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Part 1. This episode of The PM Podcast is a 4-part webinar presented by Andreas Heilwagen on the topic of risk management. He stipulates that it is a critical success factor for your project success. We look at a definition of Risk Management, present the value that it offers to your projects, go through the processes offered by The PMBOK® Guide, take a look at the free risk management templates [Update: the template website is no longer available, so we removed the link] offered by Andreas and the look into the success factors that will make your internal risk management approach a winning activity.

Whether you are working in a predictive environment, a hybrid project delivery environment, or considering risk management in agile projects, you'll find tips and tricks to learn from and implement in this webinar.

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Let's continue our look at How to become a project manager.

And because Josh and I realize that many of you may already have some seniority under your belt, we are also going to take this to the next level: How you can help someone  - maybe a junior project or even someone who is just now starting to think about going into project management - how to help this someone as a mentor and assist them with tips and tricks. So don't dismiss this discussion, simply because you are farther along in your career. Listen to it and use the discussion to help others.

Josh is the man behind PM Student and PM Student eLearning, which you can find at www.mypmstudent.com.

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Here is a question that I have received from quite a number of podcast listeners in the past few years: How do I overcome the Catch 22 situation of getting into project management, that in order to get assigned a project you need to have experience as a PM. And in order to get some experience as a PM you first need to have a project assigned. Is there a way around this? Project manager coaching and mentoring is a starting point, but that doesn't address the question of experience and how to gain it.

This and may other questions about how someone who is interested in becoming a Project Manager can get started in our profession are at the center of my discussion today with Josh Nankivel. You will hear how both he and I started our careers as project managers, what books to read, what training to get and what websites and social media for project managers are great places to start.

There are so many ways to niche down in project management. Your goal, for example, might be a role of project manager in SAFe agile teams, but before you can make that move, you need to get the basics right and gain experience that will let you ultimately take on your dream job.

Josh is the man behind PM Student and PM Student eLearning, which you can find at www.mypmstudent.com.

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At this year's PMI Atlanta Chapter's Professional Development Day, Tom Mochal, PMP (www.tenstep.com) presented a 2.5 hour long workshop. It was simply called "Successful Project Management" and was based on the premise that the days of the monolithic, complex, multi-year project are over. Tom says that they are just too hard to plan, manage and complete within expectations. He argues that the better approach is to break large initiatives into multiple smaller projects. These smaller projects are easier to manage and they each have a much better chance to be successful.

Of course, if each project was managed independently, the entire initiative would be at risk of losing focus and getting out-of-control. So... Enter the Program.

A program is the organizational structure that is established to coordinate and guide a large initiative made up of multiple related projects. The program provides an umbrella structure over the entire initiative and has the high-level visibility and continuity to guide all of the underlying projects toward overall success.

Shortly after the workshop ended, I had a chance to sit down with Tom and discuss his approach to project, program and portfolio management. And we even manage to sneak in some career advice for you as well.

W also announce a giveaway where one lucky Project Management Professional(PMP)® out there is going to win a copy of The PDU Podcast. The PDU Podcast is our sister podcast and you can learn more about it at www.pducast.com. It's a convenient way for PMP® and PgMP® credential holders to earn their PDUs through webinars that are delivered to you as a Podcast. Listen to the first 5 minutes of this episode to learn how to participate.