Reactive to Proactive: Injecting Collaborative Project Planning to Improve Delivery Success

What do you do when you inherit an organization that is operating almost entirely in reactive mode? At ARLIS, Nicole Rumeau and Courtney Johnson walked into exactly that situation and began building the processes, tools, and collaboration needed to make project delivery more stable and successful. The Starting Point: An Organization in Reactive Mode ARLIS, the Applied Research Lab for Intelligence and Security, sits at the intersection of academia and defense contracting as a Department of Defense-supported university affiliated research center, or UARC. It works on sole-source applied research contracts that help the federal government address difficult intelligence and security . . . continue reading

Team-Based Planning: A Framework for Modernizing Public Sector Program FundingIn government, everyone is chasing modernization and AI, but most agencies still plan and fund work the same way they did a decade ago. Bill Bunce argues that to keep up, we need to move from project-based budgeting to team-based, outcome-focused funding. Why Traditional Projects Keep Failing Bunce starts with a familiar reality: federal projects fail at staggering levels every year. In his view, the biggest reasons are not just scope creep and insufficient resources, but a breakdown in communication and collaboration. Even when objectives and key results (OKRs) are clearly defined, projects can go off the rails if: Communication . . . continue reading

From Vision to Reality: Building a Project Management Core to Support Scholarly ResearchMandatory research support that faculty actually use? See how Duke turned a strategic mandate into a high-demand project management core for non-clinical, scholarly research. Discover practical steps to pilot, fund, and grow project management support across diverse disciplines.   Why Scholarly Research Needs Project Management In many universities, project management is associated with clinical trials and biomedical research, where project managers handle recruitment, milestones, payments, and regulatory requirements so investigators can focus on science. At Duke, leaders began to see that faculty in other disciplines—history, art history, public policy, divinity, engineering, environmental science, and more—were facing similar complexities: Expanding federal . . . continue reading

No One Wants an Awesome Product. They want an Awesome Experience.with Beth MartinBeth Martin’s talk invites product teams to stop obsessing over the thing they’re shipping and focus instead on the experience people have around it. You can build an excellent app, website, or database, but if the path users must walk is confusing, slow, or frustrating, your “awesome product” will still feel bad to them. Start With Who Your Users Really Are Martin asks us to imagine we’ve built a digital product for a specific group and now need to scale it to a broader, more diverse audience we don’t know well. Her first move is to “time travel” back to . . . continue reading

Managing by the Numbers: How Project Managers are Using ROI to Leadwith Bill Brantley

Mandatory training that people don’t hate? See how to take a failing, mandatory program and turn it into something leaders value. Turn resistance into engagement, while gaining ideas you can apply to your own mandatory training, change initiatives, and long-running programs. Using ROI to Redesign a Federal Supervisor Training Program For 17 years, Dr. Bill Brantley worked across multiple U.S. federal agencies, including OPM, Social Security Administration, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In one of his most challenging assignments, he was asked to rescue a failing mandatory supervisor training program. He chose to manage it “by the . . . continue reading

Risk Project Management: The Value of Project Production Analyticswith Ivan Damnjanovic

Project risk management is evolving fast, but many organizations are still stuck in outdated practices. Discover what is working, what is failing, and how data-driven models and production thinking can transform the way projects handle uncertainty and performance. When we talk about project risk management today, we usually mention risk registers, contingencies, and maybe a Monte Carlo simulation or two. Ivan Damnjanovic argues that this isn’t enough. To manage risk effectively on modern projects, we need to understand how work is actually produced—and use production analytics, not just administrative metrics, to guide decisions. The Limits of Today’s Risk Practices Most . . . continue reading

2026 D.C. Regional Project Management Day of Service

The 2026 D.C. Regional Project Management Day of Service (PMDOS®) proved once again that when skilled professionals come together with a shared purpose, meaningful change can happen—fast. On February 21st, 72 project management volunteers partnered with 29 nonprofit representatives to support 18 mission-driven projects. This is included five University of Maryland graduate students and two subject matter experts. In just one day, these teams built actionable plans designed to accelerate critical initiatives and expand each organization’s ability to serve its community. This year’s event showcased the power of collaboration, expertise, and service. By pairing experienced project managers with nonprofits facing . . . continue reading

How Curiosity Can Drive Success in High-Intensity Projects : The Well-being Experimentwith Linda Ozokwelu

Moving projects forward without burning yourself out isn’t just nice to have—it’s essential for performance, decision quality, innovation, and ultimately the profitability organizations care about. When project managers ignore their own wellbeing, they quietly put both themselves and their project outcomes at risk. From Burnout and Shame to Small Experiments Linda Ozokwelu knows firsthand how quickly execution can drain your energy. Early in her career, she led a team of 70 employees in a specialty pharmacy, focused on operations and customer service. Even before her feet hit the floor each morning, her mind was racing with dread, stress, and a . . . continue reading

Advance Your Career with UMD’s Online Courses

Advance Your Career with UMD’s Project Management Courses Are you looking to expand your project management skills or catch up on PDUs to maintain your PMP certification?  The University of Maryland’s Project Management Center for Excellence offers a wide range of online, self-paced courses designed to help you stay current and keep growing in your career. With more than 50 courses and 17 professional certifications, our programs are built by industry experts and UMD faculty to address real-world challenges in today’s workplaces.  Some of our most popular certifications include: Agile Project Management  – Navigate complex projects with adaptive frameworks. Construction Management  – . . . continue reading

Have We Reached “Peak” Agile?with Mark Lines

Agile hasn’t failed—but many organizations are frustrated with how they’re using it and are wondering what comes next. Explore why some teams feel they’ve reached “peak agile,” what’s driving the backlash, and how more flexible, disciplined approaches can bring back joy and effectiveness in project work. Why Some Organizations Are Pushing Back on Agile Many companies are quietly rebelling against agile. Some have let go of agile coaches, reverted to old ways of working, and see little return on the large investments made in training and frameworks over the past 20 years. Attendance at major agile conferences has dropped, partly . . . continue reading