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Listen "Episode 81 – PM Software – Get More Done"
Episode Synopsis
Table of Contents
01:36 … Meet Jen
03:37 … Liquid Planner History
04:36 … “Pain is the Mother of Invention”
06:50 … Supporting the Project Manager Customer
07:45 … Customer Base
09:05 … Best case/Worst Case - Estimating Tool
15:04 … Critical Path
16:13 … Top Innovations
17:09 … Solutions to PM Challenges
19:19 … Agile/Scrum and Waterfall Approaches
20:47 … Estimates vs Actuals
24:29 … Communication among Users
26:11 … Software Versions
27:07 … Looking Forward
29:44 … Connect with LiquidPlanner
30:18 … Closing
JEN MORRISEY: The workplace, rather, is rapidly evolving, as is the PM role, and I think project managers today face so many challenges as well as opportunities. But with working with so many of our customers, many of which are PMs, of course, I think the core challenge is that they’re asked to do more with less resources. So now more than ever they need to use their resources in the most optimal way.
NICK WALKER: Welcome
to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers. Every other week we get together to discuss
the things that matter to you as a professional project manager. We want to bring out the best in you, and we
do that by picking the brains of some of the best in the business, sharing in
their successes, and sometimes learning from their failures.
I’m your host, Nick Walker, and with me is the one who
guides us in this journey, Bill Yates.
And Bill, today we’re going to get into the nuts and bolts of some
project management tools to hopefully make us more productive and make our
lives a little easier.
BILL YATES: Yeah, I’m
excited about this conversation. Nick,
the reality is every project manager has a favorite scheduling tool. Project management scheduling is a big deal. It’s very important because it’s so out
there. When you create a schedule,
everybody sees it, and they kind of judge you by it.
NICK WALKER: Yeah.
BILL YATES: So we’ve reached out to a number of companies just to have conversations about their software. LiquidPlanner is the first to respond, so we’re going to talk with them today.
Meet Jen
NICK WALKER: Yeah, so we’re going to talk with Jen Morrisey, the Vice President of Products at LiquidPlanner. This is a cloud-based project management platform. She’s passionate about designing and building innovative products that help teams do the work that matters most. She’s been a key member of the LiquidPlanner team since joining in 2009. From her prior background in project management consulting, Jen brings a clear understanding of the project management space and understands customer needs firsthand.
Jen, thank you so much for joining us here on Manage This. For starters, for the benefit of our listeners unfamiliar with LiquidPlanner, can you give us a brief description of what it is?
JEN MORRISEY: Absolutely, LiquidPlanner is a project management solution. It’s the only solution on the market that is priority based, And that is built to really pull in factors of reality to build accurate schedules for our customers.
NICK WALKER: And how
did you get involved in this?
JEN MORRISEY: So I first got started in human resources, and I never thought that I would go into tech. I started out of school at Starbucks Corporate and realized that project management was a calling for me. I went into project management consulting and project controls consulting, and so I spent a lot of time on client sites and saw that project management solutions out there just weren’t adding the value that I thought that they should. My clients really struggled to keep their plans up to date and to adapt to change that was inevitable in the marketplace.
And so ultimately I heard about Charles Seybold and Jason Carlson developing this new different way to manage projects. And I reached out to get coffee, and one coffee date turned into nine-plus years at LiquidPlanner.
BILL YATES: So Starbucks Coffee, LiquidPlanner,
01:36 … Meet Jen
03:37 … Liquid Planner History
04:36 … “Pain is the Mother of Invention”
06:50 … Supporting the Project Manager Customer
07:45 … Customer Base
09:05 … Best case/Worst Case - Estimating Tool
15:04 … Critical Path
16:13 … Top Innovations
17:09 … Solutions to PM Challenges
19:19 … Agile/Scrum and Waterfall Approaches
20:47 … Estimates vs Actuals
24:29 … Communication among Users
26:11 … Software Versions
27:07 … Looking Forward
29:44 … Connect with LiquidPlanner
30:18 … Closing
JEN MORRISEY: The workplace, rather, is rapidly evolving, as is the PM role, and I think project managers today face so many challenges as well as opportunities. But with working with so many of our customers, many of which are PMs, of course, I think the core challenge is that they’re asked to do more with less resources. So now more than ever they need to use their resources in the most optimal way.
NICK WALKER: Welcome
to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers. Every other week we get together to discuss
the things that matter to you as a professional project manager. We want to bring out the best in you, and we
do that by picking the brains of some of the best in the business, sharing in
their successes, and sometimes learning from their failures.
I’m your host, Nick Walker, and with me is the one who
guides us in this journey, Bill Yates.
And Bill, today we’re going to get into the nuts and bolts of some
project management tools to hopefully make us more productive and make our
lives a little easier.
BILL YATES: Yeah, I’m
excited about this conversation. Nick,
the reality is every project manager has a favorite scheduling tool. Project management scheduling is a big deal. It’s very important because it’s so out
there. When you create a schedule,
everybody sees it, and they kind of judge you by it.
NICK WALKER: Yeah.
BILL YATES: So we’ve reached out to a number of companies just to have conversations about their software. LiquidPlanner is the first to respond, so we’re going to talk with them today.
Meet Jen
NICK WALKER: Yeah, so we’re going to talk with Jen Morrisey, the Vice President of Products at LiquidPlanner. This is a cloud-based project management platform. She’s passionate about designing and building innovative products that help teams do the work that matters most. She’s been a key member of the LiquidPlanner team since joining in 2009. From her prior background in project management consulting, Jen brings a clear understanding of the project management space and understands customer needs firsthand.
Jen, thank you so much for joining us here on Manage This. For starters, for the benefit of our listeners unfamiliar with LiquidPlanner, can you give us a brief description of what it is?
JEN MORRISEY: Absolutely, LiquidPlanner is a project management solution. It’s the only solution on the market that is priority based, And that is built to really pull in factors of reality to build accurate schedules for our customers.
NICK WALKER: And how
did you get involved in this?
JEN MORRISEY: So I first got started in human resources, and I never thought that I would go into tech. I started out of school at Starbucks Corporate and realized that project management was a calling for me. I went into project management consulting and project controls consulting, and so I spent a lot of time on client sites and saw that project management solutions out there just weren’t adding the value that I thought that they should. My clients really struggled to keep their plans up to date and to adapt to change that was inevitable in the marketplace.
And so ultimately I heard about Charles Seybold and Jason Carlson developing this new different way to manage projects. And I reached out to get coffee, and one coffee date turned into nine-plus years at LiquidPlanner.
BILL YATES: So Starbucks Coffee, LiquidPlanner,
In God we trust