Jan 9, 2025 · 35 min
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Business
Project Podcast
Project magazine, brought to you by APM
Project managers share their stories from the front line of the project and programme management profession.
This podcast is brought to you by APM, the chartered membership organisation for the project profession. For more information on how to join APM, visit apm.org.uk.
- 148 episodes
- Updated July 23
Episodes148
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Dec 26, 2024 · 17 min5 things we learned in 2024
2024 is drawing to a close, and with a new year just around the corner, here at the APM Podcast we’re in a reflective mood. In this episode, we’re going to look back at what we’ve learned from the 25 episodes we’ve published this year. We’ve covered everything from managing radioactive waste to making documentaries for the BBC. But what have been the standout lessons? Don’t forget to share yours! Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
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Dec 12, 2024 · 53 minHow AI is changing projects right now
Emma meets Daniel Armanios, BT Professor of Major Programme Management at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, and Zack Swafford, co-founder of Dart, a San Francisco-based start-up whose project management tool uses artificial intelligence (AI) to assist with brainstorming, roadmap planning and report generation, among other tasks. The pair consider the rapid developments in AI over the past year and speculate on what 2025 might hold. Listen on to hear their thoughts on the exciting potential of AI, their worries about the technology and their advice on what you should be doing to get to grips with this work revolution. Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
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Nov 28, 2024 · 27 minLessons on reaching the C-suite with Babcock International Group’s Donna Sinnick
Emma meets Donna Sinnick, Chief Delivery Officer at Babcock International Group, a defence, aerospace and security company, about her rise to the top of the profession and the valuable career and project management lessons she's learned along the way. Donna shares her advice on everything from creating simplicity in programmes and projects to being a woman in a male-dominated environment and moving on from imposter syndrome. Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
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Nov 14, 2024 · 43 minDiverse routes into the profession: career stories from APM’s Women in Project Management Interest Network
Emma meets four project professionals who volunteer for APM's Women in Project Management (WiPM) Interest Network. They have all found their own unique path to a career in project management. They share their experience of switching sectors and coming to project management from a non-traditional career path – and give plenty of advice on how to successfully find your own way up the career ladder. They are: Irene Maposa, Chair of APM's WiPM Interest Network and Visiting Lecturer at the University of East London Chibuzo Ikeh, Project Manager at RJ Emmanuel Rochelle Sampson-Clarke, Business Intelligence Project Manager at the NHS Nadia Krasteva, Legal Project Manager at Sackers Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
- PPOct 31, 2024 · 39 min
How to have difficult conversations
Emma meets Marie Coombes and Sophie Paton to explore how to have difficult conversations as a project manager. With their advice, learn how to approach these conversations without feeling daunted – and why we shouldn't even describe such conversations as ‘difficult’, but rather reframe them as ‘essential’. Marie is the director of We Restore Calm and a seasoned expert in conflict resolution, mediation and employee engagement, for which she has won several awards. Sophie is an experienced facilitator and partner at Make Happy, a consultancy that helps teams unlock their full potential, solve complex problems and find new ideas. Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
- PPOct 17, 2024 · 54 min
How to be an inclusive leader
Recorded live at APM’s Women in Project Management Conference 2024, this episode brings together four project professionals to discuss what inclusivity means to them. Being an inclusive leader, they said, can strengthen relationships with colleagues by creating a more supportive and collaborative workplace culture. But is it easier said than done? And how do you bring people with you? Join Elizabeth Nolan, Roselyn Unegbu, Sarah Outterson and Ali Parish as they share their top three things that make for an inclusive workplace, before taking questions from the audience. Register your interest for the 2025 Women in Project Management Conference (2 October 2025) at this link: www.apm.org.uk/apm-wipm-conference/register-of-interest-form-2025/ Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
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Oct 3, 2024 · 35 minSecrets to leadership success with career coach Susanne Madsen
Emma meets Susanne Madsen, an executive coach for business leaders, particularly those working in the project profession. She is the award-winning author of The Power of Project Leadership and a regular contributor to Project journal. Susanne is known for her transformational leadership programmes and has coached hundreds of individuals from high-profile organisations across the globe. Her new book, How to Do the Inner Work, is available as a book, e-book, and audiobook. We often think the answer to our personal and professional problems lie outside of us, she says. But many of the answers we're looking for can be found within. Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
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Sep 19, 2024 · 36 minEpisode 100: the BBC’s Ros Atkins on how to be a better communicator
To celebrate our 100th episode, Emma meets Ros Atkins, the BBC’s News Analysis Editor, who has presented and reported on some of the biggest stories around the world for 20 years. He’s also the creator of the critically acclaimed Ros Atkins On… video series, where he explains complex stories in a truly masterful way. His new book, The Art of Explanation, is out now in paperback. In it, and in this interview, Ros shares how to get the often difficult art of explaining right. We don’t just mean explaining the ins and outs of a project to your team or stakeholders, but how to communicate everything that matters to you with both clarity and confidence so that you can do what you set out to achieve. Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
- PPSep 5, 2024 · 47 min
Inside the UK space race: behind the scenes at Nammo Space
Emma travels to Westcott, Buckinghamshire, to meet the team at Nammo Space, who work on propulsion systems for space rocket engines and thrusters. Their cutting-edge products are used on international space programmes, whether they’re satellites or missions to the moon or Mars. The business is growing rapidly, with around 100 people, and 12 project professionals. Read more in the autumn 2024 edition of Project journal. Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
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Aug 22, 2024 · 28 minHow to be a project influencer, with APM Trustee Emma Carroll-Walsh
Emma meets Emma Caroll-Walsh, Director of Customer Programmes at Aqua Consultants and Deputy Chair of APM’s Built Environment Interest Network, who is also an outgoing APM Board Trustee. She shares her top tips on how to be an effective project influencer and why it really matters to hone your influencing skills – plus what it's like to step up to being a Board Trustee and the valuable professional and career experience it brings. 2024 APM Trustee elections: find out more at https://www.apm.org.uk/news/2024-apm-trustee-elections-nominations-now-open/ Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
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Aug 8, 2024 · 39 minBring people with you: lessons from APM’s Project Professional of the Year
Emma meets Jimmy Nguyen, APM’s Project Professional of the Year 2023 and Associate Director at Turner & Townsend. Jimmy worked on the Bromford and Castle Vale flood risk management scheme for the Environment Agency. He was praised by APM’s awards judges for successfully dealing with stakeholder pressure, garnering support from the local MP and forming a high-performing team to deliver the project for the overall benefit of the local community. Listen on for his top project and career tips. Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
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Navigating tomorrow: 5 things we learned at the 2024 APM Conference
We take a deep dive into the future of the project profession, with a compilation of some of our favourite insights from the 2024 APM Conference. Held in Coventry in June, the theme for this year’s APM Conference was ‘Navigating Tomorrow: Future Skills for Project Professionals’. The event invited project leaders and experts on future trends to unpack the rapidly changing landscape that projects are being delivered in. AI and data literacy were among the hot topics – including both the opportunities and threats of new technology for project managers’ employment prospects. The conference also considered whether there is a skills gap in the profession, and the must-have competencies to future-proof your career. To register your interest in the 2025 conference, visit www.apm.org.uk/apm-conference/register-of-interest-2025/ Contact us at apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
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Jul 18, 2024 · 30 minUK Parliament: building a community of engaged project professionals
Emma meets Algy Ayson, Head of Project Delivery Centre of Excellence and Profession at UK Parliament, who works on projects and programmes across both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Emma spoke to him in June, just a few weeks ahead of the UK general election. Algy gives some great advice on how to create culturally competent project teams where diverse perspectives are welcomed and used to the advantage of projects. He is a project professional who puts people and relationships between stakeholders top when it comes to successful project delivery. Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
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Jul 11, 2024 · 35 minAdvising government on radioactive waste, with Sir Nigel Thrift (CoRWM)
Professor Adam Boddison in conversation Sir Nigel Thrift, Chair of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, or CoRWM. CoRWM’s role, as Sir Nigel describes it, is to give independent scientific and technical advice to UK Government on all aspects of the management of radioactive waste. Sir Nigel is one of the world’s leading human geographers and previously served as Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Warwick and as Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University of Oxford. Hear him chat with Adam about dealing with a football stadium’s worth of radioactive waste, the environmental impact of mega-cities and how to enable better long-term thinking in government departments. Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
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Jun 28, 2024 · 38 minThe APM President handover: reflections on project trends and future ambitions
APM CEO Professor Adam Boddison invites outgoing APM President Sue Kershaw and her successor Yvonne Thompson CBE to hand over the baton. Sue shares her reflections on the biggest project management trends over her time in the hotseat, from managing greater project complexity and going from megaprojects to gigaprojects, to being able to deliver on promises and the need for greater connectivity. Yvonne takes the opportunity to set out her ambitious priorities, including focusing on diversity and inclusion, sustainability and AI. How do we prepare today for success tomorrow, she asks. Listen on to find out more. Get in touch: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
- PPMay 30, 2024 · 33 min
The future of human behaviour, with an APM Conference keynote speaker
Emma meets Thimon de Jong, founder of WHETSTON / strategic foresight, a think tank specialising in future human behaviour and societal change and the implications for leadership and business strategy. The pair discuss where society and all of us are headed in the near future, and what project managers and leaders need to think about when it comes to the people they're managing, the projects they're running and your own mental wellbeing amid the ‘polycrisis’. Thimon is a keynote speaker at the APM Conference on 5–6 June 2024. More information here. Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
- PPMay 13, 2024 · 38 min
The Golden Thread: What is the economic contribution of the project profession?
What is the true value of the project profession to the UK economy and society? That is the question that APM seeks to answer in its new research report, The Golden Thread. Expanding on research first published in 2019, the new report provides updated data on the contribution of the project profession in the context of the global disruptions of the past five years. In this podcast we share an edited recording of the launch event for the Golden Thread report. Download the report at https://www.apm.org.uk/resources/research/the-golden-thread/ Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
- PPMay 1, 2024 · 37 min
A world first: Decommissioning a nuclear fusion machine
Emma meets Steve Gilligan, a programme manager who’s playing a critical role in the world's first decommissioning of a nuclear fusion machine. He works at Culham Campus, just outside Oxford, home to the Joint European Taurus, or JET, a tokamak machine where some of the world’s most important nuclear fusion experiments have taken place. But now JET’s days are over and Gilligan is tasked with taking apart and reusing and retrieving valuable resources from the tokamak. Using robots through remote handling is a key part of his focus. Steve shares what it’s like working on such an exciting and world-leading project, why humour is key when it comes to high-risk project management environments and why it’s always worth celebrating those project successes. Get in touch: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
- PPApr 17, 2024 · 34 min
Leading the government property profession, with Lynda Rawsthorne
Professor Adam Boddison in conversation with the Head of the Government Property Profession, Lynda Rawsthorne. Sitting within the Cabinet Office, Lynda is responsible for the strategy for the whole government estate, which covers everything from hospitals to courts and offices. She describes her role as engaging, encouraging and motivating the 7,000-plus professionals who make up the property profession in government. Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk