
94 episodes

Project Management Happy Hour Kim Essendrup and Kate Anderson
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- Business
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4.8 • 225 Ratings
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PM Happy Hour is the place for frank and honest discussion about real world issues in project management. We do it in a way that’s not too dry, though it may get a bit salty from time to time.
Each episode, your hosts Kim Essendrup and Kate Anderson we will cover a problem faced in project management today, and share practical advice, real-life examples and the occasional project horror story.
Not only that, but every podcast is also an online class! Our host is a PMI Registered Education Provider, who has structured each podcast as an easy-to-listen-to lesson. To get credit, go to our web site at PMHappyHour.com, purchase your class, take the test (based on the content from our podcast) and you get your PDU certificate instantly!
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087 - Creative decision making: do you have the right 4 voices in the room? with Teresa Lawrence
Creative decision making is key to what we do in all our projects. According to FourSight, there are 4 distinct voices in the decision making process. Do you have these voices in the room when you make decisions? Do you know when you need all 4 voices - or only a couple specific ones?
We are joined today by Teresa Lawrence who gave one of the most fun and engaging talks at this past year’s PMI Global Summit in Las Vegas. She talks us through the FourSight approach to creative problem solving, the 4 voices in decision making, and also reveals the results of Kim and Kate’s FourSight assessment on the air!
Best of all, you can do this too! Check out our page at https://pmhappyhour.com/foursight and sign up to get your own FourSight assessment and join Kim, Kate, Teresa and your fellow Happy Hour fans as we get our results and learn how we can better approach creative problem solving ourselves and with our teams.
About our amazing guest, Teresa Lawrence, PhD, PMP, CSM
Teresa Lawrence is an influencer and SME on the integration of creativity and Creative Problem Solving (CPS) into Project Management. Since 2017, she has facilitated, trained and consulted to over 85K people since 2017. Investing years of experience in you. She was a 2019 Small Business Administration Home-based Business of the Year. A cognitive diversity trainer, she joins us today from Florida.
Find out more about the Teresa’s work and FourSight
You can read more about Teresa's work and even engage her to help facilitate your team here: http://internationaldeliverables.com/ You can read about the FourSight assessment here: https://www.foursightonline.com/ JOIN THE HAPPY HOUR!
Get access to all podcasts, PDU certificates, bonus content, exclusive member Q&A webinars and more from our membership! https://pmhappyhour.com/membership
STUMP THE PM’S!
We love to hear about your tough PM issues, so please hit us up at podcast@pmhappyhour.com or on Linkedin and we’ll see if we can help you. If we use your question, we’ll send you a PM Happy Hour coaster you can enjoy at your next happy hour.
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086 - The project behind a Disaster Response, with the ITDRC
“I know the world is ending, but do you have wifi here?”
Sounds funny, but it’s deadly serious. Natural disasters impact critical infrastructure that we depend on every day: shelter, fresh water, food distribution, and power. These are the ones we think about.
But what about communication?
How do relief agencies, police, fire, and government coordinate a disaster response when there is no power, no cell signal, no wifi? How do community members communicate with each other, find out where to get aid, or reach out to loved ones who are worrying about them if there is no functioning communication infrastructure - or even a place to charge your phone?
Enter the ITDRC! The Information Technology Disaster Resource Center is a non-profit organization that sends teams and equipment to disaster areas to provide communication and technology services. The PM’s involved are truly project management heroes, and we get to hear from one of them today, Charis Mayhorn.
About our amazing guest, Charis Mayhorn
Charis Mayhorn is a Network Architect. In her day job, she designs IP networks, advises leadership and boards on infrastructure best practices, and guides cross-team collaboration. In her free time, she volunteers with ITDRC.
Find out more about the ITDRC here:
Volunteer and read more about the ITDRC on their website, https://itdrc.org/
Check out this video of a 2 day ride along during Hurricane Ian response:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgbzRiqHnvE
Read about the ITDRC’s other activities at https://medium.com/@ITDRC
JOIN THE HAPPY HOUR!
Get access to all podcasts, PDU certificates, bonus content, exclusive member Q&A webinars and more from our membership! https://pmhappyhour.com/membership
STUMP THE PM’S!
We love to hear about your tough PM issues, so please hit us up at podcast@pmhappyhour.com or on Linkedin and we’ll see if we can help you. If we use your question, we’ll send you a PM Happy Hour coaster you can enjoy at your next happy hour.
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085 - Deciding on how to make good Decisions, with Kandis Porter
Decisions make or break your project - starting with the decision of whether or not to even do your project. Beyond that, we have planned decisions / phase gates and ad-hoc decisions that happen throughout the entire life of our project. And if you’ve been around long enough, you know that one bad decision can sink your whole project - or at least have it taking on water, fast.
So, how should we approach decision making in a logical way which helps ensure that:
The right decisions get made
Decisions get made by the right people
Decisions are not revisited any more than they absolutely have to
To help answer these questions, this episode we are joined by Project Management mentor, consultant and YouTube PM star Kandis Porter! If you don’t know Kandis, you must check out her extensive youtube channel covering a lot of great Project Management topics.
In today’s episode, Kandis will help us understand:
Why should we care so much about project decisions?
How should you approach decision making?
Kandis shares her “D.I.D.I.” framework for decision making
How do you ensure your decisions stick?
What are some “worst practices” for decision making that we should avoid
And along the way, we may throw in some horror stories about bad decision making that we can hopefully learn from
About our amazing guest, Kandis Porter
Kandis Porter is the Founder and Managing Director of Effective Flow Connections (EFC), a management consulting company that helps transform organizations through project management, process improvement, change management, facilitation of key meetings, and training. Kandis also works one-on-one with clients, focusing on Leadership development and growth. EFC enables organizations to do what they do, even better!
Kandis Porter has more than 18 years of experience managing people and large projects in both the government and private sectors. She has supported clients in various industries, to include the Department of Defense, Federal Aviation Administration, utilities, medical device, health care, non-profit, and learning & development.
Kandis has a Master of Science Degree in Project Management (MSPM) from The George Washington University and Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Human Resources. In addition, she is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), PMP Exam Prep Course Instructor through Project Management Institute, Prosci Change Manager, and Six Sigma Green Belt. She is also certified as a Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Practitioner, Thomas-Kilmann Instrument (TKI) Practitioner, and is a Wiley DiSC Workshop facilitator.
Before joining the consulting industry, Kandis proudly spent more than seven years on Active Duty in the United States Air Force and is passionate about giving back to veterans and their families.
Check out some of Kandis’ amazing content here:
YouTube: Kandis Porter - YouTube
Website: Kandis Porter - effectiveflowconnections.com
Kandis also has a book being released in early 2023 called ‘Good Decisions Equal Success’; coauthored with good friend and CEO, Damon Lembi
JOIN THE HAPPY HOUR!
Get access to all podcasts, PDU certificates, bonus content, exclusive member Q&A webinars and more from our membership! https://pmhappyhour.com/membership
STUMP THE PM’S!
We love to hear about your tough PM issues, so please hit us up at podcast@pmhappyhour.com or on Linkedin and we’ll see if we can help you. If we use your question, we’ll send you a PM Happy Hour coaster you can enjoy at your next happy hour.
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084 - OH, We Forgot About Change Management! What to do when you get caught with your ADKAR down, with Tim Creasey
Yeah! One of our favorite guests, Tim Creasey, returns! This time we are talking about what happens if you realize, too late in the game, that you really didn’t consider Change Management enough in your planning cycle.
It’s such a universal experience of a project manager to not have change management, and so many of us end up in these situations where we struggle to see the real benefits of a change we’ve implemented. We figured: why not start where most of us end up: in trouble!
Join Kate and Kim as we talk with Tim about how to recover.
About our amazing guest, Tim Creasey
An author, researcher, change expert and human, Tim focuses on the people-side of change with process, wit and vigor. Tim’s work forms the foundation of the world’s largest body of knowledge on change management. His role as Chief Innovation Officer at Prosci gives him unparalleled insight into change management challenges, trends and futures. Having spoken to hundreds of thousands of people around the globe, Tim is authentic, knowledgeable and unassumingly funny. He enables audiences with valuable data and actionable information.
And here are some links to some of Tim’s other amazing content:
8 Alignment Hacks That Enhance Change Management Today
While formal approaches to Change Management are a must for people-dependent projects and complex transformations, sometimes simple adjustments can help teams and colleagues remove roadblocks and enable rapid change during uncertain times.
Why Change Management
People are the common denominator for achieving project success and business outcomes and the research is clear: Initiatives with excellent change management are six times more likely to succeed.
Taking Charge of Change Training Program
Prosci’s Taking Charge of Change 1-day program will help you get started on delivering change success through people.
Tim’s LinkedIn Profile
Connect with Tim on LinkedIn and keep the change management conversation going!
JOIN THE HAPPY HOUR!
Get access to all podcasts, PDU certificates, bonus content, exclusive member Q&A webinars and more from our membership! https://pmhappyhour.com/membership
STUMP THE PM’S!
We love to hear about your tough PM issues, so please hit us up at podcast@pmhappyhour.com or on Linkedin and we’ll see if we can help you. If we use your question, we’ll send you a PM Happy Hour coaster you can enjoy at your next happy hour. -
083 - The 30 Minute Executive Meeting: Make it count
As a project manager, the time you get with an executive sponsor is critical: you don’t get much of it and you cannot blow it! For many of our listeners, you may be new to executive meetings. But, how do you get the most out of these meetings and give a good impression so you can get the confidence of your executive sponsors? It’s something we ALL struggle with and can all get better with.
On today’s show, Kate and Kim talk through how to win with these meetings. Jokingly the 30/60/90 minute plan (30 minute meeting after 60 hours of preparation and 90 pounds of stress eating), we talk you through:
Knowing your audience How to present to execs How to tell your story JOIN THE HAPPY HOUR!
Get access to all podcasts, PDU certificates, bonus content, exclusive member Q&A webinars and more from our membership! https://pmhappyhour.com/membership
STUMP THE PM’S!
We love to hear about your tough PM issues, so please hit us up at podcast@pmhappyhour.com or on Linkedin and we’ll see if we can help you. If we use your question, we’ll send you a PM Happy Hour coaster you can enjoy at your next happy hour. -
082 - The Project Behind a Tech Startup, with Pete Bernardo from Punchlist
Tech startups drive the technology around us, and a good bit of the economy. They use creativity, ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit to solve problems and build the world of tomorrow. But how do they do that? Is it really like the “Shark Tank” or “Dragon’s Den” tv shows?
Today we are joined by a real-life tech founder who has successfully built his company and introduced a new tool to the market - a PM tool, no less! Pete Bernardo, founder of Punchlist tells us about the project behind founding a startup and bringing his product to market. And, no, it’s not quite like the TV show :-)
AND you can get your first month free & 10% off the price of Punchlist by signing up here and using the coupon code: PMHAPPYHOUR
OUR AMAZING GUEST: Pete Bernardo, Founder of Punchlist
Pete Bernardo is the Founder & CEO of Punchlist, the #1 client feedback layer over your creative work. Pete is also a TechStars Atlanta Mentor, a father of two, and an occasional pizza maker.
Former EVP of Product & Growth at Three Five Two, Pete has 20 years of design & development experience across clients like CNN, Porsche, American Express, and Microsoft.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petebernardo/
JOIN THE HAPPY HOUR!
Get access to all podcasts, PDU certificates, bonus content, exclusive member Q&A webinars and more from our membership! https://pmhappyhour.com/membership
STUMP THE PM’S!
We love to hear about your tough PM issues, so please hit us up at podcast@pmhappyhour.com or on Linkedin and we’ll see if we can help you. If we use your question, we’ll send you a PM Happy Hour coaster you can enjoy at your next happy hour.
Customer Reviews
Best PM Podcast
SO GOOD. Fun, succinct, applicable project management advice in a laid back podcast between two friends who are super fun to listen to. Thanks Kate & Kim!
Valuable topics and insight, a little too much chatter
This is a solid project management podcast with experienced hosts that know what they’re talking about. The topics are very relevant and timely. It took me an episode or two to get acclimated to the presentation style and format, but then I enjoyed it. I think some episodes degenerate into idle chatter and get off topic when they could be more organized and give listeners some anecdotes, mnemonics or adages that they can remember and apply at work.
Best PM podcast. Period.
Kate and Kim are so insightful, and they keep content fresh with great interviews and helpful frameworks to make PM life much easier. The best episode is the D&D one!