Archives for October 2021

October 19, 2021 - 2 comments

My door is open

You’re walking down a hallway lined with doors. Some of those doors seem welcoming, some seem like they’re the gateway to your own personal hell. 

Suddenly, a friendly and familiar face steps out of a room and welcomes you in. You’re pretty happy where you are, but you’re curious about what’s happening in that room. You think, “Why not? Nothing to lose,” and  you agree to go in. 

Right away, the room feels familiar, but very different at the same time. You’re having fun, but after spending some time there, you realize that you weren’t meant to be there after all. 

After some time, you decide it’s best to make an exit. So you jump back out into the hallway and take a peek into some of the other rooms. You get concerned, because those other rooms all seem like another version of the rooms you didn’t want to enter. 

Then you realize. The room you want to be in is the one you built and left behind. You were actually really happy before you visited that last room, so why not just go back?

Going back can feel like you’re taking a step back, but it isn’t. In fact, while you’re going back to the same old room, you’re taking the experience you gained from the last room you were in. So, your old room is going to look, smell, and feel different. 

Sure, you might see some of the same old things, but they’re going to seem different. You’re going to seem different. That’s because you are different. Every day you spend experiencing life changes you, and the experience you gain in any room you visit will shape your outlook, your motivation, and your reason for being in any room. 

Sometimes, your career can feel like a meandering journey down a long hallway full of interesting rooms. While you’d probably do well in just about any room, you want to find the right space for you. What’s important to remember is that you don’t have to stay in that hallway, or even in that building. The world is large and full of opportunities that shouldn’t make you feel constrained. 

So what does all of this mean?

Well, I recently jumped back out in the hallway of my career and decided to return to my career in project management consulting and coaching. This is a space where I’m most comfortable, energized, and effective. It also happens to be a space where I know I can grow and explore, and make the greatest impact.

I spent 3 years creating educational content at TeamGantt, and while I’m very proud of the work we did together, I changed. I realized that while creating content is fun and something I will always want to do, it’s not where I want to devote all of my energy. I’m more fulfilled by the impact I can make working directly with teams and individuals to help them meet their goals, be more efficient, and get more out of their work.

That will be my focus moving forward, and I’m so excited about some of the projects I’m already working on. I’m working with some great clients, and I’ll continue to create content. In fact, we just recorded the first episode of Sprints & Milestones season 2, and I’m planning some exciting video content as well. 

So, maybe you’re here because you’re looking for resources. Those will be coming very soon!  Or maybe you’re wondering if we could work together at some point. I’d love to discuss that, of course. Here’s a quick rundown of how I might be able to help you:

Consulting

Working with teams and organizations to understand their challenges and helping them to craft efficient, scalable solutions is the core of my business. I’ve worked with several agencies and in-house teams in a variety of capacities that allow me to use my expertise to help them to transform the way they work, communicate, and deliver. 

If you’re looking for an outsider’s unbiased assessment and recommendations on your business operations and project management, or a leader to come in and oversee your team and operations, get in touch.

Coaching

I absolutely love my coaching clients, and I do everything to help them meet their goals. So, whether you’re looking to build a better system around your projects (and you’re willing to do it all on your own with some guidance), level up your PM skills, or find ways to get to that next promotion, I am here to help.

I’ve coached project managers, program managers, heads of operations and PM, and even agency owners. My approach is flexible, empathetic, and to-the-point. If you’re looking for business and career advice with a side of venting, get in touch. 

Delivery

This is where things get exciting. In addition to the work I’ve been doing for years (see above), I’m bringing back the work that got me here. If you’ve got a web or iOS project on your mind, let’s talk. I’ve had the benefit of working with some of the brightest minds in digital design and development, and would love to pull a team together to strategize, design, and launch your next big thing on time and within budget. 

We’re working with clients of all kinds: enterprise-level, start-up, non-profit, you name it. We can do it, and it will be fun getting it done. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Workshops

We’re still battling COVID-19, and I’m still doing workshops. Zoom has come a long way, and I’ve got a ton of experience presenting online. Two-hour online or full-day in-person workshops are a great opportunity to gather your team to discuss challenges and work through solutions, or even learn about new, more formalized ways of working.

I offer workshops through The Bureau of Digital fairly often, but also create customized workshops for organizations. Get in touch if you want to rally the team around the topic and get to work together. I’m a good facilitator and have a great time working through just about any topic with teams.

My door is always open. Come on in, let’s talk.

October 10, 2021 - No Comments!

All the PM Content!

So, it's been a few years. As it turns out, I tend to ignore my blog when I'm writing in other places. And oh boy, have I been doing a lot of that!

I'm very proud of the project management educational materials I've created with the folks at TeamGantt over the past few years. I figured I would share a sampling of them below, but you can always check out TeamGantt's Project Management Resource Hub to find more.

My work ranges from writing blog posts, creating templates, sending the newsletter to an audience of 200,000+, speaking with customers, and a lot more. But the content creation was the most fun, so I figured I would share some highlights here.

The Art & Science of Leading Projects

This was one of my first big projects at TeamGantt, and I'm so happy with the outcome. Think of it as a Project Management 101 course for anyone using TeamGantt. There are 14 classes total, with several templates, resources, and even supplemental videos to support each topic. This course took a lot of time to create, so I hope ot shows. The feedback has been great!

Coffee with Brett

This is a YouTube series I did that is all about providing project management basics in short doses. I tried my hardest to be quick and to the point on all of these topics. It definitely required caffeination...and a lot of trial and error with shooting video on my own in my home office.

Plan Up

Planning is critical to TeamGantt's mission, obviously. I was tasked with coming with the core tenets for planning with this project. Overall, the project included developing a "mindset" and principles, as well as supporting resources to help anyone to get better at planning. The result was free downloads and a keystone webinar that was presented to an audience of thousands over time.

Time Limit Podcast

I took over the Time Limit podcast and turned it into an interview show where I brought on some of the world's most interesting project management professionals.

It was a pleasure to meet a variety of project managers, authors, though leaders, and business owners to discuss a variety of topics like empathy, design operations, inclusion, social politics, and more. What an amazing learning experience!