away two copies of the book Introduction to IT Project Management by Cynthia Snyder, PMP, and Frank Parth, PMP.

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In today’s episode of The Project Management Podcast™ we continue our look at international and intercultural project management. In episode 48, we heard about the issues that the manager of a PMO in Sri Lanka was faced with in regards to all the customer requests she received. But what about the other end? What about the customer? What issues does a customer face who has chosen to augment their staff through off shoring? This is the discussion that I had with Eric Smith and I have to admit, that I was genuinely surprised by what I found. We also continue our book give away of two copies of the book "Introduction to IT Project Management" by Cynthia Snyder, PMP, and Frank Parth, PMP, and we share a number of helpful resources that were recommended by listeners.