1 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:07,240 Welcome to the Everyday PM Podcasts, the podcast where we 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:10,040 discuss project management principles for your everyday 3 00:00:10,040 --> 00:00:12,280 life. My name is Anne Campia, I'm the 4 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:15,480 host and founder of the Everyday PM, and I'm so excited to 5 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:18,800 welcome our very special guest, Rachel Losser, who is the 6 00:00:19,080 --> 00:00:22,440 founder and managing partner over at Losser Consulting 7 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:24,800 Solutions. We're going to get into exactly 8 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:28,520 what you do there, but I know it is project management driven and 9 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:31,080 I don't want to give away any of the questions I have for you 10 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:32,600 today. So Rachel, welcome to the 11 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:34,640 podcast. And for those who have not met 12 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:37,120 you yet, please take a brief moment to introduce yourself to 13 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:41,040 our audience. OK, yes, and thank you. 14 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:42,880 Hello. Thank you so much for having me 15 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:44,920 again. So excited to be here. 16 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:46,960 And you know, we've been going back and forth, so I'm so 17 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,920 excited we can make this happen. So I've been doing project 18 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:54,920 management my entire career. I've worked in a lot of 19 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:57,880 different segments and industries, worked with a lot of 20 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:01,120 different teams, and really that was kind of the driving force 21 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:05,239 behind wanting to start the company in the 1st place is I 22 00:01:05,239 --> 00:01:08,160 have this wealth of experience and every time I walk into a 23 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:11,760 room of project managers, it seems like there were still 24 00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:15,000 basic things or think things that I consider to be very 25 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:17,280 intuitive that weren't always happening. 26 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:22,600 So I just kind of implemented and took from my career and 27 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:24,400 started the firm and it's been really great. 28 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:28,320 So we do project management kind of across the board in a lot of 29 00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:32,320 different scale, but primarily working with large corporations 30 00:01:32,320 --> 00:01:35,760 for like big mission critical projects. 31 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:39,520 I I can't wait to dig in there. You're the absolute perfect fit 32 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:41,960 for our audience and I'm very grateful for your time. 33 00:01:41,960 --> 00:01:44,280 Today we're going to talk about cutting through the fluff. 34 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:48,880 And I know your team, especially on it's, it's definitely 35 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:52,000 publicized on your website as well, but you, you call 36 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:54,880 yourselves the get Shit done group. 37 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:58,120 And I love that about you and, and the group that you have 38 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:02,800 there in terms of just a very real way of saying that's what 39 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:04,720 we do as project managers, right? 40 00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:08,080 So it's super refreshing to hear that in terms of, you know, we 41 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:11,039 always hear the corporate jargon of like, I don't know how we're 42 00:02:11,039 --> 00:02:14,360 described where the project management service, a group or 43 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:17,520 agency or the project management office, but the get shit done 44 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:20,600 group, I freaking love that. So can you walk us through what 45 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:23,360 this philosophy actually looks like in practice? 46 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:26,000 I mean, and start with, how did you even come up with it? 47 00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:32,080 Yeah, I mean, I kind of love get shit done because that's kind of 48 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:35,160 my personality. I'm very like impatient when it 49 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:39,600 comes to results and getting things done and, you know, 50 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:42,240 waiting for things to happen. I think that's why I've really 51 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:46,560 loved having our own firm, our own organization, because we can 52 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:49,920 just move as fast as we want to. So that's been really, really 53 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:54,000 nice and positive when it comes to getting shit done. 54 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:58,480 To me, it's less project management and what we've kind 55 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:02,040 of been referring to as total project delivery. 56 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:05,480 So it's more than just managing the project. 57 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:08,880 It's really like rolling up your sleeves and doing whatever it's 58 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:11,520 going to take to get the project over the finish line. 59 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:16,080 And you know, when it comes to doing that in practice, that can 60 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:18,960 be a variety of different things, you know, when it's 61 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:21,240 actually being implemented. But my favorite thing to say 62 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:24,840 that we don't do as part of kind of get shit done mentality is we 63 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:28,560 don't do death by PowerPoint. Like if you're going to, if 64 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:31,080 we're going to share slides, you know, those are kind of a 65 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:34,520 standard part of projects and updates and things like that. 66 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:37,040 But if we're going to share slides, it's going to just be 67 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:40,040 the information that you need and it's going to be pretty 68 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:41,960 straightforward. We don't need to like write up 69 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:44,280 novel, you know, on the slides kind of thing. 70 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:47,600 So those are just like it's just little, it's little things in 71 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:50,600 what we do that I think help kind of stack up and make the 72 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:53,160 impact. Rachel's funny because I think 73 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:56,320 it's a total giveaway of what generation you grew up in, in 74 00:03:56,320 --> 00:04:00,080 terms of project management. Because I heard if you use 75 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:04,600 PowerPoint deck now, then people automatically know what PM 76 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:09,440 generation age you kind of fall into where I've been told I need 77 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:12,200 to start calling it slides or slide decks or something like 78 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:13,680 that. So it's funny that you, you, you 79 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:17,079 call out, you know, death by PowerPoint and you really get 80 00:04:17,079 --> 00:04:20,399 through in terms of what we do as project managers. 81 00:04:20,399 --> 00:04:24,400 So I'm curious in terms of, and I warned you that I would 82 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:26,880 probably divert from what I sent you in terms of our outline. 83 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:30,760 But you know, the fact that you're a female project manager 84 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:33,440 who has decided to kind of go off on your own, create this 85 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:36,760 consulting firm, it is highly commendable, especially for 86 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:39,760 somebody like me who sits in a very similar role as a female in 87 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:42,200 project management. So why don't we just take a step 88 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:44,120 back? What led you to wanting to do 89 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:46,920 this on your own instead of, you know, kind of joining corporate 90 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:49,400 America? Yeah, thank you. 91 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:52,600 I mean, I did, I spent a lot of time in corporate America and I, 92 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:57,320 I honestly fell in love with consulting from just kind of 93 00:04:57,320 --> 00:05:02,080 doing a small consulting project kind of before I started the 94 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:05,720 firm. And I really fell in love with 95 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:08,360 the difference in the power dynamic as sort of being like a 96 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:12,880 citizen project manager in a company versus being sort of the 97 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:16,200 expert that got called upon to help solve this problem. 98 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:19,000 And some of the things that I really love about it is, you 99 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:21,880 know, as a citizen project manager, I was spent a lot of 100 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:24,800 time sort of building business cases and trying to convince 101 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:27,720 people that the projects actually have to even happen in 102 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:31,400 the 1st place versus as a consultant most of the time that 103 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:34,160 all that decision has been made. And sometimes, you know, I'm 104 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:38,360 walking and there's two years of thinking about it to the moment 105 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:40,520 that they've actually decided to pull the trigger and do the 106 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:42,880 project. So I've loved it from the sense 107 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:46,800 that, you know, we can really just kind of run and help drive 108 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:50,200 results and help, yeah, get shit done, if you will, you know, So 109 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:53,400 I really loved that side of it. That's awesome. 110 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:54,720 I love that. Thank you for sharing that. 111 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:58,360 I was, I was genuinely curious and also like I said, in 112 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:01,400 admiration of what you do. So can, can you share an, a 113 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:03,920 specific example that your firm has worked on? 114 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:06,680 Maybe it's a project or an experience where you had to cut 115 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:11,160 through the fluff and basically drag a mission critical project 116 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:13,840 across the finish line, because it sounds like that's ultimately 117 00:06:13,840 --> 00:06:19,280 where you come in. Yeah, I jokingly say that I get 118 00:06:19,280 --> 00:06:23,360 called into a lot of like SOS cases, if you will, where 119 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:26,720 there's already been some work that's done and they can't 120 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:31,240 really find their way out of it. And they, you know, through my 121 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:34,080 network or just through other work that we've done, you know, 122 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:36,240 I might get tapped on the shoulder of someone on my team 123 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:41,520 to go help save the situation. And that is the number one 124 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:46,160 instance I'll say of cut the fluff because I don't have time 125 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:49,600 nor does the client for me to sit there and go back through 126 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,600 all of the history. I have to be have a really, 127 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:56,160 really discerning eye to what is important. 128 00:06:56,680 --> 00:06:59,600 What do I need to dig into? What do I need to just say the 129 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:02,360 past is the past and kind of let that go. 130 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:04,760 So that's kind of cutting through the fluff for me. 131 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:07,760 And then same thing when it comes to cutting through the 132 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:12,800 fluff of a client. Oftentimes, you know, everyone I 133 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:16,240 think is guilty of this, that your own situation feels very 134 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:18,240 complex and feels really complicated. 135 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:21,840 And it can be hard to imagine that someone could come in and 136 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:24,560 just completely simplify, you know, something that you're 137 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:26,320 working on. So I think a good example of 138 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:31,520 this is we have a client where the project managers are 139 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:33,960 responsible for a lot of the work being divvied out and they 140 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:37,680 really couldn't get to a reasonable list of, of 141 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:41,360 departments and request types, you know, to even like start the 142 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:43,760 conversation and get that process up and running. 143 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:48,320 And it just took a couple calls of us sitting down and digging 144 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:51,760 into it and explaining or, you know, sharing our philosophy 145 00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:54,360 about why it is. And we seriously, I mean, we 146 00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:57,760 took, we, they had spent probably a year and a half 147 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:02,000 trying to figure this out and had a list of like 50 request 148 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:04,200 types. And after a couple calls with 149 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:06,960 us, we got it done to like, you know, a core 7 or 8. 150 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:10,400 And then like this, there's like a second step of triage to get 151 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:12,800 like the other details they were looking for, you know? 152 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:15,400 And that's what I mean when it's like, cut through the fluff, 153 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:19,920 just simplify it and try to put some strict structure and 154 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:23,440 systems you know in place for even just the way you think 155 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:26,360 about doing things. Gosh, it's just, yes, that's 156 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:29,920 such a great example of where the kind of the people side of 157 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:32,960 the business and the technology side of the business kind of 158 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:35,760 merge. And then it becomes this maybe 159 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:39,159 ambiguous grey space that people, once you're kind of in 160 00:08:39,159 --> 00:08:43,320 there and in the way that you're describing it, it just becomes, 161 00:08:44,680 --> 00:08:47,840 I don't even know what the right word is insurmountable sometimes 162 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:51,000 because it has kind of compounded into this big thing 163 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:53,520 that you can't figure out what direction to go in. 164 00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:57,480 And the way that you described it was was really well said in 165 00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:01,440 terms of just wade through and get through back to the point of 166 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:03,960 the core of what the project was supposed to be, right? 167 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:07,040 And it sounds that easy. But of course that's the reason 168 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:10,360 why you're consulting firm exist, I'm sure is because a lot 169 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:13,000 of organizations find themselves in that place where they've kind 170 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:17,360 of essentially lost control and let the fluff kind of take over 171 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:20,360 the project. So let's talk a little bit about 172 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:24,040 building processes that scale because you know, we're talking 173 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:26,760 about example where you have the people side of the business and 174 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:30,280 the technology side and where consultants can come in and 175 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:33,280 literally clear out some of that fluff that's come in. 176 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:37,600 So in terms of an example of building processes at scale, how 177 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:39,760 are you helping organizations do that? 178 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:43,680 Do you have an example where you've really helped somebody in 179 00:09:43,680 --> 00:09:47,240 that space as well as, you know, problem solving kind of maybe 180 00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:50,520 there's a framework or something that you can share with us that 181 00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:53,600 you've used to help organizations even after you're 182 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:56,080 done with the work that you've you've come in to do? 183 00:09:57,680 --> 00:10:01,720 Yeah, I mean definitely when it comes to building processes that 184 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:04,560 scale, First off, I'll say we're doing it for ourselves. 185 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:08,000 So we're kind of living and testing things out in our own 186 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:11,040 firm and we've only, you know, we're we're coming up on the two 187 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:14,560 year mark pretty soon. But just in terms of, you know, 188 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:16,600 thank you, thank you. But just in terms of being able 189 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:19,240 to test things out ourselves, you know, I think it really 190 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:22,080 helps to have a team that lives and practices what we preach 191 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:24,960 when it comes to actually creating scalability for 192 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:30,600 organizations that we work with. We're always thinking about how 193 00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:35,560 do we marry up processes and enabling tools and making sure 194 00:10:35,560 --> 00:10:39,440 that they're both in harmony and sustainable and really thinking 195 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:43,480 a lot about, you know, I would say like a lot of traditional 196 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:46,200 process folks will just say, hey, this is the process, this 197 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:49,240 is what you have to follow kind of sign seal delivered. 198 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:53,120 And we really take a different approach to say, what is the 199 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:56,160 history here? How do these people normally 200 00:10:56,160 --> 00:10:58,120 interact? What is everyone's skill level? 201 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:01,720 You know, there's like so many considerations that go into 202 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:05,400 building something that is scalable and something that can 203 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:07,920 be maintained. So, you know, we're thinking 204 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:11,080 about how do we get, you know, some kind of processes and 205 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:13,400 structure in place? And then we're also thinking 206 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:18,000 about, OK, if they were two 3X or 5X, you know, go through the 207 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:21,560 thought exercise, would this still be something that's 208 00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:23,760 feasible? Is this still how I would do the 209 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:25,600 setup? You know, and so it just takes 210 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:29,600 being really thoughtful and intentional upfront to be able 211 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:33,280 to go forth and kind of put in the scalable systems that you 212 00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:35,160 want. And often times people want to 213 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:39,560 skip that step and just go right to doing something cool or, you 214 00:11:39,560 --> 00:11:42,080 know, making an improvement. And so there's always, I think, 215 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:45,200 a little bit of a balance of how do I make a quick improvement 216 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:48,120 now, but then how do I set myself up for success in the 217 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:51,000 long term. And and what I love about what 218 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:55,120 you said is you are looking at it really as an integrated 219 00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:58,400 concept, right? And that every situation you're 220 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:01,600 brought into is, is different and unique in its own way. 221 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:05,040 So a lot of these larger consulting firms, they come in 222 00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:08,200 and they have a prescribed methodology or framework and 223 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:11,000 say, this is what we do. And they do that over and over 224 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:13,960 and over again, where it sounds like you come in with that 225 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:18,240 intention to learn what's going on, understand that it's going 226 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:21,680 to be unique in that situation. And I think that's, that's 227 00:12:21,680 --> 00:12:24,680 awesome because a lot of consulting firms don't do that. 228 00:12:24,680 --> 00:12:28,840 They don't take the people side, the tech side and whatever other 229 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:32,080 elements exist within the organization and, and look at 230 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:33,560 them. They typically look at them in 231 00:12:33,560 --> 00:12:36,160 isolation of each other or they only look at one part, whether 232 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:38,600 it's the people side, the change management side, or the tech 233 00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:41,000 side. And it sounds like you do it all 234 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:44,680 and you kind of come in there with that that frame of mind. 235 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:48,000 100% thank you for noticing and for saying that. 236 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:52,040 And I cannot tell you the amount of times I have come in to help 237 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:55,880 clean up whatever copy paste activity happened from another 238 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:58,240 Consulting Group. Like there's a difference 239 00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:02,120 between applying what I would consider to be kind of a tool 240 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:04,920 kit, you know, and and bringing our tool kit with us and 241 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:08,920 learnings from one organization to another versus kind of just 242 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:12,080 blatant copy paste. I'm going to ignore any 243 00:13:12,080 --> 00:13:16,040 tailoring or anything that's specific to the nuance of that 244 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:18,360 organization. You know, if you want to be 245 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:22,200 successful and if you want to do right by that group, you have to 246 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:25,120 take it all into account. That's that's beautiful. 247 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:29,720 Have you and you don't have to give away any identifiable 248 00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:31,520 information. You don't even have to answer 249 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:33,480 this because this is just a question just came up in my 250 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:35,520 mind. Is it sounds like just like a 251 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:37,840 doctor comes in and prescribes their patient, right. 252 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:40,440 Every patient's unique. Have you had a situation you've 253 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:43,840 been asked to come into and said, I don't know. 254 00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:48,000 I don't know that I have a solution for this, This is not 255 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:49,960 going to work. Has there been anything that 256 00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:53,160 you've looked at and said? I just, you guys have tangled 257 00:13:53,160 --> 00:13:56,880 yourself so much so that I don't even know what to prescribe 258 00:13:56,880 --> 00:14:00,440 first. Well, what I will say is we're 259 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:03,800 pretty selective about what clients we choose to work with. 260 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:10,240 There's a lot of lower cost, you know, consultants all over the 261 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:13,000 place that can help organizations. 262 00:14:13,560 --> 00:14:17,680 We're not going to be the Super high volume, you know, kind of 263 00:14:17,680 --> 00:14:19,920 like I was saying, kind of copy paste house. 264 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:23,440 So because of that, we're very, very selective in who we choose 265 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:25,520 to work with. And so I wouldn't say there's 266 00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:28,920 ever been sort of an unsolvable problem, if you will, but 267 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:31,920 there's definitely been clients where I just don't think their 268 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:35,720 mindset is right to work with us and they think that they're 269 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:37,960 ready for the change. But maybe we start a little bit 270 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:41,360 down that path or, you know, we start to ask questions about 271 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:44,440 what it would look like to work together and they're just not 272 00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:48,840 really ready to hear expertise or be a part of the solution 273 00:14:48,840 --> 00:14:51,960 together. So yeah, there's definitely been 274 00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:55,000 times where I say not every client is for us and that is 275 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:57,760 completely OK. That totally makes sense. 276 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:01,840 Thank you for sharing that. And are there any, I hate using 277 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:04,240 the word mistakes, but perhaps that's the best word here. 278 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:07,200 But are there any common trends or mistakes that you've seen in 279 00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:10,080 terms of companies, organizations that have tried to 280 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:14,520 build processes at scale? And what are you picking up on 281 00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:17,320 in terms of the the clients that you have worked with so far? 282 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:21,360 Yeah, I would echo that. I would hate to call it a 283 00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:24,880 mistake because I just feel like there's common challenges that 284 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:28,360 everyone is struggling with and everyone's navigating it as best 285 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:31,280 they can. I think I would say some common, 286 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:37,040 you know, mistakes or things that could happen that send 287 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:41,560 folks down the wrong path is not being intentional and thoughtful 288 00:15:41,560 --> 00:15:44,200 about, you know, who they're choosing to work with or what 289 00:15:44,200 --> 00:15:45,760 tools they're choosing to work with. 290 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:49,840 I think a common, really common example that we come across is 291 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:54,960 some executive three years ago sat in a sales pitch and thought 292 00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:56,720 that this tool was really flashy. 293 00:15:56,920 --> 00:15:58,680 And, you know, they've been making it work. 294 00:15:58,680 --> 00:16:00,920 You know, they implemented it. They've been making it work for 295 00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:02,480 a while. And then we're being brought in 296 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:05,280 sort of, you know, a couple years later and everybody's 297 00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:07,200 saying, I don't really know why we did this. 298 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:08,760 It hasn't really been working for us. 299 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:11,400 Maybe we want to look at something else, you know, So I 300 00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:15,520 definitely would say as much as it's, it can be difficult, you 301 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:18,400 know, try to avoid the flashy sales pitch and, you know, 302 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:21,280 really think about what you what you need out of a tool. 303 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:29,200 Another, you know, common mistake I think is there is 304 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:32,000 definitely sometimes a philosophy that if I hire a 305 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:35,160 consultant, they're just going to come in and fix everything 306 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:38,320 for me and I don't need to do anything right. 307 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:43,520 And especially when it comes to building processes there, there 308 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:46,680 really is no substitute. You know, I'm kind of talking to 309 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:49,840 department heads, I'm talking to founders, I'm talking to 310 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:53,040 executives. Like the ownership still is 311 00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:55,720 going to lie with you. Now, my team operates with a 312 00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:58,440 very high degree of accountability, and we are happy 313 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:01,360 to make a lot of decisions. But at the end of the day, you 314 00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:05,400 know, this is your process, it's your thing that we're 315 00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:08,800 implementing, you know, and there's really no shortcut to 316 00:17:09,599 --> 00:17:12,040 just being involved in kind of doing the work with us. 317 00:17:12,319 --> 00:17:14,520 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. That's awesome. 318 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:19,160 And, and you know, when I look across the, the plethora of 319 00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:23,400 services that loss or consulting solutions provides for 320 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:27,280 organizations, I mean, you're, it's across the board, you know, 321 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:29,800 it's not just project management, but it's areas that 322 00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:31,760 we touch as project managers, right? 323 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:36,160 So obviously I didn't bring you on to do a pitch of the firm. 324 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:39,400 I would love to highlight what you guys do there because there 325 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:43,520 are, like you mentioned, project management consulting solutions 326 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:45,520 out there. But can you talk a little bit 327 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:48,720 about some of your, your favorite services that you guys 328 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:51,760 provide? Or maybe there's a use case that 329 00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:54,080 you would be willing to share in terms of success? 330 00:17:55,120 --> 00:17:58,880 Yeah. You know, I feel like a lot of 331 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:04,880 the services that we offer are kind of all saying the same 332 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:08,400 thing in different ways, which is like creating structure and 333 00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:11,600 accountability. And genuinely, even though we 334 00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:14,880 are doing all these things, like my favorite thing is still just 335 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:18,320 kind of true project management and running projects. 336 00:18:19,360 --> 00:18:24,240 So I would say when it comes to creating accountability in a 337 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:28,320 project or a project management office or any kind of business 338 00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:32,960 transformation, that's probably my favorite just because there's 339 00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:36,120 so many different ways that you can do it. 340 00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:38,600 There's so many people that are usually involved. 341 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:43,360 I just really enjoy those kind of big messy projects, if you 342 00:18:43,360 --> 00:18:47,560 will, that get, you know, kind of complicated and there's a lot 343 00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:50,040 of stakeholders involved. Like I just that's my happy 344 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:53,040 place. I really like it and my team has 345 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:57,760 grown to appreciate it as well. Though I guess kind of going 346 00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:00,600 back to the other question you just asked to another common 347 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:06,200 mistake or the thing that I see really commonly is trying to out 348 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:11,600 hire or like implement new tools to go around kind of poor 349 00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:16,120 performers or bad processes. Yeah, you know, and I see that 350 00:19:16,120 --> 00:19:20,280 all the time too when I'm creating a new project, you 351 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:23,400 know, set up or putting some kind of new structure in place. 352 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:27,880 Really, most problems get solved pretty quickly by just being 353 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:31,320 really clear on expectations and holding everyone accountable. 354 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:35,720 And that actually actually usually starts with us. 355 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:39,000 If we are accountable and we do all the things we say we're 356 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:42,080 going to do, and we set up the project and send the meeting 357 00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:44,960 notes and set up the action tracker and like all the kind of 358 00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:49,240 nitty gritty of running a project, it just makes it easier 359 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:53,120 to hold everyone accountable. I love that, I love that and and 360 00:19:53,120 --> 00:19:56,920 and back to you know, I could truly feel the passion in terms 361 00:19:56,920 --> 00:19:59,680 of what you you as an individual enjoy doing it. 362 00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:01,920 It really does take Rachel. It takes like a certain. 363 00:20:02,360 --> 00:20:06,040 Personality type to really love what we do as project managers. 364 00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:09,040 I'll put that out there and I can, I can feel it as you're 365 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:12,440 describing what you love doing as part of your role at the 366 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:16,880 firm. So 2026, you're going on your 367 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:19,840 two year anniversary. What are the things you're 368 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:23,200 looking forward to as an individual, as a project 369 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:26,000 manager? As the founder of Lost Their 370 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:29,000 consulting solutions, What's in store for you this year? 371 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:33,600 Yeah, I'm super excited about everything that's in our 372 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:36,840 pipeline in terms of projects. Like I'm really ready to kind of 373 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:39,960 like sink, sink my teeth into something else. 374 00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:43,040 We have a ton of other things that we're doing that are sort 375 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:46,320 of auxiliary to our project management. 376 00:20:47,120 --> 00:20:50,120 Like we're talking internally about so many things. 377 00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:53,880 We want to host a conference. We want to set up some kind of 378 00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:58,040 knowledge community. We know for sure we're launching 379 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:00,840 our own podcast. I'm really excited about that. 380 00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:03,760 I'll, I'll keep you in the loop on the details of that. 381 00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:06,840 But we know our first episode is going to come out this spring. 382 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:12,080 So we just have a lot of other things cooking on our end, and 383 00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:15,960 we're super excited to just be able to take some of the 384 00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:18,240 learnings and kind of share some of that. 385 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:21,200 And if you don't work with us directly, that you still get a 386 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:24,520 chance to kind of benefit from a lot of our expertise. 387 00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:28,200 And right now, we're primarily focused on working with 388 00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:31,440 organizations, but it would be nice to be able to put some 389 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:34,240 things out for individual project management contributors 390 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:38,600 just to be able to soak it in. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 391 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:41,200 That's the beauty of our community is, is the sharing and 392 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:43,840 the knowledge and just the conversations, right, The battle 393 00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:45,520 stories we get to share and that sort of thing. 394 00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:47,120 I was. Just gonna say that more 395 00:21:47,120 --> 00:21:49,320 stories. Yes, yes, exactly. 396 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:51,680 I'm looking forward to your podcast because I'm hoping that 397 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:54,640 you'll be able to highlight some of those that you see as part of 398 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:57,960 your journey through the consulting pathway for project 399 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:01,440 management. So, Rachel, any last parting 400 00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:05,520 thoughts in terms of anything you want to impart on the 401 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:09,360 everyday PM community? Again, it's been an honor and a 402 00:22:09,360 --> 00:22:12,480 privilege to have you on here as our guest and a lot of fun as 403 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:15,760 well. Thank you so, so much. 404 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:18,320 I really appreciate it. I would say the one thing that I 405 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:23,040 want to impart is you could be working on something as an 406 00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:28,160 official project manager or not. And things could be as simple of 407 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:31,920 a project as you know, we just need to implement some of this 408 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:35,920 small thing or you know, work on this little task and that is 409 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:38,000 still important. Or you could be working on 410 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:40,280 something really big and mission critical. 411 00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:43,360 Like, for instance, we have one where if we don't hit the end of 412 00:22:43,360 --> 00:22:47,200 the timeline time, the company's gonna have to pay millions of 413 00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:49,200 dollars in fines every month. Oh boy. 414 00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:51,800 Right. And so you get projects that are 415 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:54,200 all over the spectrum. You get kind of titles that are 416 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:57,000 all over the spectrum. But at the end of the day, I 417 00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:59,960 guess if I could impart one thing is that just sharpen your 418 00:22:59,960 --> 00:23:03,880 skills and, you know, create those frameworks for yourself 419 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:07,800 that, you know, you're able to succeed and deliver results and 420 00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:10,880 operate with a high degree of accountability for yourself. 421 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:15,920 And if you can position yourself as a problem solver and somebody 422 00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:20,120 who has the scope and everything wrangled, then you're gonna set 423 00:23:20,120 --> 00:23:23,440 yourself up to be successful. Awesome, awesome. 424 00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:25,160 Thank you so much for those words. 425 00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:28,480 And if folks wanna continue the conversation with you, where's 426 00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:30,040 the best place to find you online? 427 00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:35,240 Yeah, please feel free to reach out to us through our website, 428 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:39,080 lossorconsultingsolutions.com. Also, you could connect with me 429 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:43,000 on LinkedIn and we also have a presence on Instagram and 430 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:46,000 TikTok, so lots of different ways you can connect with us. 431 00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:49,280 Well, as soon as we, you know, end the recording today, I'm 432 00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:51,840 going to get on there, do all the follows, likes and all the 433 00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:54,880 things that I need to do to make sure I stay in touch with you as 434 00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:56,440 well. I'm looking forward to your 435 00:23:56,440 --> 00:23:59,120 podcast and all the other things that your group is doing in 436 00:23:59,120 --> 00:24:02,200 2026. And make sure that you also 437 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:06,000 follow the everyday PM podcasts like and subscribe to this. 438 00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:09,120 You can find us on all of your podcasting platforms. 439 00:24:09,360 --> 00:24:12,040 You can connect with me on LinkedIn as well, and I'll drop 440 00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:15,320 all the appropriate links in the description of this podcast 441 00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:17,480 episode. So Rachel, again, thank you for 442 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:19,680 giving of your time and your expertise. 443 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:23,080 This has been a such a fun conversation and I look forward 444 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:25,560 to what's in store for you and the consulting firm in the 445 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:27,040 future. So thank you again. 446 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:31,040 Thank you so much. That will do it for Rachel and I 447 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:33,560 in this installment of the Everyday PM Podcast. 448 00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:35,680 And until next time, take care.