so um uh my name is Stuart Stuart Easton
uh quite a few people on the call uh
know me which is great great to see you
all thanks for coming I'm joined by a
couple of my my friends today um I've
known Gerald for a gazillion years it
feels like Gerald but I guess it's
probably it's probably only about seven
or eight right yeah about six about six
or seven something like that yeah
something like that we had a chance to
finally meet at the PMI Global Summit in
Atlanta yeah it's a funny world where
where you got these friends and you
we've been talking for about 10 15
minutes when when when we suddenly
realized look this is the first time we
physically met right you know he wasn't
in a little box on my screen exactly um
so so you know that was that was a very
cool moment I think that's up there for
me this year one of the one of the good
moments and and one of the things that
that Gerald and I share is a love of
music you can see he's surrounded by his
keyboards he's got his bases in the
background up behind me I've got my
guitars on the wall that makes us three
but myed in Saudi
Arabia actually I'm not I'm still an
amateur I was gonna say the difference
between Gerald and me is that he can
actually play his and I just play around
right silly noises I play around as well
there you go we should do that next time
we're together Mona let's make a band
rather than pmo I didn't I didn't
realize you played as well well that
that's awesome well that that leads us
on and I'm gonna have you guys introduce
yourselves in a second but Mona um I I
met for the first time about a year year
and a quarter ago something like that in
in Saudi Arabia and uh and it was my
first time in the Gulf right it was my
first time in that part of the
world and I don't really know what I
expected but I did not expect Mona sreb
right so so I I I I describe Mona as you
know when Mona walks into a room it's
like this little nuclear bomb of
Happiness just
explodes right and thank
you and so so what we thought for this
this session at the end of the year is
that we would get these these different
people with great experience loads of
experience and you can introduce
yourselves in a second but from very
different parts of the world right so
we've got three
continents and I'm not I can't even
count the time zones right now it's the
end of the day for me I'm too tired to
work it out but lot ofm now it's 10 pm.
there they go 10 P p.m. for you 10 it's
12 it's 12 noon 12 uh 12:06 here
excellent so we've got we've got a
10hour time difference from from Gerald
to Mona um and we we've got the team
yeah team out on the uh T So team
Seattle um I'm guessing it's 10: in the
morning where you guys are as well so
we've actually got a 12-hour spread from
Team Seattle out to Mona in uh in Dubai
right now yes and was if actually we've
got a yeah it's even better than that
wasie is out in Pakistan so we get us 13
hours it's 11m in Pakistan right now
absolutely that's that's dedication by
good
man so so um so we're gonna have a
multicultural discussion a
multi-regional discussion and I really
want to learn what were all seeing out
there what are the challenges we're
facing what are the opportunities that
we have and and how are things changing
for pmos and project management um as we
move into a new year so what i' what I'd
love to do Mona I'll start with you just
tell us a little bit about yourself who
are you right why why are you qualified
to be here and what's your biggest
project management te moment of the year
yeah actually I'm the managing partner
wasf actually is my partner I'm the
managing partner partner of we gr Minds
since
2018 before that I was a someone working
in the banking sector all the projects
related to it managing pmos within those
20 years of experience 10 years was
dedicated for establishing pmos from
scratch I'm a professor as well um at
the American University of Beirut and
the Lebanese American University among
other universities now I'm focusing on
penetrating the GCC Market uh in terms
of training consultancy we have done an
amazing job in the last do some
translation for me because there's a
bunch of people who don't know what GCC
is uh GCC it's a it's the the gulf right
the Gulf region yeah the the Gul region
so my company is has been established in
Lebanon and uh you know it's been now
inaugurated you know in Dubai since two
Years and we're in the process of
finalizing its presence in the in Saudi
Arabia so yeah what what we're aiming to
do like increased partnership I'm
personally my company you know is
partnering with transparent choice on
multiple levels related to pmo
prioritization establishment of pmo and
all the tools needed around that and uh
we partners with PWC Academy with
Microsoft with PMI with Premier
authorized training partner so yeah
we've done like uh uh good stuff in the
last six years and we're still
growing brilliant regarding what was
most fun moment moment yes H actually it
was really inspiring moment that I lived
it was not that far away it was in 13th
of November and today is 13th of
December like exactly a month back I
went on stage uh when I was invited by
hi Shahi the famous who won the are not
worthy she's on our webinar in February
I think so that she's amazing we're
gonna be with her on a desert trip like
after the PMI Dubai International
project management Forum yeah and you're
invited of course so um yeah she invited
me to be a keynote speaker in um uh the
duai municipality event with the pmog
alliance and we talked it has been like
a week only when Sam Altman went on
stage and uh announced all these
breakthrough Technologies in the world
of AI so you know and and we talked
about the impact of AI on project
management process re-engineering data
analysis and if you see the audience
like all of them were like wow is this
the future is you know is this how we
transform the role of H of uh of pmos
from administra role to a strategic role
so yeah we got like very insiteful
moment everyone came to me you know is
it really happening teach us how do we
do that we'll be coming back to that
topic so hold that thought exactly I'll
hold that thought so it was really an
amazing moment coming like they want to
learn more and more and more so these
are one of the trends we're going to
talk about excellent than Gerald
introduce yourself yeah so my name is
Gerald Leonard and I am the author of
culture is the base workplace Jazz and
recently a symphony of choices I'm the
CEO of Turnberry Premiere and Leonard
productivity intelligence Institute so
my focus for the last 25 plus years
after having a bachelor's and master's
degree in music and getting into project
management consulting a few years later
after that I have been focused on
Enterprise project portfolio management
and I've worked with the National
Archives Geico delman fiser the Health
Care Systems uh defense Logistics agency
and so many many other organizations and
really large projects and one of my
favorite ones that I'm still supporting
them and helping them is the Virginia
Department of Transportation where in
2014 they brought me in to help them get
control of over 14,000 projects on a $16
billion budget and they are now number
one in the United States when it comes
to road construction scheduling and they
have an automated system that basically
manages their entire portfolio projects
with them for them and helps with all
the scheduling and things like that and
that data is pushed out to over 20 other
systems and so that's that's that was a
uh a very complex project and a project
we used a lot of Technology not AI but
we use a lot of Technology we're
beginning to use some AI components in
there now with some of the reporting and
capabilities that we have there but um
I'm just fascinated with you know taking
my life and taking all of my experience
and combining into an experience of what
I've learned from music what I've
learned from productivity what I've
learned from workplace culture what I've
learned from neuroscience and combining
them together and that's what I bring to
my clients and to my teams and really
helping them to understand how do you
get things done and work in a way where
everyone's thriving and growing and just
leveraging and becoming the best parts
of ourselves that we can be and really
doing some great things and then finally
the other thing that I've been able to
do is recently add uh sustainability to
our portfolio of services and so now I
have a partnership with a company called
Greenley that's based out of Paris and
as well as with Turnberry solution
Turnberry um I mean transparent Choice
sorry um and we've been able to um
really get our hands around
sustainability and understand what it
means to have a carbon footprint
Baseline and how do you develop your
science-based targets because this is
going to impact all of us in in a major
way because sustainability is one of
those things now that we're all are
concerned about and we all have to take
consideration for and it really does
play a big part in project management
and in portfolio management so that's
who I
amest so I would say I had two biggest
moments but I'll just I'll use the I'll
just I'll just take the one and and um
I'll say it was the was speaking at the
PMI Global Summit in Atlanta and one of
the reasons that was a big moment is I
had an opportunity in front of our peers
to to play music and actually leverage
playing music using it as a metaphor and
creating an experience and talking about
the workplace culture Neuroscience
project portfolio management and
actually talking about the human skills
needed and what really comes out of the
portfolio management uh toolkit when it
comes to bringing everyone together
because it's really about alignment and
about us working together uh around
creating our strategic objectives but it
was a lot of fun and I got a lot of
great feedback and I was able to play
some cool music very cool and and if
anybody was at uh the PMI uh Summit in
in Atlanta and you have access to the
recordings there's a great recording of
Gerald doing his talk um and it's a lot
of fun uh some very personal stories in
there which is which is nice some very
personal stories it was it was really
cool very much enjoyed that so A couple
of the folks on on the session have
shared some of their highlights uh so we
we mentioned Allan and his uh technical
debt thing uh so well done for that Alan
I I I like that um then uh where was the
other one here we go so Jonathan talks
about um actually being able to give uh
project management training to to a
group of lead to a leadership group at
at a local University right now that's
that's a big deal right you get the
leadership bought into this stuff and
you get them thinking the right way that
can that can really move the needle so
good job you shout out for for Jonathan
on that one I like that and then Stuart
Taylor if you don't know who Stuart
Taylor is he he put his in here and uh
Stuart is a project manager portfolio
manager um he runs a YouTube Channel
Stuart why don't you Dr drop the link to
the YouTube channel into the chat for
everybody um and is a good friend of
mine um we we met up in Paris last week
at uh the pmo Global Alliance um
unconference uh where where he stole a
couple of ducks so anyone who knows me
knows that wherever I go I have little
rubber ducks with me it's it's Christmas
time so uh right now we have kind of
Christmas winter themed Ducks floating
around here uh Stuart's going to be
chasing me for one of these now knowing
him so so his his top moment was
stealing a couple of rubber ducks from
me last
week way go Stewart yeah yeah good all
good stuff all good stuff um so so keep
putting in your top moments from the
year um uh you know it's it's again it's
much more fun if you're involved and
what I would love to love you excuse me
what I'd love you to also do is put any
questions or comments what are the big
themes the big trends that you're seeing
right and excuse me when we were
preparing for this um I had a session
Gerald with you and I said what's the
big Trend the biggest Trend that you've
seen and your your answer really
surprised me right because because your
answer was particularly in government
government
customers the biggest trend is that
everything's the
same right that was kind of a really
weird oxymoron so talk talk to me about
that a little bit sure sure and why I
say that everyone's everything is the
same in this from the standpoint of you
know when it comes down to project
program portfolio management there's a
lot of new technologies obviously AI is
going to be a huge one but but one of
the things that always happens is it
creates a culture change anytime you
implement any types of projects programs
or bring in a portfolio system you're
changing the culture of an organization
and as human beings all the Technology's
been updated
but our hardwire our brains and the way
we work hasn't been up upgraded right
and so when you're bringing in new
technology and a new process um you have
folks who who who may feel that what
they're doing is being changed or or
being moved and so they may feel
threatened or they may be a little bit
resistant and what I found is that um we
really have to continually help people
um understand how to move forward
understand that it is a culture shift
and that it's the human part of of
making things happen when it comes to
project and program portfolio management
um many times when we're uh afraid or we
have those things happen to us is
because we're thinking from the back of
our brains the amydala has kicked in and
we're beginning to get all of the
negative neurochemicals of of cortisol
and adrenaline and we're feeling
skeptical we're feeling resistant
we don't know how this is going to
impact us and so we're kind of like the
dog that doesn't want to go for a walk
in the afternoon we put our Paws down
and we kind of be have to be dragged to
where we're going where if we were to to
ask questions of what's possible and how
is it possible and what's necessary that
will Le lead us to begin to lean forward
and start thinking and and actually
executing from the front of our brain
which produces all of those positive
neurochemicals the oxytocin the dopamine
the serotone
and now we're a little bit more focused
on experimenting and co-creating this
new future together and so that's what I
mean by things even though there's a lot
of change there are certain things that
are still the same because ultimately as
humans you know our our our mechanisms
haven't been changed and so we still
have the same fears and the same
struggles same challenges that happened
before and we have to learn how to
adjust to all of these new technologies
while at the same time leaning forward
and figuring out our new role because
anytime we make changes like that we're
also changing the culture and people can
times be resistant of that but if they
are brought in it they can lean forward
so that was what I meant by that it's
it's funny Gerald because it must be 25
or 30 years since I first read who's
Moved My Cheese right a lot a lot of
people on this session will have read
that book and monor I'm sure you've
you've read it at some point as well
course so it must be 25 or 30 years
since I read that book but I feel like I
talk about that book more now than I
have at any time in that in that last 20
odd years yeah because the cheese is
just nobody knows where the cheese is
it's it's just moving all over the place
exactly exactly so so um uh so uh Kevin
uh made an interesting comment right so
his top moment was presenting at the PMI
conference in Atlanta on the topic of
core humility as a leadership strength
right now Mona your you know part of
your background is's a lot of kind of HR
and people oriented stuff um what do
what do you think about that because
that's that's a really interesting topic
um you know one of the things that I
dare say we'll spend a bit of time on
today is soft skills as being one of the
trends in pmo ex that sort leadership
yes yes so when we're talking about you
know all the trends that are you know
the rise for example of continuous
Learning and Development it has been
since ever there right it's HR it's
about Learning and Development but what
we have noticed is because of what
Gerald just said you know the rise of AI
and with the rise of AI and new
technologies we need to upskill our
people right you know there are people
who need to not only use the tools or
devices or whatever Technologies or
process automation we need people to
understand the output of what AI is
bringing to us so we need people who
have the analysis to understand these
output and bring those outputs and come
up with insights that will be customized
and directed towards a specific
objective within the organization and
this hasn't stopped and it's going to
continue uh on increasing so you know
HR as we said and that's why when I
mixed you know the pmo with HR they had
the same challenge they had the same
challenge so project managers are
wasting their time working on routine
stuff and um we know that process
automation you know can really alleviate
from this to to make project managers
more strategic and they focus on more
important thing the same thing for the
role of HR you know having a background
or PhD in HR analytics projects you know
we understand that HR is like the
building bones of every organization
where you have to build the talented
people from scratch and you have to keep
Pace with all these technological
advancements so leveraging on uh on like
upskilling people this continuous
learning is a must right now because AI
alone cannot do anything and here I I
will focus as well on the emerging you
know interest in data analysis because
you know AI is bringing all what they
are giving us from the data that we're
feeding the system so there is a whole
Trend as well on the data integr
how the data is up to dat and how for
example analytics can be analyzed by
people so that they can make the right
decision based on data so informed
decisions is the aim and for that we
need people who are still in the
business analysis and who understand
what the business is today I had a
meeting with one of the government
entities in in in the UAE and we really
we really need to bring all this data so
that that we can leverage on that in a
way to make these
decisions cut short all the time spent
on administrative stuff and by that we
need automation we need systems we need
whatever but this comes at the end but
sometimes I believe that steuart has
another opinion that sometimes before
going through all these processes all
these assessment all this analysis we
can leverage on the quick wins that we
make out of the systems yes so so so so
on that point m so when we were in The
Green Room we were having a bit of a a
conversation earlier and um so hang on
who is it somebody just said Jonathan I
think it was yes it is it's Jonathan
made the comment that um some of his
colleagu see colleagues see in large
organizations see see those
organizations moving away from the pmo
model and trying to upskill the managers
to manage their own projects right and
and so that's really interesting because
um uh because in my
view increasingly pmos have got less and
less to do with project management right
that's not where the value lies AI is
going to automate a lot of the tasks
project managers are going to have to
upscale to get better at the soft skills
and all that kind the business stuff and
where the pmo can add colossal value and
if you do away with the pmo right you
lose all of this is in the portfolio
level intelligence right so
prioritization in the first place in
scheduling and and sequencing the
projects so that you can maximize the
use of your resources this stuff matters
this doing that stuff right can double
the value easily double the value that
you get from your portfolio you get rid
of the pmo you cannot access that
capability right because as soon as you
do that the business manag the business
managers they're in their stove pipe
they don't care about anyone else's
stove pipe they don't care about anyone
else's projects and you lose all that
portfolio level of intelligence so my
view Jonathan is that that is a really
really dangerous Trend and I would I
would try and put the breakes on that as
hard as I could I think it's great that
you're upskilling the Business Leaders
right I think that that's a really
positive thing right but losing that
portfolio level intelligence Gerald
you've spent a lot of time and written
books on yeah and you know as you were
talking about one of the things that
came to mind is the concept of the
theory of constraints by Dr Elliot goad
you know passed away but in this book
the goal uh because in every
organization um there is a constraint
there are constraints right and many of
those constraints can be a department
with inside of the the organization
usually it's around Contracting right
because you have so many projects and
you have so many contracts and and and
different kind of engagements that have
to be worked through legal so that
office tends to get bombarded with all
types of legal work that has to be
flushed out before the project can start
so that usually be becomes a bottleneck
and then you have certain developers or
certain technical talent that is very
limited and only a certain few people
have that skill so then you have
critical constraint resources so imagine
you have everyone trying to do become
project managers now where if we're
enabling tons of other managers to be
project managers and they have things
that have to get done are they taking in
consideration that larger view of what
projects are we working on that's align
to our strategy but in the sequence
quencing do we do we understand where
the constraints are do we understand
where the bottlenecks are so that we can
view those and make sure that the
organization continually move forward
while at the same time respecting and
elevating those constraints whether it's
a person or a group of people who have
technical skills that are unique to them
and it's very hard to duplicate and so
they tend to get overwhelmed with work
and many times most of them will lead
the organization which then hurts the
organization even more or you have an
Department that gets bombarded with work
and we have all this inventory of
contracts or other works standing up in
front of them and the whole organization
slows down because we can only get
through so much in that in that way but
if we were to sequence and have a better
view of that sequencing process we could
see that and then streamline those
processes so that's one of the things
I've definitely when it comes to the
value and from that you can get a
massive massive boost of productivity
exactly exactly exactly you know I had a
present so well kind of related topic
right so let let's keep the conversation
going so Christina made a call comment
here right which is related to this so
what she said is our biggest pmo trend
is evolving our project managers into
program managers focused on benefit
realization and business right so that's
so what doing right what I hear when I
hear that is I hear the big Trend again
that we talked about in The Green Room
which is the fact that a lot of these
tools that are coming along not just
because of the tools that project
managers program managers pmo leaders
are becom have to become more business
oriented yes can I comment on that say
it again Mona sorry can I comment on
that yes yes please actually steuart I
do agree with you 100% And U you know
the key is normally when Mona says that
guys when she says I agree with you 100%
stent the very next word is
but no I do agree with you 100% but it
is not there you go there it was it's
not being applied in the true sense the
true sense for me for a project manager
to become a strategic partner of the
organization whether he's a project
manager whether pm whether portfolio
manager whether head of strategic
Department the the key thing to the
success of this idea is for project
managers head of pmos and all what I
have mentioned should understand and
speak the language of the business so I
agree with our lady here if they don't
sit on the table with each and every
head of business department and
understand what is their pain points
what is their objectives understanding
the language even if you're whatever
project manager you have to speak the
language of the business and understand
what is the value what is the final
result of that project because nowadays
there is no problem in in like
upskilling your people to maybe it's
challenge but it is doable easily doable
to upskill the people to be certified to
know how to manage projects manage the
constraints that Gerald talked about so
yes but it's not like something like wow
or rocket science nowadays every project
manager will understand and is aware of
all the con RS but they still have a lag
or gap between understanding the actual
business for example the sales how do
they make money the marketing how do
they Market better and aligning all
these projects and prioritize them to
achieve the organizational goals and
strategy by having this competitive
advantage and sustain it over time this
is the key for success in my opinion I I
think you're you're bang on and and and
upskilling all of your project managers
program managers to be real partners
with the business so that they are
focused on delivering the so so
Christina actually nailed it again it
was a great comment from Christina
because she's talking about benefit
realization right and and I so last week
I was in Paris at the the um the pmo
Global Alliance event and I was I was
facilitating the session on benefits
realization right and and uh and it was
and it was really I was so encouraged
right because my experience of what most
project managers are in benefits
realization is well that's just
something you do at the end right and
it's not it's not right so so I just
happen to have these on my desk right
these we asked everyone to give us
questions what are your big questions
and the topics you're interested in on
benefits realization about a third of
these are about prioritization and how
do we how do we pick the right projects
to deliver the right benefits in the
first place right because there's no
point delivering the wrong benefits we
need to deliver the right benefit and
eveni can help in that by the way even
can help prioritization as well so so I
was I was really delighted by that right
that people are thinking that way um so
so that brings us on to to kind of the
next comment which was from Allan Right
so he's he said um uh that not only is
it sunny in in Seattle which I don't
believe I am
not um uh he says what I find that is
not a new trend but a disappointing
continuation of of an existing one is
that a pmo needs resources that are not
direct Projects B basically he goes on
to talk about how you know the pmo is
still under pressure from Executives
that the you know the they're
disempowered that it's about you know
reporting and you know do we need you
you lose this sort of Enterprise
business orientation and and all the
rest of it so you know I I I I think you
know my view again on that and I want to
get your guys view my view on that is
that I think as a as a group of as as
pmos and Business
Leaders we kind of need to stop talking
about projects guys and we need to start
talking about Roi and business impact at
the highest level at the highest level
so so so you when you do that things
change because Gerald you've had that
experience right I I have and steuart I
was as as we were talking about this and
as M was talking I it reminded me of a
time I spent at a major Law Firm was
called Law Firm was called werel and in
our pmo we partnered with the business
and so there was a component of the it
group that had a group called The
Business relationship managers and those
were business analysts that lived with
the business right and they were respon
they were kind of like the head the tip
of the spear for project and portfolio
management
because they would live in the various
areas and really study the business and
get to know all the Business Leaders
capture all of their requirements and so
before any project is brought to our at
that time a project review board it
would have to have a charter and that
Charter would have to be aligned to the
Strategic direction of that department
understanding what the benefits to that
project was for those those users so
when the project manager and the
business relationship manager got
together and started executing on that
project it was very clear from the
beginning it was very clear from the
beginning and from the signatures that
were received why we were doing this
project and what was the business
outcome that was expected from the team
so that way we had total alignment from
the SE Suite all the way down to the guy
who swept the floor of what was going to
happen with this project and why we were
doing it and that was critical when you
had 14
offices in five different
countries absolutely and related to that
so William made the comment here that
that you know very often the pmo is is
the the the bridge that connects these
different stove pipes right and Mona
you've you've seen we were talking we
won't name them but you you've you met
today with a large utility company and
and you were talking a little bit about
you know the way they're structured and
how that gets in the way and you know
the role of a pmo
because they're just kind of thinking
about pmo right and setting that
up so so you you're you're seeing this
sort of the pmo is the bridge between
different parts of the business yes
exactly so in order for the pmo maybe
they should change the name of pmo
because now it's like it's been in the
mind like policing you know not only but
governance or processes it's it's really
more than that it has to be maybe
strategic uh management office for
projects and portfolio and and be a
bridge indeed between all the project
managers whatever they do and how to
align all these projects to the uh
strategic objectives of the organization
yeah and in our discussion always you
know there is a pain and this depends on
the maturity of the organization of the
country of the continent maybe so for
example if there are some in place you
have some standards some processes you
have some uh uh uh same level of
maturity in terms of how to manage a
project how to make projects succeed you
know this is a good time where you start
thinking at a high level but at the same
time there are some organizations who
should really start from the top and
then they go down to the level of each
and every project and see how we can
make this alignment work and in my
opinion it starts with the
prioritization and why because when
you're prioritizing your projects you're
not like stressing your teams without
thousands of projects and analyzing all
the risks because you know with each
project there are risks associated with
it and L totality the totality of all
the risks all together will impact the
you know the risk of the whole
organization to to go uh you know down
as well so and this where we can bring
as well AI to leverage on the predictive
analysis on how we can better predict
risks how we can better do optimization
of resources how we can select maybe the
top 10 projects and focus on that
because these are the projects that
bring value to the organization rather
than like you know stress your team with
so many projects that bring little value
and here of course comes the feasibility
study that really needs to not take only
into consideration the financial aspect
or the Strategic aspect but as well it
has to take into consideration the
Readiness of the organization the
culture of the organization how the
constraints that Gerald talked about can
be managed while we are managing these
tons of projects on our hands so it's
all a marriage between the business
marriage between business AI pmos
technology and on top of that there is
Vision you know that had to be so so
there's there's a lovely discussion
going on the sidebar about you know your
comment about changing the name of the
pmo and all that kind of good stuff
which which is super but I'm going to
change track we could keep going on this
for a while but we we've got 20 minutes
left we're going to have to talk about
AI at some point right but I'm going to
leave that to the end because if we
don't it'll just run away with the whole
session right so let's keep that keep
keep that one towards the end uh I want
to talk about something else one of the
other big trends not just for for
pmo uh and and you know again I I I I'm
with you we should change the name to
you know the ROI office or something
right it should be something else but
but we we'll use pmo for now so this
isn't really just an issue for pmo um
it's it's an issue for everyone which is
the fact that the workplace has changed
in the last few years right we all used
to go into the office and we'd be face
to face and now that's not so much the
case right this is a trend as well that
has increased and it has emerged in the
project management so many organizations
are accepting that project managers work
in a hybrid mode so ever since Corona it
it really stayed and it's really Rising
you know so I I think Gerald do you
agree with me because this is as well a
trend in terms of hybrid mode in in
managing projects yes I totally agree
we're definitely not not going back to
what it was and I think we are going to
have even more of this happening and by
the way I do have a name that I think
you should consider for the pmo I I just
had to get this out the Strategic
implementation office yeah absolutely I
think there has to
be strategy implementation office or the
Strategic can because it's all about
implementing the strategy and it kind of
kind of elevates you know it elevates
the thinking of everybody there without
that being with that being said um
you're right we are at a place now where
um all work is going to be hybrid I mean
because of you know I mean look at look
at what we're doing right now if we were
on a project team we would probably meet
once a
year
maybe right true because we would all be
we're different countries and we're you
know we can all work on one system
that's on uh stored somewhere in another
country and it's just the way things are
and so because of that and with that we
have to learn how to move the needle and
how to engage and how to address all of
those those soft skills even while we're
working behind a screen and we're we're
we're kind of like you know um in our
own um environments that we're working
we still have to learn how to move
things for and it really comes down to
communication it comes down to culture
it comes down to how do we engage with
each other to really help create that
Bond and it really again it comes back
to
conversations and and I want to add
something on that Stuart just a second
because you know of communication that
that Gerald talked about so we need
because of this hybrid mode that is
going to increase further in the coming
years and it's going to be one of the
trends in 2024 onward we really need to
have the tools that enable this
communication to facilitate this
communication leverage on systems for
collaboration and communication within
the teams yeah I believe and I would say
that the tools aren't all technological
tools some of those tools are skills
right skills tool as well so silly
example right and and this was an
inperson thing right Gerald you you were
in the room in in in Atlanta right when
I did the talk so the so the talk so the
talk that I did was it it was a murder
mystery right it was it was who who's
killing the PE there's a serial killer K
my daughter talks about it and plays it
with her friends yes excellent and and
and it was a lot of fun right so so the
whole setup was you know there's a
serial killer out there they're killing
the pmo and to to um to figure out
what's going on we're going to need some
help from uh from the world's most
famous
detective right and I turn around and um
and as I would to to pick something up
I'm just G to grab it right here on the
Shelf near me right here it is oops
let's get the camera back come back
camera hey I'm over here um so so I
turned around and I picked up the hat
right the Sherlock Holmes hat and and as
I do you remember what happened when I
turned around Gerald right what I heard
in the audience was people whispering
they're going it's Sherlock Holmes it's
Sherlock Holmes exactly exactly and and
I put the hat on and and you and you had
the pipe you had the pipe I had the pipe
I had the pipe and people actually
clapped and cheered and and and and all
the rest of it
right that's I love the analogy I love
the analogy a lot well so so the point
of that is that you know the connection
in the room came from the fact that we I
I I was trying to take something that's
really quite a serious topic right but
make it human and make it accessible and
when you're working remotely I think
there's a the one of the biggest tools
you can use is humor and Humanity to
engage people and to keep them engaged
because you lose a lot by not physically
being with people right you you can't
touch them you can't shake hands it's
it's harder to read the the body
language we can't right now enjoy
Gerald's kneecaps underneath his shorts
right because we only see the top half
shorts got on jeans but no shorts jeans
not shorts okay no comment on that um so
so there are so there are human skills
that we need to develop to engage people
and to to build those relationships
online in different ways right so the
tools aren't just technical tools I
think Mona right yes right well you know
it's interest it's interesting Stuart
because I did a certification on called
conversational intelligence Judith
Glazer wrote a book called
conversational intelligence and one of
the things I learned in her and studying
with her besides reading her book and
spending two years before she passed
away and getting the certification was
that within 07 seconds of meeting
someone having a conversation your brain
knows whether it's going to be a
positive or negative conversation your
brain begins to admit a negative or
positive neurochemical and one of the
biggest drawbacks to that happening when
we're working virtually on a hybrid mode
is the human face and although you and I
are not in the same
room but for six years or so you and I
work together virtually but we saw each
other that's right right and even though
consciously we may not pick up on
everything
non-consciously we pick up on the same
concepts of facial muscle movement you
know is the person with me are they
nodding are they smiling are they
agreeing
and so even though we we we don't have
that close proximity of being collocated
in the same room we still can leverage
even the Virtual Technology that we have
but we do need to have have meetings
where we show our face and and and one
one really quick tip for folks is that
um so when you're working online uh it's
not a bad thing to actually accentuate
some of those ke some of those key use
right so Gerald you were just you were
using your hands like this to pull us
into the conversation there right yes
and and you were probably doing that a
little bit more than you would do in
person because we're not in person right
I'm not sure I probably would do the
same you probably would actually
with let me share something that PMI
does by the way PMI because you know my
company is a premier authorized training
partner so I have to be an authorized
training partner instructor so what they
do is they do
train the trainer and they do an exam
you know all what they do is not to
check the content not to check what I
know they know I'm PMP certified with 25
years of experience you know what they
trained us on on how to deliver online
and this was a challenge so this is
something that we grinds has been doing
since six years you know gameification
simulation exercises popup questions
cahoot or whatever tool just to break
the eyes like three truth and the lie or
choose a question from 1 to 100 so that
we we learn about their personalities
and this is a core thing knowing the
team you know that you're working with
knowing their personality their
leadership style so that maybe when
you're assigning roles and
responsibilities or tasks to them you
will assign them based on what they are
very best
of one thing I think that's a really
important point and I think one of the
the key skills that is trending or
should be trending is how do you lead
and deliver virtual meetings right
because they're very different than
leading the meetings when we're all
collocated together you know just like
yourself you went through the PMI
training I was trained by Jack hanfield
on on his virtual program and so I was
trained as a virtual trainer how do you
train when you're doing it behind zoom
and and keep everyone engaged present
information and engaging way and that's
probably one of the reasons I use my
hands and kind of you know talk as if
I'm you're with me because you are one
of the reasons that we you know I you
guys listening to this you've been
fantastic you've been in the comments
but and part of the reason we want you
to do that is so that you're engaged
right you're part of the conversation ex
so you know there there are techniques
like that that you can use to get people
on board one of the things that I did
with my team for example um so so so
covid wasn't you know remote working
isn't new for us we we started the
company this way uh we've been going for
10 years I have met my co-founders that
they're in they're based in Poland in 10
years I have physically met them face to
face three times wow can I tell you a
story Stuart you know wasf right you've
met him in person enjoy your tea wasf by
the way I've known wasf since 20 years
online and I met him only last February
this February actually and we partnered
together imagine for 20 years and only
physically in 20 uh um like beginning of
February and and and then became my
partner and it makes the whole
difference but yes you know there are so
many tools for teams to work in hybrid
mode you know I would like if you would
like to end all the trends in 2023 to
talk about
sustainability you know the uh
sustainability and we're gonna run out
of time guys We're not gonna get to AI
so let's do a quick sustainability and
then let's move on to AI have you
attended the or so the the cup 20 eight
you know many many Trends nowadays every
single event that I see at least in the
GCC you know now they know what's a GCC
the C ccil you know is is sustainability
and social responsibility and it has
propagated in the topic of project
management so how can we make sure that
the projects that we are managing and
executing you know are you know social
responsible in terms of not harming the
environment engaging the people
inclusion uh you know all these topics
are still trending as well and in terms
of sustainability whatever outcome of
the project is not going to cause
anything to the society to the
environment you know and and this is um
gender equality as well has propagated
into the topic of project management
yeah you know one of the one of the
challenges go ahead Stuart sorry I was
gonna say and I think a lot of us we we
we you it's not always transparent so I
was talking with Amanda Oken out in
Australia um who is you know kind of
another project Superstar uh amander if
you watch this hi um and she was telling
me about uh an article she'd read a
learned article so a properly researched
piece uh trying to estimate the carbon
emissions associated with an AI search
right so you jump onto chat GPT or
co-pilot and you bang something in what
is the carbon footprint of that search
and you would be surprised it is not
small it is large right but we all do it
because we don't see it right we just
jump on we do it exactly exactly you
know and the challenging thing about
sustainability is the majority of the
conversations that we tend to have
around sustainability are like way up
here when it comes to sustainability
it's about recycle reuse um try to
figure this out try to figure that out
and what I just what I discovered in my
own search for because I have to
leverage the uh carbon accounting
platforms for my own company to to
understand what where we are what our
footprint is and what our science-based
targets are how do we reduce our Caron
footprint and that was it's a company
I've partnered with um called Greenley
and it has a platform that allows you to
capture what your carbon footprint is
and you can actually do it by project
where you can determine what's the
carving footprint of the tech technology
that we're implementing what's the
carbon footprint of that data center I'm
planning on moving into is there a
better one that has better technology
and what's the science-based targets or
what's our trajectory that once we
implement this project what is it going
to be at that time and so it's it's a
lot more granular and rigorous than most
people think
um yeah even I believe PMI need to add
more into this into their pinbook guide
the a one coming soon you know in terms
of what is instead of measuring the
success of projects only by their kpis
in terms of financial uh outcomes we
need to measure them by the impact on
society and environment and exactly I
totally agree and and I think in the in
in the project selection prioritization
process you know some of the things that
you can do there is is actually include
that as some of your project kpis right
so so in your selection process you you
you know know you should probably have a
corporate goal on carbon reduction so
why are we why are we not building that
into our criteria for selecting projects
well we should be and we should be
forecast you know if we do this set of
projects are carbon Footprints going to
go up or down by this em much by this we
need a whole session about
sustainability so so we've got we've got
seven minutes
left so I so I think that's a plenty of
time to talk about AI who wants to start
Mona you kick us off monar it's got it's
got to be a it's got to be one of the
big trends right you know what I can do
is to show you something that we have
done for our company since I can share
something right this is something
we so here for example I believe and
this is one of the topics I discussed in
pmog Alliance with the Dubai
municipality when I was the keynote
speaker so on the 13th of November
uh you know uh like a week before Sam
Altman went on stage and he shared all
the Breakthrough Technologies on what AI
can do one of the easiest thing you can
do with AI is to have a virtual
assistant like pmo advisor for example
and with AI steuart and Gerald you know
you can even increase the accuracy of
the predictive analysis that you can do
whether in terms of predicting risks on
the project of course it's not generic
you have to give it enough information
garbage in garbage out so you really
need to make sure that all the data
including the culture including the
number of teams the type of the project
uh the the the previous history of
failed projects and what are the risks
that have been you know identified all
the risks that they weren't able to
identify and how AI can assist in that
even in terms of templates in order
order to really transform the role of
pmos into a strategic partner for the uh
top CA level they need to sit on the
table so you have to free them from what
they do in terms of creating templates
so AI can really jump in when you want
to create template automate processes
and so on and you know sorry to jump in
moner I want make sure everybody gets a
gets a fair shake at this one right so
that's so that's great so I'm hearing
lots of freeing people up from the
boring stuff right and and improving
some of the data quality so Gerald you
and I were talking about what what
implication that has for people's jobs
right what they do day to day right so
so what are what are your thoughts on
that yeah I mean you know as as our as
systems are taking over and pro and um
allowing us to free up ourselves then
that allows us to go deeper into things
that really move the needle for us as
human beings whether it's uh you know
really get getting better at the whole
idea of managing projects not from the
standpoint of the clerical work of the
project but by managing the stakeholders
right because AI can't replace that part
of it right you can develop reports you
can do all these like really cool things
but when it comes down to the project
manager there to to Really make sure
that everyone on the team is moving in
the same direction and that the
stakeholders are engaged in reviewing
the lessons learn and so on and so the
skills that are going to be needed and
the skills that are going to be required
are skills where we're able to uh
support and mo move each other as human
beings more than just the quote unquote
technology
things let's let's do a really quick
poll right really quick straw poll so so
everyone I want you to get ready to to
put something into the chat okay I'm
going to give you three options right
three things that really get you excited
about your job right you can choose
either you can say that you are task
task oriented right so you just enjoy
ticking off things on a checklist right
so so if that's you in a minute just
type the word task okay the the other
one is proc goal I enjoy achieving goals
right that's the the second one so that
goal would be the the second word that
you type in or problem I enjoy solving
problems
right so everybody type in which of
those three is the thing that really
types you on the most turns you on the
most okay we got lots of problems coming
in keep going folks we've got some goal
guys thank you I if I would not expect
anything else from you my friend yeah
that's exactly what I would expect
creative problem solving will be as well
trending in 20124 so we're problem so so
here's here's the thing right so we're
seeing nobody here and that's what I
expected because I I did this with a
live audience oriented right exactly
right so Al I'm not reading so guess
what AI can do a lot of that task stuff
exact freeing you up to be that problem
solver and to deliver on the goals and
so you get to do more of what you
actually enjoy less of what you don't
want to do but there's a big but and
again we were talking about this in the
Green Room in order to do that you need
to upskill yes exactly you need to get
better at and and some of you I know
will already be extremely good at this
there's a few of you I know on the call
who are extremely good at this but as an
industry we need to upskill and get much
more Roi focused business focused be
talking in business terms with business
people and delivering Business Solutions
right and not talking about triple
constraints project methodologies
dependencies and all that kind of
nonsense right they're not interesting
right and also the the the the
stakeholder or the people component of
of how do you move people and the
cultural aspect of it because that's a
part of the problem solving uh as well
so you will focus more on your
leadership skills on the people on the
human aspect the interaction the
engagement of the stakeholders is not an
easy word to engage them in the decision
Mak
and this should be as well like informed
decision making Based on data 360 degree
data from everywhere which could help
you enhance your decision making and and
and lessen all the mistakes that we do
well and and there are and there are
some some AI tools coming along that and
by the way AI is not the same as machine
learning or large language models or
anything like that right AI is this
really broad set of tools and techniques
right so there's all kinds of AI and
there are some really amazing tools
coming along um so a guy called Attis
Anar is putting something out for site.
works as their website where they're
using AI Moy you were talking about
forecasting risk uh risk assessment
things like that they're doing that in
large construction projects um my own
company transparent Choice has got some
AI modules coming out that will help you
with portfolio uh optimization selection
scheduling to optimize your schedules to
make it more more
you can inject AI into understanding the
faciales of people and their level of
understanding where they are looking and
and give your report and we're seeing
tremendous so even crazy things like you
know one of my one of my developers I
was talking to him yesterday and he's he
was develop he was deploying a new
control in the software that we'd never
used before and frankly it was kicking
his butt all over the place right and he
was really struggling with it and so he
jumped on to chat gbt he said I'm trying
to make this component do this here's
the here here the
documentation can you look at my code
and tell me what's wrong and you know
what it took about five iterations but
between him and chat gbt they figured it
out and that would have been a full day
for him trying to figure that out on his
own right so there's there there's so
many opportunities but but you know be
smart right don't just use AI because
there's AI use it to solve real problems
that it can solve there are a lot of
people there should be a harmonious
balance between Ai and Humanity the
human aspect shouldn't like disappear on
the contrary we're using more our brains
we're using things that a I cannot do a
I cannot be creative as the human mind
and there should be always like a sense
of a human touch in your decision making
and in your analysis you have the upper
hand absolutely and and I think that's I
think that's the big thing for me the
trend is to find that
balance for for the next year right we
we've all gone through the AI foam right
the bubble the noise right right where
AI can do anything and we should use it
for everything right correct but but the
answer is actually there are some things
that people are really good at and
machines are not good at there are some
things absolutely and there are some
things that that Machin are really good
at that people are not good at so let's
but they make mistakes AB oh yeah big
time continuous repetitive like what
what the heck so so I think the big
trend for AI over the next year is that
we're all going to start to not get not
be excited about AI for the sake of AI
but to really really look for where is
it adding value and and to focus on that
so I think that's that's the AI trend
for next year is actually it's not a
trend about the technology it's it's
about the people it's find about the
culture and it's about finding the right
balance amazing exactly so uh on that
I'm I'm going to steal the last word
um and uh and just say that you know my
uh my moment of the year was actually
it's been a fascinating year for me I've
had the I've been really lucky to travel
around the world um doing sessions
workshops speaking events all this kind
of good stuff and uh one of the
highlights was uh one of the exercises I
do in my workshop uh mon you saw this is
um we we do a little prioritization
exercise where we're asking people to um
compare different criteria different
business drivers different goals for the
organization and there was a group in
vilnus in Lithuania uh and they nobody
in the room had any kind of Health Care
background so I used a healthcare
example so that everybody was on neutral
territory and
uh within five minutes of beginning this
exercise people across the room were
standing up and screaming at each other
because it was it was such a powerful
technique and they got so emotionally
involved in it and it just made me smile
made my day that people out there are
people they have opinions and that's
never going to be replaced by Ai and it
it just gave me that warm feeling that
you know we're going to be around for a
while yet people so good good stuff um
actually we we need me and you steuart
to remember an amazing moment when our
amazing Saudi guy took us this is the
nonprofessional part not related to work
actually when we went to this abdulaziz
abdulaziz exactly ABD salute abdulaziz
he he contacted I'm looking to see if
he's online he's not on the call
unfortunately yeah so maybe you can
share this video with him so he invited
us to this amazing Saudi the authentic
house uh and we sat on the floor and we
ate and he didn't even want to eat
except after only after we have finished
eating so the hospitality of Saudi
Arabia uh and uh you know it was really
amazing and in in even in uh in in the
UAE they take you places like the Museum
of your future you see yourself like in
a different place so all this
Hospitality you know for Arabic region
is really amazing absolutely we live
hilariously funny moments yeah so so I I
want to thank everybody for joining us
um you know and thank you for
participating it makes it more fun for
us and hopefully more interesting and
relevant for for everyone else um so
thank you all for joining and being uh
being active um but I really want to
thank Mona and Gerald for sharing their
insight and joining us um really
appreciate it um you guys are quite
special and uh it's it's wonderful
meeting you both
online as opposed to in person next time
I hope it'll be in person um and uh and
to everybody else again I want to thank
you for joining I want to wish you the
very best for the holiday season and for
the new year um it's going to be a big
New Year there's a lot of change out
there that cheese is whizzing around
faster than ever so uh so keep looking
for where the value where the new value
is yes and develop your skills uh
develop your culture work with the
people around you those Great Moments
right you'll notice that everybody's
Great Moments were about people yeah
exactly they were about people every one
of them so so remember it's still about
people it's not about AI so thank you
everybody