Bridge the Gap Consulting

MARCH 6, 2019

There is a great quote from the ever-classic movie Caddyshack: Judge Smails: What did you shoot today? Ty Webb: Oh judge, I don’t keep score. Judge Smails: Then how to you measure yourself to other golfers? Ty Webb: Height Early on in my career I had a great mentor. He taught me more in 6 months about leadership and managing projects than I’d known my whole life up to that point.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

MARCH 18, 2019

“You are receiving this email because your child’s math homework assignments are late. Please address this with them and ensure all homework is turned in on time.” What do you mean my son’s homework is late? I thought he was good at math. This doesn’t make any sense! Then the questions started coming into my head fast and furious: Is he struggling in math?

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

APRIL 8, 2019

It’s been a REALLY long winter! Anyone in the norther U.S. can attest to the constant cold and continuous snow that was dumped on us over and over again. Even some of my peers in the southern states talked about how cold the winter was. Needless to say, there was a lot of inside time staying warm! Over the last couple weeks, though, temperatures have been going up and the snow quickly melting.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

FEBRUARY 4, 2024

When I was a kid, I played baseball. A lot of baseball. Every chance I got I would put my glove on and play. My favorite positions were first base and catcher. I would watch my Minnesota Twins play; Kent Hrbek at first and Brian Harper behind the plate, plus all the other great players. Those were fun times! But one player I aspired to was a bit older.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

JANUARY 26, 2024

Over the past year I’ve written considerably about PMOs, from setting them up to keeping the lights on to sound operational processes. Hell, I even wrote a book (with a lot of help from AI)! I enjoyed this process because it drew on my experience and the experience of other skilled practitioners whom I’ve had the opportunity to hear at various events or worked with throughout my career.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

JANUARY 12, 2024

Whether you have a Managed Service Provider (MSP) supporting your business already or not, reasons to contract with one vary as much as the providers out there ready to serve you. Companies contract with MSPs for a variety of reasons, including cost savings, efficiencies, scalability, and taking responsibilities off your plate and having someone else manage IT for you.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

JANUARY 7, 2024

Evergreen. According to Merriam Webster, Evergreen is “universally and continually relevant; not limited in applicability to a particular event or date.” We hear about evergreens during the holidays or when talking about pine trees and their green needles. I have also talked about evergreen, long-lasting relationships, with customers. But have you thought about “Evergreen Relationships with your coworkers, teams and stakeholders?

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

DECEMBER 14, 2023

As 2023 comes to a close, it’s time to look ahead at another new year and the opportunities, as well as challenges, it will bring. Here are my 2024 project management outlooks, which is also where I’m basing some of my professional development on. AI as a Project Team Member “I don’t know. Ask ChatGTP.” AI will continue to evolve.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

DECEMBER 10, 2023

You’ve probably heard it countless times. “Robots will take our jobs!” “AI will make me irrelevant!” If you’re in a job where your functions are repetitious, that function can be automated. Yeah, there’s cause for worry there. AI will impact every industry and influence jobs for years to come. Project Management is one of those areas I’m excited to have AI make a greater impact.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

It’s well known that effective communication is one of the most critical skills to project management success. Project managers spend the majority of their time communicating. As they advance in their careers, PMs will find themselves communicating with a special kind of stakeholder; the executive! Let me tell you how NOT to communicate with an exec using an experience I had as an example.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

OCTOBER 30, 2023

I had to reread the question twice. Was this a legit question or were they messing with us? I scrolled down and looked at the responses of others and re-responses from question asker. Yep, they’re serious. “I recently passed my PMP exam and now my company wants me to lead a project. I’ve never lead one before. Where should I start?

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

OCTOBER 11, 2023

I went fishin’! Not just a quick half-day fishing trip, but a two day guided trip with 5 other people on Lake of the Woods in northern Minnesota, right along the Canadian border. If you’re not familiar with Lake of the Woods, it’s a big lake. Its surface area is 1,679.5 square miles and a max depth of over 200 feet. There are multiple islands and at points, you can’t see the opposite shore.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023

“Sorry sir, we have no seating in the restaurant or at a high top table at this time. There are seats at the bar, however, and they offer a full menu. Otherwise, it will be about 30 minutes.” I’m hungry I thought to myself. So is my buddy, whom I just got done playing golf with. Bar it is. As we bellied up we were greeted by a smiling but all business bartender.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

“You’re in charge of project Sunrise.” What the hell? What’s project Sunrise? This company was always unique in naming its larger projects, but Sunrise? I hadn’t heard of that one. “The project will test the theory to build foundational infrastructure from which all other apps will be built. Sunrise comes from the dawning of a new type of functionality.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

SEPTEMBER 4, 2023

“Hi Jason! I was wondering if you would have an hour to grab coffee or lunch and catch up. Also, I need some help.” This person worked with me for almost four years and we’d been through some crazy ups and downs at that company. It’d be great to catch up with her again! Fast forward one week where we met for coffee. When she worked with me, her smile was constant and had a great sense of humor.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

AUGUST 25, 2023

Everything that’s ever been invented, explored, or personal adventures started as an idea. Someone asked “What if…” “What if” I could do this? “What if” we had a product to do that? “What if” I went here? “What if…” are two words that become very powerful when brought together.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

AUGUST 9, 2023

Let me start with a user story. As a cyclist I want to stay upright So I don’t crash and hurt myself Sounds easy, right? On a nice evening in June, my user story didn’t go as planned. If you watch any bike racing, like the Tour de France, you’ve seen large groups of cyclists suddenly go down. These pelotons are moving along at a fast pace and when one person crashes, others inevitably follow.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

JULY 21, 2023

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw. Have you ever had conversational Deja vu? You think, we’ve had this same conversation before. Or, why am I repeating myself yet again?! This happens at work and at home. It occurs with kids a lot. If this happens to you, you’re experiencing the illusion of conversation.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

JULY 13, 2023

“Stop Everything!! We have a really big problem!” I have the utmost respect for this person. Smart, driven, and ready to step in and help at a moments notice. But they’re also a lot like Chicken Little. The sky is constantly falling. The project invariably has show stopping issues. The world is always on fire. Twice a month this person would sound the alarm.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

JUNE 26, 2023

I have what my wife calls an unhealthy obsession with the Race Across America, or better known as RAAM. Dubbed the “World’s Toughest Bicycle Race”, RAAM riders start on the west coast in Oceanside, CA and end on the east coast in Annapolis, MD. Along the way they bike over 3,000 miles (4,828 km), climb over 175,00 feet, and cross 12 states.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

JUNE 12, 2023

Imagine you’re a private pilot. You got licensed about 5 years ago and in that time, logged a lot of uneventful hours in the air. Being cautious, flights occur only on clear or high-cloud days with little wind. You’re also only VFR (Visual Flight Rules) so can’t fly on just instrumentation. Now image today is a great day to fly. You hop in the rented Cessna 172 Skyhawk and prep for the 75 mile flight to where you and your spouse are going to have lunch, then fly back.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

MAY 16, 2023

Once your PMO is up and running, operationalizing and doing continuous improvement (CI) go hand-in-hand. When people ask what’s the difference between the two, I say operationalizing are static functions you’ll always perform and CI is iterative. They’re done at the same time. Sometimes CI may lead to changes to the PMO’s operations, but you’re only making more efficient something you’re already doing.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

MAY 4, 2023

I had a boss once say the trick to continuous improvement is to make it seem easy to the outside world, even though it’s a lot of work within an inner circle. Every improvement is strategic and intentional. She was amazing at CI. Now that the PMO is chugging along, it’s time for you, as the PMO leader, to look at continuous improvement. It’s not easy, and it is necessary.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

APRIL 30, 2023

The PMO Pilot Project. I LOVE pilot projects! It validates our intentions and strategies. We test out PMO best practices and gather lessons learned. The PMO matures more quickly. Totally worth it! When it’s time to establish and implement your PMO , conducting a pilot project should be part of the process. Here are some things to consider when running a PMO pilot project.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

APRIL 24, 2023

You’ve done the PMO Assessment. Then you created the PMO Business Case. You’ve been to meetings and finally got approval to establish your PMO. Now the fun really starts! Now, I’ve seen PMO Establishment and Implementation called out as two separate steps. For this article and from what I’ve done in the past, I combine them. The reason is, there will be overlap.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

APRIL 18, 2023

You’ve asked a lot of questions to a diverse group of stakeholders. You’ve done an assessment. Now it’s time to create a PMO Business Case and start moving the needle from idea to reality. If you notice, I call it a PMO Business Case, not a PMO Charter. I don’t like the word “charter” when talking about creating PMO’s.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

APRIL 11, 2023

As a consultant, I love doing assessments. Why? Because assessments help clients identify pain points and areas of opportunity. My favorite is the PMO assessment. Whether considering standing up a new PMO or revamping an existing, doing an assessment is a key initial step to setting one up. Though there are PMO maturity models, which are all good, I don’t like to talk about those right away.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

APRIL 6, 2023

Starting up or revamping a PMO is tricky and complex. They’re established to address a number of business opportunities and problems. If a PMO will help navigate these turbulent waters, it should not be on one or two people to determine its direction. Committed organizations will setup a PMO Steering Committee. I’ll start by saying a PMO Steering Committee is not a guarantee.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

APRIL 1, 2023

When you’re in the process of setting up or revamping a PMO you, as the PMO leader, will need support and direction. Enter the PMO Executive Sponsor! The sponsor will give your PMO street cred. Though a PMO Steering Committee is not guaranteed, make the PMO Executive Sponsor a must-have. Otherwise, you may not have any real authority. Who is the PMO Executive Sponsor?

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

MARCH 26, 2023

Congratulations! You’re a PMO Leader! Welcome to a challenging, dynamic world where you get to delivery strategic value all while having a target on your back. Good times! Being a PMO leader has been one of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of my career. Thankfully, I’ve had some really good mentors along the way who showed me being a PMO leader and a project manager are two very different things.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

MARCH 21, 2023

PMO Failure. We hear about PMO’s failing all the time. Some fail to deliver expected results but somehow tend to linger on in a semi-effective state. Others suck so bad they just get shut down and disbanded. Stats on PMO failure rates are all over the map based on your definition of “failure.” But one thing is for sure, it happens enough where people in the project management profession talk quite a bit about it.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

MARCH 6, 2023

I grew up in a bit of a risk-adverse home. One parent was an engineer who had been with the same company since graduating school. The other was an administrative assistant who worked for the same school for many years. Both believed you find a job, stay with that job, try not to rock the boat, and retire. I thought this was the way it was done. That is, until I graduated college and started out on my own.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

FEBRUARY 18, 2023

“Please tell me what you’re thinking. I promise I won’t be upset!” She looked nervous. She was smart, forward thinking, and I could tell from her body language she didn’t agree with me. But, given the last project manager wasn’t open to feedback and often got upset when he received it, she didn’t want to repeat scoldings that were given in the past.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

FEBRUARY 11, 2023

I finally gave ChatGPT a try. My kids and I have been messing around, having it write songs, create jokes, and rewrite a paper my one kiddo already did. It’s been interesting and funny. I wondered what else it could write. I recently read about a company having financial issues because one of their key projects was behind schedule and over budget.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

JANUARY 27, 2023

“This piece of sh!t. I buy connected silos that don’t connect. How the f$%@ can I operate if I don’t know what’s going on? Why don’t they f$%@ing connect?” My friend is a farmer. He originally took over his family’s small 40 acre hobby farm in the early 2000’s. With a degree in business, he decided an office wasn’t for him and applied his business skills to growing the farm.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

JANUARY 12, 2023

Why do you want a PMO? That’s a hell of a question to ask when you’re the consultant asking a client why they want to start a Project Management Office (PMO). But, it’s one I felt necessary because thus far their reasoning wasn’t sound. Responses had been between “I read somewhere that…” and “Someone told me we should…” Those aren’t good reasons to start a PMO.

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Bridge the Gap Consulting

DECEMBER 19, 2022

“That doesn’t surprise me.” You’ve heard it. I’m sure you’ve said it. But yet, when something happens on our projects, we’re surprised! How did this happen? Why didn’t see this coming? But I ask you, knowing the dynamic and fluid nature of projects, should we really be surprised? I think of a client project from a handful of years ago.

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