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This episode is sponsored by The Agile PrepCast for The PMI-ACP Exam:

If you're going to bother holding a meeting, then you should meet like you mean it.

This statement comes from Wayne Turmel (http://www.greatwebmeetings.com/ - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wayneturmel) who has been speakinga and consulting on communications and successful meetings in particular for a very long time.

His latest book is called Meet Like You Mean It: A Leader's Guide To Painless And Productive Virtual Meetings. In the book and also in our interview he argues that if you're a project manager, you have to learn how to use today's online meeting tools to get great input, maximum participation, and engagement from your participating project team members. Virtual meetings should be an integral part of the way we work and manage our projects, and not an excuse to answer emails.

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This episode is sponsored by The PM PrepCast for The PMP Exam:

I have another great interview with David Blumhorst (http://www.linkedin.com/in/dblumhorst/) from Daptiv for you. Of course, we continue on the theme of Project Portfolio Management (PPM).

This time we look at how a PPM tool can help you ensure that you are not trying to bring your company to a grinding halt by introducing too much change.

The basic premise here is that PPM leaders must take into account the amount of change a business can undergo in any given period. And if they don’t keep the amount change below the acceptable threshold, change fatigue will ensue and stifle the company.

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This episode is sponsored by The Agile PrepCast for The PMI-ACP Exam:

David Blumhorst (http://www.linkedin.com/in/dblumhorst/) from Daptiv is back on the program to discuss what project success really means.

David says that it's not about time, budget and scope. Successful projects are about achieving business goals. Projects are really investments meant to change something about the business, and if they don't hit that business target all the time and money are wasted.

And successful project managers should know how to lead teams to hit those business targets.

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This episode is sponsored by The Agile PrepCast for The PMI-ACP Exam:

Prior to signing any project statement of work (SOW) it should be reviewed by your legal team. However, while legal experts understand legalities that will help you out in court, they are not project experts who can determine if a particular SOW will provide you with the product that you anticipate, need, or desire. And they don't necessarily understand concepts like project management scope creep, which is partly what the SOW is designed to stop (or at least, make harder -- it is of course possible to change a SOW if you really wanted to, that's where scope control in project management comes in).

Todd C. Williams (http://ecaminc.com/) on the other hand is such an expert. He has reviewed dozens of statements of work for his clients. He analyzes the methodology, scope, deliverables and proposed cost, and finds areas that point to weaknesses in the ability to deliver or misalignment in intentions.

Scope in project management is a really important area for this discussion, as that is often considered the bulk of the content in the SOW.

In our discussion we look at the main reasons behind doing a formal SOW review, at the factors that show whether a formal review makes sense or not, identify some of areas of concern during a review that should be considered as part of your work on project scope management, and learn why a comma can make all the difference in the world.