<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:googleplay="http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Bryan's Newsletter]]></title><description><![CDATA[Deeply researched project management, transformation, change, and career advice]]></description><link>https://www.bryansnewsletter.com</link><image><url>https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EyRs!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F58dac780-fed0-4216-b4fc-6cd9d2b2230f_1024x1024.png</url><title>Bryan&apos;s Newsletter</title><link>https://www.bryansnewsletter.com</link></image><generator>Substack</generator><lastBuildDate>Sat, 18 Jul 2026 19:56:43 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.bryansnewsletter.com/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><copyright><![CDATA[Bryan Skwirut]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en]]></language><webMaster><![CDATA[bryansnewsletter@substack.com]]></webMaster><itunes:owner><itunes:email><![CDATA[bryansnewsletter@substack.com]]></itunes:email><itunes:name><![CDATA[Bryan Skwirut]]></itunes:name></itunes:owner><itunes:author><![CDATA[Bryan Skwirut]]></itunes:author><googleplay:owner><![CDATA[bryansnewsletter@substack.com]]></googleplay:owner><googleplay:email><![CDATA[bryansnewsletter@substack.com]]></googleplay:email><googleplay:author><![CDATA[Bryan Skwirut]]></googleplay:author><itunes:block><![CDATA[Yes]]></itunes:block><item><title><![CDATA[How project managers are using AI to work smarter and go faster.]]></title><description><![CDATA[&#127926; Work it harder, make it better, do it faster, makes us stronger &#127926;]]></description><link>https://www.bryansnewsletter.com/p/how-project-managers-are-using-ai</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.bryansnewsletter.com/p/how-project-managers-are-using-ai</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Bryan Skwirut]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 16 Jun 2026 17:31:12 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!V_8C!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8af83b77-cebb-417c-9f8f-50ff88d66156_1570x1002.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey there &#128075;, I&#8217;m <a href="https://x.com/bskwizz">Bryan</a></p><p>Welcome to my newsletter. Each week I share advice and tackle tough questions about project &amp; program management, transformation, driving change, and anything else about work that might be stressing you out. Thanks so much for being here. <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf7pS-8nibp85BwtHmUOxNlCKRLl4MDhG_2SB4xwxLF3W-_rw/viewform?usp=publish-editor">Send me your questions</a> and in return I&#8217;ll humbly offer actionable real-talk advice &#129308;&#129307;</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.bryansnewsletter.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.bryansnewsletter.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><div><hr></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!V_8C!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8af83b77-cebb-417c-9f8f-50ff88d66156_1570x1002.png" 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data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/8af83b77-cebb-417c-9f8f-50ff88d66156_1570x1002.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:929,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!V_8C!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8af83b77-cebb-417c-9f8f-50ff88d66156_1570x1002.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!V_8C!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8af83b77-cebb-417c-9f8f-50ff88d66156_1570x1002.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!V_8C!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8af83b77-cebb-417c-9f8f-50ff88d66156_1570x1002.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!V_8C!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8af83b77-cebb-417c-9f8f-50ff88d66156_1570x1002.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>This week&#8217;s newsletter is inspired by a question I received.</p><p><strong>Q: I want to know if AI has truly made project management better or faster for people. How are you doing it?</strong></p><p>Let&#8217;s be real. Most people aren&#8217;t excited to &#8220;do more with less&#8221;, in fact, most of us want to spend less time buried in administrative drag and more time solving meaningful problems. What if AI could actually help you &#8220;do less&#8230; with more?&#8221;</p><p>The world is moving faster than ever, and for project managers, expectations have been quickly changing as well. As PMs, we are no strangers to tools and SaaS products that help get the job done (I&#8217;ll save you the long list!). That said, it seems everyone under the sun is trying to &#8220;sell something&#8221; that promises to magically make all your worries disappear. This isn&#8217;t a new phenomenon and usually happens when technologies evolve. I don&#8217;t see this changing any time soon, in fact, I&#8217;d bet it gets worse before it gets better considering anyone can now spin up a new tool with Claude Code or Codex over a weekend.</p><p>As a general guideline, it&#8217;s wise to be cautious of anyone promising a silver bullet, and this may be more true now than ever. Any good PM knows that not many situations can be solved with the same out-of-the-box solution, and that there is a real price to pay when introducing a new tool into your workflow. Alas, AI is no different.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ms7B!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0a6c46-0755-45b3-b4c0-254b71e502e7_1536x1024.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ms7B!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0a6c46-0755-45b3-b4c0-254b71e502e7_1536x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ms7B!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0a6c46-0755-45b3-b4c0-254b71e502e7_1536x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ms7B!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0a6c46-0755-45b3-b4c0-254b71e502e7_1536x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ms7B!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0a6c46-0755-45b3-b4c0-254b71e502e7_1536x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ms7B!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0a6c46-0755-45b3-b4c0-254b71e502e7_1536x1024.png" width="1456" height="971" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/dd0a6c46-0755-45b3-b4c0-254b71e502e7_1536x1024.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:971,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ms7B!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0a6c46-0755-45b3-b4c0-254b71e502e7_1536x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ms7B!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0a6c46-0755-45b3-b4c0-254b71e502e7_1536x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ms7B!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0a6c46-0755-45b3-b4c0-254b71e502e7_1536x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ms7B!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0a6c46-0755-45b3-b4c0-254b71e502e7_1536x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>But let&#8217;s think about that for a second&#8211; &#8220;Anyone can now spin up a new tool with Claude Code or Codex over a weekend.&#8221; This has real implications. Sure, it increases the amount of noise in the marketplace today, but at the same time it liberates you from being a prisoner to someone else&#8217;s tool.</p><p>I sat down with over a dozen project managers from a range of industries that are all using AI in their daily workflows. Here are the 4 most widely adopted AI use cases being used by real PMs today.</p><div><hr></div><p><strong>Producing Documentation &#9999;&#65039;&#128196;</strong></p><p>Project Managers are constantly producing documentation &#8212; meeting notes, action items, key takeaways, risks, issues, decisions, status, stakeholder communications, weekly summaries. The list of artifacts can seem endless, and even for the most organized PMs, this admin work consumes a lot of time. Using AI to produce documentation is by far the current highest leverage activity you can do right now.</p><p><strong>Tips</strong></p><ol><li><p>Record and transcribe all of your project meetings. This can be done with Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet. Independent SaaS tools that received high praise are Granola, Otter, tl;dv, and Voicenotes. ClickUp also has an AI notetaker built into the platform.</p></li></ol><ol start="2"><li><p>Have AI produce the first draft of meeting notes. Example prompt you can copy/paste:</p></li></ol><blockquote><p><em>You are an expert note taker and communications specialist. I will provide a meeting transcript from my weekly team meeting for the [project name] project. Your job is to generate a polished email draft of the follow-up notes that I will send to attendees. Organize the notes into two clear sections:</em></p><p><em><strong>Action Items</strong> &#8212; List as bullets. Each bullet should start with the <strong>bolded name</strong> of the responsible person followed by the task. If no specific deadline is mentioned, do not add one or make one up. If a deadline is mentioned in the transcript, include it concisely in parentheses.</em></p><p><em><strong>Key Takeaways</strong> &#8212; Break these into bullet points grouped under succinct headers that summarize the topic (e.g., &#8220;[Topic Example]&#8221;. Each bullet should be detailed enough to convey meaningful updates but still succinct. This section is primarily for executive-level readers who need clarity and context at a glance.</em></p><p><em>Avoid filler language (e.g., &#8220;quick update&#8221;) and throat clearing, and do not summarize the entire transcript &#8212; just capture the essence and most important decisions, risks, issues, and next steps. DO NOT MAKE ANYTHING UP.</em></p><p><em>Here is the transcript: [paste transcript here]</em></p></blockquote><ol start="3"><li><p>Use AI to populate your remaining project documentation (RAID logs, status updates, etc.) - More on this in #2 - the intelligence layer. Depending on where your project documentation lives, populating logs from your meeting transcripts can be a real time save. Example Prompt for Claude or Co-Pilot in Excel you can copy/paste:</p></li></ol><blockquote><p><em>You are populating four logs in this Excel workbook from a meeting transcript: a Risk Log, an Issue Log, an Action Log, and a Decision Log. Treat this as a structured extraction task, not a summarization task.</em></p><p><em><strong>STEP 1 &#8212; INSPECT THE WORKBOOK FIRST</strong></em></p><p><em>Before extracting anything, inspect the workbook and identify the tabs (worksheets) that correspond to each of the four logs. Match by tab name using common variants:</em></p><p><em>- Risk Log: &#8220;Risks&#8221;, &#8220;Risk Log&#8221;, &#8220;Risk Register&#8221;, &#8220;RAID-R&#8221;</em></p><p><em>- Issue Log: &#8220;Issues&#8221;, &#8220;Issue Log&#8221;, &#8220;RAID-I&#8221;</em></p><p><em>- Action Log: &#8220;Actions&#8221;, &#8220;Action Log&#8221;, &#8220;Action Items&#8221;, &#8220;AIs&#8221;, &#8220;RAID-A&#8221;, &#8220;To-Dos&#8221;</em></p><p><em>- Decision Log: &#8220;Decisions&#8221;, &#8220;Decision Log&#8221;, &#8220;RAID-D&#8221;</em></p><p><em>For each matched tab, read the header row and list back to me the exact column headers you found, in order. Do not invent or rename columns. If a tab is missing, say so and ask whether to skip it or create it. If a single &#8220;RAID&#8221; tab combines all four, treat it as one tab with a Type/Category column and filter accordingly.</em></p><p><em>Pause here and show me the tab + column mapping before extracting. Wait for my confirmation.</em></p><p><em><strong>STEP 2 &#8212; DEFINITIONS (use these strictly)</strong></em></p><p><em>- <strong>R</strong>ISK: a potential future event that has not yet occurred but could negatively impact scope, schedule, cost, or quality if it materializes. Phrased as uncertainty. (&#8221;If X happens, then Y.&#8221;)</em></p><p><em>- <strong>A</strong>CTION: a specific task someone committed to do, with an owner. Must be a verb-led item assignable to a named person or role.</em></p><p><em>- <strong>I</strong>SSUE: a problem that has already occurred or is actively occurring and needs resolution. Not hypothetical.</em></p><p><em>- <strong>D</strong>ECISION: a choice that was made and agreed to in the meeting. Past-tense, concluded. Not &#8220;we should consider&#8221; &#8212; that&#8217;s an action or open question.</em></p><p><em>Disambiguation rules:</em></p><p><em>- If something is both an issue and triggers an action, log it in BOTH the Issue Log (the problem) and the Action Log (the response). Cross-reference by ID if the schema supports it.</em></p><p><em>- If a risk has an agreed mitigation owner, log it in BOTH the Risk Log and the Action Log.</em></p><p><em>- A decision that creates follow-up work generates one Decision row plus one or more Action rows.</em></p><p><em>- Do not log the same item twice within the same log.</em></p><p><em><strong>STEP 3 &#8212; EXTRACTION POLICY</strong></em></p><p><em>Extract items that are EXPLICIT (&#8221;we have a risk that the vendor slips&#8221;) OR CLEARLY IMPLIED by the conversation (&#8221;if the vendor doesn&#8217;t get us the SOW by Friday we&#8217;re in trouble&#8221; &#8594; risk: vendor SOW delay).</em></p><p><em>Do NOT extract:</em></p><p><em>- Speculation with no owner, no impact, and no follow-up</em></p><p><em>- Side commentary, jokes, off-topic chatter</em></p><p><em>- Status updates with no risk/issue/action/decision content</em></p><p><em>- Items you are guessing at &#8212; if you&#8217;re not confident it fits a definition, leave it out and note it in a &#8220;Candidates I excluded&#8221; list at the end</em></p><p><em>For each extracted item, your confidence must be defensible from a specific moment in the transcript. If asked, you should be able to point to the line(s).</em></p><p><em><strong>STEP 4 &#8212; POPULATE THE LOGS</strong></em></p><p><em>Fill the columns that exist in each tab. Honor the headers exactly &#8212; if a column is &#8220;Owner&#8221; don&#8217;t write to &#8220;Assignee.&#8221; Common fields and how to fill them:</em></p><p><em>- ID / #: use next sequential ID if existing rows are present; otherwise start at 1 with a sensible prefix (R-, A-, I-, D-).</em></p><p><em>- Date / Date Raised / Date Logged: use the meeting date (ask me if not obvious from transcript).</em></p><p><em>- Title / Summary: short, scannable, under ~12 words.</em></p><p><em>- Description: one to three sentences. Specific. No filler.</em></p><p><em>- Owner / Assignee: named person from the transcript. If unassigned but the action is real, write &#8220;UNASSIGNED&#8221; &#8212; do not guess.</em></p><p><em>- Due Date: only if stated or clearly implied (&#8221;by end of week,&#8221; &#8220;before next steerco&#8221;). Otherwise leave blank, do not invent.</em></p><p><em>- Status: default to &#8220;Open&#8221; for new items unless the transcript clearly says otherwise (e.g., a decision is &#8220;Approved,&#8221; an action already done is &#8220;Closed&#8221;).</em></p><p><em>- Priority / Severity / Impact / Likelihood: only fill if the transcript gives signal. Do not assign arbitrary High/Medium/Low. If the column exists and you have no signal, leave blank or write &#8220;TBD.&#8221;</em></p><p><em>- Source: &#8220;Meeting transcript &#8212; [date]&#8221; if a Source column exists.</em></p><p><em>- Any column you don&#8217;t have data for: leave blank rather than fabricate.</em></p><p><em>Write directly into the next empty row of each tab. Do not overwrite existing rows. Do not reformat existing headers or styles.</em></p><p><em><strong>STEP 5 &#8212; REPORT BACK</strong></em></p><p><em>After writing, give me:</em></p><p><em>1. Count of items added per log</em></p><p><em>2. Any items you logged in multiple places and why</em></p><p><em>3. Items marked UNASSIGNED that need an owner</em></p><p><em>4. Items with no due date that probably need one</em></p><p><em>5. A short &#8220;Candidates I excluded&#8221; list &#8212; borderline things you decided not to log, with one-line reasoning each, so I can overrule you</em></p><p><em>TRANSCRIPT</em></p><p><em>[paste transcript here]</em></p></blockquote><ol start="4"><li><p>Use AI to draft weekly summaries for managers, stakeholders, and project team members (even if no one still reads it &#128579;). Example prompt you can copy/paste:</p></li></ol><blockquote><p><em>You are an expert note taker and communications specialist. I will provide one or more meeting transcripts covering a recent period (typically a week) for the [project name] project. Your job is to draft a single weekly project summary that I will send to everyone &#8212; managers, stakeholders, and the project team. One version, sent to all.</em></p><p><em><strong>FIRST &#8212; SYNTHESIZE ACROSS TRANSCRIPTS</strong></em></p><p><em>If I provide multiple transcripts, treat them as one connected week, not separate meetings. Before writing:</em></p><p><em>- Consolidate items that appear in more than one meeting into a single entry reflecting the latest state. If a risk was raised Monday and resolved Thursday, report it as resolved.</em></p><p><em>- Note when something changed over the week (a decision revisited, a deadline moved, an action completed) &#8212; that movement is often the most useful thing to report.</em></p><p><em>- Do not produce a per-meeting recap. The reader does not care which meeting something came from; they care what is true now.</em></p><p><em><strong>STRUCTURE OF THE SUMMARY</strong></em></p><p><em>Write one summary that serves a mixed audience. An executive should be able to skim it in a minute and know if the project is healthy; a team member should be able to find exactly what they own. Organize into these sections, in this order:</em></p><p><em>- Status line: one sentence on overall project health (on track / at risk / off track) with the single most important reason.</em></p><p><em>- Key Takeaways: bullets grouped under succinct topic headers that summarize the topic (e.g., &#8220;[Topic Example]&#8221;). Each bullet detailed enough to convey meaningful updates and context, but still succinct. Capture progress, changes in direction, and important context.</em></p><p><em>- Decisions Made: bulleted. Each decision with a brief one-line &#8220;why&#8221; so any reader can understand and explain it. A decision is something concluded and agreed &#8212; &#8220;we should consider X&#8221; is not a decision, it is an open question or an action.</em></p><p><em>- Risks &amp; Issues: bulleted. All open risks and issues material to scope, schedule, cost, or quality, each with current owner and status. If something needs escalation or an executive decision, say so explicitly.</em></p><p><em>- Action Items: bullets, each starting with the bolded name of the responsible person followed by the task. If a deadline is mentioned in the transcript, include it concisely in parentheses. If no deadline is mentioned, do not add one or make one up. If an action has no owner, start the bullet with &#8220;UNASSIGNED.&#8221;</em></p><p><em>- Open Questions: anything raised but not resolved that readers should be aware of. Omit this section if there are none.</em></p><p><em><strong>RULES</strong></em></p><p><em>- Avoid filler and throat-clearing (&#8221;quick update,&#8221; &#8220;as discussed,&#8221; &#8220;just wanted to flag&#8221;). Lead with the substance.</em></p><p><em>- Do not summarize the entire transcript. Capture the essence &#8212; the most important decisions, risks, issues, progress, and next steps.</em></p><p><em>- Never invent a deadline, owner, status, or decision. If something is ambiguous, leave it out and note it at the very end under &#8220;Items I was unsure about.&#8221;</em></p><p><em>- Keep bullets scannable. Detailed does not mean long; one to two tight sentences each.</em></p><p><em>- Pitch the writing so it works for a mixed audience: clear enough for an executive skim, specific enough for the team to act on. When in doubt, be concrete.</em></p><p><em><strong>TRANSCRIPT(S)</strong></em></p><p><em>[paste transcript(s) here &#8212; label each one if helpful, e.g. &#8220;Monday standup,&#8221; &#8220;Thursday steerco&#8221;]</em></p></blockquote><p><strong>Where to be careful</strong></p><p>AI doesn&#8217;t always get things perfect. It&#8217;s kind of like a very eager, junior team member, and it&#8217;s important to double check the work. This is because fundamentally, AI works by predicting the next word (token) in a sentence, it is <strong>not</strong> higher-level intelligence, and definitely no replacement for human judgement. Anyone can spit out pages upon pages of AI slop. To continue being a great PM, it&#8217;s important you are not that person. If you can make the transition from producer to editor you will increase your odds of increasing your productivity, and staying relevant. Keep your brain on, it&#8217;s needed.</p><div><hr></div><p><strong>Intelligence Layer &#129504;</strong></p><p>Once you get comfortable utilizing your meeting transcripts for one-off summarization and project artifact updates, the next natural progression is to begin looking at your project information all together. This might also include your emails, chats, and meeting transcripts for additional context.</p><p><strong>How to do it:</strong></p><p>In Claude Co-Work, create a new project and put all of your project documentation into a folder that Claude can access. You can connect ancillary information using Connectors. Once you have all of your information in one place that Claude can retrieve, simply start asking questions.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dA7e!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb0d8bb79-2ef3-43a1-b725-c2eadb7f18ac_890x698.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dA7e!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb0d8bb79-2ef3-43a1-b725-c2eadb7f18ac_890x698.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dA7e!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb0d8bb79-2ef3-43a1-b725-c2eadb7f18ac_890x698.png 848w, 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x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>You can ask questions like:</p><ul><li><p>What was decided about the data migration?</p></li><li><p>Who owns the vendor contract action?</p></li><li><p>What are all of the open action items assigned to Steve?</p></li><li><p>Has the tone around go-live gotten more or less confident over the past couple weeks?</p></li><li><p>Which actions were assigned, but have no due date?</p></li><li><p>Does anything in this week&#8217;s summary contradict the RAID log?</p></li></ul><p><strong>Where to be careful</strong></p><p>The key to success with the intelligence layer is the organization of your files, and the clarity of your questions. This workflow is not difficult, but it is different. That said, you can realistically configure it in hours, not days. There is no code involved. The &#8220;heavy-lifting&#8221; is actually just information hygiene so Claude isn&#8217;t guessing which summary is current. The only reason you would go beyond this structure is scale. If you have many projects, or a project is running long enough that the document set gets genuinely large, then you will likely need to introduce a retrieval layer. That&#8217;s a conversation for another time.</p><div><hr></div><p><strong>Organization and Meeting Prep</strong></p><p>Successful PMs today are using AI to summarize long chains of emails to synthesize what&#8217;s going on over a period of time. They are also using this same technique to stay sharp in meetings. For those days when you inevitably get asked a question about a minor detail that occurred at 3:08pm on a random Tuesday. For organization and meeting prep you can either use the intelligence layer you&#8217;ve built, or, simply copy and paste a handful of information into a Claude chat and ask away. The context windows of the LLMs have gotten pretty large and can likely handle your one-off prep session with ease. That said, if this becomes a repetitive workflow, you may want to consider a setup like the intelligence layer.</p><p><strong>Where to be careful</strong></p><p>The more context you put into the chat window, the more time and tokens ($) will be used to provide you an answer. Additionally, I would not recommend loading a month&#8217;s worth of transcripts into a Claude chat and expect excellence. A cluttered context window and broad, high-level questions is a recipe for crappy output. Remember, YOU are the real brain of the project, and the LLM is there to be a tool for you. It isn&#8217;t you. So ask pointed, clear questions regarding things you&#8217;re already thinking about. Then double check. Ask clarifying questions and gauge responses against your own knowledge and understanding. If something feels &#8220;off&#8221;, it probably is.</p><div><hr></div><p><strong>Ideas &amp; Learning</strong></p><p>Subject matter experts are worth their weight in gold. They are also usually incredibly hard to get on the calendar due to their in-demand nature. AI can be an incredible teacher. Many PMs are leveraging AI to get an initial grasp at understanding new concepts, and things for which you likely used to solely rely on subject matter experts. It can also help you for those moments when you need to call &#8216;BS&#8217; on a vendor.</p><p><strong>Where to be careful</strong></p><p>AI is not going to replace the SME anytime soon, if ever. Use AI to enhance and focus the conversations that you have with your SMEs, not replace it. You&#8217;ll find that your conversations are more productive and get rolling more easily. Maybe the time you need from them is ultimately reduced! But be sure to not convince yourself that you are now the SME because the LLM output something that looked and sounded good.</p><div><hr></div><p><strong>In Summary</strong></p><p>AI is increasingly being used to save time to allow humans to address more important things that only they can do. Things like managing relationships, navigating complexity, and keeping delivery on track. Starting with the tips in this guide, you can be on your way to spending less time producing documentation, and more time thinking and validating. The real value is in making the shift from producer to editor + decision filter. As a PM it&#8217;s important to be aware that AI can speed things up, <strong>including the noise</strong>, and it will be more important than ever to determine what is signal vs. what is noise. PMs still have to interpret, challenge, and decide what to do with the information coming their way. That part hasn&#8217;t changed, and likely never will.</p><ul><li><p>What AI will probably not replace any time soon</p><ul><li><p>Critical thinking</p></li><li><p>Judgement</p></li><li><p>Full project plan development</p></li><li><p>Discernment</p></li><li><p>Herding of the cats</p></li></ul></li></ul><p>Execution hasn&#8217;t changed - people and dependencies still break timelines</p><p><strong>So what does all of this mean for the PM industry?</strong></p><p>There are many concerns today about the PM job market. Jobs are harder to find and harder to land. PMs are noticing that expectations are not what they used to be, and in many cases are radically different from company to company. So how do you land your next PM role in this rapidly evolving time?  &#8212; Start here. This newsletter is intended to help you stay relevant and understand how to ride the wave with the incoming changes. Over time, there will be a bifurcation of those that learn to deliver with the new tools and those that get left behind. My goal is to ensure you&#8217;re a part of the first group.</p><p>Sincerely,</p><p>Bryan &#128075;</p><p>P.S. - Let me know in the comments if you found this newsletter helpful. Your feedback would mean the world to me &#128591;</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.bryansnewsletter.com/p/how-project-managers-are-using-ai/comments&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Leave a comment&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.bryansnewsletter.com/p/how-project-managers-are-using-ai/comments"><span>Leave a comment</span></a></p><div><hr></div><p><em>Have someone in your life that would benefit from this newsletter? Feel free to forward this to them </em>&#128150;</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.bryansnewsletter.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share Bryan's Newsletter&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.bryansnewsletter.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share Bryan's Newsletter</span></a></p><div><hr></div><p><strong>&#128293; Featured Job Opportunities</strong></p><ul><li><p><a href="https://careers.epic.com/jobs/project-manager/">Entry-Level Project Manager - Epic</a> - Open Application for entry-level PMs</p></li><li><p><a href="https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/spacex/jobs/8492974002">Construction Project Manager</a> - SpaceX</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/10434663/project-manager-wwgs-marketing-operations-packaging">Project Manager</a> Marketing Operations, Packaging - Amazon</p></li><li><p><a href="https://apply.careers.microsoft.com/careers/job/1970393556872419?domain=microsoft.com&amp;hl=en">Sr. Project Manager</a> - Microsoft</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.google.com/about/careers/applications/jobs/results/88129550692557510-business-program-manager-data-center-operations">Business Program Manager</a>, Data Center Operations - Google</p></li></ul><blockquote></blockquote><div><hr></div><p>&#129504; <strong>Inspiration for the Week Ahead</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0VkR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdb70a345-8089-4682-853c-3ecb73181ef0_1920x1080.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0VkR!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdb70a345-8089-4682-853c-3ecb73181ef0_1920x1080.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0VkR!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdb70a345-8089-4682-853c-3ecb73181ef0_1920x1080.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0VkR!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdb70a345-8089-4682-853c-3ecb73181ef0_1920x1080.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0VkR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdb70a345-8089-4682-853c-3ecb73181ef0_1920x1080.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0VkR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdb70a345-8089-4682-853c-3ecb73181ef0_1920x1080.png" width="1456" height="819" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/db70a345-8089-4682-853c-3ecb73181ef0_1920x1080.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:819,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0VkR!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdb70a345-8089-4682-853c-3ecb73181ef0_1920x1080.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0VkR!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdb70a345-8089-4682-853c-3ecb73181ef0_1920x1080.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0VkR!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdb70a345-8089-4682-853c-3ecb73181ef0_1920x1080.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0VkR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdb70a345-8089-4682-853c-3ecb73181ef0_1920x1080.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Arya Satheesh, an 18-year-old student from Letterkenny, Ireland, won the European category of The Earth Prize 2026, a global environmental competition for teenagers. Her invention, Eco Purge, is a plant-based biodegradable plastic that does something most alternatives don&#8217;t: it embeds enzymes inside the material that release gradually as the plastic breaks down, attacking microplastics already present in the surrounding soil or water.</p><p>&#128075; Have a great week! &#128591;</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Project managers, and program managers, and transformation leads, oh my.]]></title><description><![CDATA[What&#8217;s the difference among seemingly similar roles with different names]]></description><link>https://www.bryansnewsletter.com/p/project-managers-and-program-managers</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.bryansnewsletter.com/p/project-managers-and-program-managers</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Bryan Skwirut]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 06 May 2026 15:42:11 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wHyA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7473f666-2f3c-4552-9186-377dee417865_1569x1002.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey there &#128075;, I&#8217;m <a href="https://x.com/bskwizz">Bryan</a></p><p>Welcome to my weekly newsletter. I share advice and tackle tough questions about project &amp; program management, driving change, and anything else about work that might be stressing you out. Thanks so much for being here. <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf7pS-8nibp85BwtHmUOxNlCKRLl4MDhG_2SB4xwxLF3W-_rw/viewform?usp=publish-editor">Send me your questions</a> and in return I&#8217;ll humbly offer actionable real-talk advice &#129308;&#129307;</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.bryansnewsletter.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.bryansnewsletter.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><div><hr></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wHyA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7473f666-2f3c-4552-9186-377dee417865_1569x1002.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wHyA!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7473f666-2f3c-4552-9186-377dee417865_1569x1002.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wHyA!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7473f666-2f3c-4552-9186-377dee417865_1569x1002.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wHyA!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7473f666-2f3c-4552-9186-377dee417865_1569x1002.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wHyA!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7473f666-2f3c-4552-9186-377dee417865_1569x1002.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wHyA!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7473f666-2f3c-4552-9186-377dee417865_1569x1002.png" width="1456" height="930" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7473f666-2f3c-4552-9186-377dee417865_1569x1002.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:930,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:1246357,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://bryansnewsletter.substack.com/i/196668648?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7473f666-2f3c-4552-9186-377dee417865_1569x1002.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wHyA!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7473f666-2f3c-4552-9186-377dee417865_1569x1002.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wHyA!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7473f666-2f3c-4552-9186-377dee417865_1569x1002.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wHyA!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7473f666-2f3c-4552-9186-377dee417865_1569x1002.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wHyA!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7473f666-2f3c-4552-9186-377dee417865_1569x1002.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>If you&#8217;re like me, you&#8217;ve probably noticed that there are dozens of titles with apparently similar responsibilities. Likewise, if you&#8217;re like me, you may find yourself asking, &#8220;what are all of these roles, and how are they different from what I do today?&#8221; Maybe you&#8217;re feeling stuck as a project manager, maybe you&#8217;re interested in leveling up, or perhaps you just want to be the best you that you can be. That&#8217;s what I wanted. And so I set out to make sense of it. Here&#8217;s what I know from many hours of research and spending over a decade in the field.</p><p>For starters, I began my career as an office manager doing mostly repetitive, administrative tasks, but it wasn&#8217;t long before I officially made the jump to project manager. From there I was hooked. Drawn to work that required thinking, creativity, human connection, and the feeling that I had influence over a project&#8217;s success. In other words, I felt what many early project managers feel at one time or another &#8211; valued. Over time I was given more projects, bigger projects, more important projects. I was visible to leadership, and at one point, was even assigned a project that allowed me to fly in the company jet. But I always found myself wondering what else was out there.</p><p>Below is a practical breakdown of common enterprise roles, what makes them different, and tangible advice on how to navigate them. It&#8217;s important to note that not <em>every</em> organization subscribes to this methodology exactly (if that were the case we wouldn&#8217;t be confused!), and for better or worse, there are some unique snowflakes out there adding to the chaos. I also expect new roles to emerge as AI continues to evolve. My goal is to provide you with an actionable perspective on how to think about these similar but different roles, whether you&#8217;re exploring career advancement or simply to expand your awareness.</p><div><hr></div><p><strong>What is Project Management?</strong></p><p>Project management is likely the role in which you are most familiar, even if you don&#8217;t know it yet. In its most simple form, a project manager oversees a temporary body of work, big or small, and manages scope, budget, quality, and speed. They communicate status to interested parties and strive to keep work &#8220;on track&#8221;. Examples can range from designing a new landing page to building a new data center and beyond.</p><p>If you&#8217;re brand new to project management - You may find these overviews helpful:</p><blockquote><p><strong>What is Project Management? (Explained in 10 Minutes) by Max Mao</strong></p><div id="youtube2-bw-NvGvLHtM" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;bw-NvGvLHtM&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/bw-NvGvLHtM?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p><strong>Become a Project Manager with No Experience: Guaranteed! by Elvis Rodriguez</strong></p><div id="youtube2-XNDePDD_CV4" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;XNDePDD_CV4&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/XNDePDD_CV4?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div></blockquote><p>The field of project management is absolutely massive and encompasses most industries and organizations, all around the world.</p><p><strong>How do I become a Project Manager?</strong></p><p>There are clear paths to project management. Many people find entry-level roles starting out as a team member on a project as a coordinator or analyst. But that&#8217;s far from the only way to get there, and quite honestly, people often show up from a multitude of paths. The important part about getting into an entry-level PM role has less to do with <em>what</em> your prior role was and more to do with <em>how </em>you did it, and what skills you can demonstrate today.</p><p>The most successful PMs I&#8217;ve worked with nearly always exhibit the same qualities. They are recognized as the &#8220;reliable&#8221; person on a team &#8211; staying organized, planning ahead, setting reminders, proactively meeting to work through an issue. The reality is, many people do this on teams <em>without</em> the formal title of PM. These are the teammates that don&#8217;t mind being the &#8220;adult in the room&#8221;, in fact, they find it difficult not to be. If this sounds like you, you&#8217;ve likely got a shot at landing a PM job managing smaller projects with little to no experience.</p><p>If you&#8217;re interested in learning more, consider one of these courses.</p><blockquote><p><strong>Google Project Management Certificate</strong></p><p><a href="https://grow.google/certificates/project-management/">https://grow.google/certificates/project-management/</a></p><p><strong>Project Management Institute</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.pmi.org/certifications/certified-associate-capm">https://www.pmi.org/certifications/certified-associate-capm</a></p></blockquote><p>Hiring managers may not always give these certificates much weight, however if you&#8217;re unfamiliar with project management and wondering about what you don&#8217;t know, then it&#8217;s a really good place to start.</p><p><strong>Project Management Summarized</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oCK3!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3b5bebf4-a89b-4a83-a77d-bcde2492d671_1294x886.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oCK3!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3b5bebf4-a89b-4a83-a77d-bcde2492d671_1294x886.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oCK3!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3b5bebf4-a89b-4a83-a77d-bcde2492d671_1294x886.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oCK3!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3b5bebf4-a89b-4a83-a77d-bcde2492d671_1294x886.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oCK3!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3b5bebf4-a89b-4a83-a77d-bcde2492d671_1294x886.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oCK3!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3b5bebf4-a89b-4a83-a77d-bcde2492d671_1294x886.png" width="1294" height="886" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/3b5bebf4-a89b-4a83-a77d-bcde2492d671_1294x886.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:886,&quot;width&quot;:1294,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oCK3!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3b5bebf4-a89b-4a83-a77d-bcde2492d671_1294x886.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oCK3!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3b5bebf4-a89b-4a83-a77d-bcde2492d671_1294x886.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oCK3!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3b5bebf4-a89b-4a83-a77d-bcde2492d671_1294x886.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oCK3!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3b5bebf4-a89b-4a83-a77d-bcde2492d671_1294x886.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>(just kidding&#8230; kind of)</p><div><hr></div><p><strong>What is Program Management?</strong></p><p>Program management is the coordinated management of a group of related projects to achieve a strategic outcome. It is not just a bunch of projects. Successful programs manage project dependencies, strategic alignment, and risk management at scale. Of course since your program is often made up of individual projects, among other things, it&#8217;s wise to be skilled in project management first. The primary difference is that PgMs tend to have longer-term strategic objectives,  and often,  two or more interrelated projects. These embedded projects may have their own dedicated project managers to support those initiatives.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dHuh!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb3bccabd-85d1-4620-bea2-9032c2eec663_1401x936.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dHuh!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb3bccabd-85d1-4620-bea2-9032c2eec663_1401x936.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dHuh!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb3bccabd-85d1-4620-bea2-9032c2eec663_1401x936.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dHuh!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb3bccabd-85d1-4620-bea2-9032c2eec663_1401x936.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dHuh!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb3bccabd-85d1-4620-bea2-9032c2eec663_1401x936.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dHuh!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb3bccabd-85d1-4620-bea2-9032c2eec663_1401x936.png" width="1401" height="936" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/b3bccabd-85d1-4620-bea2-9032c2eec663_1401x936.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:936,&quot;width&quot;:1401,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dHuh!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb3bccabd-85d1-4620-bea2-9032c2eec663_1401x936.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dHuh!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb3bccabd-85d1-4620-bea2-9032c2eec663_1401x936.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dHuh!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb3bccabd-85d1-4620-bea2-9032c2eec663_1401x936.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dHuh!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb3bccabd-85d1-4620-bea2-9032c2eec663_1401x936.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Many of the skills required to be a successful project manager are similar to that of a program manager. Just like PMs, program managers are tasked with leading by influence, communicating clearly to interested parties (stakeholders), keeping individual contributors in alignment, prioritizing work, and exercising judgement. Both live their day-to-day lives in planning and execution. So you might be wondering&#8230;</p><p><strong>How do I become a Program Manager?</strong></p><p>You don&#8217;t hear a ton of stories about people becoming a program manager without experience, and it definitely helps to have a few team projects behind you before making a switch. To win-over a hiring manager,  you&#8217;ll need to demonstrate your experience thinking and acting like a program manager. Not surprisingly, a lot of this revolves around your people skills. If you&#8217;re a recent graduate, this could potentially look like group projects you&#8217;ve led that had competing priorities, dependencies, team disagreement, and making decisions. If you&#8217;re early in your career, it&#8217;s the same lens, but could cover a team initiative you led to completion. The important part is your ability to demonstrate your skills guiding a team without formal authority.</p><p>After a lot of searching, I <em>was</em> able to find <a href="https://www.google.com/about/careers/applications/jobs/results/84555891914744518-business-program-manager-data-center-operations">1 Program Manager job that doesn&#8217;t explicitly require any prior years of experience</a>, though it was listed as preferred.</p><blockquote></blockquote><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jRHD!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74023276-673d-4ad7-8db3-5d4dca1d0d6b_1926x692.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jRHD!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74023276-673d-4ad7-8db3-5d4dca1d0d6b_1926x692.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jRHD!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74023276-673d-4ad7-8db3-5d4dca1d0d6b_1926x692.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jRHD!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74023276-673d-4ad7-8db3-5d4dca1d0d6b_1926x692.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jRHD!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74023276-673d-4ad7-8db3-5d4dca1d0d6b_1926x692.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jRHD!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74023276-673d-4ad7-8db3-5d4dca1d0d6b_1926x692.png" width="1456" height="523" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/74023276-673d-4ad7-8db3-5d4dca1d0d6b_1926x692.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:523,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jRHD!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74023276-673d-4ad7-8db3-5d4dca1d0d6b_1926x692.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jRHD!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74023276-673d-4ad7-8db3-5d4dca1d0d6b_1926x692.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jRHD!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74023276-673d-4ad7-8db3-5d4dca1d0d6b_1926x692.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jRHD!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74023276-673d-4ad7-8db3-5d4dca1d0d6b_1926x692.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>I also had the opportunity to speak with a former program manager at Microsoft who started their career directly in this role. Here are 4 things they shared for you to consider when pursuing a role in program management:</p><ol><li><p>If you&#8217;ve been a PM, you&#8217;ll find that your underlying skill set for the PgM role is likely already sufficient. But more so than in project management the topic areas are specific and PgMs often function as subject matter experts over a critical cross-functional workstream.</p></li><li><p>Program management primarily exists at large and slightly complex organizations. At start ups you&#8217;ll find the founding team is wearing many hats and likely one of them is the role of program manager.</p></li><li><p>You need to be able to quickly identify what is going well and what is not. Be able to build a plan, but also understand &#8220;<em>why</em> are we doing this&#8221;, and &#8220;what is important vs not important&#8221;. That last part is key.</p></li><li><p>Most importantly, if you want to be a program manager, then decide that today. Say that you are and don&#8217;t let anyone tell you differently. Pick the domain you&#8217;re interested in, learn the technology, and go for it!</p></li></ol><p><strong>Key Takeaways</strong></p><p>If you want to become a program manager, consider learning the basics of project management as a foundation. In your search, target large, complex organizations that hire program managers. Find a domain or subject that interests you and start learning today. Finally, believe in yourself. You can do it.</p><p>Nothing worth doing happens overnight.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VWoa!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa0170271-d6e2-43fa-9805-b3a5393810c3_1536x1024.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VWoa!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa0170271-d6e2-43fa-9805-b3a5393810c3_1536x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VWoa!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa0170271-d6e2-43fa-9805-b3a5393810c3_1536x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VWoa!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa0170271-d6e2-43fa-9805-b3a5393810c3_1536x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VWoa!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa0170271-d6e2-43fa-9805-b3a5393810c3_1536x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VWoa!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa0170271-d6e2-43fa-9805-b3a5393810c3_1536x1024.png" width="1456" height="971" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/a0170271-d6e2-43fa-9805-b3a5393810c3_1536x1024.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:971,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VWoa!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa0170271-d6e2-43fa-9805-b3a5393810c3_1536x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VWoa!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa0170271-d6e2-43fa-9805-b3a5393810c3_1536x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VWoa!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa0170271-d6e2-43fa-9805-b3a5393810c3_1536x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VWoa!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa0170271-d6e2-43fa-9805-b3a5393810c3_1536x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Don&#8217;t fall for it.</p><div><hr></div><p><strong>What is Enterprise Transformation?</strong></p><p>A Transformation is to change how a company works so it can reach a level of performance its current operating model can&#8217;t deliver. Unlike projects or programs, a business transformation is always centered around major change that is core to how the business operates. Change to how people do work, who&#8217;s doing the work, roles and responsibilities, compensation, what &#8220;good&#8221; looks like &#8211; nothing is off the table. These types of initiatives are what I would describe as &#8220;gnarly&#8221;, as they always involve major changes to the people inside the business being transformed.</p><p>To provide some context, in one of the most recent transformation projects I ran, the following occurred simultaneously:</p><ul><li><p>Established an enterprise partnership to access new technology</p></li><li><p>Moved (and altered) over 500 jobs</p></li><li><p>Redesigned go-to-market and back-office functions for an entire suite of products and services</p></li><li><p>Shut down an adjacent business unit</p></li></ul><p>This was in an effort to improve the performance of an underperforming business. The effort took place over 24 months and ended when business performance met target.</p><p><strong>What is a Transformation Lead?</strong></p><p>Enter the Transformation lead. Compared to PMs and PgMs, transformation leads are the least common and most ambiguous of the three.</p><p>I tend to think of transformation leads as mini-COOs. They are master orchestrators, and do things like: build the roadmap and sequencing, make sure workstreams don&#8217;t collide, map out dependencies, ensure the business can absorb the change, run the governance cadence, and produce the analysis the CEO and board need to make calls. They stage-gate initiatives, frame go/no-go decisions, carry out stakeholder choreography (which is mostly political work), manage consultants (if they&#8217;re on the engagement), hold scope, transfer knowledge, coordinate across firms, and design the operating rhythm (what meetings exist, who&#8217;s in them, what decisions they make, how escalation works).</p><p>Most importantly though, a transformation lead owns value capture. Every transformation promises a number whether its cost out, revenue up, or productivity gained. This is often co-owned with finance and is the single most underrated part of the role. That and absorbing friction &#8212; a good transformation lead takes political hits so the functional leaders don&#8217;t have to.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Fn0W!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6131b828-017b-41b9-b69a-a68186120cd2_940x692.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Fn0W!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6131b828-017b-41b9-b69a-a68186120cd2_940x692.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Fn0W!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6131b828-017b-41b9-b69a-a68186120cd2_940x692.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Fn0W!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6131b828-017b-41b9-b69a-a68186120cd2_940x692.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Fn0W!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6131b828-017b-41b9-b69a-a68186120cd2_940x692.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Fn0W!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6131b828-017b-41b9-b69a-a68186120cd2_940x692.png" width="940" height="692" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6131b828-017b-41b9-b69a-a68186120cd2_940x692.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:692,&quot;width&quot;:940,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Fn0W!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6131b828-017b-41b9-b69a-a68186120cd2_940x692.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Fn0W!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6131b828-017b-41b9-b69a-a68186120cd2_940x692.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Fn0W!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6131b828-017b-41b9-b69a-a68186120cd2_940x692.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Fn0W!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6131b828-017b-41b9-b69a-a68186120cd2_940x692.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>If you&#8217;re an experienced project manager or program manager, a lot of this is probably not foreign to you.</p><p><strong>What makes a Transformation Lead Different?</strong></p><p>Agility. I&#8217;m not talking about Agile the framework, but the actual word agility &#8211; the ability to not only pivot quickly when priorities shift, but also <strong>bring others along with you.</strong> Transformation leads are forward thinking and view change as an opportunity for innovation, and often frame unpredictability as a shared, solvable challenge rather than an existential threat. Project managers and program managers are following a process, whereas transformation leads make the shift from protecting the past to shaping the future.</p><p><strong>How can I become a Transformation Lead?</strong></p><p>If you are a project or program manager interested in transformation work there are a few key areas to sharpen your skills to increase your chances of landing a role in transformation.</p><ol><li><p><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUXeQGsVbqU&amp;t=857s">Systems thinking</a></strong>. You&#8217;re likely familiar with the concept, but the specific systems-thinking muscle that matters for transformation is being able to trace a change in one place to its second- and third-order effects to predict <em>where resistance will surface</em>. A great PM already does this for project dependencies. The transformation jump is extending it from technical dependencies to organizational ones: incentives, careers, identities, comp plans, who has to give up power for the change to work. That&#8217;s the part that&#8217;s usually invisible until it derails an initiative.</p></li><li><p><strong>Financial fluency</strong>. A great PM is judged on whether the project is delivered, while a transformation lead is judged on whether the <em>number moved</em>. The mindset shift is from &#8220;did we ship what we said we&#8217;d ship&#8221; to &#8220;did the P&amp;L change in the way we promised.&#8221; This is the single biggest gap. Most PMs can read a budget, however few can credibly defend a benefits case to a CFO. This is the skill that, once you have it, changes how senior leaders treat you in a room. To get there, volunteer to co-own the value case on your next program, not just the delivery plan. Sit with finance. Learn how the controllers actually validate the savings. Make yourself the person who knows whether the number is real.</p></li><li><p><strong>Breadth of knowledge</strong>. Take a real tour in another function. Eighteen months in finance, ops, or HR is worth more than any certificate. Transformation leads have to be credible in conversations with people whose jobs they don&#8217;t have.</p></li></ol><p><strong>Something actionable you can do today: </strong>ask to co-own benefits realization on whatever project or program you&#8217;re currently running. That single move is the highest-leverage path from program manager to transformation lead.</p><p><strong>Key Takeaways</strong></p><p>Transformations are inherently about major change, and driving people, process, and technology from current state &#8594; future state, in an attempt to improve business performance. The two biggest differences between a transformation lead and a PM or PgM is the focus on P&amp;L improvement and managing people through periods of intense change.</p><div><hr></div><p><strong>In Summary</strong></p><p>Here is a handy chart to reference back to for the primary differences among project manager, program manager, and transformation lead.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qh7N!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F96780aa2-fa35-48e8-b469-d31670d25900_1536x1024.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qh7N!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F96780aa2-fa35-48e8-b469-d31670d25900_1536x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qh7N!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F96780aa2-fa35-48e8-b469-d31670d25900_1536x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qh7N!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F96780aa2-fa35-48e8-b469-d31670d25900_1536x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qh7N!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F96780aa2-fa35-48e8-b469-d31670d25900_1536x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qh7N!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F96780aa2-fa35-48e8-b469-d31670d25900_1536x1024.png" width="1456" height="971" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/96780aa2-fa35-48e8-b469-d31670d25900_1536x1024.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:971,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qh7N!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F96780aa2-fa35-48e8-b469-d31670d25900_1536x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qh7N!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F96780aa2-fa35-48e8-b469-d31670d25900_1536x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qh7N!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F96780aa2-fa35-48e8-b469-d31670d25900_1536x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qh7N!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F96780aa2-fa35-48e8-b469-d31670d25900_1536x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Thanks for reading!</p><p>Sincerely,</p><p>Bryan &#128075;</p><p></p><p>P.S. - Let me know in the comments if you found this newsletter helpful. Your feedback would mean the world to me &#128591;</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.bryansnewsletter.com/p/project-managers-and-program-managers/comments&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Leave a comment&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.bryansnewsletter.com/p/project-managers-and-program-managers/comments"><span>Leave a comment</span></a></p><div><hr></div><p><em>Have someone in your life that would benefit from this newsletter? </em></p><p><em>Feel free to forward this to them </em>&#128150;</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://bryansnewsletter.substack.com/?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=share&amp;action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share Bryan's Newsletter&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button 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Mid-Career</p><div><hr></div></li></ul><p>&#129504; <strong>Inspiration for the Week Ahead</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TWf6!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F042e5abf-f78f-4273-8553-bdfc22ade5ca_2048x1362.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TWf6!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F042e5abf-f78f-4273-8553-bdfc22ade5ca_2048x1362.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TWf6!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F042e5abf-f78f-4273-8553-bdfc22ade5ca_2048x1362.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TWf6!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F042e5abf-f78f-4273-8553-bdfc22ade5ca_2048x1362.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TWf6!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F042e5abf-f78f-4273-8553-bdfc22ade5ca_2048x1362.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TWf6!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F042e5abf-f78f-4273-8553-bdfc22ade5ca_2048x1362.jpeg" width="1456" height="968" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/042e5abf-f78f-4273-8553-bdfc22ade5ca_2048x1362.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:968,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:231723,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://bryansnewsletter.substack.com/i/196668648?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F042e5abf-f78f-4273-8553-bdfc22ade5ca_2048x1362.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TWf6!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F042e5abf-f78f-4273-8553-bdfc22ade5ca_2048x1362.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TWf6!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F042e5abf-f78f-4273-8553-bdfc22ade5ca_2048x1362.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TWf6!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F042e5abf-f78f-4273-8553-bdfc22ade5ca_2048x1362.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TWf6!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F042e5abf-f78f-4273-8553-bdfc22ade5ca_2048x1362.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>After nearly 200 years of disappearance from Rio de Janeiro, blue-and-yellow macaws are now returning to the region through a coordinated rewilding and habitat restoration effort. Macaws help disperse seeds, regenerate forests, and restore balance to ecosystems that support long-term biodiversity and environmental resilience. </p><p>Behind the scenes, this recovery was fundamentally a large-scale program management effort involving cross-functional coordination, phased execution, stakeholder alignment, risk management, long-term governance, and sustained execution over many years.</p><p>&#128075; Have a great week! &#128591;</p>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>