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Today we are not going to look at project management. Instead, we will be looking at bleepers and bloopers because this is the "Out Takes Show". Have you ever wondered how much goes wrong, when we record an episode? The answer is: Too much. To close out the year, here are a few minutes of memorable and not so memorable moments from The Project Management Podcast™ when things went not according to plan. Listen to all the ahhs and umhs that we had to cut out of the regular program and which you were never really meant to hear.

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Download "Service Oriented Project Management" White Paper (*.pdf) by clicking here.

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Ask 10 project managers what they focus on most in their projects to be successful and you will get 10 different answers. Case in point are the 10 final questions that we ask at the end of every interview here on the program. Many of us may focus on communication, schedule, relationships or requirements. Jerry Manas, PMP, President and founder of The Marengo Group, LLC (https://www.manasbooks.com)and one of the minds behind https://www.pmthink.com would like to redirect our focus on the real client value. What does this mean and how does he propose to do that? The answer is Service Oriented Project Management, a PM framework that he developed and which he will be presenting in today's interview on The Project Management Podcast™. Two of our three helpful resources complement this interview by looking at similar PM approaches and the third one is of interest to everyone who would like to delve into PRINCE2. Click on the links below to see the helpful resources.

Helpful Resources for this Episode...

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Download "The Five Diseases of Project Management" (*.PDF) by clicking here.

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Are you struggling to get your projects done on schedule? Are you looking for a better, more profitable way to get things done? Then maybe you should take a look at Critical Chain Project Management. CCPM was developed based on Eliyahu Goldratt's Theory of Constraints and it is the main topic of today's episode of The Project Management Podcast™. We welcome Allan Elder, PMP, of www.nolimitsleadership.com to discuss Critical Chain Project Management. We look at why our projects are late and how the Critical Chain approach will benefit you. Allan can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We also announce the winners of our book giveaway who each have won one copy of Quentin Flemings "Project Procurement Management". PMP® credential holders can claim 1 category 2-SDL PDU for listening to today's episode.

Click here to download Alan's white paper The Five Diseases of Project Management (*.pdf)...

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Download the C17 Single Line PDF Presentation by clicking here.

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Tim Covington, PMP,  was the Project Manager of the Boeing C17 Single Line Project, the largest lean manufacturing project ever attempted on the C17 Program. In today's interview of The Project Management Podcast™ we explore this large project. We discuss the goals and challenges involved, the success factors that enabled Tim and his core team to successfully deliver the project, the awards the project has won and Tim's tips to project managers who are embarking on similarly large projects. And just to break from our usual routine, we asked Tim not 10, but 11 final questions. We also continue our book giveaway of Quentin Fleming's book "Project Procurement Management" and we answer a listener question from our voice mail line.

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Do you have a Project Management Certification? If not, are you considering to take one? Maybe you would like to become a PMP® credential holder, or you are looking at the IPMA range of certifications, or maybe you are even looking into a masters degree in project management. In either case, in today’s discussion with Stacy Goff, president of www.projectexperts.com and vice president of the ASAPM , the American Society for the Advancement of Project Management we will be looking at the difference between a competence based certification and a knowledge based certification, with particular focus on the IPMA certifications offered worldwide. We also have several helpful resources and we are giving away two copies of Quentin Fleming's book "Project Procurement Management".

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In episode 49, The Project Management Podcast™ welcomed Richard Larson, PMP, and Elizabeth Larson, PMP, of Watermark Learning (https://www.watermarklearning.com ) on the topic of Project Without Borders and the issues a PM is faced when gathering requirements on a multicultural project. Today, we welcome Richard and Elizabeth back to discuss some of their best practices of engaging stakeholders in the process of gathering requirements. We will also reveal the winners of our book giveaway.

Most importantly, however, we are announcing the launch of The Project Management PrepCast™, which is a new podcast aimed at helping you, if you are currently studying for  the PMP® Exam. Listen in at www.pm-prepcast.com and prepare for the PMP exam with your iPod!

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The Project Management Podcast™ is pleased to welcome Quentin Fleming (www.quentinf.com [Update: The web page is no longer available so we removed the link]) as our interview guest this week. Mr Fleming is an author, instructor and consultant to management, with over three decades of project management experience within private industry. He has particular expertise in the design of and the assessment of project management control systems and is the co-author of the best-selling book "Earned Value Project Management". We discuss the history and the the basics of earned value management as well as his approach to "Simple" Earned Value which he outlines in an article that he wrote together with Joel Koppelman. The 10 steps, which the authors define are:

• Step 1: You must define the scope (objectives and deliverables) of the project.
• Step 2: You must determine who will perform the defined work, including the identification of all critical procurements.
• Step 3: You must plan and schedule the defined work.
• Step 4: You must estimate the required resources and formally authorize budgets.
• Step 5: You must determine the metrics to convert planned value into earned value.
• Step 6: You must form a performance measurement baseline and determine the points of management control referred to as Control Account Plans (CAPs).
• Step 7: You must record all direct costs by project consistently with the authorized baseline budgets, in accordance with the organization’s general books of accounts.
• Step 8: You must continuously monitor the earned value performance to determine cost and schedule departures from the baseline plan: both schedule variances (earned value less the planned value) and cost variances (earned value less the actual costs).
• Step 9: Using earned value data, you must forecast the final required costs based on actual performance and keep management apprised so they can take corrective actions if necessary.
• Step 10: You must manage the authorized scope by approving or rejecting all changes, and incorporating approved changes into the project baseline in a timely manner.

This is the perfect episode to listen to after our introduction to earned value management, so if you haven't heard that one yet, make sure to add it to your podcast player. 

We also continue our book giveaway of two copies of Bas de Baar's book "Surprise! Now you are a Software Project Manager" and we have an announcement from PM Lessons Learned [Update: The web page is no longer available so we removed the link].

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About a year ago I was asked to take over a troubled project in our company. From one moment to the next, I went from using project management software and being the project manager in charge of organizational change projects to being a PM for a software development project. While I had been working as a PM on website development before, dealing with software development in a controlled environment is a different beast. The dynamics were and are completely different. And what is it like to manage software projects? “Surprise! Now you’re a software project manager” is the title of the book written by Bas de Baar (https://softwareprojects.org).

Of course, we will not be discussing his book as such but that there is a big difference between a SW development methodology and project management in software development where the PM methodology is used to manage technical projects. Today is also the day that we announce the winners of our book giveaway, we start a new book giveaway, we have a listener comment, a seminar announcement and a few more helpful resources that were recommended by our listeners.

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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.

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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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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 (https://www.watermarklearning.com/) what interpersonal skills, approaches and tools you as a project manager can utilize to address these issues.

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In this week's episode The Project Management Podcast™ welcomes Thushara Wijewardena, PMP (https://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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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)