Mastering Adaptability in Project Management with Clinton Brooks Herman

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):
Welcome everybody to the current edition of PM
Mastery.
And today I have with meClinton Brooks, herman, the man
with three first names.
Welcome, clinton.

Clinton "Brooks" Her (00:46):
Appreciate it.
Walt Glad to be here.

Glad to have you on, so it's been a hot minute
since you've been on here.
I think you were the secondever podcast episode in the very
beginning three years ago, andthen you did another one in 22
with a job change and then youwere also part of the Knights

(01:08):
and Ladies Roundtable discussionon communication for PMs on
LinkedIn.

Clinton "Brooks" Herman (01:13):
Which was a good one.
I appreciate you putting thattogether.

That was a fun one, and I do want to get back
to doing more of those, butright now we've got a lot of
other stuff going on.

It's a little busy.

Which is why you're on.
So listeners know that over thelast couple weeks we've been
interviewing instructors on thenew Pure Project Manager
certification and you were oneof the instructors.

I was, so were you.

Yes, and it was fun, it was educational.
When you go from podcasting toactually doing video courses,
it's uh, it's a lot different atleast you do that.
I still tend to stick with theblogs and, uh, keep my face out
of the mix I tell people all thetime I've got a face for radio

(02:03):
so I don't do a lot of videostuff, but Pure tell us a little
bit about your course.

So I put together a course called
Adaptive Project ManagementStrategies and I think it's
overall about three and a halfhours, which is a lot, but
there's a lot going on, and ahalf hours, which is a lot, but
there's a lot going on.
Our world is constantly movingand changing and following the
traditional methods of thewaterfall flow is just not

(02:35):
feasible anymore and you reallyneed to kind of be adaptive and
accept the saying that the oneconstant and we'll say in
construction or projectmanagement is change.
Change is constant, so it'sdefinitely a central capability

(02:57):
of being adaptive.

So three and a half hours, which should be
around three and a half PDUsbased on the time out of a 60
PDU certification course onceyou complete.
The cool thing we talked aboutwith the other instructors is
you get your PDUs as soon as youfinish your individual class,
it doesn't have to be the wholecertification.

Yeah, you can wait and save the whole
certification for the 60 hoursand just plug it in at once, or
you can do it as you go, whichis what I've been doing.

Which I'm going to have to do because I have
three weeks to finish all myPDUs for my next renewal.

I feel like this is a renewal of a
conversation we've had in thepast.

Oh yeah, probably about three years ago.
The past oh yeah, probablyabout three years ago.
So that brings me also tosomething that you started and I
am going to update, which Ialready have started, but you
created a tracker for you know,basically dedicated to the pure
program.
So you have the instructors,you have the course names, the

(04:02):
instructors, the hours, theminutes, pdus, and you and I are
both working on collecting allof the actual talent triangle.

Yes, you can relate it back to.

PMI, so that is going to be something that you
already have a version on yourwebsite.
I do it's out there on thewebsite.
Okay, and as soon as I get minecaught up, I'm going to repost
the latest version of my trackeron there, which now adds all
the pure stuff in.
I think that's going to be agreat tool and I love the

(04:39):
concept that you did where youcan actually sort the courses by
the time, the instructor,whatever you want, so that you
can organize your listening.

So since last time I actually have
updated it, so it's not sortingby that, it is sorted on course
length automatically.
There's some adjustments that Ineed to do to make it more
user-friendly, if you will, butit's there and should help to be

(05:14):
able to keep up with everythingso you can plug it into PMI
with your PMP or othercertifications.
I have the CEFP, which isCertified Educational Facilities
Planner or, excuse me,professional, not Planner
Professional, and I've actuallybeen able to utilize the courses

(05:37):
that PURE's put out there tohelp me get that certification
renewal up too.
So there's plenty of thingsthat are within the pure program
that I think are useful.
No matter the credential youhave.
There's probably a use thatsomebody else will have with it

(05:57):
uh, within their owncertifications and credentials.

Absolutely.
And I know in the tracker, thefirst time I ever created my
tracker it was for PMP only, andthen I went back and did some
research and found all the othercertifications that it would
work for under the PMI umbrellaand added those in there.
And there's links in there toget back to PMI, because they
did change the triangle and theycall it something different now

(06:22):
.
So, and you have to, you havethe educational, you have the
giving back and then I think theone that a lot of people miss
is the daily work one where ifyou have a job, that's I believe
it's eight PDUs right out ofthe scooter.

Eight for up to three years yep, yep,
so good stuff.

So yours is run the title by me again Adaptive
project management strategies.
Okay, and three and a halfhours.
Do you know how many lessonsare in there?

37 lessons altogether, but that
includes the promo video that wehave at the beginnings too, so
so 36.

All right, so that's.
That's a good, a good number ofcourses.
So can you give us any kind ofinsight into, like a why did you
choose this topic?
I know you said a little bitabout things are changing, but
was there anything that droveyou to this?

always been, and I draw a blanket.
I know I've brought it up onother podcasts with you, but I
believe it was Bill Gates thatmade the quote.
That and I'm paraphrasing whatit is basically figuring out how
to get steps from step A to Z,but not necessarily following
every single step in between,because just because, yes, there

(07:51):
is a cd and e, can you possiblyrun them at the same time, can
you possibly skip over d and ebecause of adding one little
piece into your, your method offollowing through?
So I'm all for trying to figureout how to get to the end
result in the fastest method,but still following all the

(08:16):
rules of engagement from youremployer with project management
in general, and just staying ontop of everything.

Okay, well, that makes sense.
It reminds me of one of theother courses that I think is
offered, which is called Hackingyour Projects.

Yep, yep.
I have not gotten to take thatone yet, but I truly want to set
aside some time to focus onthat one.

Yeah, that looks interesting In the show notes.
I want to have links to yourLinkedIn, your website, and
there'll be a link Well, notdirectly to the file, but it'll
be on your website.
So if people want to downloadthat Pure Tracker, they can do
that off of your website.

Yep, it's free for you.
So, however, anyone would liketo download it.

And we'll add a Pure link as well for you, for
your course.
Anything else you want to add?

So part of some of the process with the
course and everything I wasthinking, similarly to how I do
with one of my blogs, which isCB Herman think outside the box.
And that's encouraging teams tothink outside the box.
Yes, I'm repeating myself, butdon't always think about again

(09:38):
steps A through Z.
There's other ways of doing it,just because that's the way
we've always done it.
That's the immediate statementthat says okay, we need to find
another way.
That's not the best waynecessarily Now.
It could have been the best wayfive years ago, could be the
best way in five years from now,but it may not be the best way

(09:59):
today.

So a little bit of creative thinking there,
without violating the rules.

Yes, you don't want to break the
rules.
We got to stay within ourconfines that our companies and
just project management ingeneral put together.
But take a chance, try.
You got to.
It's continuous learning.
We always need to be learning,and that's part of what the pure
project management credentialis all about is continual

(10:24):
learning.

So yes, and you know it is.
When it comes to projects, it'sabout getting things done.
Definitely, if you caneliminate a few steps that
aren't necessary, then it getsyou through the project
hopefully quicker, awesome.

I think some of the things that might
be found while they're goingthrough the course is how to
pivot strategies and plans with,when conditions change,
techniques for managingstakeholders and resources in
dynamic settings and I know Ithink you even talk about some
of that with your communicationsand being dynamic with the

(11:01):
discussions that you have withthem.
Methods to build resilience andadaptability with them.
Methods to build resilience andadaptability.
And then tools for implementingflexibility into workflows.
So, as far as the course goes,this course is tailored for
anyone managing dynamic projects.
Whether you're a projectmanager, a team leader or a
business analyst.
The content is designed to meetyou where you are and take you

(11:23):
to the next level.
Meet you where you are and takeyou to the next level.
Even if you're new to adaptivestrategies, the course provides
clear, actionable steps to helpyou grow.

Do you have a post where you've done the
introduction and each one of usdid a little intro video?
Is that on your website?

Well, I don't know if it is or not yet.

Well, if it is, you should add it on there.
I should I'll provide a link,because I think the intro videos
were not only fun in some casesbut very informative and it
gives you an idea of what do Iwant to do.
I mean, if someone went throughand watched all the intro
videos and said, okay, I want totake these two courses, you
know, next to each other andthese two courses just so you

(12:08):
can kind of focus.
Like I know, there's multiplecommunication courses in here.
I've done one, MelissaChapman's done one, there's a
couple others that talk aboutsoft skills and which some of
that is on communication.
So it'd be kind of cool to beable to group.
But I do think people shouldcheck out the promo videos if
they're on ones that areavailable.

No, I agree, and I mean I've actually
been.
I've had the privilege oftaking both your course and
Melissa's and they're completelyunique, and I know you and I
had discussions about that whilewe were gathering everything
together and neither one of themmatch.
Um, there might be someoverlapping communicator

(12:52):
discussions, uh, topics is whatI'm looking for, and but that's
project management.
There's overlap throughout allof our trainings and that's
where it all ties in togetherand becomes one item.
That is the PM credential.
At the end of it, the pureproject manager credential.

And that is something that Melissa and I
just talked about, because Ijust interviewed Melissa on her
course and we chatted about howour courses started out.
I was nervous because I waslooking, I had already came up
with my whole outline, hadstarted writing the course, and
then I went on to the trainingsite, where we keep all our
material, and noticed that shehad one on communication and I

(13:34):
started going through herbasically her index of course,
course material and I was like,oh crap, and Amanda actually did
a chat GPT comparison and said,no, you're fine, there's some
overlap, but in reality it'sjust reinforcement.
If you hear it from multipletrainers, it's the, it's hey,

(13:56):
that's important.

Well and a lot of us have different
industries that we come from and, taking that knowledge, it
could be how it's beingpresented slightly differently.
I think David and I actuallyhave similar.
You also said, Robert, withhacking your projects, but
David's, oh goodness, it wasimplementing hybrid project

(14:18):
management.
Oh goodness, it wasimplementing hybrid project
management.
So, and that plays into part ofthe adaptiveness to is being
hybrid and adjusting and notplaying in just the traditional
waterfall methods.
So I think we all we have someoverlap, but it's only to an
extent that it just exemplifieseach of our own courses.

(14:39):
So I think it's useful.

It's not only reinforcing, but these courses
are taught by practicing PMs andit's based on their experience.
Yes, so it's not.
Hey, this might happen.
No, this has happened and thisis how you deal with it.

Yes, no , I mean.
I think David comes from the ITside of things and mine's
construction facilities ownermanagement, so it's all
different.

It is.
It's a good mix of fields andexperience, for sure.

Yes.

All right, well, thank you for spending some time
on here.
We'll get this post out in thenext week or so.
And all right, we'll seeeveryone else in the next
episode of PM Mastery.

Intro/Outro (15:41):
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.

I'm out.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes present: Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial

Betrayal: Season 4

Crime Junkie

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Mastering Adaptability in Project Management with Clinton Brooks Herman

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes present: Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial

Betrayal: Season 4

Crime Junkie

All Episodes

Mastering Adaptability in Project Management with Clinton Brooks Herman

Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes present: Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial