August 20, 2024 • 24 mins
Ever wondered how growing up in a family of bricklayers could lead to managing large-scale renewable energy projects? This episode of PM Mastery features Juniel Miller, who takes us through his captivating journey from a construction-heavy upbringing to spearheading ambitious battery storage and solar initiatives across the Carolinas and Florida. With roots in real estate and construction, Juniel not only highlights the importance of teamwork and adaptability but also shares the unique satisfaction that comes with bringing a project to life.
Navigating change in project management can be daunting, yet Juniel provides actionable insights and strategies to tackle these challenges head-on. This episode unpacks the necessity of personal growth to keep up with technological advancements and the value of self-awareness in identifying areas for improvement. Juniel underscores the importance of consensus-building within teams and stresses that leaders must fully understand the changes they propose to foster effective process optimization. Whether you're a seasoned professional or a newcomer to project management, Juniel's wisdom promises to inspire and elevate your approach to leadership and project execution.
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Links:
- Connect with Juniel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juniel-miller-pmp-491b792/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Intro/Outro (00:12):
Welcome to the PM Mastery Podcast.
This podcast is all abouthelping you master your project
management skills by sharingtips, tricks, tools and training
to get you to the next level,while sharing the stories of
other project managers on theirjourney in project management.
And now here's your host, waltSparling.
Walt Sparling (00:36):
All right, welcome everybody to the current
episode of PM Mastery, andtoday I have with me JuMiller
Miller.
Hello Janelle, Welcome to theshow.
Hey Walt, how?
How you doing, sir?
I'm doing great.
We're going to get started.
I'm going to have you tell us alittle bit about you personally
.
Then we'll jump into some otherquestions on job and things
like that.
(00:56):
So tell us a little bit aboutyourself.
Juniel Miller (01:00):
Alright, my name JuMiller Miller.
I live here in Charlotte, northCarolina.
I have a wife of 15 years,eanna Miller, who's a teacher
here in Charlotte, and I havetwo twin boys.
They'll be 10 on Friday.
Yeah, that's who I am.
(01:22):
Good deal.
So what is it that?
Manager working for a Fortune150 utility company, 20,000 plus
employees, and my focus is onregulated renewable battery
storage and solar in theCarolinas and Florida.
Ok, but the majority of mycareer up until recently was in
(01:48):
the real estate and constructionspace, where I spent nearly 20
years doing those types ofprojects in multiple different
business segments.
Walt Sparling (01:52):
And that's where I know you from is we've worked
together Right, and we've bothmade some recent transitions, so
it's kind of exciting to seeyou know moving on, learning new
things, doing new stuff.
That's right.
What drives you.
So you've been doing this awhile.
You indicated that you've beendoing the project management.
You've been in the constructionspace.
(02:13):
Now you're in the renewables.
What keeps you doing this kindof work?
Juniel Miller (02:19):
It doesn't really feel like a pivot for me.
It's still construction.
Instead of doing buildings orspaces or you spaces or
pharmaceutical plant type work,I'm focusing on solar and
battery storage.
It's still the constructionaspect of that work and really
what drives me.
I grew up in a constructionfamily.
(02:39):
My dad and my uncles werebricklayers and just seeing how
things come together, brick bybrick, has always been a thing
that just attract, that I'mattracted to supporting building
, the building things andoverall built environment,
something that I always wantedto do.
And, uh, when I started mycareer I didn't say I was in
(03:01):
california.
Just seeing how different thebuilding I was on came together
in an area that was prone toearthquakes versus in an area
where I grew up in Arkansas,with the 12-inch or 8-inch block
walls in an area that's proneto tornadoes.
Just seeing that difference issomething that continues to
(03:22):
fascinate me.
And you can never do the sameproject twice.
Everything is always different.
You can take the same blueprint, same house and try to build it
twice, and it will becompletely different the second
time, especially if you usedifferent people.
Walt Sparling (03:38):
Yeah, exactly the experience.
If nothing else will becompletely different, which, in
my view, is that's all aboutcontrolling that, experiencing
and managing it.
Juniel Miller (03:48):
That's absolutely right and really the team
aspect of project management.
You know, it's not just oneperson that drives or delivers
an asset, it's a team of people.
Most people come from differentbackgrounds.
It's a team of people Mostpeople come from different
backgrounds.
You're working to collectivelybring different attitudes,
different skill sets andeverybody collectively delivers
(04:10):
this particular product.
I think it's fascinating.
It's a great thing to be a partof and you can see the results
of your labor.
Walt Sparling (04:16):
Yeah, that's the one nice thing is you get to
walk away and be pointed downthe road.
Yeah, so your family, there'sconstruction in your family.
Um, now, as far as the projectmanagement side, how long ago
did you get like in a role whereyou were considered, even
without a formal title, whereyou were actually doing project
(04:38):
management type responsibilities?
Juniel Miller (04:43):
my first opportunity as a true project
manager and it wasn't really thetitle, it was more so the word
uh was when I was still incalifornia.
This is, I was probably twoyears into my career and it kind
of happened based on someattrition type issues I won't
quite get into.
But, uh, thrown into the fireevery aspect of, and it was a
(05:04):
special project where it was meand a superintendent and we had
to figure it out, to drive itout, to drive this particular
project out to close.
And I learned a lot in dealingwith just the dynamics of the
relationship between projectmanager, superintendent, project
manager, superintendent, client.
And when you run into arelationship with someone who
(05:26):
may not quite be okay with youbut is okay with your partner,
letting that relationship withthat partner take precedent so
that you can get to where youneed to go.
That's what I learned, that veryearly on in my career.
Um, but from that workingthrough a different, a few
different roles, but but fromthat working through a few
(05:48):
different roles, but trueproject management really hit
the end and those learninglessons were kind of things I
continued to piggyback onthroughout my career from there.
So, big grief, I hadn't reallythought about it that way.
Well, that was my firstopportunity.
Walt Sparling (06:06):
One of the things that's always a common
discussion topic is like how,how people got started, and
especially the newer folks,because they're usually they're
coming from another career, likeeducators.
I've had some teachers on here,people from the pharmaceutical
industry, where they'vetransitioned into project
management, and it's like, okay,so how did it happen?
It's like, well, it just Idon't know, it just kind of
happened.
It's just, you know, you wentfrom doing one aspect of the job
(06:27):
and to where you were.
You were very skilled in thatarea and they said, well, you
know, we got this thing, we gotto get done, can you manage it?
And then all of a sudden, you'rea project manager and it's like
nobody in high school says Iwant to be a project manager
when I grow up.
It's like right nowadays it's.
You'll see a lot moreprofessional courses on that and
(06:48):
maybe some maybe your kidsmight say, oh, dad was did great
as a project manager.
Juniel Miller (06:53):
Maybe I'll do it, but it's not a common path I
keep trying to make it soundcool to my 10 year olds.
I haven't figured out what tosay yet.
I'm trying to overcome Mr Beast.
Walt Sparling (07:05):
I think a lot of times you say you're a project
manager and there you go.
What does that mean?
What do you do?
Yeah, yeah, all right.
So you've started out a whileback.
You kind of got thrust into it.
I know you from your past.
You've been in some leadleadership roles.
(07:26):
You're doing you're doingprojects now in a different area
, similar to construction, butnot exactly how do you.
Oh, you're also, I believe,you're going for your MBA.
That's right, all right.
So you're you're keeping up oneducation, which constant
learners are are awesome withwhat you do on a daily basis,
(07:52):
like how do you continue tolearn and grow?
Juniel Miller (07:56):
Right now, with this new role, I'm learning
everything things every day frommy peers, right.
So I'm going to answer thatquestion based on what I did
before the transition.
In some ways, and because ofwhat we do taking a village, so
to speak, and you're workingwith so many different people I
found a lot of value inprofessional organizations.
(08:17):
You get people who arelike-minded, whether it's a PMI
chapter or I mean.
You and I both come from theconstruction and real estate
space, an organization focusedon those types of things, where
you get like-minded people.
They may have different titles,but you're talking about a
similar thing and in justgeneral conversation, it's
amazing what kind of things youcan learn from it.
(08:38):
So I'll tell you those kind ofthings.
Linkedin has a lot of good toolsand people post a lot of videos
, podcasts like yours, differentarticles that might get
published in differentpublications, the NR and things
like that.
The NBA thing was somethingthat was actually encouraged the
(09:04):
first time for me, not onlyjust for my family, but in my
PMP boot camp.
The guy who did my boot camp atthe end of it said OK, you guys
have done a boot camp.
No, take the test soon.
But let me tell you this onething His advice was to get the
MBA.
He said you'll be surprised byhow much more you can get out of
your PNP by understanding thebusiness size of the
(09:25):
corporations you support.
So that's why I went down thispath.
It's a lot, but that's why Iwent down this path.
Walt Sparling (09:32):
And I like, like I said, I like the continual
learning.
Yeah, all right.
So now, now, in your currentrole, you've got a lot to learn,
just from your peers, thepeople you work with, trying to
get up to speed, yeah.
So what about tools?
I know whether you did projectmanagement or leadership in the
past.
You're going to school now, soyou're probably doing some
(09:54):
studying and you have studiedmaterials and tools.
What are your favorites?
How do you keep organized anddo all your work?
Juniel Miller (10:04):
One of the things I had to come, I had to really
kind of just come to grips with,is I'm not a kid anymore and
that is okay.
I see the younger people comingto the industry and they're
using tools.
I'm not a kid anymore and thatis okay.
So I see the younger peoplecoming to the industry and
they're using tools I'm notfamiliar with and they get a
certain result.
My main go-to to this very daystill is Excel, and I do a lot
(10:27):
of things in Excel.
I will write a letter in Excelbecause it just makes sense to
me.
The boundaries of it, the sales, that's my, that's my go-to for
most things.
And then Bluebeam the Bluebeam.
Intro/Outro (10:43):
PDF software.
Juniel Miller (10:46):
Bluebeam is a fascinating tool to me and to
see some of the capabilities ofit, some of the things I've seen
other people do with it.
It's it's an amazing tool, justsomething that's just like
different layers you can do.
Walt Sparling (10:58):
I think bluebeam is amazing tool, yeah yeah, it's
used a lot in the constructionspace and in the design space as
well for like drawingcomparisons and markups, and
yeah, it's uh, it's a prettysweet tool.
It really is All right.
So what about OneNote, do you?
Juniel Miller (11:20):
use OneNote much.
I try.
It's one of those things that Ireally try to do, especially
when I'm working with a team,where you can collectively have
all the notes in one place andeverybody can actually go to
them.
So when I have a team, one ofthose, one of the things I
maintain if I'm keeping up, justmanage herself or random
(11:40):
meetings, we might have one ofthose.
A good thing for that, but it'snot my goal to just personal
things.
Walt Sparling (11:47):
It seems like either some people use the crap
out of it or some people arejust getting their their hands,
you know dirty in it and tryingto learn it.
Yeah, so okay.
What about challenges?
Now?
You're or some people are justgetting their hands dirty in it
and trying to learn it, yeah, sookay.
What about challenges?
Now you can talk about pastchallenges, current challenges.
What are some of the challengesyou deal with, do or have?
Juniel Miller (12:07):
So I recently went through you know how you do
the feedback 360s, mm-hmm.
Get people to give feedback onwho you are as a leader and a
peer and all that.
And one of the things that Idid was I said, okay, I'm going
to take this feedback from this360, work with an executive
coach to dissect it, and one ofmy challenges that I'm working
(12:30):
through is really getting betterat admitting my faults.
Challenges that I'm workingthrough is really getting better
at admitting my faults, and oneof the faults that was pointed
out to me from somebody who waspart of 360 was Janelle is not
very open to change and it kindof put me back on my heels.
You know, as project managers,change is what we do.
You know you manage your waythrough it and go through that,
(12:52):
but that's change based on abuilding and a project.
It's change based on, you know,working through changes with
the team and making sure youcome to a solution, but with
overall change in certaindynamics is what this person was
getting at and I talked throughit and now I'm trying to work
through how do I get better indealing with change?
(13:13):
And we're in that age now, walt,with really rapid change.
I mean we think about thedynamics that AI is creating for
all of us, or differenttechnologies that come about,
different PM tools that someonesays, hey, you must use this
thing that has a thousandcapabilities, but you only need
12 of them.
Things like that that has, youknow, a thousand capabilities,
but you only need 12 of them.
(13:33):
You know things like that.
You know, um, but change for me.
I'm trying, I need to get, Ineed to work on getting better
at dealing with change, majorchanges, say like that Okay,
yeah, and I think the for some.
Walt Sparling (13:51):
Anyway, as they get older, it is harder to
change because I don't know,it's just, it's you're, you're
kind of stuck in your ways Causeyou really know how to do it
and you're.
And I think a lot of people arescared about learning something
new because it took me thislong to really figure this stuff
out.
Now I got to learn somethingnew.
How long is that going to take?
Juniel Miller (14:15):
Yeah.
Yeah, and really for me?
I don't.
I don't so much struggle withadaptability in that way, but
change is such an it's such abig thing.
You know it's not just oneaspect, though you might be good
at you know, changing how youdress.
You know be good at changing.
Ok, I'm not going to stay upall night, I'm going to start
work.
You know getting up early inthe morning instead.
That kind of change is not thathard for me.
(14:38):
It's certain dynamics withinhow we navigate our business
that I have to get better about.
Because for someone who was a Idon't know if it was a peer or
somebody who was once one of mydirect reports for someone to
actually know that my thing isis let me not look at it and say
, oh, let me not scoff at it,let me understand it.
(14:59):
Let me dissect everything andtake it for what it is, what was
noted, and work through it, andI might not be as bad, as you
know.
I think I am, you know, but I'mworking through it.
Walt Sparling (15:08):
It's the whole idea of self-awareness yes, I
just had something I wasthinking, but it basically had
to do with change, and you'repurposely working on changing
and addressing and addressingyour maybe inflexibility and in
some manner of change.
(15:29):
So that's, that's a, it's apositive.
Juniel Miller (15:32):
Absolutely, Absolutely.
The biggest thing is being ableto look at yourself, understand
hey, this is an opportunity forgrowth here, face it and
actually work through it,Admitting to yourself oh, I was
actually wrong about thisparticular thing.
Walt Sparling (15:50):
Next time I will approach it this way, that's
where I am Good deal, I approachit this way.
That's where I am Good deal, Ilike it, yeah.
So any other particular topicsyou'd like to go over, maybe
with your new position or somechange that you have gone
through?
Juniel Miller (16:10):
Let's see here.
Okay, let's talk about thedynamics of process improvement.
So, when you think aboutworking amongst a team and again
, everybody has their skill set,everybody has their way of
(16:31):
things, some people are moreopen to change, some people not
so much when you think aboutoverall process improvement and
approaching it, um, one of oneof the things I'm knowing I'm
trying to work on is making surethat you know I I navigate in a
way to where there's more, Iwork toward more consensus.
(16:53):
You know you just can't go intoa situation where you say, okay
, all right, y'all, I think thisis a great idea, let's go do it
like this and everybody's doneit that way.
Right, and we all know that, weall know that.
But what is your way?
How are you, when you'reworking through, trying to
(17:13):
navigate the team to a certainway of doing things?
That's something that I thinkabout a lot.
Walt Sparling (17:28):
And that is um, that's.
That's an interesting topic too, because you know there's
there's change with processimprovements through like
professionals.
That's what they do.
You know they're, that's theirspecialty, there's change where,
like, as a leader, you have away of doing things that's been
working for you for years andyou think it's the best thing
since sliced bread, and you talkto your team about it.
How are you guys doing this?
Well, I'm doing this, I'm doingthis, oh, this is how I do it.
(17:48):
And then sometimes they justout of maybe intimidation, or
well, that's the boss.
If the boss does it that way,maybe I need to do it that way
or I need to use that tool, soyou'll have different situations
with that.
And then you, I mean, one of mybiggest pet peeves is when you
have, like, a PMO and I've beeninvolved in a lot of different
(18:10):
PMOs over the years and talkedto a lot of PMO professionals Is
are they experienced?
Have they done your job, dothey understand?
And when it comes to processimprovement, I think that's
really important.
Juniel Miller (18:27):
That part that you just said as far as, have
they done the job?
Do they understand?
It goes back to something Ilearned on, you know, bridge
hours with my dad.
You don't.
You don't ask someone to dosomething that you're not
willing to do yourself, whichgoes into.
You don't ask someone to dosomething that you may not or
that you don't quite understandbefore you you know, deploy that
(18:50):
, you must.
You understand what it isyou're asking for right, right.
Walt Sparling (18:54):
If you've never done it, you don't realize the
potential impact.
Juniel Miller (18:58):
That's absolutely right and that's something that
we see so much of in theworkplace.
Another thing I have to reallymake sure I watch out for and I
saw it in something I wasdealing with recently.
You know you can have theseideas oh it'd be cool if we did
blah, it'd be cool if we didthis.
You know, oh, it would be coolif we did blah, it would be cool
if we did this.
(19:19):
But what do you do with thatidea?
Are you willing to take thatidea, write it down and actually
make some actions?
Not just create the actions,but take out some of those
actions in order to drive outthat idea?
So what I'm doing now is makingsure that I'm not becoming just
an idea guy With a whole bunchof dynamics going on.
(19:40):
You can throw a bunch of ideasout there and listen to somebody
for it, and somebody may takeit and run with it, but are you
part of the actions?
Are you documenting the actions?
Are you capturing some of theactions?
Are you taking some of thoseactions and taking
responsibility for them?
And my whole thing right now,in all things, is to be
(20:02):
cognizant of that thing.
Am I, am I?
Am I being actionable with theideas that I put out.
And, um, because I found myselfin a situation where, you know,
working with the uh, this wasn'tat work, this was on something
I was doing with a non-profit uh, working with the, working with
the and throwing some ideas out.
I'm thinking that this idea issomething that's for this
(20:24):
particular person or thisparticular part of the group, so
I have no action.
But I never said it.
I'm thinking that theyinterpreted what I said and time
goes by and the idea goes tothe, the abyss, and I bring it
back up again and try to do it,to try to come up with a way to
create the action later, andit's fizzled.
(20:46):
I have to let it go.
So so now my thing is okay.
When I put this idea in the air, let's make sure we talk about
the actions as far as how itgoes.
If it's a dumb idea, let's getsomebody to tell you.
If it's a dumb idea, you canmove past it to where it doesn't
sit there and stay in the space.
But my whole thing is reallyjust making sure that I am
(21:10):
acting on the things I say.
Walt Sparling (21:13):
Good policy.
Juniel Miller (21:16):
It sounds simple in practice, but it's hard.
It's hard sometimes.
Walt Sparling (21:21):
So many things that that we do in life is it's
simple on paper and then you goyeah, totally, I get it, but
follow through is the tough part, absolutely, absolutely.
So one of my favorite parts ofthe interviews is always the did
you know I always get to learnsome cool new things.
(21:41):
Do you have a cool did you knowfor us?
Juniel Miller (21:46):
I do, I do and I don't think I've talked about it
that much in this conversation.
But I am a kid from Arkansasand most people don't really
know much about Arkansas or thatyou know southwest part of the
country.
But when you look at the mapyou know.
You look at the state lines onthe US map and between Arkansas
and Mississippi you got this bigwide river, mississippi River.
(22:09):
You got this big, you got thisstate of Mississippi there and
everybody believes that thatriver splits Arkansas and
Mississippi.
That river splits Missouri andTennessee.
But the reality is there.
If you look closely into thatmap and zoom in and like Google
Maps or something, and I learnedas a kid there are a number of
(22:30):
spots where you can jump betweenthe states and never cross the
water.
It blew me away for a long timebecause I learned this without
seeing a map and there was thishunting ground that my dad had
this project on and we rode thelevee to get to it and we ended
(22:51):
up in this really like refugetype area.
We were in Mississippi, comingout of Arkansas.
I had never crossed the river.
It blew me away.
So my thing was, where is thison the map?
And I looked at it and I sawwhere the state lines crossed
and I saw that there were anumber of areas where this
happened.
So that's my.
Did you know?
You don't have to cross theriver to get between Arkansas
(23:11):
and Mississippi.
There are areas where you jumpbetween states without crossing
the water.
Walt Sparling (23:16):
That is an interesting one.
I'll have to look that up.
Awesome.
Well, janelle, I appreciate youcoming on and it was great
talking to you, and I wish youluck in this new venture, both
in your uh your job and in uhyour mba yeah, well, hopefully
(23:38):
we can get the chance to worktogether again.
Juniel Miller (23:39):
That'll be really cool.
Walt Sparling (23:41):
You never know, we're old dogs, but we're not
done.
Juniel Miller (23:45):
That's right, hey .
Thank you so much for having meon.
Walt Sparling (23:48):
Thank you All right and for everyone else.
We'll see you on the nextepisode of PM Mastery.
Intro/Outro (23:55):
Thanks for listening to the PM Mastery
podcast at wwwpm-masterycom.
Be sure to subscribe in yourpodcast player.
Until next time, keep workingon your craft.
Welcome to the PM Mastery Podcast.
This podcast is all abouthelping you master your project
management skills by sharingtips, tricks, tools and training
to get you to the next level,while sharing the stories of
other project managers on theirjourney in project management.
And now here's your host, waltSparling.
Walt Sparling (00:36):
All right, welcome everybody to the current
episode of PM Mastery, andtoday I have with me JuMiller
Miller.
Hello Janelle, Welcome to theshow.
Hey Walt, how?
How you doing, sir?
I'm doing great.
We're going to get started.
I'm going to have you tell us alittle bit about you personally
.
Then we'll jump into some otherquestions on job and things
like that.
(00:56):
So tell us a little bit aboutyourself.
Juniel Miller (01:00):
Alright, my name JuMiller Miller.
I live here in Charlotte, northCarolina.
I have a wife of 15 years,eanna Miller, who's a teacher
here in Charlotte, and I havetwo twin boys.
They'll be 10 on Friday.
Yeah, that's who I am.
(01:22):
Good deal.
So what is it that?
Manager working for a Fortune150 utility company, 20,000 plus
employees, and my focus is onregulated renewable battery
storage and solar in theCarolinas and Florida.
Ok, but the majority of mycareer up until recently was in
(01:48):
the real estate and constructionspace, where I spent nearly 20
years doing those types ofprojects in multiple different
business segments.
Walt Sparling (01:52):
And that's where I know you from is we've worked
together Right, and we've bothmade some recent transitions, so
it's kind of exciting to seeyou know moving on, learning new
things, doing new stuff.
That's right.
What drives you.
So you've been doing this awhile.
You indicated that you've beendoing the project management.
You've been in the constructionspace.
(02:13):
Now you're in the renewables.
What keeps you doing this kindof work?
Juniel Miller (02:19):
It doesn't really feel like a pivot for me.
It's still construction.
Instead of doing buildings orspaces or you spaces or
pharmaceutical plant type work,I'm focusing on solar and
battery storage.
It's still the constructionaspect of that work and really
what drives me.
I grew up in a constructionfamily.
(02:39):
My dad and my uncles werebricklayers and just seeing how
things come together, brick bybrick, has always been a thing
that just attract, that I'mattracted to supporting building
, the building things andoverall built environment,
something that I always wantedto do.
And, uh, when I started mycareer I didn't say I was in
(03:01):
california.
Just seeing how different thebuilding I was on came together
in an area that was prone toearthquakes versus in an area
where I grew up in Arkansas,with the 12-inch or 8-inch block
walls in an area that's proneto tornadoes.
Just seeing that difference issomething that continues to
(03:22):
fascinate me.
And you can never do the sameproject twice.
Everything is always different.
You can take the same blueprint, same house and try to build it
twice, and it will becompletely different the second
time, especially if you usedifferent people.
Walt Sparling (03:38):
Yeah, exactly the experience.
If nothing else will becompletely different, which, in
my view, is that's all aboutcontrolling that, experiencing
and managing it.
Juniel Miller (03:48):
That's absolutely right and really the team
aspect of project management.
You know, it's not just oneperson that drives or delivers
an asset, it's a team of people.
Most people come from differentbackgrounds.
It's a team of people Mostpeople come from different
backgrounds.
You're working to collectivelybring different attitudes,
different skill sets andeverybody collectively delivers
(04:10):
this particular product.
I think it's fascinating.
It's a great thing to be a partof and you can see the results
of your labor.
Walt Sparling (04:16):
Yeah, that's the one nice thing is you get to
walk away and be pointed downthe road.
Yeah, so your family, there'sconstruction in your family.
Um, now, as far as the projectmanagement side, how long ago
did you get like in a role whereyou were considered, even
without a formal title, whereyou were actually doing project
(04:38):
management type responsibilities?
Juniel Miller (04:43):
my first opportunity as a true project
manager and it wasn't really thetitle, it was more so the word
uh was when I was still incalifornia.
This is, I was probably twoyears into my career and it kind
of happened based on someattrition type issues I won't
quite get into.
But, uh, thrown into the fireevery aspect of, and it was a
(05:04):
special project where it was meand a superintendent and we had
to figure it out, to drive itout, to drive this particular
project out to close.
And I learned a lot in dealingwith just the dynamics of the
relationship between projectmanager, superintendent, project
manager, superintendent, client.
And when you run into arelationship with someone who
(05:26):
may not quite be okay with youbut is okay with your partner,
letting that relationship withthat partner take precedent so
that you can get to where youneed to go.
That's what I learned, that veryearly on in my career.
Um, but from that workingthrough a different, a few
different roles, but but fromthat working through a few
(05:48):
different roles, but trueproject management really hit
the end and those learninglessons were kind of things I
continued to piggyback onthroughout my career from there.
So, big grief, I hadn't reallythought about it that way.
Well, that was my firstopportunity.
Walt Sparling (06:06):
One of the things that's always a common
discussion topic is like how,how people got started, and
especially the newer folks,because they're usually they're
coming from another career, likeeducators.
I've had some teachers on here,people from the pharmaceutical
industry, where they'vetransitioned into project
management, and it's like, okay,so how did it happen?
It's like, well, it just Idon't know, it just kind of
happened.
It's just, you know, you wentfrom doing one aspect of the job
(06:27):
and to where you were.
You were very skilled in thatarea and they said, well, you
know, we got this thing, we gotto get done, can you manage it?
And then all of a sudden, you'rea project manager and it's like
nobody in high school says Iwant to be a project manager
when I grow up.
It's like right nowadays it's.
You'll see a lot moreprofessional courses on that and
(06:48):
maybe some maybe your kidsmight say, oh, dad was did great
as a project manager.
Juniel Miller (06:53):
Maybe I'll do it, but it's not a common path I
keep trying to make it soundcool to my 10 year olds.
I haven't figured out what tosay yet.
I'm trying to overcome Mr Beast.
Walt Sparling (07:05):
I think a lot of times you say you're a project
manager and there you go.
What does that mean?
What do you do?
Yeah, yeah, all right.
So you've started out a whileback.
You kind of got thrust into it.
I know you from your past.
You've been in some leadleadership roles.
(07:26):
You're doing you're doingprojects now in a different area
, similar to construction, butnot exactly how do you.
Oh, you're also, I believe,you're going for your MBA.
That's right, all right.
So you're you're keeping up oneducation, which constant
learners are are awesome withwhat you do on a daily basis,
(07:52):
like how do you continue tolearn and grow?
Juniel Miller (07:56):
Right now, with this new role, I'm learning
everything things every day frommy peers, right.
So I'm going to answer thatquestion based on what I did
before the transition.
In some ways, and because ofwhat we do taking a village, so
to speak, and you're workingwith so many different people I
found a lot of value inprofessional organizations.
(08:17):
You get people who arelike-minded, whether it's a PMI
chapter or I mean.
You and I both come from theconstruction and real estate
space, an organization focusedon those types of things, where
you get like-minded people.
They may have different titles,but you're talking about a
similar thing and in justgeneral conversation, it's
amazing what kind of things youcan learn from it.
(08:38):
So I'll tell you those kind ofthings.
Linkedin has a lot of good toolsand people post a lot of videos
, podcasts like yours, differentarticles that might get
published in differentpublications, the NR and things
like that.
The NBA thing was somethingthat was actually encouraged the
(09:04):
first time for me, not onlyjust for my family, but in my
PMP boot camp.
The guy who did my boot camp atthe end of it said OK, you guys
have done a boot camp.
No, take the test soon.
But let me tell you this onething His advice was to get the
MBA.
He said you'll be surprised byhow much more you can get out of
your PNP by understanding thebusiness size of the
(09:25):
corporations you support.
So that's why I went down thispath.
It's a lot, but that's why Iwent down this path.
Walt Sparling (09:32):
And I like, like I said, I like the continual
learning.
Yeah, all right.
So now, now, in your currentrole, you've got a lot to learn,
just from your peers, thepeople you work with, trying to
get up to speed, yeah.
So what about tools?
I know whether you did projectmanagement or leadership in the
past.
You're going to school now, soyou're probably doing some
(09:54):
studying and you have studiedmaterials and tools.
What are your favorites?
How do you keep organized anddo all your work?
Juniel Miller (10:04):
One of the things I had to come, I had to really
kind of just come to grips with,is I'm not a kid anymore and
that is okay.
I see the younger people comingto the industry and they're
using tools.
I'm not a kid anymore and thatis okay.
So I see the younger peoplecoming to the industry and
they're using tools I'm notfamiliar with and they get a
certain result.
My main go-to to this very daystill is Excel, and I do a lot
(10:27):
of things in Excel.
I will write a letter in Excelbecause it just makes sense to
me.
The boundaries of it, the sales, that's my, that's my go-to for
most things.
And then Bluebeam the Bluebeam.
Intro/Outro (10:43):
PDF software.
Juniel Miller (10:46):
Bluebeam is a fascinating tool to me and to
see some of the capabilities ofit, some of the things I've seen
other people do with it.
It's it's an amazing tool, justsomething that's just like
different layers you can do.
Walt Sparling (10:58):
I think bluebeam is amazing tool, yeah yeah, it's
used a lot in the constructionspace and in the design space as
well for like drawingcomparisons and markups, and
yeah, it's uh, it's a prettysweet tool.
It really is All right.
So what about OneNote, do you?
Juniel Miller (11:20):
use OneNote much.
I try.
It's one of those things that Ireally try to do, especially
when I'm working with a team,where you can collectively have
all the notes in one place andeverybody can actually go to
them.
So when I have a team, one ofthose, one of the things I
maintain if I'm keeping up, justmanage herself or random
(11:40):
meetings, we might have one ofthose.
A good thing for that, but it'snot my goal to just personal
things.
Walt Sparling (11:47):
It seems like either some people use the crap
out of it or some people arejust getting their their hands,
you know dirty in it and tryingto learn it.
Yeah, so okay.
What about challenges?
Now?
You're or some people are justgetting their hands dirty in it
and trying to learn it, yeah, sookay.
What about challenges?
Now you can talk about pastchallenges, current challenges.
What are some of the challengesyou deal with, do or have?
Juniel Miller (12:07):
So I recently went through you know how you do
the feedback 360s, mm-hmm.
Get people to give feedback onwho you are as a leader and a
peer and all that.
And one of the things that Idid was I said, okay, I'm going
to take this feedback from this360, work with an executive
coach to dissect it, and one ofmy challenges that I'm working
(12:30):
through is really getting betterat admitting my faults.
Challenges that I'm workingthrough is really getting better
at admitting my faults, and oneof the faults that was pointed
out to me from somebody who waspart of 360 was Janelle is not
very open to change and it kindof put me back on my heels.
You know, as project managers,change is what we do.
You know you manage your waythrough it and go through that,
(12:52):
but that's change based on abuilding and a project.
It's change based on, you know,working through changes with
the team and making sure youcome to a solution, but with
overall change in certaindynamics is what this person was
getting at and I talked throughit and now I'm trying to work
through how do I get better indealing with change?
(13:13):
And we're in that age now, walt,with really rapid change.
I mean we think about thedynamics that AI is creating for
all of us, or differenttechnologies that come about,
different PM tools that someonesays, hey, you must use this
thing that has a thousandcapabilities, but you only need
12 of them.
Things like that that has, youknow, a thousand capabilities,
but you only need 12 of them.
(13:33):
You know things like that.
You know, um, but change for me.
I'm trying, I need to get, Ineed to work on getting better
at dealing with change, majorchanges, say like that Okay,
yeah, and I think the for some.
Walt Sparling (13:51):
Anyway, as they get older, it is harder to
change because I don't know,it's just, it's you're, you're
kind of stuck in your ways Causeyou really know how to do it
and you're.
And I think a lot of people arescared about learning something
new because it took me thislong to really figure this stuff
out.
Now I got to learn somethingnew.
How long is that going to take?
Juniel Miller (14:15):
Yeah.
Yeah, and really for me?
I don't.
I don't so much struggle withadaptability in that way, but
change is such an it's such abig thing.
You know it's not just oneaspect, though you might be good
at you know, changing how youdress.
You know be good at changing.
Ok, I'm not going to stay upall night, I'm going to start
work.
You know getting up early inthe morning instead.
That kind of change is not thathard for me.
(14:38):
It's certain dynamics withinhow we navigate our business
that I have to get better about.
Because for someone who was a Idon't know if it was a peer or
somebody who was once one of mydirect reports for someone to
actually know that my thing isis let me not look at it and say
, oh, let me not scoff at it,let me understand it.
(14:59):
Let me dissect everything andtake it for what it is, what was
noted, and work through it, andI might not be as bad, as you
know.
I think I am, you know, but I'mworking through it.
Walt Sparling (15:08):
It's the whole idea of self-awareness yes, I
just had something I wasthinking, but it basically had
to do with change, and you'repurposely working on changing
and addressing and addressingyour maybe inflexibility and in
some manner of change.
(15:29):
So that's, that's a, it's apositive.
Juniel Miller (15:32):
Absolutely, Absolutely.
The biggest thing is being ableto look at yourself, understand
hey, this is an opportunity forgrowth here, face it and
actually work through it,Admitting to yourself oh, I was
actually wrong about thisparticular thing.
Walt Sparling (15:50):
Next time I will approach it this way, that's
where I am Good deal, I approachit this way.
That's where I am Good deal, Ilike it, yeah.
So any other particular topicsyou'd like to go over, maybe
with your new position or somechange that you have gone
through?
Juniel Miller (16:10):
Let's see here.
Okay, let's talk about thedynamics of process improvement.
So, when you think aboutworking amongst a team and again
, everybody has their skill set,everybody has their way of
(16:31):
things, some people are moreopen to change, some people not
so much when you think aboutoverall process improvement and
approaching it, um, one of oneof the things I'm knowing I'm
trying to work on is making surethat you know I I navigate in a
way to where there's more, Iwork toward more consensus.
(16:53):
You know you just can't go intoa situation where you say, okay
, all right, y'all, I think thisis a great idea, let's go do it
like this and everybody's doneit that way.
Right, and we all know that, weall know that.
But what is your way?
How are you, when you'reworking through, trying to
(17:13):
navigate the team to a certainway of doing things?
That's something that I thinkabout a lot.
Walt Sparling (17:28):
And that is um, that's.
That's an interesting topic too, because you know there's
there's change with processimprovements through like
professionals.
That's what they do.
You know they're, that's theirspecialty, there's change where,
like, as a leader, you have away of doing things that's been
working for you for years andyou think it's the best thing
since sliced bread, and you talkto your team about it.
How are you guys doing this?
Well, I'm doing this, I'm doingthis, oh, this is how I do it.
(17:48):
And then sometimes they justout of maybe intimidation, or
well, that's the boss.
If the boss does it that way,maybe I need to do it that way
or I need to use that tool, soyou'll have different situations
with that.
And then you, I mean, one of mybiggest pet peeves is when you
have, like, a PMO and I've beeninvolved in a lot of different
(18:10):
PMOs over the years and talkedto a lot of PMO professionals Is
are they experienced?
Have they done your job, dothey understand?
And when it comes to processimprovement, I think that's
really important.
Juniel Miller (18:27):
That part that you just said as far as, have
they done the job?
Do they understand?
It goes back to something Ilearned on, you know, bridge
hours with my dad.
You don't.
You don't ask someone to dosomething that you're not
willing to do yourself, whichgoes into.
You don't ask someone to dosomething that you may not or
that you don't quite understandbefore you you know, deploy that
(18:50):
, you must.
You understand what it isyou're asking for right, right.
Walt Sparling (18:54):
If you've never done it, you don't realize the
potential impact.
Juniel Miller (18:58):
That's absolutely right and that's something that
we see so much of in theworkplace.
Another thing I have to reallymake sure I watch out for and I
saw it in something I wasdealing with recently.
You know you can have theseideas oh it'd be cool if we did
blah, it'd be cool if we didthis.
You know, oh, it would be coolif we did blah, it would be cool
if we did this.
(19:19):
But what do you do with thatidea?
Are you willing to take thatidea, write it down and actually
make some actions?
Not just create the actions,but take out some of those
actions in order to drive outthat idea?
So what I'm doing now is makingsure that I'm not becoming just
an idea guy With a whole bunchof dynamics going on.
(19:40):
You can throw a bunch of ideasout there and listen to somebody
for it, and somebody may takeit and run with it, but are you
part of the actions?
Are you documenting the actions?
Are you capturing some of theactions?
Are you taking some of thoseactions and taking
responsibility for them?
And my whole thing right now,in all things, is to be
(20:02):
cognizant of that thing.
Am I, am I?
Am I being actionable with theideas that I put out.
And, um, because I found myselfin a situation where, you know,
working with the uh, this wasn'tat work, this was on something
I was doing with a non-profit uh, working with the, working with
the and throwing some ideas out.
I'm thinking that this idea issomething that's for this
(20:24):
particular person or thisparticular part of the group, so
I have no action.
But I never said it.
I'm thinking that theyinterpreted what I said and time
goes by and the idea goes tothe, the abyss, and I bring it
back up again and try to do it,to try to come up with a way to
create the action later, andit's fizzled.
(20:46):
I have to let it go.
So so now my thing is okay.
When I put this idea in the air, let's make sure we talk about
the actions as far as how itgoes.
If it's a dumb idea, let's getsomebody to tell you.
If it's a dumb idea, you canmove past it to where it doesn't
sit there and stay in the space.
But my whole thing is reallyjust making sure that I am
(21:10):
acting on the things I say.
Walt Sparling (21:13):
Good policy.
Juniel Miller (21:16):
It sounds simple in practice, but it's hard.
It's hard sometimes.
Walt Sparling (21:21):
So many things that that we do in life is it's
simple on paper and then you goyeah, totally, I get it, but
follow through is the tough part, absolutely, absolutely.
So one of my favorite parts ofthe interviews is always the did
you know I always get to learnsome cool new things.
(21:41):
Do you have a cool did you knowfor us?
Juniel Miller (21:46):
I do, I do and I don't think I've talked about it
that much in this conversation.
But I am a kid from Arkansasand most people don't really
know much about Arkansas or thatyou know southwest part of the
country.
But when you look at the mapyou know.
You look at the state lines onthe US map and between Arkansas
and Mississippi you got this bigwide river, mississippi River.
(22:09):
You got this big, you got thisstate of Mississippi there and
everybody believes that thatriver splits Arkansas and
Mississippi.
That river splits Missouri andTennessee.
But the reality is there.
If you look closely into thatmap and zoom in and like Google
Maps or something, and I learnedas a kid there are a number of
(22:30):
spots where you can jump betweenthe states and never cross the
water.
It blew me away for a long timebecause I learned this without
seeing a map and there was thishunting ground that my dad had
this project on and we rode thelevee to get to it and we ended
(22:51):
up in this really like refugetype area.
We were in Mississippi, comingout of Arkansas.
I had never crossed the river.
It blew me away.
So my thing was, where is thison the map?
And I looked at it and I sawwhere the state lines crossed
and I saw that there were anumber of areas where this
happened.
So that's my.
Did you know?
You don't have to cross theriver to get between Arkansas
(23:11):
and Mississippi.
There are areas where you jumpbetween states without crossing
the water.
Walt Sparling (23:16):
That is an interesting one.
I'll have to look that up.
Awesome.
Well, janelle, I appreciate youcoming on and it was great
talking to you, and I wish youluck in this new venture, both
in your uh your job and in uhyour mba yeah, well, hopefully
(23:38):
we can get the chance to worktogether again.
Juniel Miller (23:39):
That'll be really cool.
Walt Sparling (23:41):
You never know, we're old dogs, but we're not
done.
Juniel Miller (23:45):
That's right, hey .
Thank you so much for having meon.
Walt Sparling (23:48):
Thank you All right and for everyone else.
We'll see you on the nextepisode of PM Mastery.
Intro/Outro (23:55):
Thanks for listening to the PM Mastery
podcast at wwwpm-masterycom.
Be sure to subscribe in yourpodcast player.
Until next time, keep workingon your craft.
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