This is a Special PM Podcast Episode, in which we introduce you to Gazza's Corner, a new podcast about project management by Gary Nelson, PMP. Here is what Gary has to say about the episode:
You cannot underestimate the importance of the Project Kickoff. It sets the tone for the rest of the project, and it is often the first time all of the key players on the Project will be face to face. In some cases, it may be the only time they all get together - so make it count!
It may also be the first time that you get to review the project objectives as a team, and it is where you will build the collective understanding of what you are trying to achieve - and the first stage in Project Team Development.
But what exactly is a Project Kickoff, and why do we really need it? In this session we will explore what it is - and why it is so important.
What would you say, if I told you that any project you lead is an intercultural project? Even if you have grown up in Paris and all the other project team members and stakeholders are native Parisians... you will still have to deal with culture on your project.
Karin Brünnemann (http://www.4cee.eu) specializes in consulting, project management, and training in intercultural and multi-national contexts on a worldwide basis. She has lived in and lead projects in more countries than I have fingers. So when it comes to projects, culture and how to deal with that, she knows what she is talking about.
In our interview, Karin and I will be:
Answering the question: What is culture?
Discuss some myths and mistakes in regards to culture.
See how the iceberg model applies in this context
Review the two high level challenges that projects face in regards to culture
And we will look at three tools that will help you to thrive in managing culture on your project
Gate meetings often require stacks of administrative paperwork and template after template of fact and figure tracking. Most people would probably rather spend their time creating than justifying.
Matt Priest (www.kalypso.com) says that “Gate meetings can be faster, easier and more effective. Just improve the “what”, “who” and “how” of your meetings to make them less of a drain and more valuable for the organization.”
In this interview we discuss, how with a light and nimble framework in place, gate review meetings are more effective and scalable, will become easier to address and will grow and mature with the organization.
In 2001, seventeen software developers met at a ski resort in Snowbird, Utah. They all faced the same problem: the need for an alternative to the slow moving, waterfall approach to improve their software development projects and the “agile” model for software development was born.
So, how does this innovation apply to new product development in the consumer goods industry? The benefits of the agile software development process - increased speed-to-market, reduced costs, enhanced focus, and minimized wasted time in development - apply to any development organization, whether the end result is a consumer product or software application. These gains are especially important in today’s economic climate where development budgets are constrained, competition is fierce, and expectations from both senior leaders and consumers have greatly increased.
To explore how to best do this I invited Matt Priest (www.kalypso.com) onto the program and give us his insights on the topic. He’ll not only answer all my questions but also introduce us to the three simple Agile principles that we should be using when developing new consumer goods, which are:
engage the consumer early
collaborate iteratively throughout the development process
My family and I had a fantastic time earlier this month at the Walk for Autism Speaks Event!
And thanks to the sponsorship of pmStudent readers like you, we raised $12,211 for Autism research.
In this video I thank you for your sponsorship and tell you a bit about what you did, share some pictures and details from the event, and talk a little about the online self-paced project management training I offer for you online.
I hope all of my 455+ new students get a ton of value out of your courses, and give me some feedback about how the training impacts your career in project management.
Episode 215 Transcript:
Josh Nankivel: Hey, This is Josh from www.pmstudent.com recording this video to say Thank You to everyone who sponsored me for the Autism Speaks walk.
If you don’t know, I did a little thing where I offered to give away free courses at www.learn.pmstudent.com for anybody who wanted to sponsor me and support me in the Walk Now for Autism Speaks for South Dakota which is where I live. And the response was overwhelming. I am very, very happy. I think my initial goal that I set was $1,000 or something like that. I wasn’t really sure what kind of response I was going to get.
But I was extremely pleased not only through my website at PM Student but a lot of you probably found out about the offer through my friend, Cornelius Fichtner, who does The PM Podcast and The PM PrepCast. He was really awesome and sent out notification to his subscribers about the event and the sponsorship.
Again, I just wanted to say Thank You. We end up raising $12,211 which is fantastic. That was actually the highest amount raised by any individual at least for South Dakota. So again, thank you very much. I got props at the walk and everything. They made me stand up and called my name and got a standing ovation and everything. So that was pretty cool. But you know, the most important thing is that we raised a whole bunch of money for really a great cause and so I am just really overjoyed about it and wanted to thank you for that.
And if you didn’t miss out on that…I think I’ll probably do it again. It was so much fun. It was a lot of work getting everybody set up for the courses and stuff because normally, when you pay for a course, that’s an automated process. I might put a lot of work in the backend to make that an automated process. But I have to do all of these individually so there was a lot of spent many hours. I have to hire somebody to do that for me next time I think.
But if you didn’t miss out and you didn’t get in on, go over to www.learn.pmstudent.com. The courses that I have are meant to be different than most project management training that you’re going to see. I don’t do PowerPoint slides. I do go through concepts but I share a lot of stories to illustrate those concepts. And a lot of the courses are actually just me sharing my screen and going through whatever it is I’m teaching you to do, I’m actually doing it.
So in the project management plan course, I start with the blank Word document and I create an outline right in front of you and talk through to it all the different pieces and we actually go through and create a project management plan together in about I think that’s like a 7 or a 6-hour course, I think it is. So over the course of 6 hours, you see me create a project management plan from scratch and go through all of the concepts and thinking behind how do I do a project management plan.
I think it’s really valuable and it’s really inexpensive too. If it’s something that you’re interested in, go to www.learn.pmstudent.com and check it out. And look to maybe, I don’t want to do this too often, but maybe a year from now or something like that, I’ll go ahead and do another sponsorship event like this. I’m also pretty active in things like the Special Olympics. I do a lot of disability advocacy-type work too. It may not be Autism Speaks next time I do this. It maybe some other organization that I normally work with and support that I go ahead and do this for.
Again, thank you everybody. I know I’ve been blabbing and blabbing and blabbing but I’m really excited about the money that we raised for autism research. Again, thank you.
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