SSS #005: Rationale and Relationships with Mark FERGUSON
Channel: Pragmatic PMO
Date: 2019-06-03

In this interview, Mark Ferguson (https://wwwmark.linkedin.com/in/markcferguson/) talks to us about the importance of understanding the business case for your project and how it fits into the organisational governance context. He also warns us against underestimating the importance of stakeholder engagement, and taking what you are told at face value.

00:00 - Intro
01:15 - Mark's intro - how he got into project management
02:49 - Mark's success tips (know your stakeholders; are they supportive?)
03:16 - How not to do it
03:35 - The role of the project manager
03:59 - The role of the (Portfolio or Enterprise) PMO
04:38 - Allow time to mobilise a team
05:21 - Mark's scary scar story (un-co-operative stakeholders)
07:25 - What Mark learned from his scary scar story
08:13 - How to find out what stakeholders really think
09:15 - Ken's wrap-up

This interview is also available (for a limited time) as an audio-only podcast at http://bit.ly/PragmaticPMOCast - or wherever you get your podcasts from. 

This video is part of a series, in which Ken BurrelI of Pragmatic PMO Ltd asks Real Project Managers to share in around ten minutes the lessons they have learned from managing projects, so that the whole project management community can learn from their experiences. 

You can find the entire series at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4n2Nues8Os&list=PL1ZmB1dbMaa1uauuDxHoxxMDyVV_oQIPs 

Sharing short, sharp, project lessons interviews like this is just one of the pragmatic pointers recommended in Ken's book “Learning lessons from Projects: How it works, why it goes wrong, and how it you can do it better”, available from http://bit.ly/KensLLBook 

The Pragmatic PMO Channel was created to support project managers and PMO people. 
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