Podcast · Business

PMO Strategies

by Laura Barnard · English · Business

In this podcast, PMO leaders and those wanting to capitalize on the best of project management to deliver the organization’s strategy will uncover the hidden secrets of the best PMOs, learn the game-changing techniques that transform any PMO into a value-driven IMPACT Engine, and explore the best wa

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 39 min
Latest: 11 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

11 Oct 2026 · 39 minNew

381: Is AI the New Frontier of Enterprise PMO? with Cedric Fiederer

Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen AI activity is spreading across organizations faster than many leaders can see what it is costing, where it fits, or whether it is creating business value. That is exactly why I believe this moment matters for PMO and transformation leaders. In this episode, I’m joined by Cedric Fiederer to explore what happens when AI stops being a collection of experiments and starts becoming a real enterprise portfolio of investments, tradeoffs, risks, and strategic choices. We get…

Play episodeWhatsApp Download

Earlier episodes 29 most recent

E380 · 4 Oct 2026 · 33 min
380: I’m Not Ready
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills How many times have you told yourself, “I’m not ready yet” ? Not ready to have the executive conversation. Not ready to apply for the role. Not ready to build the PMO differently. Not ready to get the training or support because you need to figure a few more things out first. I understand that instinct because I lived it. I did not become a confident speaker and then step onto a stage. I said yes while I was scared, prepared responsibly, practiced with people who could…
E379 · 27 Sep 2026 · 40 min
379: AI Strategy Execution for PMOs with Marc Chabot
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen AI is creating more ideas, more experiments, and more pressure to move than most PMO processes were designed to absorb. That does not mean your PMO needs a bigger gate. It means the way you connect strategy, intake, prioritization, capacity, and learning has to change. In this episode, I’m joined by Marc Chabot, Co-founder and CEO of ForceEquals, to explore what AI changes across the strategy lifecycle and why this may be one of the biggest opportunities PMO and…
E378 · 20 Sep 2026 · 37 min
378: Think Like a Business Owner
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen A few years ago, I was listening to PMO leaders compare the size of the portfolios they managed. $50 million. $100 million. $500 million. Billions. Those numbers sound impressive, but they only tell me what the organization invested. The business question is what it got back. That is the shift I want you to make in this episode. Thinking like a business owner means looking beyond activity, utilization, schedule, scope, and budget to the measurable outcome the work was…
E377 · 13 Sep 2026 · 44 min
377: Practical Strategy Execution with Paul Thompson
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen If you are responsible for helping strategy become reality, you probably know this tension: the executive team wants the portfolio moving faster, but you cannot move work you cannot see. Hidden departmental initiatives compete for the same people. Decisions wait for the next meeting. The same specialists become the bottleneck on every “top priority.” Then everyone calls it a resource problem. In this episode, I’m joined by Paul Thompson, Founder and CEO of Metagyre, to…
E376 · 6 Sep 2026 · 39 min
376: You Launched It. Why Isn't Anyone Using It?
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills You did the assessment. You designed the service around what people said they needed. You launched it, trained everyone, published the templates, and built the SharePoint page. Then someone submits the old intake form. An executive bypasses the new prioritization process. The governance meeting becomes another status update, and you are left wondering why people are resisting the very thing they asked for. I know how frustrating that feels. I also know the launch may not…
E375 · 30 Aug 2026 · 38 min
375: The Question That Breaks Decision Paralysis
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills Some of the most expensive words I hear inside an organization are, “We’re waiting for more clarity.” Sometimes that is exactly the right call. The organization may be missing information it truly needs to act responsibly. But sometimes “we need more information” is a hiding place. The team already has a recommendation, but nobody wants to own it. Every decision moves up the chain while strategy waits. In this episode, I’m showing you how to separate a real information gap…
E374 · 23 Aug 2026 · 59 min
374: Are We Repeating Agile Transformation Mistakes with AI? with Jim Highsmith
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen Organizations are moving quickly to deploy AI. But are they building the adaptability, judgment, and decision systems required to use it well, or repeating the same mistakes that weakened so many Agile transformations? AI can analyze more data, generate more options, and move work faster. None of that guarantees the organization is asking the right question, assigning the decision to the right person, or protecting the human judgment it will need when the consequences…
E373 · 16 Aug 2026 · 53 min
373: Moneyball in Projectland with Grayson Barnard and Dawn Mahan
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills This episode is personal for me in a way most podcast conversations are not. For the first time, my son and co-author, Grayson Barnard, joins me on the PMO Strategies podcast. One of my closest friends, Dawn Mahan, is here too. The three of us talk about Projectland, baseball, the books we created together, and a leadership lesson PMO and transformation leaders cannot afford to miss. You can do everything that looks like good project management and still fail to help the…
E372 · 9 Aug 2026 · 48 min
372: How PMOs Can Cut Through AI Chaos with Paul McNamara
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen A lot of PMOs are being asked to lead AI and agile transformation while still operating as reporting, governance, and oversight functions. That is where things start to break. Instead of simplifying work, AI can add more coordination, more noise, more duplicated effort, and more complexity. The tools may be faster. The organization may not be clearer. And that is exactly why PMO and transformation leaders need to pay attention. In this episode, I am joined by Paul…
E371 · 31 Jul 2026 · 39 min
371: 50 Years of Project Management: Lessons for What Comes Next with Lee Lambert
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Ways of Working Project management has more technology, training, certifications, and information than at any other point in the profession’s history. But a better tool cannot rescue a plan the team never built together. AI cannot manage a risk nobody is actively addressing. A credential cannot replace the judgment that comes from applying the work inside a real organization. That is the tension at the center of this special episode with my longtime friend and mentor Lee Lambert. Lee…
E370 · 26 Jul 2026 · 28 min
370: How to Crush Your Authority Without Realizing It
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills One of the fastest ways to weaken your influence as a PMO, project, or transformation leader is also one of the most common. It sounds responsible. It sounds like alignment. It sounds like you are reinforcing executive support. But every time you lead with “the sponsor said,” “the boss wants,” or “executives told me to,” you may be training the organization to look past you for the real decision maker. That is how capable leaders accidentally become messengers. In this…
E369 · 19 Jul 2026 · 37 min
369: AI Is Exposing How Work Really Gets Done with David Dean
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen There is a lot of pressure to prove your organization is keeping up with AI. But the most important question is not whether AI is already inside your tools. It is whether your organization understands the work well enough to know what AI is about to amplify. AI is exposing the difference between the way work is documented and the way work actually gets done. The process map shows the official steps. The real work often moves through conversations, relationships,…
E368 · 12 Jul 2026 · 40 min
368: Is Scarcity Mindset Limiting You?
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills What if the biggest thing limiting your influence is not your methodology, your governance model, your tools, or even your executive support? What if it is the mindset you have been operating from without realizing it? In PMO, project, and transformation work, scarcity is everywhere: not enough time, not enough funding, not enough resources, not enough sponsor support, not enough executive attention. And when you live inside that “not enough” environment every day, it can…
E367 · 5 Jul 2026 · 49 min
367: What Executives Really Think About Your PMO with Rich Smith
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen Most PMOs are working hard. That is not the problem. The problem is that the work they are doing is not always connected clearly enough to the outcomes executives care about. And when your PMO cannot connect its work to revenue, cost savings, risk reduction, strategic growth, or measurable business IMPACT, it becomes much easier for leaders to see the PMO as overhead instead of a strategic growth partner. In this episode, I am joined by Rich Smith, a Chief Marketing…
E366 · 28 Jun 2026 · 42 min
366: When Your Organization Has Multiple PMOs
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen Having more than one PMO is not the problem. Disconnected PMOs are. In larger organizations, it is completely normal to have an IT PMO, a business PMO, a transformation office, a product delivery function, and maybe even a strategy execution group all trying to help the organization get important work done. That can be powerful. But only if those teams are connected. When they are not sharing information, coordinating resources, aligning priorities, or working from one…
E365 · 21 Jun 2026 · 41 min
365: Why Organizations Struggle to Make Data-Driven Decisions with Scott Ambler
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Ways of Working Organizations have more data than ever before. More dashboards. More reports. More tools. More conversations about AI. And yet, many leaders still cannot get the trusted information they need to make fast, confident decisions. In this episode, I am joined by Scott Ambler to discuss why organizations continue struggling with fragmented data, siloed systems, disconnected reporting, and decision-making delays. Scott is a recognized thought leader, international keynote…
E364 · 14 Jun 2026 · 42 min
364: How PMOs Build Credibility
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills One of the hardest parts of leading a PMO has nothing to do with project management. It is credibility. You can have the right framework, the right tools, the right templates, and the right intentions. But if the organization does not trust the PMO yet, every process you introduce can feel like more overhead. More meetings. More reporting. More templates. More “governance.” And suddenly, the PMO that was created to help the organization deliver strategy is being seen as…
E363 · 7 Jun 2026 · 30 min
363: AI Adoption That Sticks with Tracey Lovejoy
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills PMOs rarely fail because of a weak plan. They fail because the adoption stalls. Pilots linger. Big bets like AI never move into everyday behavior. The initiative launches with energy. People say yes. Then six weeks in, nothing really changed. In this episode, I sit down with Tracey Lovejoy , behavioral scientist, strategist, and co-founder of Catalyst Constellations. Tracey spent 12 years at Microsoft leading innovation at the intersection of design, technology, and…
E362 · 31 May 2026 · 38 min
362: 6 Powerful Steps to Building a PMO Executives Actually Trust
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen Most PMOs do not fail because of the people leading them. They fail because they were designed around the project management process instead of business outcomes. Organizations launch PMOs hoping they will improve visibility, create accountability, and help leaders execute strategy. But too many PMOs become administrative overhead instead of strategic assets because they start with templates, governance, and reporting instead of solving the business problems executives…
E361 · 24 May 2026 · 41 min
361: The Entrepreneurial Mindset Every PMO Leader Needs Right Now with Eddie Monroe
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen Ponder this - “Are you running a project or running a business?” Most project managers never ask that question. They track tasks, manage timelines, and report status. Meanwhile, executives are quietly asking a different question: does this person understand how the business works? I had an incredible conversation with Eddie Monroe , CEO of CCE Business Solutions, about what it really means to think and lead an entrepreneur inside a project or PMO role. Eddie founded CCE…
E360 · 17 May 2026 · 46 min
360: Top 5 PMO Mistakes That Keep PMOs from Demonstrating Value
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen Many organizations still debate whether a PMO truly adds value. Some leaders see it as essential. Others believe it slows everything down. The reality is that most PMOs are judged based on outcomes they were never designed to deliver. In this episode, I talk about why so many PMOs struggle to demonstrate value and the five most common mistakes that lead to that problem. When a PMO focuses only on project mechanics instead of strategic outcomes, it risks becoming known…
E359 · 10 May 2026 · 38 min
359: Trust and Alignment: The Real Drivers of Success with Dr. Kimberly Strickland
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills Stakeholder engagement is called a soft skill. It is one of the biggest drivers of delivery success. I had an incredible conversation with Dr. Kimberly Strickland. She is the Director of the PMO at SAS Institute. Kimberly leads complex government and education project work. She built the Keystone Relationship Strategy from 20 years of practice. PMO and transformation leaders lose momentum for one quiet reason. It is not weak plans or tools. It is trust and alignment…
E358 · 3 May 2026 · 32 min
358: 4 Questions to Ask Before Expanding Your PMO Services
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen Have you ever felt the pressure to expand your PMO services because stakeholders keep asking for more? It can feel like a sign of success. If people are asking for more support, your PMO must be doing something right. However, adding services without the right strategy can quickly overwhelm your team and dilute your IMPACT. In this episode of the PMO Strategies podcast , I walk through four critical questions every PMO leader should ask before expanding their services.…
E357 · 26 Apr 2026 · 40 min
357: How to Lead Without Burning Out with Mita Broca
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills Most leaders know sustainability as an environmental strategy. Reduce waste. Lower your carbon footprint. Build circular systems. But there is a version of sustainability that is not on any corporate dashboard. It lives inside the people responsible for executing strategy. And when it runs out, everything fails. In this episode, I had an incredible conversation with Mita Broca , Sustainability Leader of the PMI Norway Chapter, facilitator, and storyteller based in Oslo,…
E356 · 19 Apr 2026 · 34 min
356: Helping Executives Make Better Decisions
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen Executives define strategy, but they don't always see what it takes to deliver it. That's where the PMO has a unique advantage. In this episode, I'm sharing how PMO leaders can move beyond delivery oversight and step into the role of strategic advisor. Because the PMO sits at the intersection of strategy and execution, it sees the full portfolio of initiatives, resource constraints, and dependencies that shape whether strategy succeeds or stalls. When leaders make…
E355 · 12 Apr 2026 · 32 min
355: The Strategy Gap Your PMO Must Close Now
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen You have been told to “execute the strategy”, But does your organization even has one? If strategy looks like a list of competing priorities, you are not the problem. In this episode, I’m talking about how PMO leaders can support strategic planning. Strategy belongs to executive leadership. PMOs can facilitate the process that creates plans people can actually act on. That means addressing the elephant in the room: What matters most? What should we stop doing? What has…
E354 · 5 Apr 2026 · 30 min
354: Stop Wasting Time: End Your Meeting-Based Culture Now
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Ways of Working Meetings aren’t the enemy. Dependency is. In this episode, I address a problem many PMO and transformation leaders quietly create: operating models where nothing moves unless everyone gathers in a room. Meetings are part of leadership. Alignment, tradeoffs, escalation, and decisions often require conversation. But when calendars become the operating model, execution suffers. If your team spends all day in meetings and all night doing the real work, that’s not a…
E353 · 29 Mar 2026 · 46 min
353: Dangerous Risk Mistakes PMO Leaders Make Every Day with Russ Parker
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Ways of Working Most PMOs acknowledge risk management. Very few actually practice it. There is a difference between logging risks and managing them, and that gap is quietly costing organizations the projects they cannot afford to lose. In this episode of the PMO Strategies podcast, I am joined by Russ Parker, PMP®, PMI-RMP®, PMI-ACP®, owner of 44 Risk PM and a retired U.S. Marine Corps officer. Russ draws direct parallels between military planning discipline and how project…
E352 · 22 Mar 2026 · 23 min
352: 5 Ways to Turn Failure Into Strategic Feedback
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills Failure hits differently when you lead transformation. When governance fails to stick. When prioritization gets ignored. When a roadmap stalls. It feels personal. But what if it's not failure? What if it's feedback? In this episode, I challenge the belief that setbacks are verdicts. We reframe them as data that sharpens strategy and design. What You'll Learn: • Why transformation setbacks feel personal for PMO leaders • The difference between failure thinking and feedback…

About PMO Strategies

PMO Strategies is a English business podcast from Laura Barnard. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Laura Barnard
Language: English
Category: Business
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 39 min
Latest episode: 11 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1467278720

RSS feed Apple Podcasts

More English business

Take it with you

The Melo app keeps playing with the screen off, works in the car and on your watch, wakes you to your station, and browses the whole catalogue offline. Free, no ads, no account.