Project Management Summit: Session Details

ASU Project Management Summit

Session 1 | 10:15 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.

Starting Messy: What to Do When There is No PMO

Presented by Amanda Kennedy and Dawn McClain. Those who are new to Project Management can learn how to create a framework and set themselves up for success in this session, which focuses on how to execute projects on your own, create order out of chaos, and establish a structure that allows you to gain control and achieve positive outcomes.

Maximizing the Value of a PMO and PM

Presented by Jesse Cho. This session will help attendees stay on the right path when it comes to broadly maximizing the value they bring to an organization and realizing their potential as Project Managers.

Respect for People & the Cross-Perspective Team – Let the Hero’s Journey Begin!

Presented by Brian Rice. This collaboration-focused session will encourage participants to answer the “call to adventure” in creating a cross-perspective team map for their "hero’s journey." In the process, they will learn their “stress-perspective” in the 360-degrees of the perspective model, and the power of “same-perspective allies” as an effective stress management approach in both in-person and virtual spaces for their project management journey.

Session 3 | 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Systems Thinking: A Remedy for Traditional and Agile Project Management

Presented by Bris Mueller. Traditional and agile project management simplify goal attainment and work structures to optimize for project success, but do not do well in uncertain environments when goals are still being defined as part of the project. This talk will explore how systems thinking embraces holistic problem resolution and can be adopted to address interdependencies between stakeholders’ evolving goals.

Leading Transformative Change: Succeeding in a Highly Innovative Environment

Presented by Sean Dudley. This session will offer insights and lessons-learned derived from almost 20 years of experience developing and supporting science and technology projects at ASU and beyond. Attendees will discuss structured approaches for distilling invention to an actionable level of scope, cover common pitfalls of inventive projects, and step through tools and tactics that allow a PM to operate successfully while challenging certain notions of ‘agile’. Attendees will learn a framework for completing projects in a highly innovative environment.

The Art of Public Speaking

Presented by Christine Gagnon. This executive session will cover the art of public speaking. Ms. Gagnon will share her personal journey and experience as an executive board member and TEDx speaker coach, providing tips and insights to further develop project managers’ communication skills for presenting to and communicating with senior stakeholders and executive sponsors.

Weaving Project Management into the Student Staff Role

Presented by Christina Ngo and Blake Su. In 2022, the Office of University Affairs hired four student staff members to pilot a new role called “Project Management Associate.” In partnership with the ASU Project Management Network, these student staff members learned foundational skills related to project management. Join us for this session that will leave you with best practices, guidance, and ways to weave project management into a student staff role at ASU.

Session 2 | 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

The Complementary Roles of the PM and BA

Presented by Davin Nathanson. This panel discussion will emphasize how teaming up delivers successful & impactful projects. The average Project Manager focuses on scope, scheduling, and results, whereas Business Analysts typically focus on understanding business needs and aligning solutions for maximum value. Together we can avoid pitfalls, maximize business results, and ensure the time & effort increase organizational success.

Managing People in Projects: An Effective Strategy

Presented by Srinivasan Radhakrishnan. Project Management is much more than balancing the triple constraint: it deals with handling people and managing them towards the deliverables. People-related challenges are at times more complex than technology or business challenges. This presentation will provide an effective approach for PMs to manage people-based issues on the three vectors Skill/Talent, Opportunity, and Passion/Interest.

Resilience in Project Management

Presented by Allison Jarrett. This session will explore the resilience of military members and veteran "civilians" as they navigate their transition into the Project Management sphere. Participants will gain insights on how to stay resilient during projects and how their military experience is impactful on their journey. Discover skills to stay on course with organizational and personal goals, decrease stress and anxiety, and explore life's natural challenges and opportunities when it comes to working on projects.

Establishing Project Principles Within Organizations

Presented by Brindi Shreeve. This session will cover a brief overview of Shreeve's professional experience, how she got started in project management, and the key risks and issues to watch for when establishing project management governance at companies that did not previously have formal governance policies in place.

Session 4 | 2:45 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.

BRAVING Trust With Stakeholders

Presented by Pam Brooks. There are many aspects to TRUST: the more we understand, the better we can be at building it up with others. This workshop will cover some key Neuro Science aspects of trust along with Brené Brown's BRAVING TRUST so that attendees may better understand the things they do that cultivate trust with their stakeholders and the things they may simultaneously do that could be breaking down trust. Do more of the "good" and acknowledge the "misses" by building stronger stakeholder relationships after this workshop.

Maintaining Project Outcomes Using Histograms and Control Charts

Presented by Clayton Taylor and Paul Medina. As new systems and processes are developed and implemented, or changes are made to existing systems, it is imperative that the process owners are able to monitor performance over time. For project managers, this means that it is critical to include the development of valid metrics and robust ongoing data collection methods in project plans. This presentation will introduce how data is used to evaluate how a system or process is performing over time, and how the information collected is used to proactively avoid failures and poor results after implementation.

Flow Projects Across Your Organization With a Portfolio Kanban System

Presented by Dimitri Ponomareff. Visualizing projects using a Portfolio Kanban system provides many benefits in terms of transparency and accountability. In this session, we will explore what is the Kanban method and how a Portfolio Kanban system works. Attendees will learn how to design a Portfolio Kanban system by visualizing multiple flight levels within an organization. This is a great opportunity to gain knowledge on how to visualize your projects in a more agile and lean way.