“I didn’t go to business school. I didn’t have a mentor guiding me. I had to kind of fall on my face a little bit. EOS introduced me to a simpler way to run a business.” Starting your own business is a big step for any entrepreneur. But how do you know you’re ready to grow beyond a one-person operation and lead an actual team? In this episode of Time Limit, Brett talks with Chris Dreyer, CEO of Rankings.io, about how he started a successful SEO agency and why the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) has been an important tool in his leadership belt.  Listen to this episode to discover: When it’s time to hire your first employee Strategies for structuring your team and business for growth How to build employee trust and be an effective leader The key mindset most successful CEOs have in common The benefits of EOS, with tips on how to implement it in your company One time-saving trick you can use to prioritize work and find focus See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“I invite my team to listen in—to be part of those reactions when people look at our games—because it’s so important to have a shared understanding.” When most folks think about project management, game design probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. But every video game that’s developed needs a project manager at the helm to ensure the final experience is both functional and fun.  In this episode of Time Limit, Brett chats with Tim Leinert of Mindforce Game Lab about his journey from traditional project manager to managing video game projects for a digital healthcare startup. Listen to their conversation to hear: Questions to consider when developing a video game project charter How to manage a game development team and still make time for strategic planning Simple tips for keeping communication and culture alive on your project team Where video game projects tend to get off track from the plan How to determine when a game design project is done Advice to become a video game project manager See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“There’s a very big difference between being busy—getting little meaningless things done—versus making real progress toward your goals.” How do you motivate your team and increase productivity?  It starts with stepping back from the to-do list and looking at what you want to accomplish as an organization, as a team, and—yes—even as individuals with lives outside the office.  In this episode of Time Limit, Brett and TeamGantt cofounder Nathan Gilmore talk about how to take a big-picture approach to productivity so you and your team can thrive in every aspect of life. Listen to their conversation to learn: Simple strategies to increase productivity for yourself and you team Why having a plan is an easy way to improve team productivity The connection between goal-setting and team performance How moving to a 4-day workweek impacted productivity at TeamGantt How to recognize and handle productivity issues on your team One thing that may be getting in the way of your team’s productivity See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Empathy as a verb is a choice—and how you choose to engage in empathy is going to change from person to person based on each individual’s desires and needs." Empathy isn’t just critical to good communication. It’s the heart of effective leadership. Yet empathy often gets pushed aside in the attempt to project a “perfect” professional image.  With many people working from home in a year that’s been anything but normal, it’s time to break down the walls. No matter where you work or what kind of projects you manage, being empathetic can help you build deeper trust and connection with customers and coworkers alike.  Thankfully, empathy is a skill anyone can develop and improve. In this episode of Time Limit, Brett talks to empathy consultant Sharon Steed—CEO and founder of Communilogue—about empathy and communication in project management. Listen to their conversation to learn: What empathy is and why it’s important in the workplace Why practicing empathy at work leads to a more inclusive culture How to develop empathy as an individual and organization One question that can help you become a more empathetic project leader How to inspire empathy in your team and beyond How to improve empathy in your communication See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“We tend to think we can do things a lot faster than we really can. We also tend to think that the risks won't really be as bad and that the benefits will be really good." Anyone who has ever estimated a project, or even a single task, knows that it’s tough work. Not only are you making guesses about time spent or pricing, you’re probably also making guesses about the scope of the project itself. One question uncovers another question, and a detail you needed to know. But are you on the right path to get what you need to create a truly realistic estimate?  You might think you are, but the answer is probably no! Check out this episode of Time Limit, where Brett talks to Jacob Bodnar—the VP of Operations at Maestro—about biases in estimating, as well as in project management itself. They also discuss: The science of bias Project management bias The planning fallacy Optimism bias How to use your team as a check and balance when it comes to bias How to get to a place of understanding and deal with issues head on how to define a project and what you do/don’t know Where to find “unknowns” How to rule out the optimism; framing The language you should use in estimation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“In order to be a remote project manager, you really have to boost your project management skills.” Whether you’ve been managing projects remotely for a long time, or you were flung into it when Covid-19 forced you into it, you know that keeping details, tasks, people, and projects on track from afar can be a challenge. There are, of course, some tactics you can employ to make the job easier, but what it comes down to is that remote project management requires you to lean on your PM skills and intuition. In this episode of Time Limit, Brett welcomes Ben Aston from thedigitalprojectmanager.com to talk about remote project management. It’s a wide-ranging conversation that covers: The basic requirements of remote project management How to manage remote meetings How to run retrospectives or post mortem meetings remotely How to connect with your team remotely How to show your value as a PM from afar See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“An important PM skill is to be able to facilitate conversations around business value in order to strategize and look at outcomes.” Goals. We all have them. Or at least we should. In the world of project management, goals manifest in different ways. As project managers we are often mired in goals of all types: organizations, project, and even personal goals that help to guide us.  But how are we setting and managing goals to get the most out of every aspect of our work?  In this episode of Time Limit, Brett sits down with agile consultant Anita Sagar to discuss project goals and professional goals. The conversation focuses on the project management mindset around goals, and how to shift project metrics from outputs to outcomes, and how to tie those outcomes to your overall success and career trajectory. This information-filled conversation covers: How organizations set, document, and communicate project goals  The value of revisiting goals mid-project How to focus on goals vs. outputs Focusing on quality rather than quantity How to discuss outcomes and get more out of retrospectives How to quantify your skillset as a PM and advance your career The value of certifications See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Project managers are probably one of the most key influencers for strategy. And they can either make or break any project”. Strategic decision making is a part of almost any job, but it’s all-encompassing when it comes to project management. PMs are not only faced with making strategic decisions to deliver a project successfully, they are also well-positioned to help stakeholders make decisions that will impact their projects. One set of decisions plays into the other, and PMs hope they all work together. It’s widely known and mostly accepted that there’s a general lack of control in the PM role, but an area that any project manager can control is in charting and managing a project strategy that will guide projects through change, issues, and even progress. And that’s where stress comes in! In this episode of Time Limit, Brett sits down with Yoon Chung from Veritas to discuss the project manager’s role in decision making, and doing so in stressful situations. The conversation covers: How project management is a strategic role Why asking questions is so important in project management How to create an atmosphere where the PM is more strategic The types of strategic decision project managers make and facilitate The challenges PMs face when it comes to decision making on projects Tactics to use when facilitating decisions on projects How to know if you are making the right decision How to handle stressful situations How to pick up on team stress See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“It's a moment to understand who's on board, who's not on board right away instead of getting halfway through a project and a stakeholder pops up and I is like, ‘Wait a second, this wasn't what I was thinking.’” Project kickoff meetings provide an opportunity for teams to understand goals, set expectations, discuss strategy, and get excited about a new project.  The thing is, there’s no single way of running a project kickoff. In this episode of Time Limit, Brett sits down with Kayla Keizer, project manager at Montreal-based digital design agency Plank. Kayla shares her unique experience and approach to creative kickoff meetings. Topics discussed include: What is a kickoff meeting? The purpose of a kickoff meeting How to plan a kickoff meeting Kick off meeting agendas See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“I love the very quick and fast pace of an agency and my projects.”  Project management roles are pretty similar across industries, in that PMs are mostly responsible for facilitating projects and teams to a successful delivery while keeping a keen eye budgets and deadlines. That’s certainly the case for agency project management, but for some reason it’s just a little more different. Is it the fast pace? The clients? The huge network you have in a global agency? The creative culture? Or maybe the way a PM is viewed and utilized in an agency?  In this episode of Time Limit, we talk to Donna Sargeant, who is a program manager at Wunderman Thompson, a global creative agency that helps its clients meet their business goals through the strategy and execution of digital and print projects. In the interview, Donna provides a glimpse into agency life as a project manager, and we touch on: What does a project manager do at a marketing agency? How to get into agency project management Project management roles and team structure How PMs work with account managers Agency process Additional resources mentioned in this episode: Check out Donna’s session at the Digital PM Summit 2020  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.