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.

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148 episodes
Updated July 23

Episodes148

Newest first

Mar 29, 2024 · 48 min
National Trust, part 3: What’s it like to be a project management apprentice?
In the third and final part of our series on the National Trust, Emma is back at Dyrham Park near Bath to meet three project management apprentices who all started at the Trust in October 2022 and are nearing the end of their 18-month apprenticeship programme after sitting APM’s Project Management Qualification. So, what’s it like to be an apprentice in an organisation that puts project management at the heart of what it does? What have they learnt so far, what projects have they worked on and where might their future career take them? Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Mar 15, 2024 · 52 min
National Trust, part 2: Managing urban and net-zero programmes
In episode 2 of our three-part series on the National Trust, an APM Corporate Partner, Emma finds out about the Trust’s urban programmes and its work in renewables. As well as visiting Stoneford Community Garden in Dagenham, East London, she meets Jo Dmitri, a Senior Programme Manager leading a team of nine project professionals as part of the strategy work the Trust is doing in London to connect green spaces. Finally, Emma speaks to Dee Nunn, who works on the charity’s renewable energy investment programme, which is focused on achieving net zero by 2030. Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Feb 23, 2024 · 45 min
National Trust, part 1: Project management at the heart of conservation
In our three-part series on the National Trust, an APM Corporate Partner, we find out how the charity has brought project management close to its organisational heart. In episode 1, Emma goes behind the scenes at Dyrham Park, a 17th-century mansion near Bath, which recently underwent a multimillion-pound transformation project. She meets Mike Hudson, Head of Strategic Planning, Project and Programme Management at the National Trust, and Senior Project Manager Tim Cambourne, who takes her on a tour of the house. Find out more about APM’s Corporate Partnership Programme at www.apm.org.uk/corporate-partnership-programme Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Feb 8, 2024 · 28 min
The BBC’s Rachel Baldwin: From documentary maker to portfolio director
Rachel Baldwin is Head of Programme and Project Delivery at the BBC, where she leads a team of 115 people tasked with a huge variety of IT and technology programmes – including a brand‑new home for the Beeb in Birmingham and creating the largest orchestral recording space in Europe in East London. But while Rachel is now a seasoned project professional, she started her career as a documentary film maker. Among her credits are One Life: Pregnant in Two Wombs and Mr Trebus’ Life of Grime, which was nominated for a Broadcast Award. But how did Rachel make the career switch and what lessons did she learn along the way? Listen on to hear her chat with Project writer Andrew Saunders for the upcoming spring issue… Resources: Our interview with Channel 4’s Sonia Sharma: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/gtsKdROi1Gb Our interview with Dan Jennings of global media agency Wavemaker: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/yQIpeyRi1Gb Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Jan 25, 2024 · 28 min
Why high-risk medical research needs strong project management
What’s it like to deliver life-changing medical research projects that address health problems facing communities, change health options and outcomes for patients, and improve the lives of people living with disease? That’s the remit of Dr Karen Skinner, Chief Project and Portfolio Officer at not-for-profit Life Arc. Join us as she sits down with Professor Adam Boddison, Chief Executive of APM, for an in-depth conversation about project management in the charity sector. Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Jan 11, 2024 · 26 min
How to get to the top (and be yourself): Tips from an ex-CEO
Emma meets Dame Inga Beale, portfolio director and former CEO of global insurance giant Lloyd’s of London. Dame Inga was keynote speaker at APM’s 2023 Women in Project Management Conference. Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Dec 29, 2023 · 15 min
The 15-minute conference: Top tips from APM’s Women in Project Management Conference
Ever wondered how to balance work and family, how to strategise your career and how to network effectively? In this episode, we’ve compiled some of our highlights from APM’s Women in Project Management Conference 2023. These sessions focused on how project professionals – women in particular – can take their career to the next level. Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Dec 22, 2023 · 32 min
Levelling up and lessons from major projects, with Baroness Valentine
Professor Adam Boddison meets Baroness Valentine. Having started out working in corporate finance in the City in the 1980s, in recent years Baroness Valentine has had what she describes as a “portfolio career”. Her current roles include Chair of Heathrow Southern Railway and Co-Director of Place at Business in the Community. As of 2005, she also sits in the House of Lords as a cross-bench member, with a current focus on levelling up. She was also formerly on the boards of both Crossrail and HS2. Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Dec 8, 2023 · 25 min
5 things we learned in 2023
We look back at our favourite moments from the podcast in 2023. It’s been another action-packed year in which we’ve welcomed guests from across the international project management community. We kicked off 2023 with an episode on bringing empathy into the workplace, and since then we’ve covered topics ranging from the rise of artificial intelligence to the can-do mindset of Icelandic project managers. But there have been a few episodes that really stood out to us and which performed particularly well with listeners. So in this episode, we share our ‘top five lessons from the year’ in the form of short extracts from these episodes. Contact: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Nov 9, 2023 · 37 min
What artificial intelligence means for the future of project management
In this episode, Emma meets three project professionals with a deep interest in artificial intelligence (AI) to consider what impact this technology is having right now on projects, what it might hold for the future and what project managers should be doing to adapt to this brave new world. Joining Emma are: Professor Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, Founder of the Strategy Implementation Institute and author of the Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook James Garner, Global Head of Data and Intelligence at Gleeds and Chair of the Project Data Analytics Task Force Martin Paver, CEO of consultancy Projecting Success Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Oct 26, 2023 · 28 min
The origins of agile project management
In this episode, Emma is joined once again by Professor Darren Dalcher of the University of Lancaster. Few people have studied project management as closely or for as long as Darren. In a career spanning more than 25 years, he has become very interested in the reasons for project failure. When it comes to agile, Darren was there from the start when it was being experimented with in software development. Who better, then, to explore the origins of agile and its impact on projects? Contact: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Oct 5, 2023 · 37 min
How to manage menopause in the workplace
Emma meets three women to talk about menopause in the workplace. Two of them are project professionals – Rachel Jackson of Anglo American and Jo Roberts of the DfT – while the third, Aly Dilks of Simply Menopausal, is a nurse specialising in menopause. The guests share experience and advice for those wanting to find out how to best deal with being menopausal, and how to support colleagues going through menopause. Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Sep 21, 2023 · 26 min
Launching a career in the space sector, with the UK Space Agency’s Martina Blake
Professor Adam Boddison meets Martina Blake of the UK Space Agency. Martina heads up the agency’s Office for Project and Programme Management, which she set up in November 2021. She explains that you don’t have to be an astronaut or scientist to work in the space sector – there is a huge variety of roles in project delivery and beyond. And as with other government departments, the UK Space Agency has signalled its commitment to enabling its project professionals to gain formal accreditation and meet their career ambitions. Contact: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Sep 8, 2023 · 26 min
Modernising defence through projects, with Army Portfolio Director Kris Baldy
Professor Adam Boddison (APM Chief Executive) in conversation with Kris Baldy, Army Portfolio Director at the UK Ministry of Defence. Kris shares his journey through the ranks of the civil service, including his rise from admin assistant to portfolio director, and how he, in his own words, "stumbled into project management". Projects and programmes, Kris says, are central to tackling the main challenges facing the Army, including the modernisation of vital equipment. None of that is possible without a pipeline of talented project professionals entering the Ministry of Defence, and Kris tells Adam about the department’s approach to growing and developing its project talent base, while reminding us that you don’t have to be in uniform to deliver projects in the Army. Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Aug 31, 2023 · 28 min
State-of-the-art risk management in projects: What you need to know
Emma meets Peter Simon, a Director at Lucidus Consulting and a member of the APM Risk SIG Committee. He is co-author of a new APM report looking into opportunity management as part of the overall project risk management process. The findings reveal notable areas where what is defined in textbooks and standards do not match what’s happening in practice. Contact: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Aug 17, 2023 · 15 min
The 15-minute conference: What you may have missed at APM’s Change Changes event
In June, APM held its annual conference in Birmingham under the heading of ‘Change Changes’. The event explored how the project profession must adapt to the changing nature of change itself in a world of increasing uncertainty and complexity. It emphasised the enormous contribution that projects can, and do, make to forging a cleaner, safer, more prosperous and more inclusive society. In this podcast, we’ve compiled some of the key insights that emerged from the first stream of sessions at the conference, which was focused on the transformative impact that projects can have both on individual lives as well as economic, social and physical landscapes. Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Aug 10, 2023 · 27 min
The female CEO leading the East West Rail project
Emma meets Beth West, CEO of East West Rail, a transport project that will open up a corridor from Oxford, through Milton Keynes and Bedford, to Cambridge and connect the UK’s two leading life sciences and tech hot spots. Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Jul 21, 2023 · 29 min
How to tie in sustainability and data analytics to deliver successful projects
In this episode, Emma meets Jo Jolly, Deputy Director and Head of Project Futures at the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, who recently spoke at APM's Change Changes conference. Everything is touched by projects, Jo told the audience. The UN Sustainable Development Goals should be actions for all our projects: we can do these things if we want to. Listen to hear Jo share how project delivery can be transformed for the better by embracing data and human collaboration and so improve society and all our lives. Resources: Project Data Analytics Community Solutions Portal: https://www.solutions.projectingsuccess.co.uk/ Transforming Infrastructure Performance: Roadmap to 2030: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-infrastructure-performance-roadmap-to-2030 ‘Boston tidal barrier, UK: adapting to climate change and delivering social outcomes’, https://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/full/10.1680/jcien.20.00069 Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Jun 9, 2023 · 29 min
Setting up a PMO from scratch in a media agency
Emma meets Dan Jennings, who recently established a project management office at the UK wing of global media agency Wavemaker. His team has worked on everything from Evian campaigns tied to the Wimbledon tennis tournament to delivering product placement within Married at First Sight on Channel 4. As those creative projects have become more complex, whether through multi-platform content partnerships or the arrival of new channels such as smart speakers and WhatsApp, project management skills have become even more in demand. Hear Dan speak about what it's like to establish a PMO from scratch and introduce professional project management processes and expertise into a sector unfamiliar with it. Contact: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
May 26, 2023 · 28 min
Project management and change activism with Magic Breakfast founder Carmel McConnell
Emma meets Carmel McConnell MBE – a change activist and keynote speaker at the upcoming APM Conference on 8 June in Birmingham. Carmel founded the charity Magic Breakfast; she is a tech entrepreneur, mentor to CEOs and best-selling author of Change Activist: Make Big Things Happen Fast. Find out more about the APM Conference at www.apm.org.uk/apm-conference/ Contact us: apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk