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

Aug 10, 2021 · 32 min
From the Frontline: How to make better project decisions
In ‘From the Frontline’, Project journal editor Emma De Vita meets project professionals who are working on cutting-edge projects, and academics whose research is at the forefront of project management techniques. In this episode we meet Dr Natalie Marguet, a senior lecturer in leadership and organisational development at Liverpool John Moores University, and author of APM’s recent research paper Detect, Reflect and Adapt: Factors influencing critical project decisions. In this podcast, she shares the latest research into how project professionals can improve their decision-making. She’ll be giving practical advice on how you can become more effective in your work using simple techniques, as well as helping you to understand your personal decision-making style, how to adopt new styles and when to use them. Bad decision-making on projects has been identified as one of the key reasons for poor project performance, so every project manager has room for improvement and can learn from this new research.
Jul 26, 2021 · 28 min
From the Frontline: Lessons from the pandemic for better programme management
In ‘From the Frontline’, Project journal editor Emma De Vita is meeting project professionals who are working on cutting-edge projects, and academics whose research is at the forefront of project management techniques. In this episode, we meet Emma Willson, who leads the National Audit Office’s Major Projects Delivery area of focus. She has worked at the NAO for almost 20 years, auditing a wide range of government programmes, from welfare reform to large-scale defence equipment projects. The NAO audits every government department and some arm’s length bodies, like the BBC, and a large part of its work is looking at major government projects, like Crossrail, HS2, Test and Trace and the government’s vaccine roll-out scheme, to consider whether they represent good value for money. The NAO also seeks to share lessons in how programmes can be better managed. Its reports include initial learning from the government’s response to the pandemic, and a report on learning from projects done at speed. We spoke to Emma to find out more about the valuable lessons for project management that the NAO’s unique position affords, in particular to reflect on the successes and failures of the pandemic when it comes to project delivery.
Jul 12, 2021 · 36 min
From the Frontline: Life on Mars? Project managing NASA’s Perseverance mission
In our From the Frontline season, Project journal editor Emma De Vita is meeting professionals who are working on cutting-edge projects, and academics whose research is at the forefront of project management techniques. In this episode, we meet Jennifer Trosper, project manager for NASA’s Mars Perseverance project in its Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Jennifer has worked on NASA’s Perseverance programme for eight years. When Perseverance finally landed successfully on 18 February after launching on 30 July 2020, there was a lot to celebrate. The Perseverance rover, complete with onboard helicopter, cost $2.4bn dollars to build and will cost another $300m to land and operate in its first year on Mars. Its mission is to seek signs of ancient life on Mars and bring samples back for further investigation. Get in touch with us at apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Jun 25, 2021 · 46 min
New approaches to lessons learned – capturing the right lessons in the right way
In this episode, hosted by Project journal editor Emma De Vita, we explore why getting lessons learned right is incredibly important to project success. We also look at the main challenges around lessons learned, what knowledge you should aim to capture and how to best share it. As APM’s Body of Knowledge 7th Edition makes clear, knowledge is intangible and complex. It encompasses much more than documents or information. It exists in people and can be tacit and difficult to express. What’s more, a supportive culture in which knowledge and learning are valued is essential for effective knowledge management. On the panel for this episode are: Ellie Carswell, a graduate project manager at programme management consultancy Faithful+Gould Dr David Eggleton, a lecturer in project management with innovation studies at the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex, and co-author of upcoming APM research on project success Neil Turner, a reader in project learning at Cranfield University Get in touch with us at apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Jun 8, 2021 · 40 min
The evolving definition of project ‘success’
In this episode, hosted by Project journal online editor Mike Hine, our topic is project success, and how the definition of success is evolving to fit the challenges of the 2020s and beyond. At a time when the country is looking to build back better post-pandemic, projects will play a major role in determining the UK’s economic future. They are truly vital to the UK’s success on many fronts. But with so much riding on these projects, we need to ensure they succeed. Historically, projects have notoriously struggled to hit their targets. So perhaps it’s time to revisit the very notion of project success. What constitutes a successful project? What are some of the most fundamental factors that underpin success? And has the project profession moved beyond the age-old metrics of time, cost and quality? Thanks to our panel of experts: Katie McConochie, founder of training consultancy Learn Change Mhairi Creanor, education and skills project manager at Zero Waste Scotland Aga Gajownik, founder of Scrum Educational Experience and Innovation & Integration All of the contributors to this podcast are presenting at APM’s Power of Projects Conference, which runs from 7-11 June, with a focus on redefining project ‘success’ for a post-pandemic world. Sign up or listen later on-demand at https://www.apm.org.uk/event/power-of-projects-2021/ Send us your feedback and suggestions at apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
May 26, 2021 · 40 min
From the Frontline: Leading the UK’s Vaccine Taskforce
In our From the Frontline season, Project journal editor Emma De Vita is meeting professionals who are working on cutting-edge projects, and academics whose research is at the forefront of project management techniques. In this first episode, we meet Nick Elliott, who was director general of the UK’s Vaccine Taskforce for the UK government from its inception in April 2020 until the end of last year. Before that he was an army bomb disposal expert, MD of Network Rail’s national supply chain and deputy CEO of Defence Equipment & Support at the Ministry of Defence. He is now a director at consultancy Turner & Townsend and a Fellow of APM. Nick and Emma spoke in early May about the brief he was handed at the UK Vaccine Taskforce – ‘to make things happen’, which must surely be the understatement of the year.
May 13, 2021 · 51 min
Why sustainability should be on every project professional’s agenda
As governments worldwide set targets on reaching net-zero carbon, project professionals are being tasked with rethinking working practices to cut emissions. Everything from planning to procurement to team structures is being re-evaluated to meet sustainability targets. But it’s worth remembering that sustainability encompasses more than climate change. It means balancing the environmental, social, economic and administrative aspects of projects to meet current stakeholder needs, without compromising the needs of future generations. Far from being an additional burden on project professionals, sustainability presents an opportunity for them to demonstrate their value in aligning with corporate strategic objectives around net zero. By embedding sustainability within every aspect of their projects, project professionals can make a big difference and boost their visibility to the organisation’s leadership. In this episode, Mike Hine, online editor for APM’s Project journal, speaks to three experts working in the field of sustainability to find out more: Paul Mansell, independent major projects adviser Giulia Jones, sustainability manager, Mace Stuart Johnson, director, Stuart Johnson Consulting Further reading: Find out more on APM’s resources page Prof Peter Morris, Climate Change and what the project profession should be doing about it: a UK perspective Projecting the Future, challenge paper 2, Climate Change, Clean Growth and Sustainability Get in touch at apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Apr 1, 2021 · 46 min
Your salary and future prospects revealed
In this episode, hosted by Project journal’s online editor Mike Hine, we discuss salaries and market trends within the project profession. It’s been an enormously challenging 12 months for every sector of the economy. Project professionals felt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic from day one, with plans, teams and working practices suddenly thrown into disarray. Project and programme managers have risen to the challenge of the past 12 months by not only keeping existing work on track, but also spearheading crucial efforts to fight back against the pandemic and get the economy moving. But despite the rising profile the project profession is enjoying, the last year has taken its toll. Indeed, COVID-19 permeates the findings of this year’s Salary and Market Trends Survey from APM, carried out in association with YouGov, which canvassed the views of over 2,500 project professionals in November 2020. This episode delves into the findings and analysis in the survey in more detail, with a focus on salary, job satisfaction, diversity and inclusion, economic confidence and more. Thanks to the following interviewees for their contribution: Dayner Proudfoot, APM head of brand and communications Debbie Lewis, chair of the board of trustees for APM, and director of strategic architecture programmes at BT David Thomson, head of external affairs at APM The Salary and Market Trends Survey 2021 is available to download in full now at www.apm.org.uk/salary-survey-2021 Get in touch with the podcast at apmpodcast@thinkpublishing.co.uk – and don’t forget to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts.
Mar 24, 2021 · 41 min
Project Innovators: Bent Flyvbjerg on how to make your project a success
In this final episode of the Project Innovators season, Project journal editor Emma De Vita speaks to Bent Flyvbjerg, the first BT professor and inaugural chair of major programme management at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School. Bent is one of the big names from the world of project management. He works for the better management of megaprojects and this is the subject which we delve into here, from optimism bias when it comes to cost and benefits estimation to strategic misrepresentation by project champions (otherwise known as bending the truth to secure the go-ahead on a megaproject). The solution? In part, a technique called reference class forecasting. Bent spoke to The APM Podcast in mid-March, when he shared his knowledge, expertise and practical advice on how megaprojects, and projects more generally, can be better planned and managed. Don’t forget to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts.
Mar 10, 2021 · 33 min
Project Innovators: How to bring strategy and projects closer together
In this episode, Project journal editor Emma De Vita meets Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, who is on a mission to champion project management as a central issue for every CEO. He is the author of Lead Successful Projects, published by Penguin, and he is also a Harvard Business Review author and has been recognised by Thinkers50 as an influential global business thinker. Antonio is the co-founder of the Strategy Implementation Institute, and his day job is as director of the Program Management Office at GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines. He is also a former chair of PMI. He has vast global experience leading complex projects, and previously worked as Head of Project Portfolio Management at BNP Paribas Fortis. Antonio spoke to us about why and how project management and project managers need to become more strategic if they are to innovate. Projects are the future of organisations, but project managers need to sit at the top table, he argues. CEOs need to accept project management as part of the strategic conversation within their organisation, and project managers need to learn new skills and think about their role differently in order for this to happen. Antonio kindly shares his thoughts on how this can be done.
Feb 24, 2021 · 50 min
How to make better use of project data
As with many new digital technologies, the terminology surrounding project data analytics can be confusing or off-putting to busy project professionals. However, as we discover in this episode, the potential of project data analytics is huge – and there are several ways you, as a project professional, can begin to harness the practical benefits today. So what are some of these benefits? And how can you begin to develop better project data discipline within your organisation? To find out more about the opportunities and pitfalls, Project journal’s online editor Mike Hine spoke to a series of experts from across industry, academia and beyond: Naomi Brookes, professor of complex programme management at WMG University of Warwick Oliver Cowey, project controls manager, and Samir Patel, head of data, Office of the Chief Information Officer, at BAE Systems John McGlynn, project delivery director for Atkins Martin Paver, chief executive of Projecting Success Further reading: apm.org.uk; projectdataanalytics.uk Don’t forget to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts.
Feb 10, 2021 · 32 min
Project Innovators: Award-winning transformation with an honest culture
In this episode, host Emma De Vita meets Susan Ferry, a project manager for change at Allianz, who led what she calls a ‘big bang transformation’ project that revolutionised ways of working for the global insurance company, fostering innovation through a no-blame culture where trust and honesty were paramount. We spoke to Susan at the start of February to find out more about the Motor Engineer Control System project that she led in 2019, and why it was an innovative transformation project that garnered praise from APM. The aim of the project was to streamline the motor engineering repair, inspection and salvage processes, which included delivering app-based mobile workflow management for engineers. The project was a first for Allianz, and resulted in a fully integrated process that enabled an immediate inspection booking at the point a claim is raised. The ability for engineers to manage their workflow digitally and therefore remotely is proving its worth during COVID-19 lockdowns. The project’s wider benefits have exceeded expectations, and the hybrid approach that was taken ensured the project was delivered on time, to budget and to standard. You can read an in-depth account of the workings of this award-winning project in the forthcoming spring issue of APM’s Project journal, out in March.
Jan 25, 2021 · 41 min
Project Innovators: How to deliver under pressure (and win an award at the same time)
From Deepwater to drones – in this episode Project editor Emma De Vita meets Benjamin Hooper, programme and project manager at Heathrow Airport, whose project won APM’s 2020 Overall Project of the Year. The project, to create a counter-unmanned aerial system (or anti-drone system) embraced innovative ways of thinking and managing for the project team, who were tasked with finding an immediate solution to the drone threat in the airport’s airspace. They only had days to fix the problem, so the pressure was immense and the usual project life cycle was jettisoned for more responsive, collaborative and agile processes. Ben was able to draw on his experience of working as a subsea operations engineer in the Gulf of Mexico when the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill happened, when he suddenly became part of the crisis management team there. It’s not something he’d ever wish to happen again, he says, but being thrust into the emergency response team was a pivotal moment in his career. Read Ben’s in-depth account of the workings of the anti-drone project in the forthcoming spring issue of APM’s Project journal, out in March.
Jan 8, 2021 · 37 min
Project Innovators: How to professionalise through collaboration
In the Project Innovators season of podcasts, Project journal editor Emma De Vita is talking to project professionals who are leading projects in an innovative way at a time when many of us are hoping the world of work and projects can be reset for a post-COVID world. In this episode we meet Jo Stanford, head of corporate portfolio office at Health Education England, to discuss how she’s leading the collaborative development of the project profession in the NHS. It’s no mean feat. Not only is she trying to knit together a network of project managers across 40 NHS organisations, but she also needs to identify who is doing project work in the first place. It’s a tall mountain to climb, but the ultimate prize is not only to further professionalise project management in the NHS and have it better recognised, but also to create a collaborative network of support and best practice. Jo is a true innovator and there are many lessons others can learn from her about how to raise the status of project management within organisations, formalising and professionalising it and creating a strong network of supportive peers.
Dec 22, 2020 · 35 min
Project Innovators – Jenny McLaughlin, Heathrow
Resetting projects in a better way for a post-COVID world means capitalising on the best minds. Cognitive diversity, as explained by Matthew Syed in his book Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking, pays. In this episode, Project editor Emma De Vita discusses diversity and inclusion with Jenny McLaughlin, a project manager at Heathrow Airport, who is also its disability network lead. Jenny is innovative in the way she threads inclusivity through every part of the projects she manages. She says project managers are the best people to deliver change, and with true support from Heathrow’s executive team, she’s showing what diversity means for projects when you take it beyond a cursory tick-box exercise. By asking difficult questions every step of the way, she and her team are creating a sense of belonging for everyone on a project. How is she doing it? And what lessons can she share with other project managers who are serious about making inclusion real? Listen to find out more.
Dec 4, 2020 · 22 min
Lessons from lockdown – the best of 'Crisis Talks'
In this episode, we look back on 2020 and reflect on some key project management lessons from a turbulent 9 months. Soon after the first UK lockdown in March, we founded this podcast to share the stories of project professionals who were managing, adapting and pivoting their projects to meet the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic. We dubbed series one ‘Crisis Talks’, and each episode was presented by Project journal editor Emma De Vita. Our hope was that we would end up with a valuable resource during a time of crisis for project professionals, who were doing their best to navigate a situation that almost none of us had imagined happening. What we ended up with was a chronicle of work and life through the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic endures – but the advice given in the 'Crisis Talks' series will be relevant way past 2020. In this episode, we’ve picked out the best nuggets of wisdom from the first series of this podcast – with topics ranging from mental health to delivering to seemingly impossible targets.
Nov 6, 2020 · 59 min
How to be a great project leader
In this episode, our topic is how to be a great project leader. We pin down exactly what it means to lead a project and how this role is evolving to reflect the changing nature of projects and obviously in 2020, the pressures of the Covid pandemic. In this podcast, host Emma De Vita, editor of Project journal, asks how a project leader needs to behave to be highly effective, and what mindset you need to thrive in this role. APM’s 7th edition of its Body of Knowledge defines project leadership as: providing vision, direction, feedback and support so people can do their best work. And to do this in an environment of change and uncertainty. Project leadership is usually performed with limits on a project leader’s power requiring them to adopt a style that builds team and wider stakeholder commitment. Our panel discusses in-depth what this definition means in practice, giving lots of advice on how you can become a better project leader, particularly during these challenging times. On the panel are: Gordon MacKay, project management capability lead at Sellafield and author of a forthcoming book on project leadership for APM. Mike Bourne, professor of business performance, action, execution and implementation at Cranfield School of Management. Claire Fryer, director of behavioural management and executive coach at Costain.
Oct 16, 2020 · 45 min
Project Innovators – Matthew Moran, The Open University
In the ‘Project Innovators’ season of podcasts, Project journal editor Emma De Vita is speaking to project professionals who are leading projects in an innovative way at a time when many of us are hoping the world of work and projects can be reset for a post-COVID-19 world. In this episode she speaks to Matthew Moran, Head of Transformation at The Open University, and occasional lecturer in the OU Business School. Matthew is one of the educators on the ‘Project Management: Beyond the Basics’ course on FutureLearn, a collaboration between the OU and APM. He is also an advisor and consultant to a number of education institutions and edtech startups and companies. Matthew is writing a book on hybrid project management for APM, aiming to help project managers to do hybrid better. Instead of being irreconcilable opposites, he argues that project managers need both linear and agile for projects of any degree of complexity – and that the best results are achieved when we acknowledge the need for both, and when we aim to get the best of both (by understanding and making trade-offs between the upsides and downsides of each).
Oct 2, 2020 · 42 min
Project Innovators – Caroline Raynor, Costain
In the ‘Project Innovators’ season of podcasts, Project journal editor Emma De Vita will be speaking to project professionals who are leading projects in an innovative way at a time when many of us are hoping the world of work and projects can be reset in a better way for a post-COVID-19 world. In episode one, we meet Caroline Raynor, project manager and principal archaeologist for the Costain Skanska JV, who designed and led the Saint James’s Gardens excavation in London's Euston as part of work for HS2’s London terminus. It is the largest archaeological excavation of a burial ground in Europe, and HS2 as a whole is probably the largest programme of archaeological works driven by a single project in recent times. Caroline has pulled off an amazing feat in that she not only borrowed lean principles from the world of manufacturing, but also actively encouraged a far more gender-balanced project than the norm, with a 43 per cent female demographic on-site. Emma spoke to Caroline at the end of September just as the BBC's Britain’s Biggest Dig series began airing – the first episode of which was all about the Saint James’s dig. Catch it on iPlayer.
Sep 8, 2020 · 46 min
VUCA, hybrid and adaptability: reflections on BoK7
In this episode, our topic is the APM Body of Knowledge. The seventh edition of this core text for the profession was published in 2019. One year on, the book’s co-editors – Dr Ruth Murray-Webster and Professor Darren Dalcher – co-host an episode that reflects on the changes and updates made to the seventh edition. They discuss the considerable challenges and responsibilities of updating what they describe as a “foundational knowledge document” for the profession. They consider the background and context to BoK7, the significant changes it introduced and the future of project-based management in an uncertain world. Ruth and Darren have written about their belief that a chartered profession does not require black and white ‘rules’. Instead it needs reflective professionals who can think about and devise ways to navigate a messy context in a nuanced way. Listen now to take a deep dive into the fundamentals of the project profession in 2020 and beyond.