“Diversity without inclusion is exclusion. So to ignore and to believe that there is no culture is excluding the opportunity to bring someone into a new culture or a living, breathing culture.” As a project manager, you’re in a unique position to shape company culture. So how can you use that influence to build a diverse and inclusive workplace? It…

“Be more of the coach and less of the time-tracker.” Creative project management isn’t always easy—especially if there’s friction between project managers and design teams. So how do you give creativity room to thrive while ensuring design projects deliver on time and budget? In this episode of Time Limit, Brett talks with Greg Storey about how pro…

“I want every one of our PMs, and our directors actually, to have the ability to jump on something—to give that extra 20% that’s needed for a given week without having to let other balls fall.” Agency operations is all about the numbers and processes that drive success. But it’s hard to run a profitable business if your team’s overworked or your cl…

“I didn’t go to business school. I didn’t have a mentor guiding me. I had to kind of fall on my face a little bit. EOS introduced me to a simpler way to run a business.” Starting your own business is a big step for any entrepreneur. But how do you know you’re ready to grow beyond a one-person operation and lead an actual team? In this episode of Ti…

“I invite my team to listen in—to be part of those reactions when people look at our games—because it’s so important to have a shared understanding.” When most folks think about project management, game design probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. But every video game that’s developed needs a project manager at the helm to ensure the f…

“There’s a very big difference between being busy—getting little meaningless things done—versus making real progress toward your goals.” How do you motivate your team and increase productivity? It starts with stepping back from the to-do list and looking at what you want to accomplish as an organization, as a team, and—yes—even as individuals with …

“Empathy as a verb is a choice—and how you choose to engage in empathy is going to change from person to person based on each individual’s desires and needs." Empathy isn’t just critical to good communication. It’s the heart of effective leadership. Yet empathy often gets pushed aside in the attempt to project a “perfect” professional image. With m…

“We tend to think we can do things a lot faster than we really can. We also tend to think that the risks won't really be as bad and that the benefits will be really good." Anyone who has ever estimated a project, or even a single task, knows that it’s tough work. Not only are you making guesses about time spent or pricing, you’re probably also maki…

“In order to be a remote project manager, you really have to boost your project management skills.” Whether you’ve been managing projects remotely for a long time, or you were flung into it when Covid-19 forced you into it, you know that keeping details, tasks, people, and projects on track from afar can be a challenge. There are, of course, some t…

“An important PM skill is to be able to facilitate conversations around business value in order to strategize and look at outcomes.” Goals. We all have them. Or at least we should. In the world of project management, goals manifest in different ways. As project managers we are often mired in goals of all types: organizations, project, and even pers…

“Project managers are probably one of the most key influencers for strategy. And they can either make or break any project”. Strategic decision making is a part of almost any job, but it’s all-encompassing when it comes to project management. PMs are not only faced with making strategic decisions to deliver a project successfully, they are also wel…

“It's a moment to understand who's on board, who's not on board right away instead of getting halfway through a project and a stakeholder pops up and I is like, ‘Wait a second, this wasn't what I was thinking.’” Project kickoff meetings provide an opportunity for teams to understand goals, set expectations, discuss strategy, and get excited about a…

“I love the very quick and fast pace of an agency and my projects.” Project management roles are pretty similar across industries, in that PMs are mostly responsible for facilitating projects and teams to a successful delivery while keeping a keen eye budgets and deadlines. That’s certainly the case for agency project management, but for some reaso…

“You need an innovation process so that once the individual has really vetted their idea and believes there's a market for it...you need to be able to transfer that to the organization at large, where they can execute on it.” “Innovation” is an exciting idea for many, but often a tad scary for project managers who are tasked with keeping project on…

”Everyone has a stake in change, everyone has a role in change, and everyone should be bought into the change. “ Change is hard, there is no doubt about it. But it’s even more difficult when it’s led poorly and the people who are deemed responsible for that change were never brought into it properly in the first place. That’s why solid leadership a…

“[Measuring productivity] is way more qualitative than quantitative in the age of knowledge workers.” Productivity means something different to all of us. It’s dependent on the work we’re doing, the frame of mind we’re in, where we are, and so many other factors. This personal element to productivity is the first thing we dive into with productivit…

"Human beings are conversational animals and we live our lives one conversation at a time." Conversations matter. Whether you’re pressed to make an important business decisions, feel the need to educate someone on a topic, or even just want to commiserate, the way you approach and frame your words--spoken or written--will impact the outcome of the …

“When we look to do our jobs (as project managers), there's no single lighthouse saying, ‘Everybody this way.’ And what you come across is conflict in ideas, and conflicts in ambition, and conflicts in groups that ultimately go to war.” Does project management ever feel confusing or annoying to you? Whether you’re a project manager or not, your ans…

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“I had really wanted a volunteering opportunity for a while. I knew that I had skills I could give to a charity, I just needed to find the right one.”” Have you ever thought about using your project management powers for good causes. Well, maybe you are in your day-to-day job, but there’s always an opportunity to help a group or charity who are loo…

“If there's an accountability problem in an organization, there's also an internal relationship problem between the people working together in that organization.” You’ve heard it 1,000 times: Team accountability makes projects run smoother. It’s true, it does. But why? Accountability is a personal issue. We are accountable to others, and it’s up to…

“Design Operations is tactical, it’s strategic design thinking, it's project management, but it's really this lens on combining business and design thinking to one role.” A new role has been emerging in the tech and product space, and it’s one that looks a whole lot like project or program management but focuses on design. It’s called Design Operat…

“The answer to When should you create a plan? is Always.” There will be times in your career as a project manager when your team or stakeholders want to forego a plan in favor of “just getting work done.” It happens all the time. Some times it works, but let's face it: most times it doesn’t. That's why you always need a plan. In this episode of Tim…

“The nice thing about people being away from you is that you cannot micromanage them. That actually frees you up as a manager to go and do the stuff you need to do.” There’s no doubt that where you work will impact how you work. In an age where remote work has become more and more popular, you’ve probably explored how you can manage projects and pe…

How are you feeling today? If you’re a busy project manager, there’s a really good chance that you’re feeling stress--or you have recently. And as the end of the year approaches, the pressure to wrap things up, deliver on year-end goals, and make everyone happy are probably building up. But you can’t let that stress get to you, because that leads t…

“PMs have a tendency of being lone wolves and I think going out into the community to understand what other challenges people are facing is a really great way to level set about where you are in the context of the field itself.” It’s true: project management isn’t an easy job. And, depending on where you work, you can end up feeling like you’re on …

"You manage tasks but you lead people." As a project manager, you lead projects and teams. Or do you manage them? What is the difference, actually? And will knowing the difference help you to be a better project manager? In this episode, Brett speaks with internationally recognized project leadership coach, trainer and consultant Susanne Madsen. Th…

“What you have to do (when presenting design) is find out what stakeholders already care about, and frame what you want to convince them of within that context.” Managing a design project often means managing people and their opinions. You need to lead those sometimes disparate opinions to a final decision and move on in order to keep your project …

“Focus some attention on your people and knowing those people, and understanding what their core strengths are because those are their drivers. Those are the things that really motivate them to show up and get stuff done.” If you lead projects, you’ve likely had battles with motivation in project management—whether it’s to find motivation to comple…

“Very basically a PMO normally stands for a project management office. And they're there to basically help organizations get better at delivering the projects that they have.” If you’ve ever wondered what a PMO is, that quote from this episode of Time Limit is your answer. But take heed, because there’s a lot of complexity to PMOs. That’s why we in…

"Trying to implement things from a framework, you've got to have expectations that you will need to adapt things, try things out." Sometimes your process is rock solid and it just works. Other times, you find room for improvement. Whether you’re adapting formalized practices like Scrum or Waterfall, or crafting your own process based on what you kn…

“Ironically, a lot of these planning meetings are about planning a very well directed project, but often not a lot of time or preparation goes into planning for the meetings.” If you’re a Time Limit listener, you’re likely stretched for time. And that means everything can feel rushed. But if there’s anything you can learn from this episode, it’s th…

Creating estimates and plans can be tough, especially if you don’t have the time to do them well. But, if you’re working on a team, you should leverage them. In this episode of Time Limit, Brett interviews best selling author, international speaker and CEO of Priceless Planning, Dr. Sidjae Price, about ways to get to well-rounded estimates and plan…

“The more you think about how things look to other people and how might they see the world, the better you're going to work together as a team.” There’s a lot that goes into making a team work well together. Of course there are those magical instances where you get a group of talented people together and it just works. But more often than not, you …

Whether you’re a seasoned PMP or a brand new project leader with no formal training, you’ve likely thought about ways to level up your skillset to make you a better PM and your career. But where do you go to learn? Sure, TeamGantt is a great starting point for classes, resources, and templates, but there’s more. In this episode, Brett talked to PM …

It seems like the natural project management career would lead to people management. But why? Managing projects is a far cry from managing people. And doing both at the same time? That sounds like madness. But people do it every day. In fact, this week’s guest is one of those people. Tera Simon works at Globant where she leads projects and project …

”This is a part of our work lives, quite frankly. What I like Putting a label on is that it helps you to understand a framework and how you can navigate through it.” You’ve been there: leadership doesn’t tell you things, rumors happen, ...Social politics are a part of our work lives, whether we like it or not. And did you know that there’s a positi…

If you think running projects can be difficult, you should try running a business! On this episode of Time Limit, Shawn Van Dyke digs in to the many highs and lows of running a construction business. It’s a wide-ranging conversation that touches on a lot of points that will resonate for you, no matter your industry or whether you’re a business owne…

Ever wonder what it would be like to go out on your own? Imagine that: the free wheelin’ life of a freelance project manager. In this episode of Time Limit, you’ll get an insider’s take on what it’s like to run your own freelance project management business. This week’s guest, Patrice Embry, shares her path into her successful freelance career, as …

It’s a fact: many project managers fell into their roles. Some more quickly than others, but the fact is: there are qualities that make a great PM and even better managers. In this episode, Sam Barnes, engineering manager at Marks and Spencer, shares his own winding path into PM and talks about where his experience led him. It’s a personal tale wit…

What’s the first question you’d ask an Agile expert? Tough one! But in this episode, Brett asked Leading Agile’s Certified Scrum Trainer Dave Prior the tough questions about Agile transformation, and even blending Agile approaches. It’s a good, short conversation that gets straight to the matter and may help you on your own Agile journey. Topics di…

On this episode of Time Limit, Brett talks to Elizabeth Harrin, founder of GirlsGuidetoPM.com, and author of 5 PM books, including Collaboration Tools for Project Managers. Not only did Elizabeth write the book on how PMs can implement tools and overcome obstacles, but she also showed up to the podcast with really valuable, practical advice and ide…

In this reboot of Time Limit, we share the idea for our new format and jump right into an interview with award-winning international speaker, author, and consultant Colin D. Ellis. Show Notes: “Great leadership provides the foundation for successful project management.” It’s a quote from Colin D. Ellis’s first book, *The Conscious Leader: How to cr…

This week, the guys talk about what motivataes them and how they keep their teams motivated. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.Af TeamGantt

Nathan, John, and Brett are back to talk about working remotely and how we handle a remote team at TeamGantt. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.Af TeamGantt

Nathan and John are joined again by PM guru Brett Harned to talk about estimating projects. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.Af TeamGantt

Nathan and John talk about working hard without burning out, and how we handle our work hours at TeamGantt. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.Af TeamGantt

Nathan, and John are joined by good friend and digital project manager extraordinaire Brett Harned to talk about PM Methodologies and which ones you should think about for your projects. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.Af TeamGantt