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Have you ever managed a project where everything was either black or white, yes or no, approved or not approved? You probably haven’t. If your projects are like mine then most decisions that are made are a compromise. You give a little here, you take a little there. In project management nothing is really ever black and white. So don’t adjust your project plan, for you have entered the gray areas. And “Managing The Gray Areas” is the title of the new book written by Jerry Manas, PMP, who joins us on the podcast today to talk about these gray areas and all the tradeoffs that we project managers have to make every single day.

In our Gizmos section we introduce you to a new project management podcast called PMPOD. You can find it at www.pmpod.de .

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In this episode we continue our discussion with Lee Fischman on experimental projects. However, we shift our focus a bit and discuss successful team management. Lee argues that in order for an experimental project to be successful your team will need to perform a number of roles or "themes". He identified 7 such themes that will make you successful and we are going to look at all 8 of them. And no, that wasn't a typo. Even though we discuss project team management in the context of experimental projects, Lee's findings and recommendations are applicable across the board. Managing teams would be a lot simpler Especially his recap at the end is excellent advice for managing your teams.

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Search for "Experimental Projects" on your favorite search engine and you will find millions of entries. However, most of us "corporate" project manager types will probably never have been involved in this branch of project management. On experimental projects, the outcome is uncertain, the road is bumpy, you will probably take a few detours and failure is part of the plan. Lee Fischman joins us on the program today to discuss not only the concepts behind experimental projects but also to take a look at how you can improve their outcomes. Put your brain into overdrive... especially if you have never been confronted with an experimental project.

And here are the winners who each receive a copy of of our brand new PMP Exam Formula Study Guide: Don Ellis (Premium Podcast Subscriber) and Ozeas Santana Filho from Sao Paulo in Brazil (Free Podcast Listener).

Click here to download the PDF presentation that Lee Fischman gave at the NASA Project Management Challenge in 2006...

If the above link does not work, you can download it from the website of Lee's employer...

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Today we continue our discussion with Margaret Meloni on your Professional Brand as a Project Manager. We discuss that actions will speak louder than words when it comes to your professional brand, how to ask feedback from others on your professional brand and we also want to know from Margaret if this whole concept really works and ask her to apply it in an example. As part of this episode you will also receive Margaret's white paper titled "Own Your Reputation. Own Your Brand". In it, Margaret gives you the 11 steps necessary in order to define your professional brand.

And if you listen closely you can hear me say "personal brand" instead of "professional brand" several times during the interview. Margaret says that it's a common mistake. But I make it up to her at the very end of the episode... ;-)