1 00:00:05,100 --> 00:00:08,100 Welcome to the everyday p.m. podcast, the podcast. 2 00:00:08,100 --> 00:00:11,000 Where we discuss project management principles for your 3 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:13,700 everyday life. My name is Ann campea and I'm a 4 00:00:13,700 --> 00:00:16,600 certified projects last program manager with a decade of 5 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:18,900 experience working for healthcare. 6 00:00:18,900 --> 00:00:21,800 Retail consumer goods and Tech Industries. 7 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:25,700 I'm so excited to welcome dr. Joshua Montgomery associate 8 00:00:25,700 --> 00:00:29,500 professor of computer science at Southern State Community College 9 00:00:29,500 --> 00:00:32,299 on to the The podcast with me today, dr. 10 00:00:32,299 --> 00:00:35,800 Montgomery please. I'm kind of excited to be here. 11 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:39,200 I'll be 100% honest with you, so yeah, yeah, absolutely. 12 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:42,200 I'm excited to dig in but for those that don't know, you 13 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:44,000 please take a second to introduce yourself. 14 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:48,500 Yeah, I am a computer science professor, and Appalachian will 15 00:00:48,500 --> 00:00:51,600 heiio. So I have a doctoral degree in 16 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:54,500 computer science. I teach a lot of classes and I'm 17 00:00:54,700 --> 00:00:57,000 probably mostly known for my region Android building. 18 00:00:57,400 --> 00:00:59,800 So I did a TED Talk the few about a year ago. 19 00:01:00,300 --> 00:01:04,000 On how building R2D2 here changed, what I do in a 20 00:01:04,007 --> 00:01:05,500 classroom. And so for the past three to 21 00:01:05,500 --> 00:01:09,000 four years in my classroom, we build big projects. 22 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:10,000 And so we're going to talk about that day. 23 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:12,200 And how project management helps us? 24 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:15,500 Do these kind of big projects. This is so exciting and I think 25 00:01:15,500 --> 00:01:18,900 it's just I'm excited for many reasons, obviously, honored to 26 00:01:18,900 --> 00:01:22,200 have you on here honor to have your desk behind you, on the 27 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:25,800 podcast as well. This episode is a special one 28 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:29,100 for many reasons, not only do I get to welcome you on to the 29 00:01:29,100 --> 00:01:32,900 podcast, but It will also be the first episode to be offered in a 30 00:01:32,908 --> 00:01:36,500 visual format. As we kick off my YouTube 31 00:01:36,500 --> 00:01:40,500 channel, youtube.com slash and campea where I will be posting 32 00:01:40,500 --> 00:01:43,000 all of the podcasts in that format. 33 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,500 There's so many ways you can consume this podcast and now 34 00:01:45,500 --> 00:01:49,300 just another awesome way to do that, is to watch it on YouTube. 35 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:52,300 So let's dive into this week's topic. 36 00:01:52,700 --> 00:01:56,600 I'd love to say, it's just on Star Wars, but I thought that 37 00:01:56,600 --> 00:01:59,600 would be a disservice as well because I am not the most fluent 38 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:02,700 on. Horse out of everybody in in the 39 00:02:02,700 --> 00:02:06,200 world but the connection between Star Wars and project management 40 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:10,400 is really what intrigued me and why we decided to collaborate on 41 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:13,800 this podcast. So we are talking about 42 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,500 project-based learning and how project management has brought 43 00:02:17,500 --> 00:02:21,100 your droids to life, right? So right, let's just start off 44 00:02:21,100 --> 00:02:23,300 with how you got into Droid building? 45 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:26,500 Yeah. So I've been honored my entire 46 00:02:26,500 --> 00:02:29,500 life, I think in my TED Talk, I mentioned that whole piece 47 00:02:29,500 --> 00:02:30,600 there. You know, I always thought 48 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:34,000 comic-con's were just in California and I went to my 49 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:35,900 first one in twenty fourteen dressed up. 50 00:02:35,900 --> 00:02:38,700 Some Star Wars characters. Mike took my kids Halloween that 51 00:02:38,700 --> 00:02:42,300 kind of stuff ran into people that build robots. 52 00:02:42,500 --> 00:02:47,600 And so in 2015 I decided I wanted to get into robotics I 53 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:51,800 had the summer off teaching and start to swing it R2-D2. 54 00:02:51,900 --> 00:02:54,300 Two years later, lots of failures. 55 00:02:54,500 --> 00:02:57,600 I finally built this. This big Droid behind me and 56 00:02:57,600 --> 00:02:59,200 we'll talk a little bit about those. 57 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:03,500 Those types of Failures. But that led me to a level 58 00:03:03,500 --> 00:03:05,700 confidence. I'd probably never had before, 59 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:07,500 huh? It was the to pull me something. 60 00:03:07,500 --> 00:03:10,300 I think that I could do in my classroom and I think that's 61 00:03:10,300 --> 00:03:12,900 pretty pretty unique and we'll talk more about that. 62 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:15,600 What a great Epiphany to have, you know, and nothing better 63 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:20,300 than being at a fun event where everybody is of the fandom. 64 00:03:20,300 --> 00:03:23,600 You got people in Cosplay, you have people who just live and 65 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:26,700 breathe Star Wars. If you guys have not been to 66 00:03:26,700 --> 00:03:29,200 this type of convention, for those that are listening or 67 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:33,900 watching, And there's an entire section usually dedicated to a 68 00:03:33,900 --> 00:03:37,200 group of people who build droids, right? 69 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:39,000 And I always would build our community. 70 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:42,000 Yeah, we're all over the, there's not a lot of us but the 71 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:46,100 people that are that do it are really active and they love like 72 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:49,600 from me when we, for example, love to share this passion that 73 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:53,100 we have and building these big robots, these prop robots, and I 74 00:03:53,108 --> 00:03:54,800 was going to ask the same two questions. 75 00:03:55,900 --> 00:03:58,700 How much did it cost you and are you still married? 76 00:03:59,100 --> 00:04:01,100 Okay. Don't married that. 77 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:04,500 My wife did not divorce me that two years, two and a half years. 78 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:07,200 And the cost of doing something like this will talk about 79 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:10,100 budgetary pieces of this because, okay, you can 80 00:04:10,100 --> 00:04:13,400 absolutely get to a number value of how much it takes to build a 81 00:04:13,408 --> 00:04:15,200 Droid by using this in project management skills. 82 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:18,700 Okay, fantastic. Well let's talk about how you 83 00:04:18,700 --> 00:04:23,900 decided ultimately to you know merge the two together, you you 84 00:04:23,900 --> 00:04:27,500 started building droids, you've been teaching kind of where when 85 00:04:27,500 --> 00:04:31,600 did that happen and what was the The impacted that you've seen on 86 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:35,300 your learning, you know, it was, it was passion. 87 00:04:35,900 --> 00:04:40,300 So I'm a very passionate person and I, you know, kind of realize 88 00:04:40,300 --> 00:04:43,600 from teaching and watching students that the engagement you 89 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:45,100 get from somebody. When they're actually doing 90 00:04:45,100 --> 00:04:48,000 something they want to do is something that propels you 91 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:52,800 beyond money. A grade anything like that, 92 00:04:52,900 --> 00:04:54,900 right? So it occurred to me that I 93 00:04:54,900 --> 00:04:58,100 could do these big big projects because I know I've been 94 00:04:58,100 --> 00:05:00,600 successful at doing it. I know I could teach My students 95 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:04,900 to do it and then we could figure it out the key, though. 96 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:07,400 It had to be something they wanted to do. 97 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:10,700 So in my classes, I've several different courses, I called 98 00:05:10,700 --> 00:05:12,500 individualized, project-based learning, and we'll go through 99 00:05:12,500 --> 00:05:13,900 some more of it in our little bit further. 100 00:05:14,900 --> 00:05:17,600 But students actually pick a project, they want to do 101 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:20,500 something, they decided to make happen and every project is 102 00:05:20,500 --> 00:05:24,800 unique, has its own challenges and the level of problem solving 103 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:27,000 and critical thinking skills that they developed that piece. 104 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:30,200 Absolutely makes a difference in their Ation. 105 00:05:30,500 --> 00:05:33,800 So, if you can find some passion for a student and tie that to 106 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:37,600 something, they never leave the lab, they don't want to go home, 107 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:39,800 you know what I mean? So, it's pretty pretty 108 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:41,600 important. Yeah, I agree. 109 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:44,200 And it's interesting that you bring that up because I am 110 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:46,900 actually taking a course right now, on how to teach 111 00:05:46,900 --> 00:05:49,400 successfully online. Okay number. 112 00:05:49,500 --> 00:05:52,800 Yeah, and the number one thing that I've learned so far is that 113 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:56,900 the students have to enjoy what the topic is, right? 114 00:05:56,900 --> 00:05:59,700 And if they don't enjoy it, the professor. 115 00:05:59,900 --> 00:06:05,100 Instructor has to be very enthusiastic about the topic. 116 00:06:05,100 --> 00:06:08,700 So feel like your students get the best of both, right? 117 00:06:11,100 --> 00:06:14,600 I'll tell you that. I can just imagine they go into 118 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:17,500 the classroom and get to do something that is just so unique 119 00:06:17,500 --> 00:06:19,900 and different than what they typically do in a lab. 120 00:06:20,300 --> 00:06:24,000 And I am that my brain doesn't function in the way I think 121 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:26,600 yours does, but if I was a student, taking your class, I'd 122 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:29,600 be super excited about that. It's a lot of fun. 123 00:06:29,900 --> 00:06:34,500 And, you know, it's hard to quantify those grades to the 124 00:06:34,500 --> 00:06:38,100 projects and those kind of pieces there fact that as a 125 00:06:38,100 --> 00:06:40,500 students all their grades increasing as are just a great 126 00:06:40,500 --> 00:06:45,100 in that classroom those kind of pieces take place but retention 127 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:48,600 and seeing someone through those these high projects definitely 128 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:50,000 help with that. For sure. 129 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:53,800 And it's hard to think of a world where there isn't one 130 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:55,900 person who doesn't know what Star Wars is. 131 00:06:55,900 --> 00:07:01,000 So even if there's a familiar familiarity with The property or 132 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:05,000 maybe they just don't like Star Wars, or don't know it too. 133 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:08,700 Well, there's still something really neat to teach right 134 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:12,300 outside of it towards being bb-8 and R2-D2. 135 00:07:12,300 --> 00:07:14,700 There's still things that you can teach them. 136 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:16,900 Yeah. So some students will build 137 00:07:17,700 --> 00:07:21,100 manic weather stations. I had one student coming through 138 00:07:21,100 --> 00:07:23,200 on time. She's a big, massive fan, and 139 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:25,300 she goes mad. I saw someone online build this 140 00:07:25,300 --> 00:07:29,300 miniature, but big, Mars Rover. I think it's a project. 141 00:07:29,300 --> 00:07:31,200 One of your wants to do and she's a student of mine. 142 00:07:31,300 --> 00:07:34,000 I said that sounds fantastic. That is a project you should do. 143 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:36,700 She thought someone else had to do it but she could she didn't 144 00:07:36,700 --> 00:07:39,000 know enough to do it. And so he started that journey 145 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:42,100 together and a lot of times it just takes that first step, you 146 00:07:42,100 --> 00:07:44,000 know. I and you know how to eat an 147 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:48,500 elephant by chance. Yeah, there you go, one bite, 148 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:52,600 he's got to start and I think that's the most critical piece 149 00:07:52,900 --> 00:07:55,900 and then you just figure out a problem of time that you take 150 00:07:55,900 --> 00:07:57,900 care of and eventually get there. 151 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:01,400 And that's I mean I think That's a great transition in terms of 152 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:04,800 the way you're thinking, right? Even in project management one 153 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:09,100 problem at a time and you problem solve together usually 154 00:08:09,100 --> 00:08:13,000 in a cross-functional team or at least, you know, collaboratively 155 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:17,600 to figure out what problems need to be solved in order to execute 156 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:19,700 your project successfully, right? 157 00:08:19,700 --> 00:08:23,900 So let's dive into kind of the where I think we see the 158 00:08:23,900 --> 00:08:27,500 crossroads here of project management and Droid building 159 00:08:27,500 --> 00:08:30,000 and you being able to infuse this in your classroom, Room. 160 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:32,500 Tell me a little bit more about how project management has 161 00:08:32,500 --> 00:08:33,799 impacted that. Yes. 162 00:08:33,799 --> 00:08:35,400 It's a good segue into it, isn't it? 163 00:08:35,700 --> 00:08:38,600 So, you know, we talked about those big, massive projects and 164 00:08:38,900 --> 00:08:41,700 you first got to start off with, you know what your your big 165 00:08:41,700 --> 00:08:44,100 picture dr. Stephen Covey talks all the time 166 00:08:44,100 --> 00:08:45,800 about. What's your end goal? 167 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:47,600 What's your end goal in mind? You have to understand what that 168 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:50,200 end goal is going to be. We're going to get here now. 169 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:52,700 We have to figure out how to get there, so understanding that 170 00:08:52,700 --> 00:08:54,300 number one, you start with the big picture. 171 00:08:54,700 --> 00:08:58,000 You understand what your plans are going to be accomplished in 172 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:01,500 a number two, you have to consider If you're going to have 173 00:09:01,500 --> 00:09:05,300 a team in some of my projects we have teams and not all of them 174 00:09:05,300 --> 00:09:07,400 do. But for example, bb-8 was a team 175 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:09,700 effort of three students. So those three students we had 176 00:09:09,700 --> 00:09:12,700 to Define roles responsibilities and make it applicable to 177 00:09:12,700 --> 00:09:16,100 everybody that piece and no matter if you're in a team or 178 00:09:16,100 --> 00:09:19,100 not, number three, we have to Define what your scope is. 179 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:22,000 We talked about a second ago, taking up one by the time, 180 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:24,500 right? You have to break this down into 181 00:09:24,500 --> 00:09:26,400 smaller sections, that are manageable. 182 00:09:26,700 --> 00:09:29,300 When you take a look at a big project like R2, which is a 183 00:09:29,300 --> 00:09:32,200 multi, Your project or bb-8 which can be done in a year 184 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:35,700 normally a little longer. They're so big. 185 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:38,200 You don't think you can do it because it just the scope is 186 00:09:38,208 --> 00:09:40,900 just so big and you worried about scope creep and other 187 00:09:40,900 --> 00:09:43,800 issues when you're trying to match this out on a Gantt chart 188 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:46,800 or something, right? So it's a big project you break 189 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:48,800 it down and you start working through that. 190 00:09:49,900 --> 00:09:52,600 I always like to say the most important thing that the entire 191 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:56,900 piece is to celebrate. Your failures and be positive 192 00:09:57,400 --> 00:09:59,600 because number four for me and project. 193 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:02,900 Management is all about celebrating those failures, when 194 00:10:02,900 --> 00:10:05,200 they come up and being positive throughout the environment, 195 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:08,600 because you're going to have all kinds of issues with any 196 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:10,800 project. You know how it goes right, 197 00:10:10,900 --> 00:10:13,800 scope creep, or budget issues Supply problems. 198 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:15,900 That happens with all these kind of projects do. 199 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:21,400 So, you have to be able to remember five adapt, understand 200 00:10:22,100 --> 00:10:25,200 something's going to blow up. Something's going to happen and 201 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:27,600 you have to adapt and move. Here's a great example. 202 00:10:28,500 --> 00:10:34,200 Bb-8, we build bb-8 here, and right before the pandemic, I 203 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:38,100 think it's about 2019 2020. It was the first bb-8 to be 204 00:10:38,100 --> 00:10:40,100 built in state of Ohio, is really cool. 205 00:10:40,100 --> 00:10:43,000 We got invited to three different news stations were on 206 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:46,900 the Good Morning, America stuff at the in Columbus, Ohio, it was 207 00:10:46,900 --> 00:10:49,600 great. We had a blast and we got 208 00:10:49,608 --> 00:10:53,200 invited to the big technology conference in Ohio and the 209 00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:55,700 governor and the higher was going to come see our robot. 210 00:10:56,200 --> 00:11:00,700 And on the second day, Day one bb-8 strolling around doing 211 00:11:00,700 --> 00:11:02,100 great. I'm talking to a couple of 212 00:11:02,100 --> 00:11:05,400 Educators and all said you watch bb-8's head is kind of goes like 213 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:07,000 sideways and it's something stop. 214 00:11:07,700 --> 00:11:09,600 Yeah, my driver is her name is Shelby. 215 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:13,500 She looks at me and she's just like what happened, and what, 216 00:11:13,500 --> 00:11:19,800 and the motor inside bb-8, blew up, just, I know, right in the 217 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:22,200 middle of the conference were showing all this big project. 218 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:24,500 We're so excited and proud of our students for, and the 219 00:11:24,500 --> 00:11:27,600 governor's been very next day. So we had to adapt for. 220 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:29,100 So we had Our drive assembly there. 221 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:32,600 Also were building, CB 23 another rolling robot. 222 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:35,400 Another student was working on that and we ripped out some 223 00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:38,100 Motors. We rebuilt his drive assembly, 224 00:11:38,100 --> 00:11:41,300 and we got him working. Now, that was really stressful, 225 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:44,800 but man, the critical thinking and problem-solving skills. 226 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:46,500 The students had to develop during that time frame. 227 00:11:46,500 --> 00:11:49,900 I and not simulate that in a classroom, right? 228 00:11:49,900 --> 00:11:51,800 Right. I think you're building these 229 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:54,600 kind of projects. You just got to be aware that 230 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:57,000 you're going to live a little bit in frustration sometimes 231 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,800 because there's No, there's documentation on how to do some 232 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:02,800 of these things but yours is really no way of saying every 233 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:04,900 single piece you're going to run into some failures. 234 00:12:05,300 --> 00:12:08,000 Yeah well I agree and taking a step back. 235 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:11,900 You said you took you two years to build your first one. 236 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:15,400 Yeah, two two and a half. I always say two years because I 237 00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:17,900 thought I was done it two years. It took me to find out half a 238 00:12:17,908 --> 00:12:20,300 year of getting everything. Exactly what I wanted it to be. 239 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:25,100 Okay, my are too, he was originally wood and it didn't 240 00:12:25,100 --> 00:12:30,000 look the way I wanted it to and I went with I have a whole 241 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:32,100 lecture I do when learning to fail, right? 242 00:12:32,100 --> 00:12:34,200 A car to D2, to libraries and schools. 243 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:37,200 And I show all the different failures that I went through to 244 00:12:37,500 --> 00:12:40,400 just, you know, it's it's important for someone to see 245 00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:42,700 your failures because all they see is the success of something 246 00:12:42,700 --> 00:12:44,400 working, right? They don't realize that you 247 00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:47,500 burned all these Electronics up or you made a mistake with all 248 00:12:47,500 --> 00:12:50,700 these, all these welds and painting and everything. 249 00:12:50,700 --> 00:12:53,200 So, yeah, that's really where I wanted to go with that. 250 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:56,400 Question is two. Two, two, two and a half years. 251 00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:59,300 I imagine there were several iterations. 252 00:12:59,300 --> 00:13:03,100 It sounds like you had some change requests and scope creep 253 00:13:03,100 --> 00:13:07,200 of your own because whatever I try to blame yourself, right 254 00:13:07,300 --> 00:13:11,800 run, right. But you don't realize what point 255 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:14,200 you're going to have those kind of major problems and so when 256 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:16,900 scope creep does take place obviously I'm pushing back my 257 00:13:16,900 --> 00:13:19,500 time lines. Yeah and I'm trying to find more 258 00:13:19,500 --> 00:13:23,500 money and those kind of things. So yeah, it got, it got pretty 259 00:13:23,500 --> 00:13:26,400 expensive for this big guy because I want him to all be in 260 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:29,800 aluminum and steel. And that becomes an issue in 261 00:13:29,808 --> 00:13:31,400 infant. What's funny about this robot 262 00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:35,000 here is that he doesn't fit in my basement doors and have to 263 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:38,300 disassemble him to move him. I think he was built in this 264 00:13:38,300 --> 00:13:42,300 basement and you think that I'd have figured that out when I was 265 00:13:42,300 --> 00:13:45,200 done? I mean, but and that's exactly 266 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:48,800 the examples of yeah. What imagine your students learn 267 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:52,300 as well as you have to be able to be flexible and adjust? 268 00:13:52,300 --> 00:13:54,800 And is there anything you tell them up front? 269 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:57,800 You know, as you're setting your scope and your requirements for 270 00:13:57,900 --> 00:14:00,800 The Droid build. Is there anything a mantra 271 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:03,800 perhaps you know reminding them to breathe air? 272 00:14:03,808 --> 00:14:06,400 Is there anything that you tell them up front just so they're 273 00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:08,000 aware that this is going to happen? 274 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:11,100 I was tell them I will never give up on you. 275 00:14:11,100 --> 00:14:13,600 If you don't give up on me, that's great. 276 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:15,500 You're going to pass this class, you're going to get an A in this 277 00:14:15,500 --> 00:14:17,100 class. As long as you don't give up, if 278 00:14:17,100 --> 00:14:19,700 it takes us longer than 16 weeks, not a problem. 279 00:14:19,700 --> 00:14:21,600 We're going to extend that course. 280 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:22,900 We're going to find additional time. 281 00:14:22,900 --> 00:14:25,000 I'll come in over the weekend. We're going to get there. 282 00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:27,800 What happens all too often is, we're putting that 16. 283 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:32,100 Time frame of our schedule. Yeah, for a classes and students 284 00:14:32,100 --> 00:14:36,000 get real panicky. Now, you can't just say it's all 285 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:38,800 going to be okay all the time because students would 286 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:41,400 procrastinate and they'll wait till like 3 weeks before the 287 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:45,000 semester ends and they'll try to cram too much in and they 288 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:46,700 realize they can't get all that kind of stuff done. 289 00:14:46,700 --> 00:14:50,800 So one thing I do is I have a, a project plan piece that I use. 290 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:55,900 And so, and like, my schedule timeline section, we actually 291 00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:58,900 address when we do. Ooh, things and they get 292 00:14:58,900 --> 00:15:00,600 reported and graded on those pieces. 293 00:15:01,500 --> 00:15:02,100 Great. Yeah. 294 00:15:02,100 --> 00:15:05,200 So you've given them deliverables set timing of when 295 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:11,500 it's due and I imagine if they get there or even partially get 296 00:15:11,500 --> 00:15:15,100 there, but highlights something some sort of risk or some sort 297 00:15:15,100 --> 00:15:18,700 of issue happen that you hopefully, your the lenient 298 00:15:18,700 --> 00:15:20,600 Professor that. Okay. 299 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:28,200 I understand. I actually, I actually Tina's 300 00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:31,200 going on I have sections on there for planned activities for 301 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:34,800 each reporting, period budget or grant funding that we're using 302 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:38,900 for that that time and list of all issues, failures, and risks. 303 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:43,000 Because I want to hear about the failures, you're going to have 304 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:44,500 them. I want to count them. 305 00:15:44,500 --> 00:15:47,100 You should have so many of them. I want to celebrate those 306 00:15:47,100 --> 00:15:50,400 failures. We learn so much more through 307 00:15:50,700 --> 00:15:53,500 those. Those failures of trying things 308 00:15:53,500 --> 00:15:56,100 than we do from dis are easy, easy successes. 309 00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:58,900 So, I absolutely Lutely. Want to hear about them? 310 00:15:58,900 --> 00:16:00,800 I want to see him. I don't take points off for 311 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:02,500 them. It's like, you celebrate them. 312 00:16:02,900 --> 00:16:06,000 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Which is so much different than 313 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:07,700 what we do normally in education. 314 00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:11,600 And I before I forget, you know, that was a very good piece of 315 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:14,200 advice that you give to your students in terms of, you know, 316 00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:16,400 I'm here for you. I'm supporting you. 317 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:18,800 If you fail, we're in this together. 318 00:16:19,100 --> 00:16:23,200 I think that can be used in your personal and everyday life that 319 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:25,000 can be used as a project manager. 320 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:30,100 Absolutely, I haven't heard a Manager kick off a project and 321 00:16:30,100 --> 00:16:33,600 say that I imagine it would be super impactful to actually use 322 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:37,600 that as your opening statement to your team, if your team knew 323 00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:42,000 that you were there, you know, through the good and the bad of 324 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:45,300 the project, if something hits us, it hits all of us, it 325 00:16:45,300 --> 00:16:48,700 doesn't just hit the project manager, the engineer or whoever 326 00:16:48,700 --> 00:16:50,600 that is on the team. I think that's a great piece of 327 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:52,100 advice. So thank you for that. 328 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:54,400 Absolutely, we're in this together. 329 00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:55,400 Okay. I think, right? 330 00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:56,300 Yes. Absolutely. 331 00:16:56,300 --> 00:16:58,800 The point. You talk a little bit about 332 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:02,000 budget, I'm curious there because it sounds like it's how 333 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:05,200 are the droids funded for the students? 334 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:07,500 And are they as part of the project? 335 00:17:07,500 --> 00:17:11,300 Having a track, their own budgets and, and timing and how 336 00:17:11,300 --> 00:17:14,099 they expand their themselves as a resource? 337 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:16,800 It's been up their own time. Yes. 338 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:19,200 And the amount of money that they spend on a project and it's 339 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:21,599 completely different depending upon project, got it. 340 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:24,300 Sometimes we will do a dance chart in kind of track 341 00:17:24,300 --> 00:17:27,300 everything out for each item, it's going to cost this amount 342 00:17:27,500 --> 00:17:30,700 and If it is a big enough project like say animatronic 343 00:17:30,700 --> 00:17:34,700 C-3PO or one of our Mouse droids or another bb-8, if we would 344 00:17:34,700 --> 00:17:37,400 build another one, we built two, that's too many we have enough 345 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:39,500 is. So when we do this big projects 346 00:17:39,500 --> 00:17:44,400 though, we get funding through a call sources the college. 347 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:47,100 My college will pay for it. We have grant funding that pays 348 00:17:47,100 --> 00:17:49,100 for these big projects. A lot of our big projects are 349 00:17:49,100 --> 00:17:53,100 Grant funded if it's big enough. I will fund a project if I'm 350 00:17:53,100 --> 00:17:54,800 just passionate about a student doing it. 351 00:17:55,100 --> 00:17:57,700 And, you know what? About half the time, man? 352 00:17:57,900 --> 00:18:01,600 A student will fund their own project because they're 353 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:05,400 passionate about it, if I find it, it stays in my clap, if the 354 00:18:05,408 --> 00:18:07,900 college fund, it's not mine. It's the college. 355 00:18:07,900 --> 00:18:10,900 Is it stays here? So, that's, that's the caveat. 356 00:18:10,900 --> 00:18:13,500 And so, if I'm a student right now, building a Dalek from 357 00:18:13,500 --> 00:18:17,600 Doctor Doctor Who he wants to keep this and take this home. 358 00:18:17,900 --> 00:18:23,100 He's been in my lab all summer. He graduated mind you literally 359 00:18:23,100 --> 00:18:25,300 last semester, he's been here all summer every Tuesday, 360 00:18:25,300 --> 00:18:28,600 Thursday, working, his Dalek, in my lap because You want to take 361 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:31,600 it home and that's just you just use comes in. 362 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:36,200 Yeah, I would be the same. I would want my own whatever 363 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:41,400 Droid I write build and take it home and you proud of it, right? 364 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:44,500 You, I think that's the accomplishment that goes with. 365 00:18:44,500 --> 00:18:48,700 Also being a project manager. You might not be the engineer 366 00:18:48,700 --> 00:18:52,300 who is making the thing function, or the designer who 367 00:18:52,300 --> 00:18:55,600 figured out how to make the mechanism fit into the, you 368 00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:59,800 know, she'll but you are a part Art of that, over our overall 369 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:03,100 process and ultimately you as a p.m., if you're actually 370 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:06,800 producing something that's tangible like this wouldn't you 371 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:10,000 want to take pride in that, you know, go to the store, buy your 372 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:12,000 product off the shelf or at least show it off to your 373 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:13,900 friends. So I can imagine these students 374 00:19:13,900 --> 00:19:18,000 would want to do the same thing. Yeah, they they get attached. 375 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:22,600 The the most recent example of probably is BB3 students built 376 00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:24,400 that answered three. Couldn't take it home. 377 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:27,200 It just sits in my lab, I currently brought it home so we 378 00:19:27,208 --> 00:19:29,900 can have it here. Today for this, nobody just sits 379 00:19:29,900 --> 00:19:32,300 my lab, and like a case that I protect it, so no one touches 380 00:19:32,300 --> 00:19:33,800 it, you know? And then the students have 381 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:35,000 graduated coming, they hug it for Lil Bit. 382 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:38,600 They leave, you know, so it but it's their Droid like, you know, 383 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:41,400 it's not going anyplace else, they built it, it's always going 384 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:45,100 to be there's, you know, it just sits there as a testament. 385 00:19:45,100 --> 00:19:48,700 A monument to what you can complete when you really just 386 00:19:48,700 --> 00:19:50,900 give it your all. Yeah, absolutely. 387 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:53,700 And you know, like you said, it's not easy. 388 00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:56,500 It's not an easy process. I want to dig in a little bit 389 00:19:56,500 --> 00:20:00,200 further into Problem solving and critical thinking and how you 390 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:03,800 kind of steer your students around that concept, you know, 391 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:08,000 it's it is probably the best thing I can do is the 392 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:10,800 individualized project-based instruction and so what I 393 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:12,700 primarily do in when it comes to critical thinking and 394 00:20:12,700 --> 00:20:17,400 problem-solving skills, it's all about getting a student to see a 395 00:20:17,408 --> 00:20:21,800 problem and fix a problem. So often we will go, we see a 396 00:20:21,808 --> 00:20:23,900 problem. I don't I don't know how to do 397 00:20:23,900 --> 00:20:27,000 this. Someone come help me and that's 398 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:29,200 the first thing. First reaction, a lot of people 399 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:31,200 have. And so my job is to figure out 400 00:20:31,208 --> 00:20:34,600 to asked us, lots of questions. Well, so what would you do next? 401 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:36,900 Well, hold on. It's not, my project is your 402 00:20:36,900 --> 00:20:39,000 project. So what would be our next step? 403 00:20:39,500 --> 00:20:41,700 What else would you do here? How do you think we can solve 404 00:20:41,700 --> 00:20:42,800 this? Remember when we covered this 405 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:45,200 Annex class? Do you think that could help you 406 00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:48,100 in this piece here? And if you someone just steps 407 00:20:48,100 --> 00:20:50,200 in, help somebody with that, they don't really learn anything 408 00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:52,800 to that process. Problem solving is all about you 409 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:56,000 taking ownership of a problem and seeing it to the end. 410 00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:57,700 And I know we're trying this a lot to process. 411 00:20:57,800 --> 00:20:59,300 Project management. But when you have people in your 412 00:20:59,300 --> 00:21:03,300 project and then when all they do is, go pick up a phone or 413 00:21:03,700 --> 00:21:06,600 just go, I don't know. That's not my job or that's not 414 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:09,900 my project and they don't take ownership of something, man. 415 00:21:09,900 --> 00:21:12,400 That's a big problem. Yeah, absolutely. 416 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:16,700 There's something about understanding, the steps it 417 00:21:16,700 --> 00:21:18,300 takes to actually solve the problem. 418 00:21:18,300 --> 00:21:21,800 I absolutely agree with you. It's something that if you're 419 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:24,800 not doing it already as a project manager, you should dig 420 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:27,600 in and know that. So that in the event, you hit 421 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:31,100 the Album again or you have to be the one teaching, somebody 422 00:21:31,100 --> 00:21:33,500 else. How to problem, solve that same 423 00:21:33,500 --> 00:21:38,000 issue you can do it and you can do it you know with confidence. 424 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:42,000 And I think that's really important you know no matter if 425 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:45,600 you're an employee in a project, if you're a student you know 426 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:49,400 whoever there's something that happens as you problem solve and 427 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:52,000 as you fix issues you gained a little confidence. 428 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:55,800 And and I see in my students all the time, I'll give an example 429 00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:58,600 of one of my my favorite It says, name is Ian. 430 00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:02,100 He was one of the bb-8, builders lot of work on that and when he 431 00:22:02,100 --> 00:22:05,500 finished bb-8, he literally couldn't wait to work on another 432 00:22:05,500 --> 00:22:07,200 project. You don't have another semester 433 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:11,200 so he built a mouse droid, a full-size mouse, droid and 434 00:22:11,300 --> 00:22:14,500 developed code for a sign language ASL glove. 435 00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:18,300 As he would sign with say what he was signing this. 436 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:22,100 He had a lot of confidence that he didn't have before and it was 437 00:22:22,100 --> 00:22:24,900 through those successes that drove him to that piece. 438 00:22:25,300 --> 00:22:28,500 That's great. And do you know if Your students 439 00:22:28,500 --> 00:22:32,800 continued use any of the tools or steps that you're outlining 440 00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:36,600 in terms of building that Gant understanding how to track 441 00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:38,800 risks? Do any of them take that forward 442 00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:40,100 with them? Oh, yeah. 443 00:22:40,100 --> 00:22:43,900 For those that you've kept in touch with, oh yeah, they go 444 00:22:43,900 --> 00:22:46,400 every which direction like my program is a computer technology 445 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:49,000 program so it's networking and cyber security programming 446 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:50,700 robotics. It really depends on what were 447 00:22:50,700 --> 00:22:55,000 they land, you know, if they're in a cloud-based server 448 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:57,400 environment and that's obviously going to be a lot of that kind 449 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,300 of game. Problems are gam-gam scales and 450 00:23:00,300 --> 00:23:01,600 so forth that they have to go through. 451 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:06,300 So yeah, what are percent. I teach a couple classes for and 452 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:10,100 in systems analysis piece, we track all that information so 453 00:23:10,900 --> 00:23:13,700 I'm sorry I'm curious. Are you formally trained in any 454 00:23:13,700 --> 00:23:16,100 way as a p.m.? Because you seem to know that 455 00:23:16,100 --> 00:23:20,500 all the tools that we utilize project files, or you just a fan 456 00:23:20,500 --> 00:23:23,000 of them of The Collector computer science program or so, 457 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:26,100 I have a degree and my Master's is Information Systems. 458 00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:32,000 Okay, so my My Master's final thesis project was to build a 459 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:36,100 mobile device database system for the same, a breast 460 00:23:36,100 --> 00:23:40,100 foundation and we develop that as a mobile platform device will 461 00:23:40,100 --> 00:23:42,300 platform for that organization. So you'll have some formal 462 00:23:42,300 --> 00:23:45,400 training and information systems which kind of tie a little bit 463 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:47,700 in the p.m. There's a few classes, I took 1 464 00:23:47,700 --> 00:23:52,100 p.m. so I don't teach a lot of it, we use it because it's 465 00:23:52,100 --> 00:23:56,400 valuable, you know what I mean? Yeah, if you don't do this kind 466 00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:59,400 of work, if I don't track this, This do some kind of plan, then 467 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:01,700 we just spin our wheels and we don't ever get there. 468 00:24:01,700 --> 00:24:04,700 You don't see any progress. If you see that progress, then 469 00:24:04,700 --> 00:24:07,800 you're just never going to effectively get there. 470 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:10,500 That's that's the critical piece for me and. 471 00:24:10,500 --> 00:24:14,600 And that is what this channel is all about dr. 472 00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:16,800 Montgomery, it really. Is, it's awesome. 473 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:19,900 It's when people are able to make that connection that the 474 00:24:19,900 --> 00:24:23,000 things that they leverage if they're doing something in their 475 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,900 everyday lives, they probably don't realize that it is in some 476 00:24:26,900 --> 00:24:28,900 ways tied to Dick management, right? 477 00:24:28,900 --> 00:24:32,200 And I think that is absolutely the reason why I started this 478 00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:35,800 community as because there's so many ties elsewhere. 479 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:40,300 I mean you're not a p.m. professional but you utilize a 480 00:24:40,300 --> 00:24:43,900 lot of the tools and the processes and things that we use 481 00:24:44,300 --> 00:24:46,900 for your classes as well. So I think that's amazing. 482 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:49,900 So I I realized we've gone through this interview by the 483 00:24:49,900 --> 00:24:53,000 way and I have not even said hello to your guests. 484 00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:57,600 That is very rude of me to not have asked. 485 00:24:57,700 --> 00:25:02,000 Asked R2-D2 and bb-8 to also, say hello to the audience. 486 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:07,900 Also lawyers are too R2 can say hi, that's awesome. 487 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:14,400 I think he's saying project management is cool. 488 00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:24,000 I love it. He's a little, he's a little 489 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:27,400 longer more longer when the bb-8 is and I can't really roll him 490 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:29,700 or he'll roll off the, the table here. 491 00:25:29,700 --> 00:25:33,100 So I don't want totally fine. Don't want to create that risk 492 00:25:33,100 --> 00:25:34,500 of. All right, right? 493 00:25:34,900 --> 00:25:38,700 Right. Is that something that the 494 00:25:38,700 --> 00:25:42,800 students also input themselves? Do they code the audio into the, 495 00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:45,800 the Droid and where they deliver those files come from? 496 00:25:46,300 --> 00:25:49,800 It will depends on the Droid. These both of these Droids are 497 00:25:50,100 --> 00:25:52,200 from the Droid Builder. He's okay. 498 00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:55,600 We pulled those audio files from people who have collected those 499 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:57,600 or of work those through and they guy goes through a 500 00:25:57,608 --> 00:26:00,400 committee process that gets part of the Droid Builders piece. 501 00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:03,300 It's actually the right, authentic sounds and those kind 502 00:26:03,300 --> 00:26:05,200 of things. So, you know, a lot of the stuff 503 00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:07,700 that you see that has come from the Droid building Community. 504 00:26:08,300 --> 00:26:10,000 It's come almost from lucasfilm, right? 505 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:12,500 So they've scanned differently, actual robots or they've worked 506 00:26:12,500 --> 00:26:15,200 with the actual engineers at do that, or those Engineers were 507 00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:19,500 from that Community, right? So yeah, getting my students 508 00:26:19,500 --> 00:26:21,200 connected to those kind of communities. 509 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:26,100 Is really a lot of fun from the mere fact that then they kind of 510 00:26:26,100 --> 00:26:29,700 get immersed in this, you know. So we have students, build Iron, 511 00:26:29,700 --> 00:26:31,900 Man, costumes, which the Iron Man builder's club. 512 00:26:31,900 --> 00:26:34,100 We've had students to build bb-8. 513 00:26:34,100 --> 00:26:38,300 For example, we've had students that built we're working on 514 00:26:38,300 --> 00:26:40,900 Wally for example. Like a full-scale wiley robot, I 515 00:26:40,900 --> 00:26:45,800 would totally build box. And what's really interesting is 516 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:49,100 you could reach out and social media to these these, you know, 517 00:26:49,100 --> 00:26:51,300 other Engineers. These other man. 518 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:55,300 Years and ask him a question and you'll be shocked how quickly 519 00:26:55,700 --> 00:26:57,900 sometimes comes back to music while you're doing this. 520 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:01,000 You're a student working here. Let me tell you all the things 521 00:27:01,300 --> 00:27:05,600 and it's really fun to watch that process play out. 522 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:07,300 Yeah. It sounds like such a great 523 00:27:07,300 --> 00:27:11,100 community and a lot of sharing, right and learning and and, and, 524 00:27:11,100 --> 00:27:14,200 and passing on of information, it's the same in project 525 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:17,100 management. Honestly, you know, a lot of 526 00:27:17,100 --> 00:27:20,100 what you learn is things that are passed on from another 527 00:27:20,100 --> 00:27:22,800 project manager. Because, hey, I went through 528 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:26,200 that same experience. I tried to build bb-8 and I hit 529 00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:28,800 X, Y and Z obstacles. And here's how I got around 530 00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:30,900 them. And it's those, the sharing and 531 00:27:30,900 --> 00:27:33,200 the learning between the community that I also think is 532 00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:36,500 such a beautiful thing. And I think is what will 533 00:27:36,500 --> 00:27:39,100 continue to progress at least your Droid building Community. 534 00:27:39,100 --> 00:27:42,700 If not also project management as well, it's that 535 00:27:42,700 --> 00:27:44,000 collaboration, right? Yeah. 536 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:46,900 If you're stuck on an island and you're trying to do it all by 537 00:27:46,900 --> 00:27:50,600 yourself, then you're going to have a real bad day of it, but 538 00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:53,100 can collaborate with People and understand that there's other 539 00:27:53,100 --> 00:27:55,300 people that may have a better way of doing that or different 540 00:27:55,300 --> 00:27:57,300 way of doing that. Then it's going to propel you to 541 00:27:57,300 --> 00:28:01,500 be more productive time. Management luck Stress 542 00:28:01,500 --> 00:28:06,400 Management is a critical skill to master and, you know, you 543 00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:09,000 don't wanna be spinning your wheels working on something that 544 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:11,600 you could find a solution one way or the other. 545 00:28:11,900 --> 00:28:17,200 And so it's it's really essential to plan out your day. 546 00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:20,100 The best way you possibly can. And I'm not sure if you still do 547 00:28:20,100 --> 00:28:22,500 this or you do this at all, but But I make notebooks, you 548 00:28:22,508 --> 00:28:25,100 probably can't see that of all of what I'm doing that day. 549 00:28:25,100 --> 00:28:27,000 Yeah. Mark it off as I can. 550 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:30,200 So my chair, my I've got my little dry erase board up here 551 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:33,000 with my list of to dues. It's one of the easiest p.m. 552 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:36,300 tools to use, right? It's so simple, right? 553 00:28:36,300 --> 00:28:38,600 That's just simple thing. But if you don't sit down and 554 00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:41,000 spend a little bit of time at the beginning of every, one of 555 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:45,000 your days and write out what you plan to accomplish that day, you 556 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,400 will just find yourself in the Netflix world or whatever, you 557 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:51,200 know. Or you know, just go doing too. 558 00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:54,600 Emails, I will tell you, I believe these from a project 559 00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:56,800 management standpoint. I was a director of technology 560 00:28:56,800 --> 00:28:58,500 for a school district for 13 years. 561 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:01,500 So I've done a lot of other big projects, multimillion-dollar 562 00:29:01,900 --> 00:29:03,500 school buildings and those kind of things. 563 00:29:03,900 --> 00:29:06,100 And I think one of the biggest waste of time that we get 564 00:29:06,100 --> 00:29:09,400 ourselves into is over, communicating in case is 565 00:29:09,408 --> 00:29:13,000 critical to, don't get me wrong, you can say what you need to say 566 00:29:13,100 --> 00:29:17,300 and make everyone to be aware, clear and concise communication? 567 00:29:17,700 --> 00:29:20,900 However, I think email, sometimes we spend a little 568 00:29:20,900 --> 00:29:22,500 money. Too much time in that 569 00:29:22,500 --> 00:29:26,400 environment and where we could be spending it on the project 570 00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:27,700 whatever we're supposed to be doing. 571 00:29:28,100 --> 00:29:30,700 So yeah, I think emails is a great tool. 572 00:29:31,900 --> 00:29:36,800 Moderation, which I feel like is a spin-off, a complete spin-off 573 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:40,300 of this podcast and you just had me thinking about, I need to do 574 00:29:40,300 --> 00:29:44,600 one on how to prioritize, right? Because that's absolutely right 575 00:29:44,700 --> 00:29:49,600 because when you take these analyses of, if I remember 576 00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:52,800 correctly, I forget the theory itself but if you spend your 577 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:57,300 time in Quadrant 4 which is emails and in non you know, 578 00:29:57,300 --> 00:30:00,900 priority test, you can find yourself doing that for 8 hours 579 00:30:00,900 --> 00:30:03,700 of your day. And not easily, never gotten to 580 00:30:03,700 --> 00:30:06,000 the top three things. You wanted to knock off of your 581 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:08,900 to-do list. So, agreed time, it's so 582 00:30:08,900 --> 00:30:11,900 important and something and just a very basic. 583 00:30:11,900 --> 00:30:16,200 And simple thing that you can do for yourself, is just to write a 584 00:30:16,208 --> 00:30:19,300 list every single day and check it off. 585 00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:22,100 Because, again, it feels good when you check things off your 586 00:30:22,100 --> 00:30:23,700 list. And I mentioned the same thing, 587 00:30:23,700 --> 00:30:26,300 goes when you check things off of your deliverables list for 588 00:30:26,300 --> 00:30:29,700 your, for your droids. Is that with each Milestone? 589 00:30:29,700 --> 00:30:31,500 You hit. It's a celebration in many ways. 590 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:35,200 Ways. Yeah you celebrate those times 591 00:30:35,500 --> 00:30:38,800 because you just never know how we're going to have them but if 592 00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:42,600 you are planning, if you are making those plans and to Mark 593 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:46,500 stuff off your list, put them in your Gantt charts, put them in 594 00:30:46,500 --> 00:30:48,700 your calendar systems, whatever you decide to use. 595 00:30:48,700 --> 00:30:52,500 Those kind of pieces, it will elevate your work because you 596 00:30:52,508 --> 00:30:55,100 can, you always assign a priority level to everything 597 00:30:55,100 --> 00:30:56,900 that you're doing and what's critical, what? 598 00:30:56,900 --> 00:30:59,500 Can wait until the next day? Do I need to communicate today 599 00:30:59,500 --> 00:31:01,500 on this email? Or can I wait a couple days one? 600 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:05,300 And then you spend time that matters on the time that you 601 00:31:05,300 --> 00:31:07,700 have the pieces there and schedule that time. 602 00:31:07,900 --> 00:31:11,600 You know, if you have four hours to work on this one thing, 603 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:15,900 great, spend that time little correct way, be in the right 604 00:31:15,900 --> 00:31:19,900 head space. I see all too often students and 605 00:31:19,900 --> 00:31:22,600 or people employees that used to work for me. 606 00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:26,800 They'll have distracting music play, they will have other 607 00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:29,500 things going on. They're not really as invested 608 00:31:29,500 --> 00:31:32,200 as they need to be. And I'm There's a lot of 609 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:35,300 theories on, you know how to be the right head space, but I can 610 00:31:35,300 --> 00:31:37,800 tell you, I just finished my dissertation not too long ago. 611 00:31:38,100 --> 00:31:40,000 Oh congratulations, I cannot write. 612 00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:42,100 Thank you. I cannot write at all to any 613 00:31:42,100 --> 00:31:44,800 music that has words in it because all sudden the words are 614 00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:46,500 coming out in the piece of paper, right? 615 00:31:46,700 --> 00:31:48,800 There's got to be some, some other kind of music in the 616 00:31:48,808 --> 00:31:50,600 background, some sort of worst time. 617 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:51,800 We've. Yeah, yeah. 618 00:31:52,100 --> 00:31:53,600 There you go. Yeah, exactly. 619 00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:56,600 Just have John Williams playing the entire site. 620 00:31:56,800 --> 00:32:00,400 I sure that is very inspiring are also very suspenseful as 621 00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:03,200 you're trying to type up here. Dissertation there. 622 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:06,400 But a good source of inspiration. 623 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:07,800 Right? Right. 624 00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:10,500 My students, unfortunately, get hit with that during test time, 625 00:32:10,500 --> 00:32:13,500 I'll be playing John Williams music in the, or the speaker's, 626 00:32:13,500 --> 00:32:16,200 whether taking a test or finals or something like that. 627 00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:18,900 Yeah, they did this understand it comes with the territory with 628 00:32:18,900 --> 00:32:21,100 with me. So I have to do it. 629 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:25,000 Well, and as an inch, you know, as a professor, I'm sure being 630 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:28,000 in this climate that we're in right now, right. 631 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:30,800 In the midst of pandemic, people are doing a lot of things 632 00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:34,200 remotely. Keeping focused like you said is 633 00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:36,300 really really challenging for students. 634 00:32:36,300 --> 00:32:38,400 I imagine who. Yeah. 635 00:32:38,500 --> 00:32:42,400 You know, if they're not physically in a classroom that's 636 00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:46,300 one thing that can really take them off, focus, the other piece 637 00:32:46,300 --> 00:32:49,900 of the this where I'm going with this is you traditionally work 638 00:32:49,900 --> 00:32:54,700 in a lab so has that taken away from the focus of your students. 639 00:32:54,700 --> 00:32:57,200 You know, have have they had to do things remotely. 640 00:32:57,500 --> 00:32:59,900 Yeah. When the pandemic started hit 641 00:32:59,900 --> 00:33:01,600 spring semester for us and we had to go full. 642 00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:05,400 Remove, I end up taking projects, the kids homes and 643 00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:08,500 dropping stuff off. There was a ton of work on me to 644 00:33:08,500 --> 00:33:13,700 finish up what we were doing and then and then we started a new 645 00:33:13,700 --> 00:33:16,600 fall semester still in the middle of the pandemic and we 646 00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:19,700 matched up and you know the vaccine was shortly after that 647 00:33:19,700 --> 00:33:24,600 thankfully and we did it as social distance and did a lot of 648 00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:28,700 things I normally can do. So I didn't set me back too far 649 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:32,100 but we were able to do a few things and Thing really 650 00:33:32,100 --> 00:33:34,300 interesting. I did during the pandemic start 651 00:33:34,300 --> 00:33:37,200 was we got kind of shut down and I had access to a lot of 3D 652 00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:40,600 printers, so I built a nonprofit organization called so Mac. 653 00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:43,300 The Southern Ohio makers against covid Coalition, and we built 654 00:33:43,300 --> 00:33:47,900 five thousand free face Shields. Wow, anyone in Southern Ohio and 655 00:33:47,900 --> 00:33:49,700 delivered him through all of Southern Ohio. 656 00:33:49,700 --> 00:33:52,900 I had a total of, I think 60 Educators around, southern Ohio 657 00:33:52,900 --> 00:33:55,200 Printing and delivering them, and we build them, and take them 658 00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:58,700 places, so that's amazing. We spend our time pretty pretty 659 00:33:58,700 --> 00:34:00,700 effectively there at the beginning of the pandemic. 660 00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:05,100 But it has been a challenge. I was just told today through an 661 00:34:05,100 --> 00:34:07,000 email from my president that we're going to have to require 662 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:12,199 masks again here on Friday. I'm really bummed I understand. 663 00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:15,100 But I'm bummed, of course. I want to be done. 664 00:34:15,100 --> 00:34:18,000 You know what I mean? Well, it goes with the whole 665 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:22,000 being flexible with as things change, right? 666 00:34:22,100 --> 00:34:24,500 Right. I was frustrated, but it's going 667 00:34:24,500 --> 00:34:25,900 to be okay. I'm flexible. 668 00:34:25,900 --> 00:34:29,500 I'll adapt to this and I will find ways for our students to 669 00:34:29,500 --> 00:34:30,900 do. Really fun cool. 670 00:34:31,699 --> 00:34:35,300 As projects and teach them all the skills necessary for them to 671 00:34:35,300 --> 00:34:38,400 be successful in life. I am just so, you know, in awe 672 00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:40,100 of what you do, dr. Montgomery. 673 00:34:40,100 --> 00:34:45,199 I mean considering you you did a TED Talk in the middle of the 674 00:34:45,199 --> 00:34:48,500 pandemic which I highly encourage everyone to check out. 675 00:34:48,500 --> 00:34:50,699 I watched it was awesome. Well thank you so much. 676 00:34:50,699 --> 00:34:54,600 Those droids moving too which is cool the droids moved around 677 00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:57,600 with me on the Ted stage you know when you set up a tedtalk 678 00:34:57,600 --> 00:34:59,300 it's fully scripted. I'm not sure if you know that 679 00:34:59,300 --> 00:35:01,600 they make you fully memorize a script, you get a script code. 680 00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:04,000 Can you go through that whole process takes about half a year 681 00:35:04,300 --> 00:35:06,200 to go through a building, a TED talk. 682 00:35:06,900 --> 00:35:09,800 A lot of fun learned a lot but I did that talk to an empty 683 00:35:09,800 --> 00:35:11,100 audience. There was no one there. 684 00:35:11,300 --> 00:35:14,700 I'm talking at Red exit signs. As I'm looking at through that, 685 00:35:14,700 --> 00:35:17,800 that talk, there's five camerman and sound people and makeup 686 00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:20,900 people in that kind of stuff there and they're all Mast, but 687 00:35:20,900 --> 00:35:23,000 they let me take a mask off to do the talk. 688 00:35:23,500 --> 00:35:26,700 And, you know, there's no one laughing at your jokes. 689 00:35:26,700 --> 00:35:28,000 You know. You said a couple jokes when 690 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:29,500 you're thinking about doing this. 691 00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:33,100 No jokes, no one laughed at him. Least, so I laughed at my jokes. 692 00:35:34,500 --> 00:35:37,600 I laugh at your jokes but you didn't hear me because I was in 693 00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:42,300 the audience, but I mean, accomplishments are insane for 694 00:35:42,300 --> 00:35:43,900 you. And I again, I'm in awe of 695 00:35:43,900 --> 00:35:48,700 everything that you've done, I, you are probably an amazing 696 00:35:48,700 --> 00:35:51,500 Professor, although I have not had the honor of taking your 697 00:35:51,500 --> 00:35:55,100 class, he's build Droid, so you are awesome. 698 00:35:55,100 --> 00:35:58,500 In terms of the fact that you love Star Wars and you go out to 699 00:35:58,500 --> 00:36:01,300 the community and you try to do good, I don't know what else is 700 00:36:01,300 --> 00:36:02,900 good. There's the say that it's not 701 00:36:03,100 --> 00:36:06,800 anything about you doctor and you so much mind you as our 702 00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:10,400 first guest, you know, on the YouTube platform as well. 703 00:36:10,400 --> 00:36:12,800 So thanks for joining the everyday p.m. podcast. 704 00:36:13,500 --> 00:36:16,500 I'm honored to be here. I'm glad I reached out to you. 705 00:36:16,500 --> 00:36:19,300 I saw that you were doing these. I'm like, you know, I think I 706 00:36:19,300 --> 00:36:22,100 have something to, to share as well and in this community, in 707 00:36:22,100 --> 00:36:25,000 this space. And, you know, thank you so much 708 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:27,100 for having me on and you absolutely do. 709 00:36:27,100 --> 00:36:30,700 I mean without even having the professional, you know, letters 710 00:36:30,700 --> 00:36:33,500 after your name, You know so much about project management. 711 00:36:33,500 --> 00:36:36,700 And again that's this community in this channel is all about. 712 00:36:36,700 --> 00:36:39,300 So thank you for joining me. Is there anything else you 713 00:36:39,300 --> 00:36:42,400 wanted to kind of impart on our audience that you didn't get to 714 00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:44,600 say? You know I think I covered 715 00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:46,900 pretty much everything that I want to say. 716 00:36:47,500 --> 00:36:51,900 Just understand B+. Celebrate those failures. 717 00:36:52,700 --> 00:36:54,700 Yeah, agreed. And dr. 718 00:36:54,700 --> 00:36:57,000 Montgomery is there to support you along the way. 719 00:36:57,200 --> 00:37:01,300 Hi call me. Anytime that will do it for IT 720 00:37:01,300 --> 00:37:02,100 doctor. Camry. 721 00:37:02,100 --> 00:37:05,500 And I in this installment of the everyday p.m. podcast, if folks 722 00:37:05,500 --> 00:37:07,500 want to continue the conversation with you dr. 723 00:37:07,500 --> 00:37:12,400 Montgomery on Droid building project management, whatever 724 00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:14,400 else that you want to talk to him about. 725 00:37:14,500 --> 00:37:17,800 Where can they find you online? You can find me on Twitter, they 726 00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:20,600 can find me on LinkedIn and you can find me on Twitter on 727 00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:22,800 Facebook. So I think it's that Twitter's 728 00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:25,000 1j Montgomery 4 5 1, 2 3. I think. 729 00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:29,000 I'm friends with an same LinkedIn and look me up. 730 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:32,800 I'm always posting our latest projects on Twitter and on 731 00:37:32,900 --> 00:37:35,300 LinkedIn showing off what our students are doing, or something 732 00:37:35,300 --> 00:37:37,900 that I'm doing. I'm proud of to get out to the 733 00:37:37,908 --> 00:37:39,500 community. So I feel bad. 734 00:37:39,500 --> 00:37:40,900 I feel very honored to do what I do. 735 00:37:40,900 --> 00:37:43,700 So look me up. Yeah, absolutely. 736 00:37:43,700 --> 00:37:47,600 And hopefully we will actually connect in person at Star Wars 737 00:37:47,900 --> 00:37:50,500 or we're gonna be great. I'm doing a couple lectures of 738 00:37:50,500 --> 00:37:52,500 Star Wars celebration. I was asked to be on the 739 00:37:52,500 --> 00:37:55,700 animatronic C-3PO panel. I Star Wars celebration Anaheim 740 00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:57,700 with a couple other big Droid Builders. 741 00:37:57,700 --> 00:38:02,000 I'm taking my students with me to sell ourselves Raishin as 742 00:38:02,008 --> 00:38:06,700 well and I'm also doing 2 lectures on a mini R2D2 Dome 743 00:38:06,700 --> 00:38:09,900 that students can come in. And by the end of class I will 744 00:38:09,900 --> 00:38:12,700 teach a student how to fully program Motors and lights and a 745 00:38:12,707 --> 00:38:15,500 little mini are to do so I should be a lot of fun. 746 00:38:15,500 --> 00:38:18,000 So cool. So yeah I'm definitely looking 747 00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:21,300 forward to if you are all going to be at Star Wars celebration, 748 00:38:21,300 --> 00:38:26,100 please definitely check out dr. Montgomery's panels or find them 749 00:38:26,100 --> 00:38:29,100 online if you want to talk further, I'm also on LinkedIn. 750 00:38:29,100 --> 00:38:30,400 You can also find me on LinkedIn. 751 00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:33,000 Make sure you click subscribe. Subscribe and like to this 752 00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:35,500 videos. First time I get to say that as 753 00:38:35,500 --> 00:38:39,100 well support the everyday p.m. podcast by giving us a five star 754 00:38:39,100 --> 00:38:42,400 review on Apple podcasts or whatever podcasting platform 755 00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:45,900 that you use, we're on Spotify. Google Play pretty much all of 756 00:38:45,908 --> 00:38:49,000 them. I think so, as well as now, this 757 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:51,500 YouTube channel. So, thank you so much for 758 00:38:51,500 --> 00:38:54,200 joining me, dr. Montgomery, and those joining us 759 00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:56,000 online. Thank you for listening and 760 00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:59,800 watching as well. And until next time, take care 761 00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:01,000 and May the force be with you.