Project Pundits Unplugged Pod
A bi-weekly entertaining journey into the world of Project Management. Hosts Braden and Jim discuss all things project management and frankly anything else they find funny navigating the corporate world. Each 30 minute episode is (intended to be) packed with real world advice with a focus on principles more than process. This show has something for everyone from those in a project management career path, to those considering a switch to project management, to folks who manage project managers, to anyone who works in the corporate world and wants a cathartic release.
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Episodes
Monday Sep 30, 2024
Monday Sep 30, 2024
Top-Down or Bottom-Up thinking, designing, and planning? Yes. In this episode the guys chat about the importance of both Top-Down and Bottom-Up thinking in project management. If you're not already consciously thinking about this concept, you definitely should be. In addition there is some current event chat and talk about hemorrhoids.
Show Timeline:
00:00:00 Cold Open
00:01:06 Introduction
00:05:58 Hemorrhoid Cream
00:07:04 The 2nd 1st 2024 Presidential Debate
00:13:37 Trump's Amazing Press Conference on Name Calling
00:15:28 Tulsi Gabbard and The Quiet Skies Program
00:18:02 Interest Rates Discussion
00:20:11 Ray Dalio and the End of the World
00:21:22 Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up in the World of Project Management
00:22:51 Some Challenges with Bottoms-Up Thinking
00:27:26 Episode Closing
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Sunday Aug 04, 2024
Sunday Aug 04, 2024
Everything is a Problem in the latest episode of the Project Pundits Pod. The guys talk about current events (well… current at the time of recording!) and then get into the importance of problem solving, first principles thinking, critical thinking, awareness and more. They also talk about Presidential politics, demo food at Costco, talking in and bringing toddlers to movies, Jack Black, the actor, flat Earth, moon landing, 9/11, Hawk Tuah, Ozempic, Bill Belichick, Connecticut drivers, and more!
Monday Jul 01, 2024
Monday Jul 01, 2024
And the guys are back tackling Canadian Pre-crime Laws, Free Speech, Compelled Speech, Hate Speech, Braden's Cranial Scan, and of course the topic of Healthcare and the role of Insurers (and employers) in how the whole darn thing works. You'll also get talk on Ozempic, South Park, Star Trek Tricorders, Childhood Bullying, Obamacare, MLR, Government Run Healthcare, Bernie Sanders, Single Payer, even more AI talk, Pharmacy Rebate Programs. Religion, Politics, Nationalism - what more could you want in one episode??
Show Timeline:
00:00:00 Cold Open
00:01:06 Introduction
00:04:19 Canada - Pre-Crime - Minority Report
00:07:50 Free Speech
00:13:18 Twitter and the Public Square
00:21:14 All About the Flag, Upside-down, Flag Burning
00:24:01 Healthcare Topic Intro
00:24:24 South Park Navigating the American Healthcare System
00:29:26 State of the American Healthcare System
00:30:26 Jim's Opinion on the Least Worst Healthcare Solution
00:31:46 Braden's Rebuttal to Jim's Opinion
00:35:57 Jim's Premise on Solving the Healthcare Problem
00:43:20 Braden's Cranial Scan and Eyeballs
00:45:43 Numb Tongue
00:47:06 Healthcare Insurance is not Insurance
00:54:25 Healthcare Insurers Administer Policies, Employers Define Them
01:00:21 Pharmacy Benefits - Rebate Programs
01:01:40 Obamacare Medical Loss Ratio (MLR)
01:05:33 Healthcare Technology at Insurers Trails 10+ Years
01:06:51 Why Does Tech Adoption Trail in Healthcare Insurance?
01:15:20 Episode Closing
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Saturday Jun 01, 2024
Saturday Jun 01, 2024
In this episode the guys cover some critical current events regarding the FTC's push to ban Non-Compete Agreements and Congress passing a bill, that President Biden signed into law, that bans TikTok. The rest of the episode is all about consulting. There is a very high level discussion of what consulting is (and is not), how organizations leverage consultants, and some other topics that set the stage for future deeper dive discussions (with more Braden eye rolls!)!
Show Timeline:
0:00 Cold Open
01:02 Introductionn
03:50 Braden Calls Jim Stupid + Current Events Talk!
03:56 Inflation Updates
07:40 FTC Banning Non-Compete Agreements
16:00 Foreign Aid Spending Bill
16:35 TikTok Ban
29:57 Intro to Consulting Topic
33:37 What is Consulting?
37:50 Consulting vs. Staff Augmentation or Contracting
40:40 Consultants Should be able to Wear Multiple Hats
43:00 How do Organizations Leverage Consultants?
46:55 Consulting Firms, Generally Speaking, aren't Built for Execution
49:55 The Importance of Managing Your Consultants and Consulting Topic Wrap-up
52:30 Reminiscing About the Internet Boom
53:13 Jim Admits to Using Agile
54:30 Episode Closing
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Monday Apr 08, 2024
Monday Apr 08, 2024
Artificial Intelligence. AI. Large Language Models. LLMs. Transformers. Virtual Boyfriends. Virtual Girlfriends. Self-driving cars. Automated machines of war. Jim Carrey, Matthew McConaughey, and Ryan Reynolds. Where's my thumb? This episode is chock full of greatness. Don't believe it? Just listen! The guys cover AI in a little more depth superficially. That's right. Don't understand that statement? Blame AI…
Show Timeline:
0:00 Cold Open
01:40 Introduction
03:58 AI in Healthcare - Primary Care Physician
07:21 The Pace of AI Advancements
09:24 AI in Healthcare - Easier Interaction with Medical Records
10:14 Interactive AI in Customer Service
13:13 AI in Care Management
14:40 AI Voice Cloning
15:53 Moving Toward Individualized Medicine
17:43 AI in Transportation
25:00 Senior Citizens or the Baby?
26:19 AI Arms Race (AI in the military)
31:23 AI in Air Transportation
36:21 Token Ring - yes - Token Ring
38:23 Realtime Language Translation
44:00 AI and Relationships
51:23 OpenAI AI Robot - Figure 1
54:00 AI Interaction to Combat Loneliness
55:36 AI Gold Rush
56:15 AI Regulation
59:22 Closing
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Monday Mar 25, 2024
Monday Mar 25, 2024
Meetings. Everyone has stories but not everyone has stories about exploding birds and exploding pockets of pus… In this episode Braden and Jim recount some of the weird and funny things that have happened in meetings. And these stories are just the tip of the iceberg…
Show Timeline:
0:00 Cold Open
01:09 Introduction
02:52 Exploding Pidgeon
08:38 Turkey Smash
12:45 Scathing Opinions, Not on Mute
17:27 Financial Systems are Vastly Different than Healthcare Systems
20:10 More Explaining why an Claim Transaction is INFINITELY more Complex than an ATM Transaction
24:23 PMs Should Run Interference
25:53 The Time when Braden Almost Sent Jim to the Hospital…
33:28 The 6-Pack of Coke and a Half Dozen Donuts Exec
36:03 Unspoken Languages in Meeting
37:59 Closing
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Monday Mar 04, 2024
Monday Mar 04, 2024
In the first episode of the second season of the extremely engaging, highly recommended, overwhelmingly entertaining, very close to award-winning Project Pundits Unplugged Pod Braden and Jim talk about jobs. Yes, jobs. Jim talks about a recent experience posting 1 Job and getting over 1,000 applicants in just 6 days… And how weird the job market is as compared to the health of the overall economy.
The guys cover refreshers on applying for jobs on LinkedIn, resume dos and don'ts, and why, unfortunately, even if you get it all right it may not matter. They get into what you really need to do to find and land your next position.
Show Timeline:
0:00 Cold Open
1:08 Introduction
5:56 1 Job, 6 Days, 1,000 Applicants Story
13:42 Be Conscious of Oversharing & Over-selling
17:22 Tune/Flavor Your Resume for What You Seek
20:27 Remove Outdated or Irrelevant Experience
23:36 Be 100% Sure Your Resume has no Mistakes
25:39 Resume Length
29:13 Be sure Your Resume & LinkedIn Match
30:28 Have Peers Objectively Review Your Resume
32:58 Men vs. Women - Don't Oversell or Undersell Yourself
36:00 Submitting Resumes is Like Playing the Lottery
36:52 Use Your Network
38:28 Your Network is Everyone in Your World
41:24 Consider Broadening Roles You'd Consider
43:43 Consider Joining a Cult (Get Education & Certifications in Downtime)
45:29 Closing
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Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
In the Season 1 Finale of the Project Pundits Unplugged Pod the guys put on their detective gear and investigate The League of Lamentable Stakeholders. That's right, Braden and Jim discuss how to mitigate the disruptive superpowers of 4 key lamentable stakeholders that all project managers (and really anyone who works in corporate America) face in their daily duties. They discuss The Naysayer, The Whatabouter, The Punching Bag, and of course The MBA.
Watch for the visuals (and amazing AI generated graphics and audio), listen for in-depth knowledge (and humor), and send donations in case they get cancelled...
It's all riding on this episode, the team is banking on your support going into Season 2 of the PPU Pod to battle another set of party pooping serially sucky stakeholders - will you put on your fedoras, join the battle, and forward this episode to your all your colleagues, friends, frenemies, and family? Or will you enable the Lamentables to continue to wreak havoc? The choice is yours…
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Monday Jan 29, 2024
Monday Jan 29, 2024
In this episode the guys cover a range of topics and put some predictions on the record. Politics, economics, war, Artificial Intelligence (AI), healthcare, nukes, and weight loss are all on the table! We didn’t cover all ‘third rail’ issues though, you’ll find no discussion of religion for instance! After you watch/listen let us know if you’re in agreement with the prognostications or if you think we’re way off.
AND apologies on Jim’s audio in this episode, it’s subpar and there wasn’t much more that could be done without re-recording. We won’t point fingers as to who was at fault, but we can say it wasn’t Jim…
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Sunday Jan 07, 2024
Sunday Jan 07, 2024
Braden and Jim talk about the stark reality that every project manager comes to understand at some point in their career - that you really have zero direct control over the people and activities that you must orchestrate in order to successfully deliver your projects. Hence the title "Steering Without the Wheel". The guys talk about various techniques Project Managers can use to bend people to their will. There are references to carrots and sticks, the mob and The Godfather movie, how to improve your personal relationships, PMs as therapists, Power, Influence, book recommendations and much more...
Links to Book Recommendations:
Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray: https://a.co/d/9RY7lYG
7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey: https://a.co/d/fevnixZ
48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene: https://a.co/d/dNb0Btc
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie: https://a.co/d/ezkiq3V
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