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Breaking Down PM with Susie Palmer-Trew and Peter Taylor artwork

Time Limit podcast • 47 episodes

Breaking Down PM with Susie Palmer-Trew and Peter Taylor

Susie Palmer-Trew and Peter Taylor, co-authors of Project Management: It's All Bollocks!, join Brett Harned to explain why the world of PM is annoying and confusing and how PMs can own the role anyway. They cover knowing your own values before your methodology, whether certifications matter, the seven 'cracking ideas' in the book, and where the profession is heading.

Key takeaways

  • There is no single lighthouse in project management; conflicting camps confuse newcomers and hurt the profession's reputation.
  • Know yourself and your values first, then project manage within your identity.
  • Certification shows commitment but does not make a good PM; it becomes useful years later as part of a broad skill set.
  • Failure is an option and perfection is pointless; engage the willing, work with the able and deal with the rest later.
  • Agree what good enough looks like at the start, prioritise with the 80/20 rule, and chill out a bit.

About this episode

“When we look to do our jobs (as project managers), there's no single lighthouse saying, ‘Everybody this way.’ And what you come across is conflict in ideas, and conflicts in ambition, and conflicts in groups that ultimately go to war.”

Does project management ever feel confusing or annoying to you? Whether you’re a project manager or not, your answer is probably YES for a number of reasons. 

In their new book, award-winning project professional Susie Palmer-Trew and best-selling author Peter Taylor (The Lazy Project Manager) cut through all the cruft and get to the core of what project management is really about. Project Management: It’s All Bollocks! is a quick, irreverent read that’s full of to-the-point guidance on everything from aligning yourself to your role and managing stakeholders to handling change and so much more. 

In this episode of Time Limit, Peter and Susie discuss their new book and dig in on:

  • How to embrace the role of project manager
  • Why project management can be “confusing and annoying”
  • Whether project management certification is worth it
  • The future of project management
  • Tips to help you manage your projects under time and resource constraints
  • How you can become a part of #ThePMTribe

Resources mentioned in this episode: