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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.