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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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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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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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This week The Project Management Podcast™ continues the discussion on Scalable Project Management Methodologies with our interview guest Tom Mochal, president of www.tenstep.com. We look at the TenStep line of products, look into the future of project management methodologies and Tom gives us his in-depth answer to our "Final 10" questions. Our weekly Helpful Resources will introduce you to two brand-new project management podcasts that are freely available.

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In this week's episode The Project Management Podcast™ welcomes Thushara Wijewardena, PMP (http://projectized.blogspot.com) who is the general manager of a PMO in a software development outsourcing company in Sri Lanka. We discuss the challenges that she faced in initially setting it up and how she addresses today's needs of her worldwide clientele who require her to utilize multiple project management methodologies concurrently throughout the company. We complement the interview with a look at 3 helpful resources that will make your project management office shine. You will also hear listener feedback from our feedback phone at +1 206 339 6520 and we answer a listener question about the required 35 contact hours needed to apply for the PMP® exam.

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One of the most difficult tasks project managers and business analysts face is obtaining customer requirements. Even when business customers and the business analyst work in the same building, misunderstandings are bound to arise. It’s a challenge to ask the right questions, get the right people involved, and document unambiguous requirements, regardless of the backgrounds of those participating. When the project includes multi-cultural stakeholders, particularly if they comprise a virtual team working in geographically dispersed areas, the job becomes much harder. On this week's episode of The Project Management Podcast™ we hear from Richard Larson, PMP, and Elizabeth Larson, PMP, of Watermark Learning (http://www.watermarklearning.com/) what interpersonal skills, approaches and tools you as a project manager can utilize to address these issues.

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Happy Birthday Project Management Podcast™! Today we are publishing our 50th episode and are also celebrating one year on the air. To celebrate, we invited former PMI president and chairman of the board Max Wideman. Mr Wideman has been in the business for quite some time. He has been involved in a lot of projects, from big ones running many years to little ones lasting only days; in many different types from heavy engineering to building construction, to social and environmental impact studies, to information systems and software. The Project Management Podcast™ first recommended Mr Wideman's website www.maxwideman.com back in episode 7 as one of the leading project management reference websites today. We welcome Mr Wideman to discuss the topic "Project management basics typically overlooked". You will also hear Helpful Resources that are recommended by listeners, a  congratulatory voicemail from the Controlling Chaos Podcast and we are giving away two copies of the book Introduction to IT Project Management by Cynthia Snyder, PMP, and Frank Parth, PMP.

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In today’s episode of The Project Management Podcast™ we continue our look at international and intercultural project management. In episode 48, we heard about the issues that the manager of a PMO in Sri Lanka was faced with in regards to all the customer requests she received. But what about the other end? What about the customer? What issues does a customer face who has chosen to augment their staff through off shoring? This is the discussion that I had with Eric Smith and I have to admit, that I was genuinely surprised by what I found. We also continue our book give away of two copies of the book "Introduction to IT Project Management" by Cynthia Snyder, PMP, and Frank Parth, PMP, and we share a number of helpful resources that were recommended by listeners.

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About a year ago I was asked to take over a troubled project in our company. From one moment to the next, I went from using project management software and being the project manager in charge of organizational change projects to being a PM for a software development project. While I had been working as a PM on website development before, dealing with software development in a controlled environment is a different beast. The dynamics were and are completely different. And what is it like to manage software projects? “Surprise! Now you’re a software project manager” is the title of the book written by Bas de Baar (http://softwareprojects.org).

Of course, we will not be discussing his book as such but that there is a big difference between a SW development methodology and project management in software development where the PM methodology is used to manage technical projects. Today is also the day that we announce the winners of our book giveaway, we start a new book giveaway, we have a listener comment, a seminar announcement and a few more helpful resources that were recommended by our listeners.

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The Project Management Podcast™ is pleased to welcome Quentin Fleming (www.quentinf.com [Update: The web page is no longer available so we removed the link]) as our interview guest this week. Mr Fleming is an author, instructor and consultant to management, with over three decades of project management experience within private industry. He has particular expertise in the design of and the assessment of project management control systems and is the co-author of the best-selling book "Earned Value Project Management". We discuss the history and the the basics of earned value management as well as his approach to "Simple" Earned Value which he outlines in an article that he wrote together with Joel Koppelman. The 10 steps, which the authors define are:

• Step 1: You must define the scope (objectives and deliverables) of the project.
• Step 2: You must determine who will perform the defined work, including the identification of all critical procurements.
• Step 3: You must plan and schedule the defined work.
• Step 4: You must estimate the required resources and formally authorize budgets.
• Step 5: You must determine the metrics to convert planned value into earned value.
• Step 6: You must form a performance measurement baseline and determine the points of management control referred to as Control Account Plans (CAPs).
• Step 7: You must record all direct costs by project consistently with the authorized baseline budgets, in accordance with the organization’s general books of accounts.
• Step 8: You must continuously monitor the earned value performance to determine cost and schedule departures from the baseline plan: both schedule variances (earned value less the planned value) and cost variances (earned value less the actual costs).
• Step 9: Using earned value data, you must forecast the final required costs based on actual performance and keep management apprised so they can take corrective actions if necessary.
• Step 10: You must manage the authorized scope by approving or rejecting all changes, and incorporating approved changes into the project baseline in a timely manner.

This is the perfect episode to listen to after our introduction to earned value management, so if you haven't heard that one yet, make sure to add it to your podcast player. 

We also continue our book giveaway of two copies of Bas de Baar's book "Surprise! Now you are a Software Project Manager" and we have an announcement from PM Lessons Learned [Update: The web page is no longer available so we removed the link].

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Today's episode of The Project Management Podcast™ is focused on project management methodologies. I speak with Gerard Hill from The Hill Consulting Group. Gerard and I both share a passion for PMOs and project management methodologies. Following his success with The Complete Project Management Office Handbook, Gerard has developed the ProjectPRISM™ Methodology for Project Management as his latest in a line of several methodology development efforts. We discuss project management methodologies in general and how his new methodology differs. You will also learn, how you can win a copy of his PMO book and how you can get a free and complete copy of the methodology (single-user license). In our weekly segments we look at four great helpful resources and you will also get a Tip of the Week.

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Today's episode of The Project Management Podcast™ comes a few days late and it is focused on project management methodologies. A listener wrote in and asked for help. He is new to the field, finds the various methodologies sometimes confusing and is not really sure what all of these templates are nor where to find them. We look at six helpful resources about project management methodologies and templates. Oh... and don't forget to call the listener feedback line at +1 206 339 6520 and leave a voicemail with your feedback.

Helpful Resources for this episode...

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Click here to download Kristine's PDF presentation.

This episode is sponsored by: eBooks.com and their wide selection of Project Management related books.

Today's episode of The Project Management Podcast™ features an interview with Kristine Hayes Munson on the topic of Getting It Done. We look at what you may call the underlying framework or even philosophy that project managers must employ in order to get things done in a company. Kristine has presented this framework at a seminar for the University of California Irvine and her presentation will automatically be downloaded to your computer if you are a subscriber to The Project Management Podcast™.

The book giveaway for Gerard Hill's The Complete Project Management Office Handbook (Amazon Link) has been extended for one more week. Listen in to hear how you can win a copy. And in our weekly segments we have listener feedback and "one" Helpful Resource.

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In today's episode of The Project Management Podcast™ we feature an interview with Frank Reynolds, Project Management Consultant, about the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)®. The CAPM® is the PMI's certification for team members, junior project management practitioners or students with an interest in project management. Frank talks about what the exam is like, what the benefits of the CAPM® are and in particular, how an organization will benefit, when its resources who work on projects are CAPM® certified. We have our usual helpful resources and you can find out, if you have one one of two copies of Gerard Hill's book The Complete Project Management Office Handbook.

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In this episode, The Project Management Podcast™ is demystifying the "dirty" business of Project Politics. In our interview with Brian Irwin, President of PM Team Dynamics, we discuss why we have politics on projects and what we as project managers can and must do in order to use politics as an opportunity to make our projects succeed. Brian and the publisher of his upcoming book on politics have donated two books for us to give away: Neal Whitten's No-nonsense Advice For Successful Projects and Essential People Skills for Project Managers. Listen to the announcement following the interview to learn how you can win a copy. We also have a survey on the website that we'd like you to invest 3 minutes of your time in and and we look at upcoming project management seminars around the world.