This episode is the last #5minpodcast of 2021. This week Ricardo shares five key lessons he learned about 2021 that are paving his way to 2022 and can also help you make a better 2022. He also made a LinkedIn article with a few things that are keeping him awake at night. You can read it in full at https://rvarg.as/lookingback. Listen to the podcast to learn more.

5 Minutes Project Management Podcast with Ricardo Vargas

Looking back on 2021, Paving the Road for 2022

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about the Problem Statement. He explains that we often receive a problem with a solution from our customers. The given solution is not always the correct one; before thinking about how to implement the solution, we need to be clearer about what problem our project is trying to solve. It is necessary to listen to the user and write down everything to understand the problem and question whether there are alternatives beyond the conventional. Ricardo also gives an example of a problem that already came with a solution, but when the scope of the problem is better understood, we may have several other alternatives. Listen to the #5minpodcast to know more.

How to Write a Great Problem Statement

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about the many ways to gain experience in project management that go beyond formal education, courses and certifications. He also mentions that you don't start a career in projects managing gigantic or highly complex projects. The main part of the podcast is in the three tips you can follow to increase your experience and make project management part of your DNA. The first is that it is necessary to apply project management concepts in our daily lives. We should think of simple tasks and small projects in our daily lives as opportunities to practice the concepts. Whether it's planning your child's birthday, renovating your home or completing your MBA project. There are opportunities all the time to think about the possibility of setting up a Kanban, an EAP or even applying the concept of decision gates, so talked about in the FEL model. The second tip is that you diversify your experience, applying the concepts in different areas and projects. This diverse experience allows you to learn about various aspects, approaches and challenges. And the third tip is that you look for opportunities to volunteer in your own company's projects, dedicating extra time to this, making you help your colleagues and learn new concepts. Listen to the episode to learn more.

3 Simple Ways to Improve your Experience with Projects

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about the relevance of early warning systems. He comments that one of our biggest aims in risk management is to anticipate the knowledge and awareness of unexpected events. Ricardo gives some examples and explains that one of the mechanisms that help us identify threats is project indicators, showing clear signs of a problem without having the pain. The sooner we recognize these signs, the faster we can resolve them. Listen to the #5minpodcast to find out more.

Why Early Warnings are Critical and How to Implement Them

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about how you show your experience in projects and in product development for a job interview or when you are preparing your CV or applying for a postgraduate course, for example. He gives three tips on which aspects to consider: The first: What type of project have you worked on, engineering, technology, digital transformation, etc. The second: What was the magnitude of the challenge? What were the budget and the number of people impacted? The third: What was your role in the project, who was under your leadership, what kind of activity were you doing? In the case of your role, Ricardo explains that you should never report a position that differs from the reality you had. Listen to the #5minpodcast to know more.

How to Present Your Project Experience in Your CV or Interview?

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about the exponential growth of problems in the project. He explains with several examples what exponential growth is, such as the behaviour of social networks when a post is shared with ten people and that each one will share with another ten people. So on, the number of views has a massive growth. We often rely on intuition to make a future prediction, imagining linearity. Still, we live in an era of turbulent, dynamic and transformational scenarios where one small problem in your project can trigger another, and you have an avalanche of problems in the end. Trusting your intuition is essential, but it's much better to trust the numbers you're getting on your project. Listen to the #5minpodcast to know more.

The Counterintuitive Nature of Exponential Growth

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about cadence in the project. He explains that cadence dictates the rhythm of project deliveries and gives some examples of cadence, such as the frequency of the heartbeat and the rhythm of a military parade. Ricardo talks about the four types of cadence, which are not necessarily linked to shorter or longer intervals but rather the project's ability to make deliveries that add and produce value for the customer. Listen to the #5minpodcast to know more.

Cadence: The Heartbeat of your Project

In the first episode of 2022, Ricardo decided to share four books and three online courses/platforms you should look at right now to start your year with the right foot. The books have two things in common: none are about Project Management, and he wrote none of them :). They cover aspects of uncertainty, culture, mindset, and career. Listen to the #5minpodcast to know more.

4 Books and 3 Online Courses to Start your Year with the Right Foot

This week's episode is super special, with Ricardo talking about the launch of the James Webb Telescope, scheduled for December 24th. He explains that the project to build this telescope is extremely complex (we haven't found an even bigger term to describe how complex the project is). And for a project of this size, the level of competence of the professionals involved doesn't matter. Even having the best team in the world, the project is so complicated that anything can happen. The James Webb has a technology that has never been used, such as the five very thin protective layers of insulating material to allow the telescope to operate at 100 degrees Celsius on one side and at -235 degrees Celsius on the other side. Imagine over 300 degrees in less than 50 cm on five sheets so thin they look like hair. The launch of this telescope will be part of our history. For 30 days from the moment it is launched from French Guiana, a series of 50 unfolding processes will begin that will last practically one month until it reaches its endpoint, about 1.5 million km from Earth. The Hubble Telescope has located about 550km from Earth to give you perspective, and the new telescope is 2,700 times farther away. It is a very high-risk project, as it is extremely sensitive equipment with 344 points of failure. If one of them doesn't work, the entire project may not deliver the result, and 25 years of development and more than 10 billion dollars could be lost. Watch the launch on the 24th at 7:20 AM ET, 9:20 AM Brasilia time, 12:20 PM WET at https://rvarg.as/webb Listen to the podcast to learn more about this amazing project.

James Webb Telescope Launch: A Live Masterclass of Complexity and Risk Attitude

Trailer – 5 Minutes Podcast

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about the book "The Rule is No Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention", whose subject is the culture of Netflix. Ricardo explains that he read this book recently, which is based on an interview @reed Hastings gave to @Des Dearlove from @Thinkers50. Ricardo comments that Netflix breaks the chain of command and control and adopts a policy (or maybe no policy) where employees are free to make decisions by themselves on all sorts of topics, including how their vacation will be or how their travel expenses will be. He also says that in the interview, Reed said that the only "rule" is to make decisions always considering Netflix's best interest. Another exciting factor is that people are free to be truthful, even if they disagree with an idea coming from the CEO. And last but not least, Netflix values humility, helping and being helped by colleagues. Ricardo recommends you read the book and look at the Netflix Culture page at https://jobs.netflix.com/culture. Listen to the podcast to learn more.

No Rules Rules: The Counter-Intuitive Culture of Netflix

In this week's episode, Ricardo explains the difference between agility and agile methods. He says that if the project uses an agile method, it may not necessarily have agility. And on the other hand, a project that uses the predictive model may have agility. Ricardo comments that, regardless of the method used, it is first necessary to have a critical sense of urgency, agility and adaptability in the organization. Listen to the podcast to learn more.

To Be or Not to Be Agile: That is the Question

In this second episode of the series, Ricardo talks about three challenges to applying Artificial Intelligence in project management and product development in general. The first challenge is regarding the quality of the data that will be used. Ricardo explains that in project management, a clear business rule is not respected, which makes it much more complex to have reliable data for artificial intelligence to cross-reference this data to generate relevant patterns for analysis. The second challenge is to stipulate and predict standards for human behaviour. A simple challenge that a professional has when commuting to work one day can directly impact work and productivity. The third challenge is the ethical aspect. How would artificial intelligence make the decision faced with an ethical dilemma? Listen to the podcast to learn more.

Artificial Intelligence in Projects - Part 2/2 - Challenges

In this week and next, Ricardo talks about the uses, benefits and challenges of artificial intelligence applied to the project scenario. He explains that artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science that seeks to develop equipment and software capable of performing tasks that are typically human, giving examples of products that use artificial intelligence to replace and facilitate our work. Ricardo also comments that the great benefit of artificial intelligence in project management is monitoring and identifying patterns. These patterns allow the optimization of administrative tasks, preparation of realistic budget and schedule forecasts, and even suggest specific teams for each type of work. Listen to the podcast to learn more.

Artificial Intelligence in Projects - Part 1/2 - Definitions and Uses

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about the fears we have during the development of a product, where situations are not totally in our control. Whether in the speed with which we have to carry out our deliveries and releases or in the concern of not delivering the value expected by our client, which leads us to the fear of failing and not being accepted as a leader in the project. He explains that these fears are natural reactions we have. With the pandemic, there were many changes and a massive disruption in the supply chain, affecting organizations and leaders who need to deal with the changes with their teams and stakeholders. In the end, Ricardo gives 5 tips on how you can live with these fears and accept that not everything is in our control. Listen to the podcast to learn more.

How to Reframe your Fears

Since 2007, Ricardo Vargas publishes the 5 Minutes Project Management Podcast where he addresses in a quick and practical way the main topics on project, portfolio and risk management.