Manage This - The Project Management Podcast

At age 20, Christelle Kwizera founded Water Access Rwanda in response to the dangerous conditions that Rwandans would face when collecting water from rivers and dams, including crocodile attacks and disease-ridden water. Listen in to an inspiring project story as Christelle shares her vision to eradicate water scarcity while creating jobs for young people. This team had a goal to look for solutions that intersect the impact on planet and profit.

The podcast by project manager for project managers. We take a look at company culture, transforming remote work to and improving workplace productivity and efficiency.  How to Work Better Together. Hear about a new software company, Hive, which claims to have the first-ever democratically built project management platform. Table of Contents 03:05 … Hive History04:07 … Core Hive Philosophy05:38 … Democratically Built Features07:17 … Launching Hive09:22 … Challenges Today for Project Managers11:01 … Addressing Recurring Meetings15:17 … Applying Hive17:21 … Team Size Suited to Hive19:56 … Hive Innovation21:57 … Company Culture24:12 … Transforming a Team to Remote Work29:18 … New Hive Features30:01 … Who Influenced John32:47 … Get in Touch with John33:17 … Closing JOHN FURNEAUX: A brilliantly run meeting is a work of art and very, very impressive to those around you.  And I would encourage all of us to put 100% into our soft skills and how we manage the projects and the people around us. WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  I’m Wendy Grounds, and joining me in the studio is Bill Yates.  I just want to let you know that you can still claim your free PDUs by listening to this podcast.  We have instructions on our website where it shows you exactly how you can claim your PDUs at PMI.  We still get listeners who struggle with that, and so we just thought we’d make sure we mentioned it.  So we are very excited that it is now Happy Birthday to Manage This, and we’ve been broadcasting for six years. BILL YATES:  That’s amazing, isn’t it?  Every month we have two podcasts.  We’ve been doing that for six years now.  Incredible authors, speakers, tools, and then people in the trenches doing projects, leading projects in diverse environments.  And it’s been a pleasure to bring this information to the community and just share it and let people pick up on new perspectives and get more advice on just how to be a more effective project manager. WENDY GROUNDS:  And we’re very grateful to our guests... BILL YATES:  Yes. WENDY GROUNDS:  ...who’ve made it possible.  We really appreciate all that they have brought to our podcast. BILL YATES:  Mm-hmm.  There’s no compensation.  We don’t pay them.  We just thank them and deeply appreciate the preparation and then their time in recording with us. WENDY GROUNDS:  And thank you to our listeners.  We value you, and we appreciate your support. BILL YATES:  That’s right.  Keep those ideas coming because that’s what spurs us on. WENDY GROUNDS:  Our guest today is John Furneaux.  John is the CEO and cofounder of Hive, which is the world’s first democratically built project management platform, used by many teams at places such as Comcast, Toyota, Starbucks, and many more.  A couple of times in the past we’ve brought you tools that are very useful or platforms that project managers can use.  And we just need to let you know we’re not getting any pay for this.  We’re not getting a free use of Hive.  It’s really... BILL YATES:  Right. WENDY GROUNDS:  ...the product comes across our eyes, and we think, gosh, this would be something interesting to tell you about.  And that’s why we’re here. BILL YATES:  Exactly.  As our listeners reach out to us with tools that are helpful or things that they want us to explore, just keep sending us those ideas because that’s where this one came from.  One of the things that appealed to me with Hive, too, is their mantra is “The first project management platform built for users, by users.”  And it kind of reminds me of our mantra of Manage This, “The podcast for project managers by project managers.”  So we’re going to talk about tactical aspects of this tool and how it can be used.  Then we’re going to back up and talk broadly about company culture, not just how Hive can influence that, but how John’s been influenced by different company cultures, and some advice that he can share with us. WENDY GROUNDS:  Hi, John.  Welcome to Manage This.  Thank you for joining us. JOHN FURNEAUX:  Thank you.  Thanks for having me. Hive History WENDY GROUNDS:  Can you give us some of the history of your company Hive, when it started, and how you started it? JOHN FURNEAUX:  Yeah, for sure.  So I myself was a frustrated project manager on some huge programs.  As you can hear I’m originally from the U.K.  Did some stuff with education, really exciting stuff, getting the sort of information network hooked up to all the schools in the U.K.  Felt frustrated, but realized I loved teamwork and helping people accomplish sort of their goals together, and went and joined a company that did just that, prior to Hive, but felt that there was even better solutions available.  And so we started Hive about five years ago now, 2016.  Cofounded it with Eric Typaldos, who is my sort of tech counterpart.  And yet here we are five years later.  It’s been a crazy journey. BILL YATES:  So Eric, his specialty is more on the tech side.  JOHN FURNEAUX:  Correct. BILL YATES:  What is your specialty, or what did you bring to the table as you guys started Hive? JOHN FURNEAUX:  Good question.  I hope that I bring to the table deep, deep, deep frontline experience of what real projects look like on a real day-to-day basis. Core Hive Philosophy BILL YATES:  So I love it that you describe yourself as a frustrated project manager, too.  Because to me it’s like many times in life, if I’m trying to recreate something, even if it’s trying to figure out some home repair issue, it’s usually from a point of frustration; right?  And then I get really motivated and passionate about it. So as we dive into Hive, it’s going to be interesting to hear some of the passion points that you had, things that you found lacking in the marketplace, or with some of the tools that you had used.  But let’s back up.  Kind of big picture, what’s the core philosophy with Hive? JOHN FURNEAUX:  Core philosophy behind Hive is two things that are unusual about Hive.  The first one is that Hive is the first-ever democratically built project management platform.  And that’s a very, very simple concept.  Everybody in the Hive community votes together on what they want to accomplish in Hive next from a product perspective.  And that keeps us uniquely focused on the practical day-to-day needs of our users, rather than a kind of ivory tower of product ideas that may or may not be useful to you when you’re coming to work on a Tuesday morning. And that really is the driving thing that we care about is, is Hive going to be practically useful to you when you come into work versus us foisting a philosophy of project management onto you that may not work in practice in the complex and stressful environment of real life projects. Democratically Built Features BILL YATES:  Democratically built, you vote on the product features.  How does that play out?  So how do you engage your user community to listen to the right voices?  Like I’m thinking of a stakeholder meeting or meetings I’ve had with project teams, and sometimes I’ll listen to the loudest voice in the room and then realize later, oh, wait a minute, that’s not the right person.  They’re just extremely passionate about something, but it’s not important to anybody else.  How do you guys go about vetting that? JOHN FURNEAUX:  Exactly right.  So that’s the beauty of democracy, huh?  One user, one vote.  So they can press that vote button as loudly as they like.  They’ve only got one vote. BILL YATES:  One time. JOHN FURNEAUX:  And the other person in the room who perhaps is more timid or whose voice is less frequently heard, they’ve got just as much power as the first person.  And if you think about it from a product management standpoint, it also works beautifully for us to be thoughtful about our larger customers and our smaller customers because we don’t think of our users in terms of being from a large company or a small company, nor do we need to because one user, one vote, by definition, the organizations who have lots and lots of users on Hive do have a larger voice collectively.  But ultimately it’s still one user, one vote; right? So each individual person on Hive has exactly the same shot of getting their feature built as anybody else.  And to give you a feel for how meaningful this is, two in three Hive users get a feature that they’ve requested built within the first year of them joining Hive.  So it’s really, really meaningful.  You’ve got two-thirds chance of getting something you’ve asked for built. Launching Hive BILL YATES:  That’s great.  Okay.  I’m going to confess to you, I am a fan of a podcast called “How I Built This.”  It’s an NPR podcast. JOHN FURNEAUX:  Yeah. BILL YATES:  So as I’m looking at a cofounder of a company, 2016, kind of in the back of my head the entrepreneur side of me is thinking, okay, you guys, you have an idea, you have a problem in the marketplace that you think you have a solution for, and you start to build it.  How long did you guys go pre-revenue? So you and Eric take off, you’re trying to build this thing, and you can tell me if you were still working full-time or, you know, doing this while delivering pizza or whatever.  So you’re getting all this feedback from the community and building and building.  And in 2016, when did you guys have something you could launch? JOHN FURNEAUX:  Bill, it was terrifying, as Eric will testify.  I bought a one-way ticket to New York, a town I had never lived in.  I had very little money in my pocket because I had left my previous job and had no savings.  And Eric and I moved to New York together within a day of each other and arrived to start building.  That was 2016.  And to answer your question about revenue, it was approximately a year before we invited anybody take a paid subscription. BILL YATES:  Right.  That’s impressive.

The 7th Edition PMBOK® Guide “represents the most disruptive redefinition of project management in my lifetime,” according to Jesse Fewell. Jesse was part of the core team writing this 7th Edition. We ask Jesse to explain the principles-based approach in this edition, as well as why, and how frequently, PMI releases a new edition. Jesse clarifies what has changed and what has not changed in the 7th Edition.

Great leaders are built from the inside out. Leadership training typically focuses on the externally visible behaviors of leadership; however, in this episode, we consider the parallel journey a leader should take internally to become an authentic leader. Darren Reinke is the author of The Savage Leader, a book which provides a blueprint for becoming a great leader through the adoption of 13 Savage Principles.

The Podcast by project managers for project managers. Hear how to approach complex modern projects by spending less time discussing the past and more time focused on the future. Eddie Obeng says we should: “take the learning back to the work place” by analyzing our past performance, and rapidly applying what we’ve learned to deliver perfect projects. Listen in for practical advice about facing your fears, organizational culture, and dealing with the challenges of change management.  Table of Contents 01:25 … Meet Eddie02:00 … QUBE – Learning and Transformation04:30 … QUBE for the Project Manager07:05 … Qubots08:00 … Delivering Projects by Looking Ahead11:06 … How do We Intentionally Mess up Projects?13:39 … Choosing the Right Project leader15:18 … Four Things We Mess up18:09 … Organization’s Culture Affecting a Project21:36 … Subconsciously Sabotaging Our Projects23:08 … Sabotaging Projects by Remaining Silent24:28 … Reporting Your Doubts and Fears27:58 … Change Management32:31 … Get in Touch with Eddie33:42 … Closing EDDIE OBENG: I’m asking you to look forward through the windscreen as opposed to the habit of let’s make a guess of what’s through the windscreen, and drive and manage, coordinate through the rearview mirror.  Completely different mindset. WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  I’m your host, Wendy Grounds, and joining me is Bill Yates.  Just a quick note.  If you’re looking to acquire PDUs, Professional Development Units, towards your recertifications, you can still claim those PDUs for all our podcast episodes.  Just listen up at the end of the show for information on how you can do that. So today we have a really interesting guest.  This is Professor Eddie Obeng.  Professor Obeng was born in Ghana but has lived most of his life in the U.K.  He’s a world-class educator and has a passion for helping project managers. BILL YATES:  Yeah.  I’m going to give a quick preview of some of my favorite pieces of the conversation we’re going to have.  Eddie talks about recognizing the project environment and then choosing the best leadership approach based on one of four types of projects.  I think people are going to find that very useful and helpful.  Another thing, very practical advice that Eddie gives is facing your fear.  We talk about that, pretty straightforward.  And the teaser there is it’s okay if we don’t have all the answers in the moment.  I think that’ll be quite helpful to those listeners who are like me. Meet Eddie WENDY GROUNDS:  Hi, Eddie.  Welcome.  We’re looking forward to talking with you today. EDDIE OBENG:  Hello.  Delighted to be here. WENDY GROUNDS:  I want to know who is Eddie Obeng.  Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? EDDIE OBENG:  Just to give you some background, I teach.  I’m an educator.  I teach businesses, I help them transform, I do this based on material that I research myself.  And I built a virtual business school with a different way to teach people to deal with the complexity of the world.  And I’m also an entrepreneur because I took that business school, and I’ve made it digital, and I’ve got lots of people in the team and so on.  So that’s probably me.  I’ve written books, couple of bestsellers and stuff. QUBE – Learning and Transformation BILL YATES:  So tell us more about QUBE.  It’s Q-U-B-E.  Now, tell us more about this other environment. EDDIE OBENG:  Yeah, so QUBE is my shortcut to learning and transformation.  From the point of view of the person who is experiencing QUBE, literally everything you need to be able to do, which you’re struggling to do right now.  So for example we are on Skype, but you’re scribbling your different bits of paper.  Maybe if we’re in the same room we could write on a whiteboard.  And it would stay there, and you could come back later, and if we had lots of room, people could have offices to move around in.  And when I’m teaching you.  I could write on a whiteboard.  I could say “Off you go and have a break.  I’ll come back in five minutes.” So all the things which we want to do together, but we actually have to do when we’re dispersed, QUBE does all of those.  But the real secret sauce is because nobody knows how to behave on QUBE, you can use it both for learning and for transformation.  For example, corporations, which are very traditional, doing innovation.  They don’t know any better.  You say, now we need new ideas.  And then they all come up with new ideas.  They don’t argue with you.  So it’s like a little magic trick I have for getting people to learn and transform. BILL YATES:  What motivated you to create this environment? EDDIE OBENG:  Bit of background.  So I used to work at a proper business school, a place called Ashridge.  And we used to do in the old days, basically the companies would send these people to us as a sort of punishment or whether it was a prize.  We would inter them in that room for five days and talk at them. BILL YATES:  Yeah. EDDIE OBENG:  And then after five days they would emerge, and then we’d see them the next promotion step.  And then the world started accelerating.  So they went, we can’t come for five days.  We want three-day modules.  So they’d come, and we’d lock them up for three days instead.  But what never happened was we never took the learning back to the workplace with them.  So they’d leave, and you had no idea whether anything you taught them was any use, or what they’d done with it.  And I was quite determined that as the world was accelerating, it was important that we not only learned, but we put it into practice and transformed our organizations.  Question:  How do you do that without flying people backwards and forwards all the time? So I left Ashridge, and I started Pentacle.  And the idea behind Pentacle is really simple:  learn and do.  Then the question was how on earth do you do that with grownups?  And so that’s where QUBE came from.  It’s basically so we can keep people learning, trying out, building their confidence, dealing with their tutors, talking to the other colleagues, and then bringing them together to do some more learning as they transform their organizations.  It basically is a solution to the headache which everyone’s got, which is how on earth do you make change happen? BILL YATES:  Yes. QUBE for the Project Manager WENDY GROUNDS:  We like to tell our project managers about tools that they could use.  So how would you suggest that a project manager uses this within their organization? EDDIE OBENG:  Yeah.  So the best way to understand QUBE is I sometimes talk about it like a pyramid.  Because QUBE uses computers, everyone goes, oh, it’s a software tool.  A software tool would be something like a PowerPoint or a Miro, a Miro board or something like Office 365.  QUBE contains tools.  So if we’d been doing this on QUBE, the first thing we’d have done when we got together is we’d have chatted, like we did.  And then I would say, “Great, guys, within this podcast what are your greatest hopes?”  And we’d have gone to a whiteboard, and we’d have stuck up stickies of all the things you want from this.  Then I’d have said, “What are your greatest fears?”  And you’d have stuck up all of those.  And then we would have spent about a minute making sure none of the fears are going to come through before we started on the hopes. That’s what we call a “tool” on QUBE.  It’s a performance enhancement, people engagement tool called Hopes and Fears.  So the tools help people to think together and make their projects more aligned.  So that’s how we use tools.  Does that make sense?  BILL YATES:  Yeah.  So it’s like a platform that you bring familiar tools into, but it’s the environment of the platform they’re using. EDDIE OBENG:  Oh, I like you so much.  I can’t tell you how much I like you.  Because not only are there tools, but the way we would work together, if you were on QUBE as avatars, we call them Qubots, would be a room.  And we’d call the rooms – believe it – Qubicles with a Q. BILL YATES:  Of course. EDDIE OBENG:  Okay?  In the room there will be a whiteboard.  There will be a TV screen or computer screen where we can look at whatever we need to, or watch videos.  There’s probably somewhere else like a desk where we can leave sticky notes for each other.  Might be somewhere we can gather in a circle, a nice seating area with a sound bubble so we can have multiple conversations.  And so that’s what we call a platform.  But other people think of a platform as Slack or Teams or whatever else.  So you get platforms into our Qubicle.  The tools which are these performance tools easily get people working together and thinking together and delivering stuff straight away. But the whole game of course is learning and transformation.  So QUBE, the focus is on the learning and transformation, and the platform and tools are just to enable it.  So a project leader who just wanted to get some work done and was already scaled up would just pick up the right tool.  Working with other people, they probably invite them into the Qubicle.  But if they needed to learn something new, aha, now it gets interesting because now we have to diagnose what they want.  We have to understand where it fits in the context of their organization.  Then we have to understand what platform, what Qubicle, and what tools can they use instantly to start moving forward. Qubots WENDY GROUNDS:  It was really cool.  I loved watching that.  We saw the little avatars, and we took a look at it.  So very cool. EDDIE OBENG:  The avatars are really funny because we started with human-shaped avatars, and we discovered everyone spends all their time building their avatars.  And then we discovered there’s this really quite interesting bit of psychology here.

The podcast by project managers for project managers. The largest infrastructure project in the history of the Seattle Public Utilities is the Ship Canal Water Quality Project. Keith Ward talks about the lessons learned overseeing this 11-year initiative. Hear about estimating and revising a $570 million budget, and building strong relationships with multiple stakeholders and project teams. Table of Contents 01:37 … Keith’s Current SPU Role02:26 … Ship Canal Water Quality Program06:47 … Using Tunnels Instead of Tanks08:37 … A Tunnel Boring Machine11:39 … MudHoney15:12 … Project Stakeholders18:08 … Challenges with Multiple Teams22:06 … Project Funding23:20 … Federal Consent Decree25:31 … Budget Estimating for a Megaproject28:59 … When Costs Change31:44 … Budget Setting Lessons Learned32:54 … Monte Carlo Analysis38:47 … Tracking a Lengthy Project39:53 … Final Words of Advice41:10 … Get in Contact with Keith43:44 … Closing KEITH WARD: ...because I want people to learn from our lessons learned here. There’s a lot.  I’ve learned a lot personally, and it’s been a really eye-opening experience.  And I want to clarify, this is a megaproject.  This isn’t a $2 million project; right?  This is in another category.  So, and I think that’s one of the lessons learned is when you move into this megaproject, like over a half billion, the degree of uncertainty is huge, and you need to account for that.  That’s one of the kind of I would say über lessons learned. I’ve learned a lot personally, and it’s been a really eye-opening experience.  WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  I’m Wendy Grounds, and in the studio with me is Bill Yates.  I want to say a big thank you to our listeners who reach out to us and leave comments on our website or on social media.  We love hearing from you.  And it was actually from a listener that we have today’s guest.  Chris Stoll reached out, and he recommended our guest who we’re talking to today.  And we are very grateful to Chris, and we appreciate it when any of you reach out to us and send us ideas of guests. So our guest today is Keith Ward.  He is currently the project executive of the Seattle Ship Canal Water Quality Project, and he’s going to go into some detail on that. BILL YATES:  We’re going to talk about tunnel boring machines, federal consent decrees, and MudHoney.  Are you ready for this? WENDY GROUNDS:  I’m ready for MudHoney.  Hi, Keith.  Welcome, and thank you for joining us today. KEITH WARD:  So nice to be here.  Thanks, Wendy. Keith’s Current SPU Role WENDY GROUNDS:  We saw that you have been with the Seattle Public Utilities since 2002.  Can you tell us about the services they provide, and your role in the company? KEITH WARD:  Sure.  So Seattle Public Utilities is kind of four utilities in one.  And I’ll kind of use the term “SPU” sometimes.  I’ll bounce back and forth.  We deliver essential water and waste services to about 1.5 million people in the Greater Seattle area.  So really our four services are drinking water, drainage and wastewater, and solid waste services.  I’ve had a variety of roles, mostly in project delivery, at SPU since coming onboard 2002.  My current role is the project executive on the Ship Canal Water Quality Project, which is the largest infrastructure project in the history of the organization. Ship Canal Water Quality Program BILL YATES:  Now, that we want to get into.  This Ship Canal Water Quality program, why was this initiated?  What’s the problem that it’s trying to address? KEITH WARD:  Yeah.  It’s a problem that’s common to many kind of older cities.  We don’t think of Seattle as always an older city.  But a lot of our infrastructure was built over a hundred years ago.  So this project was initiated in 2014 to solve the problem of what we call “combined sewage overflow.”  So back a hundred years ago there was no treatment for sewage, and they just basically installed one pipe in the street, and it went to the closest water body.  And that was common across the United States; right? BILL YATES:  It’s hard to imagine, but that was it; right?  That was the solution. KEITH WARD:  Exactly.  And those caused all kinds of problems with cholera and all kinds of different issues.  So this pipe has to convey both sewage and storm water from the streets and houses.  And it’s really the storm water that’s one of the biggest problems because in large storm events all this storm water or drainage comes into these pipes, which now we’ve hooked all these pipes up to tunnels, which eventually go to a wastewater treatment plant that the county owns.  So on a dry day, or a small storm, all this gets treated, and then it’s discharged, just like we want. But on really large flows, large rain events, it overwhelms the system.  And we either have to back up into residence and businesses or have it come out of the street, or we have – the City of Seattle has 82 overflow points across the city.  King County, our partner, has 35.  We need to basically overflow this.  And that can be harmful to fish, wildlife, and swimmers.  So both agencies, the City of Seattle and King County, are under federal consent decrees to reduce the number of these overflows.  And like I said, most agencies across the nation have been or are under similar consent decrees to fix these historical problems. So the Ship Canal is a local waterway and the focus of this project.  Currently, combined sewage overflows occur about 104 times per year on average.  And in 2020 these overflows represented about 56 million gallons of this polluted storm water and sewage out of our 85 million gallons total.  So this project will protect our waterways, keeping this polluted storm water and sewage out and improve public health by bringing these overflows down to less than one per overflow.  So basically we have six overflow locations.  We’re going to take them from 104 down to six.  And that will keep an average of more than 75 million gallons of combined sewage overflow out of this local waterway.  So that’s the problem that we’re trying to fix. And then let me just explain really quick the project itself.  And had I been involved earlier, I would have called the Ship Canal Water Quality Program because it’s really a program of four major construction projects.  In over a seven-year period we will end up constructing a 2.7-mile long, 18’10” diameter storage tunnel.  And this diameter is about the same as your standard transit tunnel.  So if you’ve ever been on a subway tunnel, that’s about an 18’10, kind of what we call your “bread and butter.”  And what will provide about 30 million gallons of storage capacity that we can put this combined sewage overflow into during these storm events. In order to get it down into this deep tunnel, we have to install five deep drop shafts at five neighborhood sites across the city.  These are vertical shafts that bring it down in and allow us to get in for maintenance.  And then we actually have to connect some flows around these shafts into the shafts, so we’re going to actually have two additional tunnels.  So we actually have three tunnels overall in the project, about a 650-foot long and 2,000-foot long tunnels.  One of these is underneath the Ship Canal.  That’s currently actually being mined right now.  And once we finish all of our tunnels, we will basically, in our shaft that we’re using for all the tunneling, when they’re finished we will build a 12-million gallon per day pump station that will basically drain the tunnel when the treatment plant is ready so that we can get ready for the next storm.  So that’s the entire program. Using Tunnels Instead of Tanks BILL YATES:  I’ve just got to bring this up because Seattle is a beautiful city, one of the most beautiful cities certainly in the U.S., if not in the world.  There’s water all around it.  There’s Puget Sound, there’s Lake Washington, the ocean.  It’s just gorgeous.  And I think about what you’re doing, you’re preserving the beauty of Seattle and the water that is there.  So you guys chose tunnels instead of tanks, which I appreciate because, you know, no matter what kind of artwork you put on it, a tank is still a tank.  Talk about the complexity that was added by choosing tunnels instead of tanks. KEITH WARD:  Sure.  These were early decisions between the two agencies and when they decided to kind of come together.  Started back in 2013.  So we have different tools in our toolbox to solve this problem.  When you get really large volumes like this, you need to go to what we call “storage” or “tanks.”  These generally in an urban environment would be underground concrete tanks.  So we were kind of looking at installing at each of these six locations underground storage tanks.  But you need a lot of property to do that.  So we would have had to condemn private property, and there would have been a lot of construction impacts, much more than when you’re doing a tunnel. So that led us to start thinking about, first of all, a tunnel, and then a share tunnel.  And the cost ended up being about the same.  We ended up going down the share tunnel route because it would be much less impact for the local communities, less condemnation.  And actually, because it’s over three miles, it gives us more operational flexibility because what we’re starting to see is kind of storm patterns changing where we get these micro storms.  So on one end of the tunnel we may get a really hard storm, and on the other end it’s not as bad.  So instead of just having one tank, we can put more into the tunnel at that specific location. A Tunnel Boring Machine WENDY GROUNDS:  We did a podcast a while back with the Atlanta Watershed Project.  They described using a tunnel-boring machine to work through the tunnels that they’re building here in Atlanta.

The podcast by project manager for project managers. “Why you work determines how well you work.” Finding our Why impacts how well we lead a project, and enables team members to stay focused and motivated to finish the project successfully. Listen in for valuable advice on resilience, motivation, and “growing your grit” to help project managers envision their potential and build stronger teams. Table of Contents 03:25 … Finding Your Why: A Look at Past Guests06:58 … Prepare To Roar Expeditions08:32 … The Riverbend Group09:18 … Embarking on a Major career Change11:08 … Doreen’s Story: Identifying Her Why12:48 … The Impact of Your Why14:01 … Relating the Why to Projects16:27 … Project Teams: Aligning Your Whys19:27 … Making it a Priority21:43 … Goals vs. Whys24:34 … Cultural Drivers Affecting our Choices30:35 … Resilience and Long Term Goals32:26 … Misconceptions about Motivation34:19 … Becoming Motivated36:39 … Key Factors of staying Motivated37:57 … Our Differences and Growing Grit39:34 … Are You at a Crossroads?42:40 … Get in Touch with Doreen44:01 … Closing DOREEN LINNEMAN: ...and because of that the world is just reeling with change, and change is happening all the time.  And as scary as that is, the beauty about that is people’s postures are open for change.  Normally as humans we resist change.  But people are expectant for change.  They have just been forced to do it.  It’s like, oh, what’s coming next?  And with that is a gift.  It’s a huge gift for all of us.  If we laser focus here on just being your professional legacy, very rarely do you get the opportunity to change it, or to change a trajectory.  Really the only time you get to do it is when you leave a company.  Right?  And you get to start over and build up reputation from scratch. What’s beautiful about the situation of moving past and through COVID is that, again, everybody is expectant to change.  And quite frankly, if you’re a leader who doesn’t change, I mean, shame on you.  How could you not go through what we’ve just gone through and not lead differently?  Right?  Your people want you to.  They’re ready for you to.  It’s just such a perfect opportunity to put a stake in the ground and be like, what do I want to be remembered for?  Who do I want to serve?  How do I want to be?  What is the legacy I’ll want to be?  And to start to make that shift.  And if it seems daunting, then you go back to those micro goals. ...but now is the time, because what you will not regret are making the changes. WENDY GROUNDS:  You’re listening to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  I am Wendy Grounds, and joining me is Bill Yates.  We’re so glad that you’re joining us today.  And if you enjoy this episode, please visit us at Velociteach.com.  You can leave a comment for us on our Manage This Podcast page.  We always like hearing from you. And remember you can still claim your free PDUs.   Our PDU claim page has the new instructions.  Make sure not to use the autofill, but type in “Velociteach” and the title when you are submitting your PDUs.  So I’m very excited.  Today we have a guest in the studio with us. BILL YATES:  Yes.      WENDY GROUNDS:  And we always love getting to personally meet our guests and not have to talk on Skype all the time. BILL YATES:  Right. WENDY GROUNDS:  Doreen Linneman is a keynote speaker, she focuses on management consulting, professional development team building.  She really takes leadership and professional development out of the boardroom and into nature, doesn’t she. BILL YATES:  Yes, she does.  That’s an understatement.  She’s got three companies that she started, and one’s called Prepare to Roar.  We’ll hear more about that.  But that involves taking leaders out of the boardroom, out of the conference rooms and  all the coffee and doughnuts, and putting them in nature and having them face some of their biggest fears, like these gorillas or sharks or different things like that. WENDY GROUNDS:  She’s got some incredible stories.  I’ve also noticed in her bio she’s a certified mental toughness facilitator and trainer, and she’s completed the Navy SEALFIT Leadership Academy.  So she’s got some punch there. BILL YATES:  Yes, absolutely.  She has got some game.  I can’t wait to have Doreen talk with us about her experiences.  And she’s an accomplished athlete, as well.  She’s finished the Ironman Triathlon three times, which is just amazing.  So we’re delighted to have her here in our studio to share some of her wisdom with us. Finding Your Why: A Look at Past Guests WENDY GROUNDS:  One of the main topics we’re talking about is the why, or the purpose behind the what of what we do.  And we’re going to get deeper into that with Doreen when we talk with her.  But while we were talking about this, Bill and I just went through some of our past episodes on our podcast, and looked at guests that we’ve had who’ve had very strong whys. BILL YATES:  Yeah.  Oh, yeah.  Let me just start with one.  Episode 86 we talked with Doc Watson, and that was on saving rhinos with Connected Conservation.  Here’s a quote from Doc:  “I think there was almost a calling, if I could call it that, where I could marry technology to conservation and have a look at saving species.” WENDY GROUNDS:  More recently we talked to Jody Staruk, and she is a woman who’s leading the way in construction projects.  And she had been asked to be the first female executive of her company.  And in Episode 132, the quote she gave was to her boss.  She said:  “You’re asking me to be the first female executive of the company, which means it can’t fail because, whether it’s my decision or not, it will never be viewed that way.  I don’t want to send that message to younger women in the company.”  And so she took on a big task, and she succeeded. BILL YATES:  Yes, she did, yes.  The desire to help others and step beyond yourself, that theme came out.  Mark Von Tillow, Episode 80:  In Case of Fire, Handle With Courage.  Mark said he was moved into what he does after his father’s sudden passing.  And to quote Mark:  “That was really my first exposure to that.  And I thought, you know, I’d like to be that person someday, trying to help somebody.  So that’s really where it started.” WENDY GROUNDS:  We could go on all day and just do a podcast quoting our guests.  You know, they’ve made an impact on us.  They’ve touched us with their story.  And one that’s really touched my heart is Peter Baines.  This was Episode 126:  Leading Through Tragedy, Finding Purpose.  And I’m just going to read Peter’s quote.  He says:  “We need to understand our real clarity of purpose, or why we do what we do.  And for leaders it’s when we should be bringing that into our teams.”  He has an amazing story of going through tragedy of seeing the tsunami victims and why he went to help the children there. BILL YATES:  A final one that I’ve got to mention, Dr. James Crowe, Episode 124:  A Vital Project – Pursuing Antibody Science in a Pandemic.  Dr. Crowe shared that he started out as a pediatrician.  And just to quote him:  “Ultimately I trained as an infectious disease specialist to try to work on prevention of disease, infectious diseases particularly, for the world’s most vulnerable people.  And that ultimately led me to science.”  So again, that motivation and kind of the story behind the story with those who have gone on to do projects that make such a difference in the world. WENDY GROUNDS:  Yeah. BILL YATES:  Wendy, this is crazy.  We could talk all day about some of these guests and some of the things that have motivated them with their projects.  I’m just thinking about orbital space debris.  I’m thinking about removing plastic from the oceans.  There are so many examples.  I’m really excited to be able to have this conversation with Doreen. WENDY GROUNDS:  Yes.  Doreen, we’re so glad to have you here today.  Thank you for joining us. DOREEN LINNEMAN:  Oh, thank you so much.  I am fired up to be here this morning, really excited. WENDY GROUNDS:  I’m glad to hear you’re fired up because I know you’ve just had a bit of jet lag coming in. DOREEN LINNEMAN:  Yes.  I had 10 hours and 45 minutes of sleep last night, so I am amazing. BILL YATES:  Good. DOREEN LINNEMAN:  I think I’ve conquered the Serengeti jet lag for sure. Prepare to Roar Expedition WENDY GROUNDS:  Why don’t you tell us about that?  Tell us about the trip you’ve been on. DOREEN LINNEMAN:  Yeah, I just got back from a Prepare to Roar expedition, which is one of my companies.  And it’s kind of this unique intersection of blood and wine or sweat and wine.  It’s all about helping people professionally or personally find and live their best life, goal-setting.  I get corporate executives come.  I get families.  And I get teams.  And this one was all about goal-setting.  We use the big cats of the Serengeti – the lions, leopards, and cheetahs – to teach us about identifying your prey or your goal, and then design your hunting strategy.  So I just left four or five executives fired up to finish their 2021 strong. BILL YATES:  How long were you there? DOREEN LINNEMAN:  For the program, this particular program was five nights in the Serengeti.  And then I stayed a little bit extra to sharpen my saw when it comes to identifying birds by sound.  And my guides, I’m an expert on vultures now, and termites.  So I spent a couple extra days down there to sharpen my skills, as well. WENDY GROUNDS:  I know that you do other expeditions, as well.  I’ve been very interested in the shark one done near Cape Town? DOREEN LINNEMAN:  Yeah, the shark one.  I’m a little conflicted about that one right now with nature, whether or not I want to continue that one and making sure that I’m honoring the animals, and we’re doing things in a right way.  But we have an amazing one about risk and going for it in the jungles of Belize.

The podcast by project managers for project managers.  Project managers or people managers? In this episode we talk about leadership development and the project manager’s role in creating self-sustaining and cohesive teams. Hear about steps for building high-performing teams that function independently and effectively, and how to create a healthy culture and strong team alignment. Table of Contents 01:37 … Leadership Development Areas for Project Managers03:00 … Adapting Leadership to Evolving Teams07:40 … Behavioral Differences in High- and Low-Performing Teams09:26 … An Agile Approach10:05 … Healthy Culture in Hybrid Environment11:52 … Being Intentional about Equity and Inclusion13:27 … How do I Know They’re Doing Their Work?16:13 … Creating Project Team Alignment17:58 … What is Getting in Your Way?21:01 … How Do You Get People Aligned?24:00 … Reward and Recognition Systems27:13 … Providing Constructive Feedback29:22 … Strengthen Relationships with Senior Manager or Sponsors33:06 … Get in touch with Ken33:23 … Closing KEN WAGNER: ...the more information that people have about the bigger picture, the more they can connect their piece to the, not just to the overall mission, but also their piece of the overall outcome, the more they are to contribute in ways beyond their specific function. WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  I’m Wendy Grounds, and in the studio today with me is Bill Yates. I must apologize, there are a few gremlins in the audio for some reason.  So we apologize if the audio is not quite as clear.   Today we’re talking with Ken Wagner.  Ken is a senior principal for ALULA.  ALULA is a management consultancy.  And he’s talking to us from Jacksonville, Florida.  Ken has a passion for helping leaders be successful. BILL YATES:  Yeah.  Ken is an expert.  He’s even got his Ph.D. in Behavioral Science.  And we know project managers have to get things done through people.  And people are complex beings.  Right?  Some days I’m excited about working.  Some days I’m not as excited about it. WENDY GROUNDS:  It’s a complex thing. BILL YATES:  Yes, yes.  So not only does Ken have expertise in an area that’s of keen interest to me and project managers, but he’s also worked across all industries.  He’s coached managers and C-Suite level executives in all different industries, and I know he’s going to be able to add a lot to our conversation about managing projects and managing people to get things done. WENDY GROUNDS:  Hi, Ken.  Thanks for joining us, and welcome to Manage This. KEN WAGNER:  Well, good morning.  Thank you for having me. Leadership Development Areas for Project Managers WENDY GROUNDS:  We want to pick your brain on leadership and leading project teams today.  What leadership development areas are important for project managers? KEN WAGNER:  Ah.  Boy, that’s a great question.  You know, many project managers are certainly skilled at change technology and project technology.  But much of that job, as I see it, is about influence, and ultimately about positive influence skills.  And so when I think about the most effective project managers, I notice that those that give direction in objective terms, can clearly describe what they want people to accomplish, what they want them to do, tend to have more success.  Those who frequently do alignment checks, so they ask probing questions to make sure that people are hearing what they think they’re hearing, or understanding what they think they’re understanding, they provide lots of feedback – feedback not only on outcomes, but on what people are doing and how they’re doing it.  And they do that in ways that are timely, and they do that in ways that are actionable. And then the last skill that is often overlooked is that they tend to be good at positive reinforcement, meaning they attend to the things that they want more of, things that add the most value.  So they focus more on getting good things repeated as opposed to trying to correct the few things that aren’t quite right. Adapting Leadership to Evolving Teams BILL YATES:  These are powerful.  You just filled up my cereal bowl with, like, you know, five really powerful points there.  That’s great stuff.  One of the things that I think we all experience with teams is, you know, teams are like kids.  They grow up.  So my kids need something, you know, when they’re six to eight years old, and then they need a different parenting skill when they’re 12 to 14 years old, as teenagers.  Sometimes our project teams have all been to those teenage years.  Then they step on out beyond that.  How can project managers adapt their leadership as teams grow up, as they evolve? KEN WAGNER:  First of all, that’s a fantastic analogy.  I love that.  Teams do evolve, and project teams, but also intact teams evolve, as well, and the skills required for even implementing initiatives change over time, as people get better and expectations change.  So I guess there’s a few things that we often see are helpful.  The first is in the beginning of an initiative or beginning of a project.  We want to build a behavior roadmap.  But we have identified critical behaviors for all project team members.  What are the most important things we need people to do in, say, 12 months from now? So towards the end of the project we’re looking at sort of ideal state.  What does a high-functioning project team look like?  That’s a great place to start, but that’s usually a long way off where people are.  So we plan it.  Twelve months is arbitrary, but we build the ideal state.  And then we back up and we say, first 30 days.  What do those behaviors actually look like in the first 30 days?  And essentially they’re an approximation.  You’re either doing part of the ideal behaviors, or you’re doing them in a different way.  And then in the intermediate step we build maybe a 120-day plan.  So how do those behaviors evolve as the project matures and as the team matures together? So we have an ideal state.  We have a first state.  We have a mid-state.  And those behaviors change in either frequency, consistency, or some behaviors change altogether.  The other couple of things that I think are important when you do that is adjusting the metrics, as well.  So we often start a project with frequency metrics.  So how often are we doing things?  How often are we meeting?  How often are we adding input?  Over time we want to shift those metrics to more quality metrics.  So we’re meeting more often.  But when we meet, are we accomplishing things?  Ultimately we want to build metrics that account for collaboration.  So the metrics require two or more people’s input to achieve them. The last thing I would say is, and this goes to your first question, the skills for project managers, the best project managers then create an environment where they’re facilitating peer feedback and peer reinforcement, as well.  And that’s not going to happen in the beginning.  So as you talk about evolution, that’s the project manager’s responsibility until the team really begins to become cohesive.  And then that project manager fades out that role, and the team is really self-sustaining.  And when you get that, you can have high-performing teams function largely independently, but effectively.  But if you try to do all that stuff right up front, to your point, if you try to parent in a teenage way for a toddler, you’re really going to miss the mark. BILL YATES:  Yeah.  This really hits home with me.  As you’re describing the kind of a 30-day, 120-day, 365-day plan, it’s so logical, and I’m sitting here kicking myself, thinking why have I not seen that connection between what I do with an individual employee, when I onboard a new employee, I should be taking this same mindset to a team, and I think project managers should, as well.  There’s a great book out there, “The First 90 Days.” KEN WAGNER:  Yes. BILL YATES:  This advice is so logical for project managers to step through and think, okay, describe very clearly and upfront, what is ideal team behavior?  What does it look like?  And then do those check-ins.  And I think for some of our project managers who want a checklist, and they want to put stuff on their schedule, you’ve given them that formula.  So this is good, useful stuff. KEN WAGNER:  Yeah, and I think one of the key points that you just said is important, that most people start the project, and they’re thinking right now, what do we have to do to get going?  But a lot of the things that we teach are about starting with the end in mind and working backwards so you can get alignment along the way.  It’s a little more effortful and time-consuming upfront.  But, boy, it pays off in the long run. Behavioral Differences in High- and Low-Performing Teams WENDY GROUNDS:  There has been such a change in our work environment in remote and hybrid teams.  What are some differences, some behavioral differences that you’re seeing in high- and low-performing project teams within the context of remote and hybrid workforce? KEN WAGNER:  Yeah, boy, this is becoming so common, where we’ve got a group of people working onsite and a group of people remotely.  The high-performing teams that we’ve seen, they make an effort to establish the norms.  And those norms of the team working together are obviously different than if they were together.  And so upfront they set the expectation of are we working flexible hours?  Are we not working flexible hours?  Are we going to work issues together simultaneously?  Or are we going to work them offline and then come back together?  And really look at people’s strengths and people’s preferences and then create those norms around that situation that they have. Another thing we see, and you’ll hear this all the time, but it is still true:  more communication.  And so it’s not just over communicating.

If you’re recruiting new hires for your team, or if you’re in the market for new opportunities, listen in for Cate Murray’s well qualified advice. Hear recommendations on current job market trends, tips on how to attract and retain top talent, as well as how to attract interest from possible employers, optimizing your resume, and developing a network engagement plan.

The story of a remarkable project to construct the tallest elevator test tower in the Western Hemisphere. Ben Norton explains the innovative slipform construction process which was employed to ensure the accelerated pace of the tower construction. Hear about how this project team overcame multiple obstacles and challenges to achieve project success. Table of Contents 01:21 … Meet Ben02:48 … Project Vision and Purpose04:03 … The Battery in Atlanta05:38 … A Unique Construction Project06:27 … TK Elevator Headquarters08:22 … First Thoughts about the Job09:02 … Slipform Construction Process12:45 … Speed of Construction14:00 … Project Timeline15:24 … Scope, Time, and Cost16:34 … Challenges on the Project18:28 … Slipform and Steel Challenges19:30 … Weather Challenges20:51 … Pandemic Challenges24:46 … Biggest Surprises on the Project27:05 … In Retrospect29:50 … Social Connectivity30:46 … Advice for Project Managers32:16 … Get in Touch with Ben32:54 … Closing BEN NORTON: ...anybody getting into their career should just be ambitious and have a drive to learn as much as you can.  Always have humility and eagerness to learn and hunger to learn, but also be gracious and always a positive attitude, always respect their team.  WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  And we’re so glad you joined us today.  We have a really cool story to tell you.  I am Wendy Grounds, and in the studio with me is Bill Yates.  So today we’re going to be talking about the tallest elevator test tower in the Western hemisphere.  This is TK Elevator’s new North American headquarters at The Battery in Atlanta.  It’s a 420-foot-tall Innovation and Qualification Center.  This three-building headquarters complex which includes the tower will eventually be occupied by more than 900 employees.  And I’ve driven by this tower, and it is phenomenal.  It’s really big. BILL YATES:  Yeah, it’s so exciting.  You could see it going up.  And for those who are not familiar with TK Elevator, this company is one of the four largest elevator companies in the world.  They have 50,000 employees globally.  They do 8 billion in annual sales.  That’s euro.  So it’s a large company.  We’re delighted to discuss that with Ben today. Meet Ben WENDY GROUNDS:  Ben Norton is the Vice President and Division Manager for Brasfield & Gorrie, which is the general contractor for this construction project.  Ben, welcome to Manage This.  We’re excited to have you in the studio today. BEN NORTON:  Thank you for having me. WENDY GROUNDS:  First of all I wanted to find out, how long have you been with Brasfield & Gorrie?  And just tell us some of the projects that you’ve worked on. BEN NORTON:  Sure.  So this January will make 20 years with Brasfield & Gorrie.  It’s gone by very fast.  Some of the projects that I’ve worked on:  the Georgia Aquarium, most recently completed the Predator exhibit, and the Sea Lion exhibit that was completed about five years ago.  The Emory Health Science Research Building.  Also Marriott and a SpringHill Suites down at the GICC, convention center down by the airport.  St. George Village in Roswell is a large retirement facility.  A lot of work at Agnes Scott through the years, and University of Georgia.  And also recently wrapped up Passion City Church.  So a lot of different market sectors there to talk about. WENDY GROUNDS:  Yeah, yeah. BILL YATES:  Now, you mentioned University of Georgia.  But you actually went to Clemson University; is that correct? BEN NORTON:  That’s correct. BILL YATES:  Do you care for their football team, or you don’t really follow them?  They’re not very good; right? BEN NORTON:  Clemson’s or Georgia’s? BILL YATES:  Well played.  Yup.  All right.  We could dedicate a whole podcast just to college football and rivalries.  WENDY GROUNDS:  Yeah, yeah, but I’m going to move you along. BILL YATES:  Okay. BEN NORTON:  There’s no real rivalry there.  It ended a long time ago. Project Vision and Purpose WENDY GROUNDS:  All right.  Ben, we want to jump right in and hear about the project with TK Elevator Tower.  Can you tell us the vision for the project and the purpose behind this tower? BEN NORTON:  The Test Tower has 18 elevator shafts in it.  And it’ll be used to try trials for new concepts and product pilots, including their high-speed elevator technology, as well as their twin system, which is basically two elevator cabins in the same shaft.  Now, the Test Tower will also conduct robust tests to ensure compliance with stringent safety requirements on standard elevators, and different compliance, different state regulations throughout the country.  To showcase the elevators in the Test Tower, what’s really cool is the IQC will feature a complete glass exterior façade that faces The Battery in Atlanta. BILL YATES:  Oh, cool. BEN NORTON:  It will allow all visitors annually to see kind of all the operations of an elevator that’s normally behind the scenes, behind the concrete or drywall shafts.  In addition to the elevator Test Tower, the IQC has an event and meeting space at the top of the lower part of the building and at the top of the building.  So really breathtaking views up there, looking at the whole region.  It’s going to have a high-tech digital showroom, software labs, engineering offices, and training facilities, as well. The Battery in Atlanta BILL YATES:  For those who are not familiar with the Atlanta area, describe The Battery.  Of course the Atlanta Braves play at Truist Park.  So describe where this building kind of fits into that. BEN NORTON:  So I would say that The Battery Atlanta is really a mixed-use facility, anchored by the stadium, from residential to retail to office to hospitality between the Omni Comcast Building there.  This parcel of land was owned by the Braves Development Company.  And so this is really a partnership that made sense, that TK Elevator had looked at a lot of different sites for this type facility.  The thing that was always interesting to me is if you look at their other test towers in Germany and China, they’re typically in rural areas, not in a urban entertainment district, and usually separate from other functions. So I think they were pretty innovative in their thought process to be leaders in the market of combining meeting space, engineering, training, along with this Test Tower, along with their corporate headquarters; and consolidating all these parts and pieces of their company that were spaced out throughout the country into one place to enhance their synergy and collaboration.  But also, what a marketing tool.  What a landmark to bring clients, designers, people who had probably never heard of TK Elevator, the layperson not in the construction industry, who’ll probably get very familiar with that brand just from seeing the building.  So I think it was pretty creative and will pay dividends in the long run.  A Unique Construction Project BILL YATES:  Yeah.  Now, Brasfield & Gorrie, huge construction firm.  But you guys don’t do elevator shafts, these kinds of projects every day.  Was that a little bit different for you? BEN NORTON:  It was different.  We do do elevator shafts all the time. BILL YATES:  Yeah, just not... BEN NORTON:  Yeah, just not a shaft by itself up in the air.  Yeah, this was definitely a different building, unique building. You know, Brasfield & Gorrie, we work in many different markets.  But I think sometimes people’s perceptions is, man, if that’s a complicated, unique job, that’s something that Brasfield will be interested in.  And that’s definitely the case.  And so this one definitely fit the bill.  You know, The Battery Atlanta was important to us with relationships, and it’s within walking distance of our office.  Cobb County’s our home, and so anything we can do to success of that area is top of our list.  And so this was definitely a unique job to be a part of. TK Elevator Headquarters BILL YATES:  I want to back up for a second.  So TK Elevator, my understanding is they’re one of the four largest elevator manufacturers in the world.  And this is their North American headquarter building that you guys are constructing here.  Is that correct? BEN NORTON:  It’s actually, there’s two on this lot at The Battery.  There is Three Ballpark Center, which is an office building developed by and owned by Braves Development Company.  TK Elevator as anchor client has leased the floors there for their corporate headquarters office space.  Across the drive, kind of the plaza, is what they call the IQC and Test Tower.  So that’s the Innovation Qualification Center and Test Tower.  And so that’s all those functions I was stating earlier.  So that is their North American headquarter location, but it is right there with all their other functions of R&D, testing, and training. BILL YATES:  One reason I bring it up is so we’re based out of Atlanta, Georgia.  The Home Depot is headquartered here.  We’ve done a lot of project management training down at their corporate facility.  And I’ve always felt sorry for the people that worked in the store just across the highway, the retail store, because I’m like, man, there’s corporate right there.  So you’re doing this massive important project for the company, while their headquarters and the very important people are right there. BEN NORTON:  That’s correct. BILL YATES:  So it’s just extra pressure for you as a project manager. BEN NORTON:  I think, you know, our company culture was more of support than pressure.  I mean, that’s always in the back of the mind that there’s a lot of people looking at this.  But it’s also, from crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s and planning and all those good things, it got tons of attention for being a unique job.  But it also,