Play Now:

Show notes: Our main focus today is on Soft Skills. What they are, how they will help you become a better PM and how to improve your own set of soft skills. Two resources I mention for soft skills are Monster.com's soft skill "Quiz" and a whitepaper titled Accommodating Soft Skills in Software Project Management. Find them in the Helpful Resources below. A special hello and congratulations goes to my friend Thomas Schmidt in Germany who passed his PMP exam last week.

Project Management in the News
- UC Irvine Extension's Advanced Project Management Simulation Course
- Business consultant Wirick pens book on project management
- Project In A Box Launch P2abc The First Prince2 Styled Method For Smaller Projects
- When do you think PMI will reach 250,000 members?
- CIO'S expect to hire Project Managers in 2006
- Global PM Forum Reports now available

Episode Transcript

Below are the first few pages of a computer-generated transcript with all its computer-generated quirks.

Cornelius Fichtner (00:11):

You are listening to the project management podcast. We bring project management topics to beginners and experts. Find us on the web at pmpodcast.blogspot.com or send your emails to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Hello, and welcome to show number 18. I am Cornelius Fichtner. Now this is the project management podcast for the 4th of February, 2006. And today I'll be getting soft on you because the main segment of the show is about soft skills in my announcements. Let me start out with iTunes to be precise, the iTunes review section and my thanks. Go to OC Rob D for writing a great review about the project management podcast and giving me four out of five stars in the iTunes podcast directory. Thank you very much. If any of you listeners out there would also like to write a quick review and give me your rating on the show. Um, go to the music store and iTunes, find my podcast and click on the right review link, which you can see on the right hand side.

Cornelius Fichtner (01:26):

I have again received some wonderful listener feedback this time from Anthony Blore out of Manchester. And he thanks me for my great podcast here. And every email I get with constructive criticism and constructive feedback like Ks is encouraging me to continue the show. So please keep your emails coming. I really enjoy them well about sponsorship again here, does your company have a project management tool or maybe a project management book, project management seminar to promote well then why not become a sponsor of the project management podcast? Being a sponsor of the show will immediately get your message into the ears of thousands of project managers worldwide at a cost, which is definitely lower than what you would pay for an ad in a trade magazine. Simply write to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and I'll be happy to discuss a sponsorship with you. And finally, I wanted to send congratulations to my friend Thomas Schmidt in Germany, who recently passed his PMP certification. So you got to that's your own Thomas. Alright, and now let us move on to the two segments, helpful resources and project management in the news.

Cornelius Fichtner (03:06):

I have four resources for you today. The first one is from Sabrina Mancini Johnson. If you recall, she was my interview guest last week on the show, and this one is straight from her website and it's a two page PDF document titled the top 10 characteristics of a successful project manager and a, well, this is, this is quite a good document. If you need to tell people what it is that you're actually doing, or if HR and your company is looking for project managers, if your boss's boss's boss is telling you, what does a project manager do? I mean, take out this document and give it to them because it gives kind of the great overview of, of what it is that we project managers really do. I mean, it's not the Gantt charts and making sure that deadlines are met. It, it it's inspiration have a shared vision.

Cornelius Fichtner (04:10):

It's a good communicator. You need integrity, empathy, competence, team building skills. All of these items are very neatly explained here on these two pages from Sabrina. The second helpful resource I have for you or I have for myself actually this week around is a document from project. Perfect. It's a part one of two. Unfortunately it's only part one at the moment and it's called developing a test strategy. One of my projects has recently just gone into the testing phase or will a in a couple of days actually, and this would have been great if I had had this a about three weeks ago. And of course I would need both the part Walnut part two. This has been written by Neville turbot from project. Perfect. I think we've, uh, I've mentioned him three or four times already here. So he's, he's producing rather good content.

Cornelius Fichtner (05:07):

And this is a humongously long document on how to develop a test strategy. This is good. If you have time on your project, if you can really focus on creating a test strategy, how you want to test things, who's going to test things, what environments you're going to test this on, what the test scripts are going to be, what are you going to do for retesting, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So this is a excellent template. If you wish for anybody who needs to develop a test strategy. In my case, I looked at it and I thought, wow, would have been great. If, if the previous project manager on my project here had, had used this and had created something useful like that, in my case, my test strategy is about five sentences and a and a table in length. So yeah, I wish I wish I had had this a few weeks ago.

Cornelius Fichtner (05:59):

The third helpful Reese's the resource I have for you is it's from comp T I a and it's titled the comp T I a project plus glossary of project management terms. This is a 16 page document, which contains well, yeah, a glossary of project management terms. For instance, what is performance reporting? Just picking one here, reporting to the stakeholders, to provide information about the project status, progress, accomplishments, and future project performance predictions. Lots of PS here. Well, this document is a good alternative resource for, shall we say to PMBOK, it's not an exhaustive as the glossary of terms in the PMBOK. The PMBOK is 44 pages in total focusing of course, on PMBOK terms. I assume Prince 2 has, has a similar glossary, but what I found is that these 16 pages here, the language is less complicated. You actually understand what they're talking about.

Cornelius Fichtner (07:08):

It's easier to comprehend. So my, my idea here is if you're looking for an explanation of a term, yes, use the PMBOK, use the Prince 2 glossary. Also use the white man's comparative glossary. If you remember max wideman.com , I really raved about his website and he also has a, has a glossary there. So use these glossaries that are out there and also use this comp Tia project management glossary in order to figure out what are these terms. If you have to explain it to somebody, the PMBOK Prince 2, they are more focused on the technical aspects. And this one here is, is, is simple, easy language. The fourth and final helpful resource I have for you today is something for beginners. It is part four of about dot coms, project management, one Oh one part four is talking about managing costs, money and profits.

Cornelius Fichtner (08:10):

And it's a very easy to read for beginners explanation on how to manage costs, money and profits on your project. The first three, um, items in this series here are part one overview of project management. Of course, part two was talking about managed resources and part three talked about managing time. I do not know where they're going in the future with this, but, uh, this is definitely going to be something because about.com keeps their content online forever and ever. So in five, six years, if you have something that you need to give to a beginner, this is, this is still great content that you can do. Also at the end of each page, they have suggested reading. They have related articles and even most popular videos, but I'm not sure if online music stores is something that we really need as project managers. So there you have it, the four helpful resources of this week. And now let's continue with the news.

Cornelius Fichtner (09:23):

I have six news items for you today. The first three I'm going to focus on on the last three, I'm just going to skim over quickly. First one is titled UCI Irvine's extensions, advanced project management simulation course offers chance to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah goes on and on and on has a humongously long title. But what it basically boils down to the UCI, the university of California, Irvine is offering an online project management course, big deal. You may say, well, it is for me because I am now on the UC I's advisory committee for project management. And we're going to have our first meeting on February the seventh. And I'm going to give you a little bit of feedback there. What it's like to work together with a university, uh, on their advisory committee, on project management, I'm actually looking forward to this. So it was interesting for me to see that they're actually putting out press releases for all of their, uh, project management seminars that they have. The second news item is titled business consultant. Wyrick Penn's book on project management. Well, that's really nothing new. There are dozens of books on project management out there, but, um, he is actually taking the apprentice project runway and trading spaces. Television shows here in the United States. And he is saying that well, if you're watching these shows, you're actually getting a lesson in project management. So very interesting to take the idea that what you see in a television show is project management and writing a book on it.

Above are the first few pages of a computer-generated transcript with all its computer-generated quirks. A human-generated transcript is available to Premium subscribers starting with episode 136.

Play Now:

Show notes: Today's focus is on Risk Management, which we call "The Black Sheep of Project Management". Risk management in project management is important, but only a fraction of project managers actively manage risk on their projects. Risk management in agile projects is also a trending skill area. Basically, risk is so important to understand as doing so helps us better manage the project towards a successful outcome, regardless of whether you are using hybrid, predictive or iterative methods.

In this podcast episode we discuss why that is so and present a simple technique that will enable you to manage risk on your projects without spending hundreds of hours on this task.

There are many resources to help you manage project risk including the practice standard for project risk management, which many project managers use as their reference guide. We also have some useful resources on this website in the form of past webinar episodes on risk management critical success factors -- these are definitely worth watching for a detailed look at how risk impacts project success. Enjoy the episode!

Don't forget to stop by at Method123, sign up for their newsletter and get the Risk Management Kit for free. Also in this episode: A Good, Bad & Ugly review about TSI's PMP Lunchtime Lecture Series [Update: The web page is no longer available so we removed the link], and we are continuing the giveaway of two free licenses for VIP Team To do List - listen to the show to hear how to participate - time is running out [Update: This giveaway is now closed].

Play Now:

Show notes: We continue to look at the soft skills in project management and proudly present a wonderful interview with Coach Moty Koppes. Her website is at http://www.coachmoty.com and you can write to her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We are also giving away two free licenses for VIP Team To do List - listen to the show to hear how to participate.

Project Management in the News
- Hill Consulting Launches a New Project Management Methodology and a Free Offer
- Hansoft Releases Next-Gen Game Project Management Update

Episode Transcript

Below are the first few pages of a computer-generated transcript with all its computer-generated quirks.

Music (00:09): [inaudible]

Cornelius Fichtner (00:11):

You are listening to the project management podcast. We bring project management topics to beginners and experts. Find us on the web at pmpodcast.blogspot.com or send your emails to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Cornelius Fichtner (00:28):

Hello, and welcome to show number 19. I am Cornelius Ficthner. Now this is the project management podcast for the 11th of February, 2006. Today I am continuing to go soft on you with my interview guest Moty Koppes, and we'll be talking about coaching being coached and how to improve yourself. But first I am very happy to announce that I have some free software to give about. And this software that we have to give away is VIP team to do lists, and you can find them at, to do lists soft.com. They write about the application VIP team to do list is a professional time and task management software for managing projects, workflow, and resources in small and midsize businesses. It enables team leaders and team members to create, manage, and share to do lists within the team by email. Well, if you want to win one of the two licenses in order to participate in this giveaway, all you have to do is send an email to myself This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. in the subject line, simply write to do lists and in the body of the email, write your name and what country you're writing from.

Cornelius Fichtner (01:52):

That's about it. Your email has to reach me by the 21st of February this year, of course, and the winners will be announced on the show of the February, the 25th. So you've got some time there, but the sooner you do it, the faster you are done, um, some of us live in some of us, some of you who have subscribed to the project from hell podcast. I, uh, gave you a review of that a little while back, you may have noticed that it looks like it's no longer being updated well wrong. Um, the reason for why it might seem this way is because they have two feeds listed in iTunes. And one of those feeds is dead. It looks like they are no longer updating that one, but they're updating the other one. So you have to simply subscribe to the correct RSS feed, um, start iTunes, go to the music store, um, select podcasts, and then their search for project hell the two words, project and hell.

Cornelius Fichtner (02:57):

Uh, you'll get the, the top two are project management project from hell. And the second one is simply project from hell subscribed to the second one. The one that is called project from hell. And then your once again, up to date with the project from hell podcast. Uh, I also wanted to apologize for last week's show. You may have noticed that there were about six minutes of silence at the end of the show. No idea how that happened and sorry about that today. I'm trying to increase that to 25 minutes. No, just kidding. Uh, I'd like to see that I get rid of that this time. I'm finally here in the announcements again, a sponsor. Does your company have a project management tool, project management goal book, or a project management seminar to promote, then why not become a sponsor of this show here? The project management podcast, being a sponsor of the project management podcast will immediately get your message into the ears of thousands of project managers worldwide at a cost, which is much lower than what you would have to pay for an ad in a trade magazine. Simply write to me at pmpodcastatgmail.com and I'll be happy to discuss a sponsorship with you. Well, that's about it for the announcements this week, and now we're moving on to the helpful resources and the project management news.

Cornelius Fichtner (04:39):

Today's helpful. Resources are all about project management methodologies because I have received the following email. Hello from Madrid, Spain. I do enjoy your show. Keep up the good and entertaining work. My question is as follows, I have a client medium-sized multinational and am focusing on organizational issues. I have discovered that project management skills are sorely needed also, and not surprisingly, the company has not adapted any project management methodology. I am now looking for a hint on which methodology would be a good candidate to look at with the following criteria, not overly bureaucratic, reasonably compact, well suited for business projects because engineering and it is not a primary focus. And hopefully the study materials templates are available at a reasonable cost, both in the United States and Europe. And this email came to me from mr. Etienne Downwire manic from well Madrid, Spain. Well, at the end, you will find that I have listed five resources for you today.

Cornelius Fichtner (05:59):

The first one is a link to various white papers and articles on project management methodologies. You may simply want to want to go through those and check them out and see what you can find about project management methodologies. In theory, the second link that I have for you is a link to the 10 step project management methodology. I think I've mentioned 10 step quite a few times here. They are a no nonsense, easy to implement project management methodology. The third link is to method one, two, three, also a project management methodology that you may want to look into. Then the fourth one here is a link to project smart project. Smart is a website where you will also find several project management templates, some of which are free, and you may want to check out the free templates and then see if it's, if it looks like something that you may want to go with.

Cornelius Fichtner (07:06):

And finally, I found some deliverables, project plans and checklists free for download on Gantt had. So that's the fifth link that I have for you in my helpful resources there. Of course, the big problem always is that many of these methodologies are well a collection of templates and the processes is a completely different issue because just introducing the templates in a company is one thing, but introducing the processes, making the company change, ready, making them aware of the fact that, well, we need to change everything that we do and follow certain project management processes. That's really the big work. So whether or not your project management methodology is simple and easy or large and convoluted, doesn't really matter. The issue usually in my experience is the fact that the companies are simply not ready to take that step and make the change. But if your company is ready, the one that you're currently consulting with, then these five links should at least give you a starting point towards these project management methodologies. Well, and that's the resources for you, particularly at TN this week. And now on with the news,

Cornelius Fichtner (08:41):

The first news item is almost a continuation of the resources for Etienne. The title of this one here is Hill consulting launches, a new project management methodology and a free offer. Well, pure coincidence, a this was published on the 10th of February, 2006, and it talks about the fact that Hill, the Hill consulting group, and now announced that they are going to release the, um, their matrix based methodology for project management called project prison. And it consists of, uh, three components, which they say facilitate the methodology implementation and use. And they are a project management process guide, a complete and comprehensive compilation of essential project management processes. Well, the issue that I talked about, that's what you really need. Then the second one is a project management practice guide, a presentation of concepts and models that help users to perform the prescribed processes. And the third one is a project management toolkit, a tool set for performing each process step. So you know, that essential actions are being performed and managed, and they're releasing this and they're doing a few workshops. They are in Chicago, Charlotte and Orlando here in the United States. Well, that's not going to help at yen in Spain a lot, but at these three workshops, they're actually giving away the complete project prism methodology package to the attendees. So if you're in any of these three towns and you're looking for a methodology yourself, well, why not join this workshop and get it for free

Cornelius Fichtner (10:35):

Only two news items today. And the second one here is from February the eighth and it's titled hand soft releases next gen game project management update. Well, this was very interesting for me because I had never expected that project management for gaming software next generation gaming software actually exists that there is a particular market for well project management software for games. Very interesting little read here. They also say that they have various industries that actually use their software telecom. It consulting have discovered the benefits of their software here by hand soft, but they're still focusing on the gaming industry because that's where they have a big foothold. So interesting to see that they're ER, very small niches that companies use to produce project management software.

Above are the first few pages of a computer-generated transcript with all its computer-generated quirks. A human-generated transcript is available to Premium subscribers starting with episode 136.

Play Now:

This episode is sponsored by:

Show notes: Todays you will find the following items on the menue: First you will hear about some great changes to the show. Next, we have a template to download and a book to give away, it's titled Napoleon on Project Management by Jerry Manas (Amazon Link). In the main section of the episode, I will show you the many ways to monitor your project without the sophistcated requirements of Earned Value and finally I’d like to tell you why you should listen to the Cold Fusion Podcast episode 18 (hint: it's on project management).

Play Now:

This episode is sponsored by:

Show notes: In today's show we'll be looking at why a Project Manager should try and stay away from email and I am catching up on my diary. We also look at some feedback I received on the 7 PMO Trends from a couple of shows back and we have two resources for you.

Play Now:

A warm welcome to all students of the University of Central Florida - don't forget to check out the rest of our podcasts!

This episode is sponsored by:

Show notes: Earned Value Management (EVM) is a systematic approach to the integration and measurement of cost, schedule, and scope accomplishments on a project or task. We are starting with an introduction to earned value in project management in which you will get a basic overview of how it came to be, how it works and we will discuss its benefits and shortcomings.

Of course, in order to carry out scope control in project management, we have to know what the scope is. That's fundamental for EVM, so you can see that EVM and project scope management are related in the way we approach the work. In particular, project management scope creep can cause issues for EVM reporting. Having said that, the good thing about EVM is that it does help you see what is happening on the project, so you can be quickly alerted to project performance issues. We look at what is scope in project management in our other resources, but as you study EVM topics, remember to relate them back to scope management. So many project management processes and knowledge areas link together, and this topic area is no exception.

We also have some great helpful resources, announcements for several PM events around the globe and you can hear a review of a new project management related podcast called The Apprenti Podcast.

Play Now:

This episode is sponsored by:

Show notes: This week, I am giving you six PMO Trends that will show you where companies will be taking PMOs in the future. As usual, you will get a few great helpful resources, hear what's happening in the PM News and you'll hear the PM tip of the week that was submitted by listener Thomas Weller from Germany. In a new show segment we are looking at various PM events around the world and wewill be finishing up the show with a review of the PMI-ISSIG's new podcast.

Project Management in the News:

- Leading in the Midst of a Crisis; Lessons Learned from Pentagon Renovation Program Featured at March WIT.Connect Program
- 5th Edition of APM Body of Knowledge issued in the UK
- Vanuatu Project Management boost U20 women's team morale

Play Now:

This episode is sponsored by:

Show Notes: The Fast Track is the fast tracked version of the full length Project Management Podcast. It's my way of delivering a show for you even if I don't really have the time for it. Today, we look at what "Fast Track" means in the PM sense and you can also hear the tip of the week.

Play Now:

This episode is sponsored by:

Show notes: We are continuing to look at all the soft skills that you will need in your career as a project manager. Today, the topic is "Meetings". My interview partner is Steve Kaye, who is a professional meeting facilitator. We look at what a meeting is, why so many meetings don't achieve anything and how to set up a meeting to achieve a real purpose. Steve Kayes's website is at http://www.stevekaye.com/ and you can contact him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Like every week, we have a tip of the week that you can implement in your projects right away and we are reviewing helpful resources and take a quick look at project management in the news.

Project Management in the News:

• How to write a Progress Report
• PMI's chair and CEO answer questions on community transformation project

Play Now:

Are you currently studying for the PMP Exam? Then try our PMP Podcast:

You can listen to the show by clicking here.

This episode is sponsored by:

Show notes: Dale Brown is an IT Executive who decided to become a PMP. In our interview we discuss his motivation and schedule as well as what and how he studied in order to take and pass the exam. The following books are mentioned in the interview: Outercore's Achieve PMP Exam Success, Sybex's Sybex's Project Management Professional Study Guide, 3rd Edition and Rita Mulcahy's PMP Exam Prep, Fifth Edition.. You can contact Dale at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at +1 949 387 2508. We are also announcing the winners of our software giveaway for VIP Team To do List and we are reviewing a new podcast by Jerry Manas that talks about (you guessed it) project management.

Jerry Manas's Podcast on Project Management:

Update: Jerry has in the meantime fixed the issues with publishing his episodes as separate podcasts. Here are the updated subscription links for you. To subscribe to Jerry's podcast, simply click on one of the following links (actually... you have to drag & drop the second one into your podcatcher software): [Update 2019: Unfortunately the podcast by Jerry Manas is no longer available so we removed the link.]

Play Now:

This show is sponsored by:




Show notes: In this week's show, we feature an Interview with Frank Parth, President of Project Auditors (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). Frank's career as a project manager has spanned the world in many well known organizations. Most importantly, Frank has been involved in the setup of four PMOs. In today's interview, we review these PMOs, how Frank's team approached setting them up and Frank will give us his lessons learned. Like every week, we also take a look at the news, the PM events from around the world and at several helpful resources. This is also your last chance to participate in our book giveaway of two copies of Jerry Manas book titled Napoleon on Project Management - good luck to you!

Play Now:

This episode is sponsored by:

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!

Play Now:

This episode is sponsored by:

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.

Play Now:

This episode is sponsored by:


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.

Play Now:

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)

Play Now:

This episode is sponsored by:

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... )

Play Now:

This episode is sponsored by:

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)

Play Now:

This episode is sponsored by:

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.

Play Now:

This episode is sponsored by:

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.

Play Now:

This episode is sponsored by:

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):