The Pmo Podcast

This week The PMO Podcast™ Featured Story presents, "PMO Studies Part VI - Interviewing Project Managers for the PMO", presented by Mark Perry (about Mark), host of The PMO Podcast™. Recently, The PMO Podcast engaged in a study of twenty-five PMOs to observe, listen, and learn from a wide variety of PMO Managers with the objective in mind to share these findings in a series of short, podcast episodes, each focused on a particular tip, technique, or finding in general. And this episode is the sixth in the series, which is focused on interviewing project managers for the PMO. The PMO Podcast™ Points Memo asks, “Work attitude behavior and work behavior attitude - are they the same?" A positive work attitude does not necessarily lead to a positive work behavior. Neither does a positive work behavior indicate positive work attitude. Those that know the difference, between work attitude behavior and work behavior attitude, do a great job of aligning both of them and increasing their chances of both enjoying their

This week The PMO Podcast™ Featured Story presents, "PMO Studies Part V - Position Description for the IT PMO Manager", presented by Mark Perry (about Mark), host of The PMO Podcast™. Recently, The PMO Podcast engaged in a study of twenty-five PMOs to observe, listen, and learn from a wide variety of PMO Managers with the objective in mind to share these findings in a series of short, podcast episodes, each focused on a particular tip, technique, or finding in general. And this episode is the fifth in the series, which is focused on the position description, duties, and candidate qualifications for an IT PMO Manager. The PMO Podcast™ Points Memo advises, “Opportunity does knock, but not necessarily on your front door!" Hear the fascinating story of a young IT professional who heard opportunity knocking, answered the door, and enjoyed one success after another making millions and millions of dollars along the way. The PMO Podcast™ Mailbag answers a listener question about whether or not it is best to get you

This week The PMO Podcast™ Featured Story presents, "PMO Studies Part IV - Alternative PMO Models", presented by Mark Perry (about Mark), host of The PMO Podcast™. Recently, The PMO Podcast engaged in a study of twenty-five PMOs to observe, listen, and learn from a wide variety of PMO Managers with the objective in mind to share these findings in a series of short, podcast episodes, each focused on a particular tip, technique, or finding in general. And this episode is the fourth in the series, which is focused on alternative PMO Models. The PMO Podcast™ Points Memo suggests, “If you have a great idea, act upon it!" In 1914, a sixteen-year-old Italian immigrant named Antonio Pasin arrived in New York with nothing in his possession other than the carpentry skills he had learned as a kid from his grandfather. Pasin found work in Chicago as a manual laborer and was barely making enough money to get by. But Pasin had a great idea. And he decided to act upon it, satisfying the needs of millions of customers as we

This week The PMO Podcast™ Featured Story presents, "PMO Studies Part III - Five Tips from CIOs for Setting Up a New PMO", presented by Mark Perry (about Mark), host of The PMO Podcast™. Recently, The PMO Podcast engaged in a study of twenty-five PMOs to observe, listen, and learn from a wide variety of PMO Managers with the objective in mind to share these findings in a series of short, podcast episodes, each focused on a particular tip, technique, or finding in general. And this episode is the third in the series, which is focused on tips from CIOs for those setting up a new PMO. The PMO Podcast™ Points Memo asks, “What do you do after making a mistake?" What do most people do after making a mistake? Do they shrug it off? Do they learn by it? Do they take an action? Or, do they simply take a pass? Confucius, that ancient sage from China, wrote, “He who has committed a mistake and does not correct it, has committed another.” Hear an inspirational and true story of what one executive did after a mistake was

This week The PMO Podcast™ Featured Story presents, "PMO Studies Part II - Top Three Home Runs PMO Consultants Hit", presented by Mark Perry (about Mark), host of The PMO Podcast™. Recently, The PMO Podcast engaged in a study of twenty-five PMOs to observe, listen, and learn from a wide variety of PMO Managers with the objective in mind to share these findings in a series of short, podcast episodes, each focused on a particular tip, technique, or finding in general. And this episode is the second in the series, which is focused on some of the many experiences that PMO Managers have had with PMO consultants. That is, consultants brought in by management to start the PMO. The PMO Podcast™ Points Memo suggests, “Think like an entrepreneur!" Do you think like an entrepreneur? An entrepreneur has many qualities that enable him or her to achieve success and reap the rewards, often over competition and business obstacles. And, entrepreneurs think and behave differently than the rest of us. Perhaps two of the most

This week The PMO Podcast™ Featured Story presents, "PMO Studies Part I - Top Three Mistakes PMO Consultants Make", presented by Mark Perry (about Mark), host of The PMO Podcast™. Recently, The PMO Podcast engaged in a study of twenty-five PMOs to observe, listen, and learn from a wide variety of PMO Managers with the objective in mind to share these findings in a series of short, podcast episodes, each focused on a particular tip, technique, or finding in general. And this episode is the first in the series, which is focused on some of the many experiences that PMO Managers have had with PMO consultants. That is, consultants brought in by management to start the PMO. The PMO Podcast™ Points Memo presents, “Dare to Invent!" While the initial inspiration of invention may very well come from an experience, usually a problem, it is the "daring to invent" mindset that is required to make something, to invent. The PMO Podcast™ Mailbag answers a listener question about the project planning approval process. The

This week The PMO Podcast™ Featured Story presents, "Tool Advice for Informal Project Managers - Look out for Outlook", presented by Mark Perry (about Mark), host of The PMO Podcast™. As you are having your morning cup of coffee, the head of Sales pops in and asks you for advice on what kind of project management tool you, the PMO manager, would recommend that his team of sales and marketing professionals use for their informal, yet growing, list of departmental projects. He doesn’t want to use his low-end CRM application, though he probably could. And you don’t want him in your PPM application for these somewhat trivial and informal, small departmental projects, though you probably could. How about Microsoft Outlook? The PMO Podcast™ Points Memo presents, “Turning Pain into Gain!" Back in 1921, Josephine Dickson was a fine cook, but kept cutting herself in the kitchen. Her husband, Earle Dickson, was an employee of Johnson and Johnson Company. And don't you just know where this little story is going? Hear h

This week The PMO Podcast™ Featured Story presents, "PMO 2.0 - Expanding Participation in PM throughout the Business", presented by Mark Perry (about Mark), host of The PMO Podcast™. By now, you have probably heard of the phrase, Web 2.0, introduced to us in 2004 by O’Reilly Media. Web 2.0 hints at an improved form of the internet, the World Wide Web, with technologies such as weblogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds and other forms of many-to-many publishing; social software, Web APIs, Web standards and online Web services. And all of these things represent a significant change in the way we use the web and our behaviour. Simply put, Web 2.0 brings the web closer to us and it brings us closer to the web. Like Web 2.0, the same is going on and can be said for the direction of today’s PMO. And, many people are referring to this phenomenom as PMO 2.0. That is, PMO 2.0 brings the PMO closer to the business and the business closer to the PMO. The PMO Podcast™ Points Memo asks, “What did you notice today?" Sometimes w

This week The PMO Podcast™ Featured Story presents, "ProjectReference - a Useful Reference Site for your PMO", an interview with John Musser, SW Development SME, presented by Mark Perry (about Mark), host of The PMO Podcast™. Years ago, John Musser created a project management reference site to help students in the project management class that he taught at Columbia. Quickly, it became one of the top project management reference sites found on Google and other search engines. John talks about software project management, the project management reference site he created, and his new start up venture, ProgrammableWeb, a Web 2.0 reference site full of mashups, APIs, and useful information for Web 2.0 developers. The PMO Podcast™ Points Memo presents, “Giving Back - Mentoring a New Start." Have you considered mentoring a new start business? So many new start companies, such as home businesses and even technology firms, have needs in so many areas. Basic skills that you have had for years and take for granted, su

This week The PMO Podcast™ Featured Story presents, "Ten Characteristics of Good PMO Leaders", presented by Mark Perry (about Mark), host of The PMO Podcast™. The business and project management community is blessed with an abundance of books, manuals and courses on what it takes to be a great leader. An individual may be very likeable and possess a great deal of knowledge, but without the know-hows running a business or a piece of the business, that person can be a recipe for disaster despite all of his or her hard work, best efforts, and intentions. And the same is true and applies to the PMO. The PMO Podcast™ Points Memo asks, “What is your body language saying?" Did you know that the words you use only have a 7% impact on your communication? Your tone of voice only amounts to another 38%, but your non-verbal body language amounts to a whopping 55% impact on the message you are trying to communicate. Discussed are powerful nonverbal communication skills you can use immediately to add clarity and vitality

This week The PMO Podcast™ Featured Story presents, "Ten Things Bad Bosses Do", presented by Mark Perry (about Mark), host of The PMO Podcast™. Executives and managers are busy people. Every day brings new opportunities and challenges to management and the leadership team and of course there is never enough time to do it all. But no matter how busy these managers are, the best managers make time for their people. Is a manager’s style important? Is being a good boss important? You bet it is. The PMO Podcast™ Points Memo asks, “Do you have a Positive Mental Attitude?" Having negativity in your work is a major handicap. You can't accomplish anything without having positive thoughts. Anything you want from a new job, losing weight or gaining financial stability requires you to think positive thoughts to succeed. And, positive thoughts lead to positive actions, always. The PMO Podcast™ Mailbag answers a listener question about project termination.The PMO Podcast™ is sponsored by BOT International, the provider o

This week The PMO Podcast™ Featured Story presents, "Stress in the PMO", presented by Mark Perry (about Mark), host of The PMO Podcast™. Many folks believe that the stresses of project management are often excessive compared to the rewards that the position typically offers. That may or may not be the case. But what is no doubt important is for PMO Managers and project managers to be aware that there is on-going and sometimes quite significant stress in the PMO. And with that realization, techniques for stress management and steady state good communication can be effectively used to minimized the stress in the PMO and to make working in, and being part of, the PMO a positive and rewarding experience. The PMO Podcast™ Points Memo discusses, “Create a Project Plan in Five Easy Steps, Just Kidding." Many people, not PMPs of course, use the terms Project Plan and Project Schedule interchangeably. Even Microsoft in their Microsoft Office "how to" website pages offers a five step recipe for creating a project plan

This week The PMO Podcast™ Featured Story presents, "Microsoft Office Project Portfolio Server 2007 FAQs", presented by Mark Perry (about Mark), host of The PMO Podcast™. Today’s episode is in response to a number of listener questions that we have had regarding Microsoft Project Portfolio Server. So, today we are going to present the top ten, most popular, of the more than sixty questions and answers that are provided within the FAQ page found on the Microsoft Office Project Portfolio Server product website. The PMO Podcast™ Points Memo discusses, “Defending Kaizen." Recently, a very well known management consultant tried to claim that Kaizen is "a very dangerous thing". The reasoning that Kaizen is a very dangerous thing, according to this speaking tour regular, is that continuous gradual improvement can get in the way of innovation. There have been a number of responses in various business and management oriented blogs defending Kaizen. One such blogger, Kevin Rutherford, thinks that this management consu

This week The PMO Podcast™ Featured Story presents, "Recommendations for Informal Projects Part V - Simple Status Reporting", presented by Mark Perry (about Mark), host of The PMO Podcast™. Today’s episode is the fifth in a five part series aimed at recommendations for informal projects. For many of these kinds of informal projects, project management concepts like project status reporting are not well known or used. Rather than not performing any kind of status reporting, a key recommendation for these informal projects is the use of simple project status reporting and status reporting techniques. The PMO Podcast™ Points Memo suggests, “Hope less, expect more." Hope is not an acceptable business strategy, tactic, action, or term. When someone says, "I hope…" it is, in essence, an announcement that some doubt exists in what we are doing or trying to accomplish. Rather than continuing in the conversation. Explore the doubt. What is it that is beyond our control? What are we missing that we need to have in ord

This week The PMO Podcast™ Featured Story presents, "Recommendations for Informal Projects Part IV - Simple Risk Management", presented by Mark Perry (about Mark), host of The PMO Podcast™. Today’s episode is the fourth in a five part series aimed at recommendations for informal projects. For many of these kinds of informal projects, project management concepts like risk management are not well known or used. Rather than not performing any kind of risk management, a key recommendation for these informal projects is the use of simple risk management and risk management techniques. The PMO Podcast™ Points Memo suggests, “If You Are Proposing a PMO for Your Company - Avoid The Hype." More and more organizations are looking at implementing project management offices for a number of reasons, to improve project performance, to ensure project delivery, to increase project management skills, etc. Seek to overcome the challenges that need to be addressed in order for your company to be more successful. And, stay on po

This week The PMO Podcast™ Featured Story presents, "Recommendations for Informal Projects Part III - Simple Earned Value Management ", presented by Mark Perry (about Mark), host of The PMO Podcast™. Today’s episode is the third in a five part series aimed at recommendations for informal projects. For many of these kinds of informal projects, project management concepts like earned value management are not well known or used. Rather than using and relying upon traditional spend comparison approaches which can be very misleading, a key recommendation for these informal projects is the use of simple earned value management, simple EVM. The PMO Podcast™ Points Memo discusses, “PMO Moments of Truth." There many kinds of moments of truth – good, bad, and indifferent. Good ones are referred to as moments of magic. The bad ones are referred to as moments of misery. And the indifferent ones are missed opportunities. Of course, as PMO managers, our goal should be to create lots of moments of magic, even if they emanat

This week The PMO Podcast™ Featured Story presents, "Recommendations for Informal Projects Part II - The Simple Dynamic Schedule", presented by Mark Perry (about Mark), host of The PMO Podcast™. Today’s episode is the second in a five part series aimed at recommendations for informal projects. Informal projects can mean different things to different people. Some people view informal projects as all of those projects in which no real methodology is being adhered to. Others view informal projects to be all of those ubiquitous projects that exist all throughout the business that will seldom be managed by a certified project management professional and are not part of the formal project portfolio of the PMO or IT department. For many of these kinds of informal projects, the schedule of the project exists in the form of a task list, each with static milestones, just waiting for potential problems, issues, and difficulties to arise. Rather than using and relying upon such a task list oriented schedule, a key recomm

This week The PMO Podcast™ Featured Story presents, "Recommendations for Informal Projects Part I - The Simple WBS", presented by Mark Perry (about Mark), host of The PMO Podcast™. Today’s episode is the first in a five part series aimed at recommendations for informal projects. Informal projects can mean different things to different people. Some people view informal projects as all of those projects in which no real methodology is being adhered to. Others view informal projects to be all of those ubiquitous projects that exist all throughout the business that will seldom be managed by a certified project management professional and are not part of the formal project portfolio of the PMO or IT department. For informal projects, often times the requirements, scope, and schedule of the project exists in the form of a task list resulting in untold kinds of potential problems and issues. Rather than using and relying upon such a task list, a key recommendation for these information projects is the use of a simpl

This week The PMO Podcast™ Featured Story presents, "Seven Ways to Build PMO Awareness", presented by Mark Perry (about Mark), host of The PMO Podcast™. To some, taking the time to build awareness of the PMO is viewed as an unnecessary task and waste of time. To others, building and maintaining awareness of the PMO and the value add that it delivers is a key priority and part of the PMO mission. Building a good PMO awareness is the product of a clear PMO vision, and nobody knows more about vision than heads of small departments. With limited resources, mainly time, building PMO awareness can be tricky. Fortunately, if you have a few good tools, it doesn't need to take a lot of time, money or resources. Hear seven ways to build awareness for your PMO. The PMO Podcast™ Points Memo suggests, “It’s good to be a starter, it’s great to be a finisher." How many great ideas were started, but not finished? During the Great Depression, architect Alfred M. Butts devised a game of 100 lettered tiles used to form words on