APM Podcast
The APM Podcast covers discussions and insights on the latest project management topics. Browse our podcasts below and listen for FREE today. The APM Podcast is available on Anchor, Spotify, Apple and Google podcasts.
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Series quick links
From the Frontline >
Meeting project professionals who are working on cutting-edge projects, and academics whose research is at the forefront of project management techniques.
Project Innovators series >
Speaking to project professionals who are leading projects in an innovative way at a time when many of us are hoping the world of work and projects can be reset for a post-COVID-19 world.
Crisis Talks series >
Our Crisis Talks series explores how project managers are adapting and pivoting to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
More topics >
Bringing you stories of how project professionals are adapting, pivoting and succeeding in a post-COVID world.
Legacy and impact: Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games
In this episode, Emma meets Annie Hairsine, the project management brains behind the fabulously successful Commonwealth Games in Birmingham this summer.
From the Frontline
In ‘From the Frontline’, Project journal editor Emma De Vita is meeting project professionals who are working on cutting-edge projects, and academics whose research is at the forefront of project management techniques.
From the Frontline: Leading the UK’s Vaccine Taskforce
In this first episode, we meet Nick Elliott, who was director general of the UK’s Vaccine Taskforce for the UK government from its inception in April 2020 until the end of last year.
From the Frontline: Life on Mars? Project managing NASA’s Perseverance mission
In this episode, we meet Jennifer Trosper, project manager for NASA’s Mars Perseverance project in its Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Jennifer has worked on NASA’s Perseverance programme for eight years.
From the Frontline: Lessons from the pandemic for better programme
In this episode, we meet Emma Willson, who leads the National Audit Office’s Major Projects Delivery area of focus. She has worked at the NAO for almost 20 years, auditing a wide range of government programmes, from welfare reform to large-scale defence equipment projects.
From the Frontline: How to make better project decisions
In ‘From the Frontline’, Project journal editor Emma De Vita is meeting project professionals who are working on cutting-edge projects, and academics whose research is at the forefront of project management techniques. In this episode we meet Dr Natalie Marguet, a senior lecturer in leadership and organisational development at Liverpool John Moores University, and author of APM’s recent research paper Detect, Reflect and Adapt: Factors influencing critical project decisions.
From the Frontline: How to thrive in your career as a woman
In this special episode to tie in with APM’s annual Think Differently conference, Emma De Vita, the editor of Project journal, speaks to three ambitious female project professionals to talk about how to have a thriving career despite the barriers that organisational or team culture still persistently put in the way of individual women – women who might also be contending with bias around race or age.
From the Frontline: Fast and furious at net-zero
Forumula E
In this episode we meet Gemma Roura Serra, strategic planning director at ABB Formula E. Formula E is the world’s first all-electric single-seater car racing series, conceived to accelerate electric vehicle adoption and demonstrate leadership in the sports world by becoming the only sport to be net-zero carbon since inception.
From the Frontline: How to improve project performance
In this episode Emma speaks to the researchers behind Project X's latest report, published by APM, called Rethinking Capabilities: Lessons for policy, scholarship and practice. Project X is an ESRC‑funded research collaboration between government, academia and industry representatives, aiming to generate unique insights into the performance of major projects and programmes in government.
From the Frontline: Managing a cutting-edge renewables project
In this episode, Project journal editor Emma De Vita speaks to Tim Rose, programme manager at Energy Superhub Oxford, a four-year, £40m demonstrator project to explore potential innovation in using batteries to support grid stability, electric vehicle infrastructure and smart renewable heating.
From the Frontline: Inclusive design for project professionals
In this episode Emma de Vita speaks to Mike Bradley, a senior research associate at the Engineering Design Centre at the University of Cambridge; and Neil Smith, inclusive design lead for HS2 Ltd and one of the Mayor of London’s Design Advocates.
They’ll be explaining exactly what inclusive design is, why it matters for your projects and how to do it well.
Project Innovators
In the ‘Project Innovators’ season of podcasts, Project journal editor Emma De Vita is speaking to project professionals who are leading projects in an innovative way at a time when many of us are hoping the world of work and projects can be reset for a post-COVID-19 world.
Project Innovators – Jenny McLaughlin, Heathrow
In this episode, Project journal editor Emma De Vita discusses diversity and inclusion with Jenny McLaughlin, a project manager at Heathrow Airport, who is also its disability network lead.
Project Innovators – Caroline Raynor, Costain
In this episode, we meet Caroline Raynor, project manager and principal archaeologist for the Costain Skanska JV, who designed and led the Saint James’s Gardens excavation in London's Euston as part of work for HS2’s London terminus.
Project Innovators – Matthew Moran, The Open University
In this episode we speaks to Matthew Moran, Head of Transformation at The Open University, and occasional lecturer in the OU Business School.
Project Innovators – How to professionalise through collaboration
In this episode Jo Stanford, at Health Education England, shares her experiences of raising professional PM standards across the NHS.
Project Innovators – How to deliver under pressure (and win an award at the same time)
In this episode we meet Benjamin Hooper, programme and project manager at Heathrow Airport, whose project won APM’s 2020 Overall Project of the Year.
Project Innovators: How to bring strategy and projects closer together
In this episode, we speak to Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, who is on a mission to champion project management as a central issue for every CEO.
Project Innovators – Bent Flyvbjerg on how to make your project a success
In this final episode of the Project Innovators season, Project journal editor Emma De Vita speaks to Bent Flyvbjerg, the first BT professor and inaugural chair of major programme management at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School.
Crisis talks
Our Crisis Talks series explores how project managers are adapting and pivoting to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Crisis Talks – Lizzie Meadows, Quadram Institute Bioscience
In episode one of our first season, Crisis Talks, Emma De Vita (editor of APM’s Project journal) speaks to Lizzie Meadows, a project manager at Quadram Institute Bioscience (QIB), whose biorepository project went live just as coronavirus hit the UK. The project has since been able to provide crucial resource and support to QIB genome sequencing scientists’ contribution to the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium.
Crisis Talks - Sonia Sharma, Channel 4
In this episode, we speak to Sonia Sharma, head of planning and corporate PMO at Channel 4. Sonia explains the challenges of working within an organisation of low project management maturity, where staff are sometimes resistant to the structures and governance she is trying to implement.
Crisis Talks – Hannah Gledhill, Hotel Chocolat
In this episode, we speak to Hannah Gledhill, senior project manager at Hotel Chocolat. The British chocolatier has small project team focused primarily on product development.
Crisis Talks – Paul Hilton, Mott MacDonald
In this episode, we speak to Paul Hilton, programme director at global engineering, management and development company Mott MacDonald.
Crisis Talks – Andrew Higson, Balvac
In this episode we meet Andrew Higson, a project manager at Balvac, part of the Balfour Beatty Group, which is a specialist in the repair, strengthening, refurbishment and protection of buildings and civil structures.
Crisis Talks – Joanna Rowland, director of HMRC’s COVID-19 Response Unit
In the episode we meet Joanna Rowland, director of HMRC’s COVID-19 Response Unit, responsible for the department’s strategic approach to the pandemic.
Crisis Talks – Lessons from lockdown - the best of 'Crisis Talks'
In this episode, we look back on 2020 and reflect on some key project management lessons from a turbulent 9 months.
More topics
Bringing you stories of how project professionals are adapting, pivoting and succeeding in a post-COVID world.
Legacy and impact: Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games
In this episode, Emma meets Annie Hairsine, the project management brains behind the fabulously successful Commonwealth Games in Birmingham this summer.
Women in Project Management: How to make it to the top
In the second of our follow-up podcasts from the APM Women in Project Management Conference, Emma invites three senior leaders from the world of projects who contributed to WIPM. They share their experience to help those starting out in their career and also give their tips for women on how to rise to the top of the profession.
Women in Project Management: Career tips from three female high-flyers
For this podcast, Emma invited three high-flyers from the world of projects who also contributed to APM’s Women in Project Management Conference this year, which was a terrific success and a really buzzy event.
Bright young things: three future leaders on what they want from the profession
In this episode, Emma meets three of the profession’s bright young things – Stacey Bishop (SSE Renewables), Ashlyn O’Riordan (Turner & Townsend) and James Patraiko (Corre Energy). They share the younger generation’s biggest concerns, expectations and hopes for their career.
How to put sustainability at the heart of your work
In this episode, Emma meets Kristina Bull, a Partner at QSA Partners, a B Corp consultancy with a mission to help organisations to implement circular economy business models. A project professional with a focus on sustainability, Kristina currently advises clothing brands and retailers and how to become more truly sustainable.
Social mobility and projects with the Rt Hon Justine Greening
This episode sees Professor Adam Boddison, APM Chief Executive, in conversation with the Right Honourable Justine Greening. Adam and Justine discuss the definition of social mobility, the status of apprenticeships and where project management fits into the levelling up agenda.
Assurance management: what it is and how to do it well
In this episode, Emma meets Sarah Coleman and Andrew Schuster to talk assurance management. Sarah is a Chartered Project Professional and Fellow of APM and PhD researcher, and Andrew is the National Director of Transformation Risk and Advisory at PwC Canada.
The evolution of the project profession within government, with HMRC's Joanna Rowland
This episode sees Adam Boddison, APM chief executive, in conversation with Joanna Rowland, Director General for Transformation at HMRC. The pair discuss the evolution of the project profession within government, the skills and experience required to thrive in a project role and misconceptions surrounding the profession.
Lessons learned from Crossrail with ex-CEO Mark Wild
In this episode, Andrew Saunders, business journalist and regular contributor to Project journal, sits down with Mark Wild, ex-CEO of Crossrail. Mark took over as CEO of Crossrail in 2018 at a time of highly publicised budget and deadline overruns.
Endurance22: Lessons from the project to discover Ernest Shackleton's lost ship
Project journal Editor Emma De Vita meets Nico Vincent, Subsea Project Manager for the Endurance22 expedition, which on 5 March found the wreck of Endurance, Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship, which sank off the coast of Antarctica 107 years ago.
Mind the gap: the human side of project management
The new world requires a different mindset and skillset to navigate the pitfalls of change delivery. In this podcast, Jo Stanford (Health Education England) and Sarbjit Hoskinson (ThermoFisher Scientific) discuss how they have tackled the cultural and behavioural shifts needed to embed change.
Legal project management: a hot new area of growth
In this episode Emma De Vita, editor of Project, APM’s quarterly journal speaks to to Dee Tamlin, currently head of legal project management at Pinsent Masons but who will, come mid-July be director of legal project management at White & Case, and Helga Butcher, at Head of Client Solutions within Ashurst Advance.
Rocket Man: Bloodhound's Richard Noble on Taking Risk
In this episode Project journal editor Emma De Vita meets Richard Noble, the leader of some truly awe-inspiring British extreme speed projects on land, at sea and in the air. These included bringing the Land speed record back to Britain in 1983 when he drove his Thrust 2 car to 633mph, and 14 years later he led the Thrust SCC team to achieve the first supersonic record at 763 mph.
The BBC's Evan Davis on the importance of projects
In this episode, Project journal editor Emma De Vita meets Evan Davis, presenter of BBC 4’s daily news programme PM, and former main presenter of Newsnight and the Today programme.
He is also well known as the presenter of business reality show Dragons’ Den and on Radio 4 he hosts a weekly business discussion programme called The Bottom Line. His latest book is Post Truth, which sets out to explain why there is so much mendacity and nonsense in public discourse and why it became more of a concern in 2016.
Mexico's first APM award winner on Latin American megaprojects
In this episode, Emma De Vita, editor of Project, meets Marcos Fuentes, recipient of APM’s 2022 Festival of Education and Research award for Doctorate of the Year.
The focus of his thesis was how to co-create value for the long term, from the project planning stage and then throughout the development cycle of a project. The thesis originally established eight ways to achieve wider sustainable value, such as social, environmental, experiential and emotional elements beyond traditional short-term criteria such as time and cost.
HS2 CEO Mark Thurston: managing an era-defining megaproject
Adam Boddison, APM chief executive, meets Mark Thurston, CEO of Europe’s largest infrastructure project, HS2. The pair discuss the evolution of the project profession, areas for growth and the pressures associated with managing an era-defining megaproject.
Mark also gives his thoughts on the levelling-up agenda, sharing lessons learned and what makes an effective project leader.
James Webb Space Telescope: Top tips from NASA's outstanding project leader
In this episode, Project journal editor Emma De Vita meets NASA’s Bill Ochs, project manager for the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest space science telescope ever developed, which was successfully launched on Christmas Day on a journey of close to one million miles from earth. Hubble’s replacement gives humanity a new eye in the sky with infrared sensors that will peer into the farthest reaches of the cosmos to observe the universe’s first galaxies, reveal the birth of stars and planets, and look for exoplanets with the potential for life.
Alexandra Palace: Project tips from the world of festivals and events
In this episode, Project journal editor Emma De Vita meets Simon Fell, director of events, festivals and leisure at London’s Alexandra Palace (or Ally Pally as you might know it). He has significant experience of delivering, programming and promoting large-scale public entertainment events with capacities of up to 50,000. He set up Ally Pally’s Kaleidoscope Festival in 2018, which is a 12,000-capacity boutique arts and music festival set within the grounds of the venue.
Why mentoring matters
In this episode, Emma De Vita asks what mentoring means, what benefits it brings for people and organisations and how to do it well.
Our guest panellists:
- Vicki Griffiths, senior project manager at marine engineering company Fugro
- Ewelina Kruk, associate director within programme and portfolio management at Incendium Consulting
- Jaspal Kaur-Griffin, head of programmes at the Bar Standards Board
Making sense of success and failure with Darren Dalcher
In 2022, APM is celebrating its 50th anniversary, so throughout the year we’ll be sitting down with some of the movers and shakers who have shaped the project profession across the last few decades.
In this episode, Andrew Saunders, journalist and regular contributor to Project journal, sits down with Darren Dalcher, professor of strategic project management at the University of Lancaster.
6 project management lessons we learned in 2021
Project’s online editor Mike Hine looks back at the past 12 months and presents some of the key project lessons of 2021, as told to us by our guests.
So how did NASA put a rover on Mars amid a global pandemic? What are the untapped opportunities of project data analytics? And what might the UK’s vaccine taskforce programme teach us about how to streamline processes to enable quicker delivery when it really matters?
How to be a great communicator
In this episode, hosted by Mike Hine, online editor for APM’s Project journal, we’re looking at communication for project professionals. Communication is a vital condition for project success. However well-planned, a project will not run smoothly if stakeholders are left confused and under-informed as a consequence of inefficient communication.
Contracts and collaboration in a post-COVID world
Contracts create legally binding obligations between the parties involved in a project. They describe the nature of those obligations and the actions that can be taken if they are not met. As such, the contract is a foundational document whose content will come to define the project and how the work unfolds. It is there to provide certainty and protection to the parties. But in a post-COVID world, there may be an opportunity for contracts to be used to create ongoing collaborative relationships, rather than simply defining strict requirements and being regarded as a tool to give parties leverage in the event of acrimony.
The evolving definition of project ‘success’
In this episode, our topic is project success, and how the definition of success is evolving to fit the challenges of the 2020s and beyond.
Why sustainability should be on every project professional’s agenda
In this episode, Mike Hine, online editor for APM’s Project journal, speaks to three experts working in the field of sustainability to find out more: Paul Mansell, independent major projects adviser Giulia Jones, sustainability manager, Mace Stuart Johnson, director, Stuart Johnson Consulting
Your salary and future prospects revealed
This episode delves into the findings and analysis of the APM Salary and Market Trends Survey 2021 in more detail, with a focus on salary, job satisfaction, diversity and inclusion, economic confidence and more. It’s been an enormously challenging 12 months for every sector of the economy. Project professionals felt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic from day one, with plans, teams and working practices suddenly thrown into disarray. Project and programme managers have risen to the challenge of the past 12 months by not only keeping existing work on track, but also spearheading crucial efforts to fight back against the pandemic and get the economy moving.
How to make better use of project data
This episode features contributors from academia and industry talking on the issue of project data analytics, what it means for project management and how it can benefit the delivery of successful projects.
How to be a great project leader
In this episode, our topic is how to be a great project leader. We pin down exactly what it means to lead a project and how this role is evolving to reflect the changing nature of projects and obviously in 2020, the pressures of the Covid pandemic.
The Golden Thread: recognising the contribution of project management
In this podcast, we ask: what’s the big-picture take on project management in the UK? Is the profession given the serious recognition it deserves? And what does the future hold for project management amid the ongoing global pandemic?
VUCA, hybrid and adaptability: reflections on BoK7
In this episode, our topic is the APM Body of Knowledge. One year on, the book’s co-editors – Dr Ruth Murray-Webster and Professor Darren Dalcher – co-host an episode that reflects on the changes and updates made to the seventh edition.
How COVID-19 changed project management – Debbie Dore and Sue Kershaw
What is the future of project management as the world moves into the next stage of the COVID-19 crisis? And what are the risk factors and opportunities going forward, both for individuals and the profession?