January 30, 2025 • 23 mins
In this episode:
Discover the art of transforming risk into opportunity with Tanya Boyd as she unveils her upcoming course, "From Risk to Reward," within the PURE Project Management Certification program. This episode promises to equip you with the skills to reframe risks positively, using advanced tools like Monte Carlo simulations and what-if analyses. Tanya's approach masterfully blends technical prowess with essential emotional and social skills, highlighting the often-overlooked aspect of risk management. Through dynamic storytelling and creative metaphors, you'll gain an enriched perspective on how to tackle challenges in project management with confidence and creativity.
We'll also discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the landscape of risk assessment and management. The shift to virtual meetings and remote work revealed new dimensions to conventional practices, compelling organizations to expand their risk registers to include pandemic-related threats. Tanya shares valuable lessons on proactive risk management, emphasizing the importance of learning from past adversities to better prepare for future uncertainties. Tune in to uncover strategies that will elevate your project management capabilities and prepare you for any unexpected twists in your professional journey.
Links:
- Connect with Tanya on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanya-boyd-pmp-project-personality/
- Check out Tanya's PURE course: https://www.puremanagementalliance.com/#67586029bb967
- Checkout Project Success Academy Courses: Courses Home | Project Success Academy
- Checkout Tanya's Photography site: https://www.tanyaboydphotography.com/
PM-Mastery Links:
- For a full podcast episode list, visit here: PM-Mastery Podcast Episodes.
- For a full list of blog posts, go here: PM-Mastery Blog Posts
- Become a PURE PM: https://pm-mastery.com/pure
- Check out Instructing.com for all your PM course needs: https://www.instructing.com/?ref=bd5e5c
- Get your free PDU Tracker here: https://pm-mastery.com/resource_links/
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Transcript
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 (00:35):
Welcome everybody to the current edition of PM
Mastery, and today I have backonce again Tanya Boyd.
Welcome, Tanya.
Boyd (00:44):
Well, glad to be back here .
Walt Sparling (00:46):
So we let's see.
We have talked a couple times.
We did an interview last yearkind of late in the year, and
then we did a follow-up lastmonth on another topic.
And then today our focus is ona new course that is going to be
coming out, a program thatwe're both in called the Pure PM
(01:09):
, and it's taught by workingpractitioners who do project
management or project managementroles as part of their daily
job, and they have shared theirknowledge in this course and
there are, I believe, 32 courses.
It's a total of 60 hours, andboth myself and Tanya and the
(01:30):
listeners have heard JosephPhillips, where he talked about
the program, and then we hadRussell Parker on.
It was his first initialinterview, so we talked a little
bit about what's going on withhim, how we got into what he is
doing, and then we chatted alittle bit about his course as
well.
So today Tanya is going toshare with us the information on
her course in the PURE program,called From Risk to Reward.
(01:52):
So take it away, tanya.
Boyd (01:54):
Thank you.
So when I first got involved inthis group which timing-wise I
believe was kind of early tomid-September of 2024.
You know, I was challenged tocome up with a topic where we
could create at least two hoursof content.
So as I was thinking throughthe different topics I wanted to
(02:15):
do, I ran through a couple andthis was actually it was my
third idea that I came up with,but even after I sent it for
consideration it felt like theone that I should really be
elaborating on the most.
So the course focused veryheavily on the topic of risk.
Risk is something that we faceevery day in our personal lives,
(02:39):
in our professional lives, andit can be really really easy to
think of risk as somethingthat's bad.
But this course's focus is moreon reframing risks and turning
it into rewards, even when it'ssomething super challenging,
that's unexpected and ratheruncomfortable.
(02:59):
It's about seeing thepositivity and the ways that
that can propel you forward.
Walt Sparling (03:05):
So if can you give us kind of a summary now?
Obviously you're going to talkmore about, or you're going to
get into the positive side,which I believe are
opportunities.
How many sections are in yourcourse?
Boyd (03:17):
So I actually did have a little bit more of a methodology
when I was structuring thismethodology, when I was
structuring this.
Overall there's 10 sections butin nine of the sections I share
, none of them have got acreative theme that's tied
through it.
The theme is just goes alongwith storytelling and my love of
(03:39):
creative metaphors, but withineach of those nine sections, but
(03:59):
within each of those ninesections, I've got three
different scenarios and threedifferent tools of tools and
techniques that they can use tosee the bright side or help
their stakeholders see thebright side of the risks.
Walt Sparling (04:13):
And part of that three hours is three PDUs that
you'll also get for taking thatcourse.
Boyd (04:18):
So some of the different tools and I mean they kind of
span from different things likea Monte Carlo simulation to a
what-if analysis.
So let's take, for instance,one of the scenarios is that
you've got a project team thatis running up against a vendor
(04:39):
that comes up with a supplychain issue, up with a supply
chain issue and it's the teamtaking that back to their
stakeholders and even justbrainstorming the array of
different what if this happens,what if that happens, and
planning different mitigationstrategies on how they would
prepare and move forward.
Walt Sparling (04:59):
Okay, Monte Carlo .
What are some of the othertools that you're going to talk
about?
Boyd (05:03):
So not all of them are technical, you know.
Just even different things likepower skills or soft skills are
very important nowadays.
It's not just about theprocesses, it's a lot about your
people.
So, for instance, there's timeswhere our risks could be
conflict or a dissension betweenthe teams.
That it's apparent, but it'snot outright stated.
(05:28):
So, just even using differentemotional assessment tools, I
even cover different things likepersonality assessments and
understanding a little bit moreabout the people on your team,
their different ways of working,their different preferences,
because I think that's one ofthe biggest challenges for
project managers.
(05:49):
We all know that we're wiredvery differently, but when
there's conflict or when there'sa disagreement, it can be so
easy for us to take itpersonally and think that it's
something that we did or that wedidn't do, when a lot of times
we need to step back and realizethere is such a wide spectrum
(06:12):
of cultural differences,experiences and personalities.
So, throughout the course, Ireally I just tried to give some
thought to it and infusing theemotional, the social skills
along with some of the technicaltools that can be used, because
I think you need to use acombination of all of those, or
(06:36):
at least think about them andstart learning how some of them
might work and help you.
Walt Sparling (06:42):
Yeah, one of the things I've seen.
I've worked in a coupledifferent places where risk is
handled completely different.
I've had some conversationsonline, both in some of the
interviews and just generalconversations with other PMs,
and how they handle risk andit's different depending on who
you work for, what kind ofproject you have.
But what I have seen a lot ofis risk is one of those things
(07:06):
that you're taught when you gothrough a project management
training program to some level,but how it's put in practice
sometimes I think it's notreally focused on and it's kind
of a second thought.
And on some critical projectsit becomes more of a primary
(07:28):
thought because hey, there's alot of potential things that
could go wrong here and I'm oneof those that I know risks can
be opportunities, but typicallyI treat risks as potential
things that could go wrong.
And how do I mitigate those?
And you know, one of the thingslike in my course is on
communications.
To me, you can minimize risk byclearly communicating the
(07:51):
aspect of the project, timelythings like that.
So risk can be mitigated bygood communications.
You said you chose the risk, sois risk something you really
like?
Is that one of the things youenjoy dealing with in projects?
Boyd (08:08):
Yes, it is, and I mean I don't think any of us are
absolutely in love with whenthings go wrong.
I mean, sometimes it takes avery intentional flip in
focusing on the positive, whichI think that's a work in
progress for so many of us,which I think that's a work in
progress for so many of us, andI think a lot of times that
(08:30):
perspective is gained after thefact.
So I'll use a very clearinstance COVID or the pandemic
even when it was upon us, it wasprobably something I could have
never imagined or I could havenever foresaw.
You know, and I think a lot ofus were like that, we knew
(08:52):
something was going to go on fora while, but we really couldn't
have predicted.
Now, in retrospect, I'm notglad that, you know, I am not
glad that all that destructionhappened.
I don't want that to bemisinterpreted, but there are
some different things that haveblossomed as a result of that
(09:16):
tragedy.
So even like, for instance, youand I talking here today on
virtual, we're doing a lot moreremote work.
We're doing, you know, a lotmore virtual connection.
That has led to differentopportunities that probably
would not have existed for us orwe would not have grabbed the
(09:37):
rein on those opportunities hadwe not faced that circumstance.
Circumstance, you know, and evendifferent things in my own life
, like you know, being closer tomy father and some of those
things wouldn't have happened ifit wasn't for other losses in
my life, which, again, that's adifferent sort of risk to deal
(10:01):
with.
But I've had to intentionallytrain myself to start seeing the
bright side of when things gowrong and even when you're
uncomfortable and you'relearning, which in this course,
for many of us that wereinvolved in this project I mean
I'm going to speak for myself Ihad never I've done I've
(10:22):
presented virtually before forpeople I've done.
I've presented virtually beforefor people.
I've moderated meetings, I'vedone in-person presentations,
but I had never challengedmyself to actually craft a
course from scratch, come upwith all of the different
headers and then sit in my ownspace of videotaping myself for
(10:45):
what turned out to be hours andlearning new recording studios.
So throughout that entireprocess I was thinking all of
the risks and what could gowrong for me not to complete the
course or meet the deadlinesrequired, but for every fear
that I had, I'd flip it and go.
(11:06):
You know what you got.
This you can get through this,you can do this, and when I'd
meet those milestones it was aboost of confidence.
And so I feel like for projectmanagers, a lot of times risks
you know we're looking at thathill, going how on earth am I
going to climb this?
But when we put one foot infront of the other and we get
(11:27):
there, we can look back and go.
Thank goodness I stumbled overthat stone because I would have
never learned how tough I was ifI hadn't gotten myself back up.
Walt Sparling (11:38):
Yeah, the COVID pandemic was well.
It was life-changing for theentire world.
But, to your point, I did a fewvirtual meetings prior to that.
We did a lot of Teams meetingsbecause we worked with
stakeholders from all over andyou couldn't always get them in
your office because they were inanother town or another state.
(12:01):
So that really having thatstart on virtual meetings was
helpful, because when COVID hit,yeah, we all got sent home and
for the next years.
I mean I went probably a yearand a half before I was back out
as our contractors kept working, but it changed how we
interacted and we had our riskregister completely changed
(12:24):
because it came to you know,covid's happened.
But how do we deal with it onour projects?
Well, if we get a crew, thatwhich has happened multiple
times we'd get a crew, thatsomeone on the crew got COVID
and they were exposed to otherpeople.
So they would say we cannotsend our entire crew to your
(12:44):
site because they're all inquarantine.
And that happened more than Iliked, but it was a reality and
we started building in what if?
If someone was infected and itwas a key vendor, what is the
impact on the project?
Boyd (13:04):
So it taught us that your risk management accelerated
because of that and that peopleactually started paying more
attention to that philosophybecause they had to go through
that duress.
Walt Sparling (13:16):
Oh, yeah, I mean I know that when we started,
when I first started at thiscompany or this client, they had
their own way of doing risk andwe had two different methods
depending on the project size.
But we had a risk register andwe started realizing the same
things that were consistent.
Some of them were our customerdelays, you know, getting
(13:37):
signatures, and I know I'vetalked to other people about
that.
That is a risk because itaffects your schedule and if it
affects your schedule itultimately can affect your
budget.
And so we had standard you know, maybe 10 standard items that
went in every risk registerbecause these are all potentials
and then we would have customones for the project.
Then we ended up with like fivethat were COVID related.
(14:01):
And you know, before you knew it, that risk register was getting
huge because it wasn't justgetting the work done with
supply chain.
You know.
You know, before you knew it,that risk register was getting
huge because it wasn't justgetting the work done, it was
supply chain.
You know how hard it was to gettoilet paper.
Can you imagine how hard it wasto get materials when the
factories are shut down andsupply chains were impacted?
So yeah, I definitely got a lotmore into risk and tracking and
(14:22):
mitigating items once COVID hitfor sure.
Boyd (14:27):
I think I did too.
You know what I mean.
I think a lot of people that mayeven be listening to this
podcast later can go throughtheir careers and kind of
reflect on that too.
And I mean I think of coursethings have settled down some,
but I mean I think it's eventaken lessons from that time,
because I feel like I've watchedthe world go from where it was
(14:48):
during that to where there's somuch return to the office and
there's so much of thesedifferent things, and a lot of
times people are getting to bemore reactive again rather than
proactive, and sometimes it'swishing that they would remember
those lessons that are not thatfar in our past and go okay, I
(15:11):
know we're busy and I know we'vegot a lot going on, but we
really need to take the time toplan this up front and think
about what could happen, notfrom a negative perspective, but
just let's be really realisticand think about why we should
have multiple vendors ormultiple options for delivery If
(15:34):
one of them gets backlogged,you know.
So it's just, and that's a lotof.
The course, too, is trying tomake people think through a wide
variety of scenarios and whatcould happen and and sort of
intentionally place them inthose shoes through storytelling
(15:54):
, but telling some of thedifferent processes is the goal.
Walt Sparling (15:59):
These are some good insights into what the
course is going to be about.
If you had to summarize at theend, kind of I know everyone did
a summary at the end of theircourse and this is what you've,
this is what we reviewed and youlearned.
If you had to summarize yourcourse right now, what do you
think or what would you say thatthe students are going to take
(16:21):
away from your course?
Boyd (16:24):
I believe the students will.
I think just the way thestructure is, with the 27
different tools and 27 differentscenarios, will make them think
of risk in a completelydifferent way and even the
storytelling aspect throughoutof it and just the themes is
(16:46):
trying to place them in thosescenarios.
Because I find a lot of times,um, whenever viewed risk from a
textbook.
I mean, I'm used to the riskregisters, I'm used to the
priority and the impact matrixand those different things.
But I think having the storyand the scenarios matched up
(17:06):
with it throughout the coursewill make it make more sense on
how they can apply it in theirdaily lives.
Walt Sparling (17:14):
And I think what's going to probably happen
out of this is I'm justenvisioning that with all the
courses, there's going to besome aspect of this, but you're
going to walk away with having adifferent perspective of risk.
You're going to be moreconfident.
You're going to see more thingsthat you may not have
encountered but realize theycould come up.
So now you're going to have theopportunity to have that
(17:39):
education that you know.
You're sitting around doing aplan for your project and risks
come up and you start bringingup items you know as a student,
you say, well, what about this?
And they're like, oh well,that's a good idea.
Where'd you learn that?
Boyd (17:51):
That's, and it really it's the storytelling, but it's the
training.
It's the training through story.
So like, for instance, you havea friend that's a financial
advisor and he was telling astory.
Now this was on LinkedIn.
You know his.
His daughter, who's a teenager,but I think in her freshman year
, is wanting to go to college,but it's an illustrious college
(18:12):
and it's somewhere farther off.
That will cost more money, andso he just took the opportunity
to educate her throughstorytelling.
He's like that's great and wecan support from that and we can
do that.
However, I want you to thinkabout other milestones in your
life that this may impact.
So, for instance, if we have tospend X amount of dollars on
this type of college and youreducation, then later on the
(18:36):
road down the road, when youdecide to get married, maybe we
can only do $10,000 down paymentfor your house rather than the
50,000 planned because we put ithere.
And so when I read that and Idon't have children, but it was
like I can appreciate the waythat he educated her on that, on
the mitigation strategies, thetrade-offs, that not everything
(18:59):
goes in the bucket, but here'show to plan in advance is just I
(19:19):
try to take project managementand apply it in applicable ways
that somebody who has been inproject management for five
months may even recognize, andthen somebody that's been in
project management for 50 yearssays, oh my gosh, we've faced
that scenario a million times.
So a lot of us just trying touse layman's term and avoid a
lot of the jargon that I say tomake it make sense- Now I'm
(19:43):
excited about taking that oneand I'm excited about taking a
lot.
Walt Sparling (19:47):
I actually dove into my course tonight just to
kind of get a feel for thesystem and I'm anxious to get
through.
It's going to be a lot of work60 hours total and, of course,
60 PDUs you're going to take outof it.
But the cool thing is and myconversation with Joe is you
(20:10):
don't have to wait till the endof the course to get your PDUs.
Once you've taken an individualcourse, you'll get the PDUs for
that course that you can applyto your existing certifications,
and then at the end of thecourse, you'll get your full
certification and you'll havewhatever remaining PDUs that
you've completed.
So if you're mid going througha renewal and you've taken 12
(20:34):
hours of coursework, you get 12PDUs that you can apply.
So it's going to be Exactly.
I really like the way theprogram is structured and I mean
, I'm a PMP as well and I needto do my PDUs, you know, every
three years, just like everyoneelse.
So yeah.
Boyd (20:52):
So I think what?
I think just the everyone elseso yep.
So I think well, and I thinkjust the diversity of the group
too.
I think that that's going to bevery different too.
And one thing that I love aboutthis collective is oftentimes I
always see the same names ingroups.
You know the usual suspects,and there's a lot of diversity
(21:12):
in the topics, in the people, inthe experience that went into
this, the different types ofbusinesses that people have been
in, so I think that that'sgoing to add a lot of flavor to
it as well.
Walt Sparling (21:26):
Absolutely.
It's going to be awesome.
I plan on doing some blog postsmyself about it.
I'm going to do a littlewrite-up on mine.
I want to do one about some ofthe instructors.
I don't know the exact count Ihaven't put it down on paper but
there are quite a fewinstructors that have been on
the podcast before, so they'realready industry gurus and
(21:49):
they're out there sharing theirknowledge, and now they're
actually in the peer programsharing that knowledge with the
world.
So it's it's going to beexciting to go through it and
I'm I'm super happy that youcame on and talked a little bit
about yours, and we've already.
This will be our thirdconversation in like six months,
(22:10):
so maybe, as as we get fartherdown the line with this, we'll
have another conversation, MaybeI'll get a few instructors on
here and we'll have a littleround.
Boyd (22:19):
Great if I can come to Florida and do an in-person
collect there you go.
I told you that, like I'mtrying to figure that out with
timing in this year and planningbetween work and everything
else going on and hopefullygetting that figured out,
because I know a lot of theinstructors are there in Florida
as well and it would be greatto be in person and do a live
(22:43):
with everybody.
That would be cool.
It would.
Walt Sparling (22:47):
All right, tanya.
Well, I appreciate your timeand I'm excited to take your
course.
And for everyone else, makesure you check out the peer
program.
There'll be links in the shownotes and we'll chat again on
the next episode of PM Mastery.
Boyd (23:06):
Sounds great.
Thank you, Al.
Intro/Outro (23:07):
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 (00:35):
Welcome everybody to the current edition of PM
Mastery, and today I have backonce again Tanya Boyd.
Welcome, Tanya.
Boyd (00:44):
Well, glad to be back here .
Walt Sparling (00:46):
So we let's see.
We have talked a couple times.
We did an interview last yearkind of late in the year, and
then we did a follow-up lastmonth on another topic.
And then today our focus is ona new course that is going to be
coming out, a program thatwe're both in called the Pure PM
(01:09):
, and it's taught by workingpractitioners who do project
management or project managementroles as part of their daily
job, and they have shared theirknowledge in this course and
there are, I believe, 32 courses.
It's a total of 60 hours, andboth myself and Tanya and the
(01:30):
listeners have heard JosephPhillips, where he talked about
the program, and then we hadRussell Parker on.
It was his first initialinterview, so we talked a little
bit about what's going on withhim, how we got into what he is
doing, and then we chatted alittle bit about his course as
well.
So today Tanya is going toshare with us the information on
her course in the PURE program,called From Risk to Reward.
(01:52):
So take it away, tanya.
Boyd (01:54):
Thank you.
So when I first got involved inthis group which timing-wise I
believe was kind of early tomid-September of 2024.
You know, I was challenged tocome up with a topic where we
could create at least two hoursof content.
So as I was thinking throughthe different topics I wanted to
(02:15):
do, I ran through a couple andthis was actually it was my
third idea that I came up with,but even after I sent it for
consideration it felt like theone that I should really be
elaborating on the most.
So the course focused veryheavily on the topic of risk.
Risk is something that we faceevery day in our personal lives,
(02:39):
in our professional lives, andit can be really really easy to
think of risk as somethingthat's bad.
But this course's focus is moreon reframing risks and turning
it into rewards, even when it'ssomething super challenging,
that's unexpected and ratheruncomfortable.
(02:59):
It's about seeing thepositivity and the ways that
that can propel you forward.
Walt Sparling (03:05):
So if can you give us kind of a summary now?
Obviously you're going to talkmore about, or you're going to
get into the positive side,which I believe are
opportunities.
How many sections are in yourcourse?
Boyd (03:17):
So I actually did have a little bit more of a methodology
when I was structuring thismethodology, when I was
structuring this.
Overall there's 10 sections butin nine of the sections I share
, none of them have got acreative theme that's tied
through it.
The theme is just goes alongwith storytelling and my love of
(03:39):
creative metaphors, but withineach of those nine sections, but
(03:59):
within each of those ninesections, I've got three
different scenarios and threedifferent tools of tools and
techniques that they can use tosee the bright side or help
their stakeholders see thebright side of the risks.
Walt Sparling (04:13):
And part of that three hours is three PDUs that
you'll also get for taking thatcourse.
Boyd (04:18):
So some of the different tools and I mean they kind of
span from different things likea Monte Carlo simulation to a
what-if analysis.
So let's take, for instance,one of the scenarios is that
you've got a project team thatis running up against a vendor
(04:39):
that comes up with a supplychain issue, up with a supply
chain issue and it's the teamtaking that back to their
stakeholders and even justbrainstorming the array of
different what if this happens,what if that happens, and
planning different mitigationstrategies on how they would
prepare and move forward.
Walt Sparling (04:59):
Okay, Monte Carlo .
What are some of the othertools that you're going to talk
about?
Boyd (05:03):
So not all of them are technical, you know.
Just even different things likepower skills or soft skills are
very important nowadays.
It's not just about theprocesses, it's a lot about your
people.
So, for instance, there's timeswhere our risks could be
conflict or a dissension betweenthe teams.
That it's apparent, but it'snot outright stated.
(05:28):
So, just even using differentemotional assessment tools, I
even cover different things likepersonality assessments and
understanding a little bit moreabout the people on your team,
their different ways of working,their different preferences,
because I think that's one ofthe biggest challenges for
project managers.
(05:49):
We all know that we're wiredvery differently, but when
there's conflict or when there'sa disagreement, it can be so
easy for us to take itpersonally and think that it's
something that we did or that wedidn't do, when a lot of times
we need to step back and realizethere is such a wide spectrum
(06:12):
of cultural differences,experiences and personalities.
So, throughout the course, Ireally I just tried to give some
thought to it and infusing theemotional, the social skills
along with some of the technicaltools that can be used, because
I think you need to use acombination of all of those, or
(06:36):
at least think about them andstart learning how some of them
might work and help you.
Walt Sparling (06:42):
Yeah, one of the things I've seen.
I've worked in a coupledifferent places where risk is
handled completely different.
I've had some conversationsonline, both in some of the
interviews and just generalconversations with other PMs,
and how they handle risk andit's different depending on who
you work for, what kind ofproject you have.
But what I have seen a lot ofis risk is one of those things
(07:06):
that you're taught when you gothrough a project management
training program to some level,but how it's put in practice
sometimes I think it's notreally focused on and it's kind
of a second thought.
And on some critical projectsit becomes more of a primary
(07:28):
thought because hey, there's alot of potential things that
could go wrong here and I'm oneof those that I know risks can
be opportunities, but typicallyI treat risks as potential
things that could go wrong.
And how do I mitigate those?
And you know, one of the thingslike in my course is on
communications.
To me, you can minimize risk byclearly communicating the
(07:51):
aspect of the project, timelythings like that.
So risk can be mitigated bygood communications.
You said you chose the risk, sois risk something you really
like?
Is that one of the things youenjoy dealing with in projects?
Boyd (08:08):
Yes, it is, and I mean I don't think any of us are
absolutely in love with whenthings go wrong.
I mean, sometimes it takes avery intentional flip in
focusing on the positive, whichI think that's a work in
progress for so many of us,which I think that's a work in
progress for so many of us, andI think a lot of times that
(08:30):
perspective is gained after thefact.
So I'll use a very clearinstance COVID or the pandemic
even when it was upon us, it wasprobably something I could have
never imagined or I could havenever foresaw.
You know, and I think a lot ofus were like that, we knew
(08:52):
something was going to go on fora while, but we really couldn't
have predicted.
Now, in retrospect, I'm notglad that, you know, I am not
glad that all that destructionhappened.
I don't want that to bemisinterpreted, but there are
some different things that haveblossomed as a result of that
(09:16):
tragedy.
So even like, for instance, youand I talking here today on
virtual, we're doing a lot moreremote work.
We're doing, you know, a lotmore virtual connection.
That has led to differentopportunities that probably
would not have existed for us orwe would not have grabbed the
(09:37):
rein on those opportunities hadwe not faced that circumstance.
Circumstance, you know, and evendifferent things in my own life
, like you know, being closer tomy father and some of those
things wouldn't have happened ifit wasn't for other losses in
my life, which, again, that's adifferent sort of risk to deal
(10:01):
with.
But I've had to intentionallytrain myself to start seeing the
bright side of when things gowrong and even when you're
uncomfortable and you'relearning, which in this course,
for many of us that wereinvolved in this project I mean
I'm going to speak for myself Ihad never I've done I've
(10:22):
presented virtually before forpeople I've done.
I've presented virtually beforefor people.
I've moderated meetings, I'vedone in-person presentations,
but I had never challengedmyself to actually craft a
course from scratch, come upwith all of the different
headers and then sit in my ownspace of videotaping myself for
(10:45):
what turned out to be hours andlearning new recording studios.
So throughout that entireprocess I was thinking all of
the risks and what could gowrong for me not to complete the
course or meet the deadlinesrequired, but for every fear
that I had, I'd flip it and go.
(11:06):
You know what you got.
This you can get through this,you can do this, and when I'd
meet those milestones it was aboost of confidence.
And so I feel like for projectmanagers, a lot of times risks
you know we're looking at thathill, going how on earth am I
going to climb this?
But when we put one foot infront of the other and we get
(11:27):
there, we can look back and go.
Thank goodness I stumbled overthat stone because I would have
never learned how tough I was ifI hadn't gotten myself back up.
Walt Sparling (11:38):
Yeah, the COVID pandemic was well.
It was life-changing for theentire world.
But, to your point, I did a fewvirtual meetings prior to that.
We did a lot of Teams meetingsbecause we worked with
stakeholders from all over andyou couldn't always get them in
your office because they were inanother town or another state.
(12:01):
So that really having thatstart on virtual meetings was
helpful, because when COVID hit,yeah, we all got sent home and
for the next years.
I mean I went probably a yearand a half before I was back out
as our contractors kept working, but it changed how we
interacted and we had our riskregister completely changed
(12:24):
because it came to you know,covid's happened.
But how do we deal with it onour projects?
Well, if we get a crew, thatwhich has happened multiple
times we'd get a crew, thatsomeone on the crew got COVID
and they were exposed to otherpeople.
So they would say we cannotsend our entire crew to your
(12:44):
site because they're all inquarantine.
And that happened more than Iliked, but it was a reality and
we started building in what if?
If someone was infected and itwas a key vendor, what is the
impact on the project?
Boyd (13:04):
So it taught us that your risk management accelerated
because of that and that peopleactually started paying more
attention to that philosophybecause they had to go through
that duress.
Walt Sparling (13:16):
Oh, yeah, I mean I know that when we started,
when I first started at thiscompany or this client, they had
their own way of doing risk andwe had two different methods
depending on the project size.
But we had a risk register andwe started realizing the same
things that were consistent.
Some of them were our customerdelays, you know, getting
(13:37):
signatures, and I know I'vetalked to other people about
that.
That is a risk because itaffects your schedule and if it
affects your schedule itultimately can affect your
budget.
And so we had standard you know, maybe 10 standard items that
went in every risk registerbecause these are all potentials
and then we would have customones for the project.
Then we ended up with like fivethat were COVID related.
(14:01):
And you know, before you knew it, that risk register was getting
huge because it wasn't justgetting the work done with
supply chain.
You know.
You know, before you knew it,that risk register was getting
huge because it wasn't justgetting the work done, it was
supply chain.
You know how hard it was to gettoilet paper.
Can you imagine how hard it wasto get materials when the
factories are shut down andsupply chains were impacted?
So yeah, I definitely got a lotmore into risk and tracking and
(14:22):
mitigating items once COVID hitfor sure.
Boyd (14:27):
I think I did too.
You know what I mean.
I think a lot of people that mayeven be listening to this
podcast later can go throughtheir careers and kind of
reflect on that too.
And I mean I think of coursethings have settled down some,
but I mean I think it's eventaken lessons from that time,
because I feel like I've watchedthe world go from where it was
(14:48):
during that to where there's somuch return to the office and
there's so much of thesedifferent things, and a lot of
times people are getting to bemore reactive again rather than
proactive, and sometimes it'swishing that they would remember
those lessons that are not thatfar in our past and go okay, I
(15:11):
know we're busy and I know we'vegot a lot going on, but we
really need to take the time toplan this up front and think
about what could happen, notfrom a negative perspective, but
just let's be really realisticand think about why we should
have multiple vendors ormultiple options for delivery If
(15:34):
one of them gets backlogged,you know.
So it's just, and that's a lotof.
The course, too, is trying tomake people think through a wide
variety of scenarios and whatcould happen and and sort of
intentionally place them inthose shoes through storytelling
(15:54):
, but telling some of thedifferent processes is the goal.
Walt Sparling (15:59):
These are some good insights into what the
course is going to be about.
If you had to summarize at theend, kind of I know everyone did
a summary at the end of theircourse and this is what you've,
this is what we reviewed and youlearned.
If you had to summarize yourcourse right now, what do you
think or what would you say thatthe students are going to take
(16:21):
away from your course?
Boyd (16:24):
I believe the students will.
I think just the way thestructure is, with the 27
different tools and 27 differentscenarios, will make them think
of risk in a completelydifferent way and even the
storytelling aspect throughoutof it and just the themes is
(16:46):
trying to place them in thosescenarios.
Because I find a lot of times,um, whenever viewed risk from a
textbook.
I mean, I'm used to the riskregisters, I'm used to the
priority and the impact matrixand those different things.
But I think having the storyand the scenarios matched up
(17:06):
with it throughout the coursewill make it make more sense on
how they can apply it in theirdaily lives.
Walt Sparling (17:14):
And I think what's going to probably happen
out of this is I'm justenvisioning that with all the
courses, there's going to besome aspect of this, but you're
going to walk away with having adifferent perspective of risk.
You're going to be moreconfident.
You're going to see more thingsthat you may not have
encountered but realize theycould come up.
So now you're going to have theopportunity to have that
(17:39):
education that you know.
You're sitting around doing aplan for your project and risks
come up and you start bringingup items you know as a student,
you say, well, what about this?
And they're like, oh well,that's a good idea.
Where'd you learn that?
Boyd (17:51):
That's, and it really it's the storytelling, but it's the
training.
It's the training through story.
So like, for instance, you havea friend that's a financial
advisor and he was telling astory.
Now this was on LinkedIn.
You know his.
His daughter, who's a teenager,but I think in her freshman year
, is wanting to go to college,but it's an illustrious college
(18:12):
and it's somewhere farther off.
That will cost more money, andso he just took the opportunity
to educate her throughstorytelling.
He's like that's great and wecan support from that and we can
do that.
However, I want you to thinkabout other milestones in your
life that this may impact.
So, for instance, if we have tospend X amount of dollars on
this type of college and youreducation, then later on the
(18:36):
road down the road, when youdecide to get married, maybe we
can only do $10,000 down paymentfor your house rather than the
50,000 planned because we put ithere.
And so when I read that and Idon't have children, but it was
like I can appreciate the waythat he educated her on that, on
the mitigation strategies, thetrade-offs, that not everything
(18:59):
goes in the bucket, but here'show to plan in advance is just I
(19:19):
try to take project managementand apply it in applicable ways
that somebody who has been inproject management for five
months may even recognize, andthen somebody that's been in
project management for 50 yearssays, oh my gosh, we've faced
that scenario a million times.
So a lot of us just trying touse layman's term and avoid a
lot of the jargon that I say tomake it make sense- Now I'm
(19:43):
excited about taking that oneand I'm excited about taking a
lot.
Walt Sparling (19:47):
I actually dove into my course tonight just to
kind of get a feel for thesystem and I'm anxious to get
through.
It's going to be a lot of work60 hours total and, of course,
60 PDUs you're going to take outof it.
But the cool thing is and myconversation with Joe is you
(20:10):
don't have to wait till the endof the course to get your PDUs.
Once you've taken an individualcourse, you'll get the PDUs for
that course that you can applyto your existing certifications,
and then at the end of thecourse, you'll get your full
certification and you'll havewhatever remaining PDUs that
you've completed.
So if you're mid going througha renewal and you've taken 12
(20:34):
hours of coursework, you get 12PDUs that you can apply.
So it's going to be Exactly.
I really like the way theprogram is structured and I mean
, I'm a PMP as well and I needto do my PDUs, you know, every
three years, just like everyoneelse.
So yeah.
Boyd (20:52):
So I think what?
I think just the everyone elseso yep.
So I think well, and I thinkjust the diversity of the group
too.
I think that that's going to bevery different too.
And one thing that I love aboutthis collective is oftentimes I
always see the same names ingroups.
You know the usual suspects,and there's a lot of diversity
(21:12):
in the topics, in the people, inthe experience that went into
this, the different types ofbusinesses that people have been
in, so I think that that'sgoing to add a lot of flavor to
it as well.
Walt Sparling (21:26):
Absolutely.
It's going to be awesome.
I plan on doing some blog postsmyself about it.
I'm going to do a littlewrite-up on mine.
I want to do one about some ofthe instructors.
I don't know the exact count Ihaven't put it down on paper but
there are quite a fewinstructors that have been on
the podcast before, so they'realready industry gurus and
(21:49):
they're out there sharing theirknowledge, and now they're
actually in the peer programsharing that knowledge with the
world.
So it's it's going to beexciting to go through it and
I'm I'm super happy that youcame on and talked a little bit
about yours, and we've already.
This will be our thirdconversation in like six months,
(22:10):
so maybe, as as we get fartherdown the line with this, we'll
have another conversation, MaybeI'll get a few instructors on
here and we'll have a littleround.
Boyd (22:19):
Great if I can come to Florida and do an in-person
collect there you go.
I told you that, like I'mtrying to figure that out with
timing in this year and planningbetween work and everything
else going on and hopefullygetting that figured out,
because I know a lot of theinstructors are there in Florida
as well and it would be greatto be in person and do a live
(22:43):
with everybody.
That would be cool.
It would.
Walt Sparling (22:47):
All right, tanya.
Well, I appreciate your timeand I'm excited to take your
course.
And for everyone else, makesure you check out the peer
program.
There'll be links in the shownotes and we'll chat again on
the next episode of PM Mastery.
Boyd (23:06):
Sounds great.
Thank you, Al.
Intro/Outro (23:07):
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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