Project Management Center for Excellence at the University of Maryland

05/28/2026

Ever managed a “green” project that felt "red" inside?

Watch this video from Dr. Frank Murphy on honest status, real risk, and redefining success in project work.

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Are traditional metrics outdated?As project failures continue, the question is what are we doing wrong? Have we skipped steps?Do we change our minds on what ...

05/22/2026

Don't miss out on our upcoming free webinar introducing a new diagnostic for modern product leadership on June 2 at 6:30 PM EST.

Most product leaders who struggle aren’t failing for lack of skill. They’re playing the wrong game.

In this session, Brian Doyle introduces the Product Leadership Map, a four‑axis diagnostic that reveals real failure patterns and shows which popular frameworks to stop using.

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Most product leaders who are failing right now aren't failing because they lack skill. They're failing because they're playing the wrong game. Skilled PMs do…

05/20/2026

Projects go wrong because of unmanaged risks, forgotten action items, out-of-control issues, or poor decisions.

📋Learn what a RAID log is and why it is so important for your projects.

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Projects don’t go wrong because of the activities on your Kanban bo...

05/14/2026

Curious what happens when product management meets federal procurement?

Too often, government initiatives struggle with rigidity, late-stage surprises, and missed outcomes. But what if we approached procurement the same way we build great products?

In this presentation, John explores how discovery-driven practices and product management principles can transform federal procurement.

The key? Learning to shift both left and right.

Take a look:

Discover the power of integrating product management and discovery-driven practices in transforming federal procurement. Learn how agile-at-scale methodologi...

05/14/2026

Have you been thinking about advancing your career in Project Management with a Master’s degree? Now is the time to apply with the University of Maryland!

Explore program requirements and start your application here: https://bit.ly/4uMsSh1d

Application Deadlines:
🗓Summer 2026 (domestic): May 15
🗒Fall 2026: July 31 (domestic in-person and international online)

05/08/2026

💥If you’re not already on our email list yet, now’s the time to join!

Get first access to:
✔️ upcoming events
✔️ in-person networking opportunities
✔️ latest updates from our programs

Plus, our monthly newsletter drops next week!

Join the Community Today! >>>
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05/07/2026

Most project failures don't stem from bad timelines or weak budgets. They fail because of the people you didn't see coming.

The "invisible" stakeholder who feels blindsided. The end user who wasn't consulted. The internal team that discovers your project only after decisions are locked in.

Stakeholder management isn't about appeasing everyone. It IS about identifying who has real power and who has real interest before they become blockers.

In our latest article, we break down:
✔️ How to cast the net wide and find hidden stakeholders early
✔️ The Power-Interest Grid (and how to use it without overthinking)
✔️ Practical engagement strategies that build trust, not resentment
✔️ How to turn resistance into productive conversation

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On opening day, a local resident appears with a legal injunction because the shade from your new oak trees will ruin her award‑winning roses. You knew about the mayor, the donors, and the gardening club. You forgot the neighbor!

05/05/2026

Universities are asking scholars to do more with less. But who’s actually managing the work behind the research❓

In this talk, Rebecca Brouwer and Jamie Wylie share how they piloted their idea, built a sustainable funding and staffing model, and scaled to thousands of hours of support across the university.

▶️ Watch the session here:
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How do you stand up a sustainable project management core to support complex scholarly research across diverse disciplines? From Vision to Reality: Building ...

04/29/2026

Dan Ward and Lynne Cuppernull are featured speakers at our 2026 PM Symposium!

Join in the final featured speaker session, "Mastering the Project Narrative: Storytelling as a Strategic Leadership Skill". In this high-energy keynote workshop, Dan and Lynne tell stories that inspire and equip participants with techniques to tell stories of their own. Crucially, they will shift the perspective from storytelling as an innate talent to storytelling as a masterable skill that can be studied, practiced, and refined, bridging the gap between technical rigor and human-centric leadership, an essential skill for modern project success. By the end of this workshop, participants will not just have a new tool in their belt, they will have a new way of seeing their role as the “Author” of their project’s success.

Don't miss this dynamic featured speaker duo to close out our 2026 PM Symposium! Late registration for online attendance is still available through our website and in-person attendance registration will be offered on-site. See you soon!

When asked to identify barriers to innovation on their project, almost nobody says, “My own inability to communicate gets in the way of our project’s success.” And yet… Good project managers have a solid handle on the technical and financial details of their projects, but the best PMs tell t...

04/29/2026

If your “portfolio management” is 20 tabs of Excel and a weekly fire-drill status meeting, this video is for you. 🗒

Bill Bunce lays out a team-based funding model that backs persistent, outcome-driven teams and gives leaders real-time confidence in where every dollar goes.

Wacth Video:

2 likes. "Team-Based Planning: A Framework for Modernizing Public Sector Program Funding"

04/27/2026

Speaker Spotlight: Paul Hickey is an on-demand session speaker, presenting "Creating Better Business Outcomes and Closing the Staffing Gap – A Study of Gender Diversity in U.S. AEC Industry Leadership" at our 2026 PM Symposium!

In this session, Paul presents a study that quantified the gender composition of the C-suite, identified differences in career paths between women and men, and gathered in-depth information on women engineering executives’ professional stories. To address concerns around closing the staffing gap, participants are offered these solutions: expand beyond the traditional male-centric culture to identify new candidate pools; and incorporate the value of different backgrounds that offer new perspectives and ideas, proven to improve business performance and increase client satisfaction.

Don't miss out on Paul's session! Late registration for online attendance is still open through our website, and on-site registration for in-person attendance will be available at the Symposium.
https://pmsymposium.umd.edu/pm2026/session/creating-better-business-outcomes-and-closing-the-staffing-gap-hickey/