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Project Management Happy Hour

Kim Essendrup and Kate Anderson

PM Happy Hour is the place for frank and honest discussion about real world issues in project management. We do it in a way that’s not too dry, though it may get a bit salty from time to tim...

Episodes

20 of 139 episodes

133: The Introvert's guide to Communication for Project Managers

Why "over-communicating" isn't about saying more — it's about knowing exactly what your stakeholders need to hear, and when. What happens wh...

33:17Sep 15, 2026

132: Why Your Most Supportive Stakeholder is Ruining your Project, with Dawn Mahan

Projects rarely fail from a lack of templates — they fail because of people. Author Dawn Mahan reveals the animal avatars that help you spot...

51:55Aug 25, 2026

131: Don't be the PM everyone hates, with Rachel Losser

Your worst project management habit might also be your superpower — the trick is knowing which one you're wielding, and when. What actually...

50:53Aug 12, 2026

130: Rigged bids, fake deadlines, and going 181x over budget

A $6.9 million estimate. A $1.25 billion catastrophe. How fake deadlines, a rigged bid, and a steering committee allergic to bad news turned...

38:49Jul 29, 2026

129: How Credibility Starts with Curiosity, with Noel Nicole Ransom

Why do perfectly logical, well-researched project plans still fail to win people over? It's one of the most frustrating forms of project fai...

35:14Jul 14, 2026

128: Your project can't possibly be as bad as working for Mr Beast, Part 2

Ever worked on a project that felt like a complete disaster... only for leadership to call it a huge success? In Part 2 of our Mr. Beast ser...

33:04Jun 30, 2026

127: Your project can't possibly be as bad as working for Mr Beast, Part 1

Ever worked with a stakeholder who changes direction faster than your project plan can keep up? Then this episode may feel a little too fami...

28:52Jun 16, 2026

126: "What's your AI Strategy?" Handling the Executive who wants AI in everything

You know the moment. Your project plan is solid. The scope is defined. The team is ready. Then an executive walks by and casually asks: "Can...

39:06Jun 3, 2026

125: How to survive the AI landscape as a PM with PMI's Dr Kelly Heuer

AI is changing work fast enough to give every project manager emotional whiplash. New tools, new workflows, new expectations… and somehow yo...

58:45May 20, 2026

124: Drowning in Tasks: How Successful PMs Organize the Chaos

If your to-do list is 47 items long, your Slack won't shut up, and you ended the day thinking, "Cool… but what did I actually accomplish?"—w...

56:57May 6, 2026

123 - Hungry Hungry HPPOs - managing loud personalities with Evan Unger

If your weekly calendar looks like the loser in a state fair quilt competition - just solid blocks of mismatched colors with no room to brea...

01:00:49Apr 14, 2026

122 - Kate puts Kim through the worst meeting hells our listeners could dream up: a PM HappyHour role play

Boss fights and boardrooms. Kate puts Kim through meeting hell in this tabletop roleplay episode. Kate: "Help me torture Kim." That was the...

01:14:11Apr 3, 2026

121 - Top Shelf Replay: Embracing the Escalation

Escalation : it's a word that can make even experienced project managers tense. But what if you approached it as a tool rather than a threat...

45:07Mar 24, 2026

120 - How smart teams talk themselves into Failure, with Dr. Bill Brantley

Why do smart teams still deliver failed projects? Most project failures don't begin with a catastrophic mistake. Instead, they begin with sm...

52:52Mar 10, 2026

119 - TSR: They told me I'm 'too nice'??

Have you ever gotten feedback that made you want to flip a table because it was both insulting and totally useless? In this Top Shelf Replay...

01:02:11Feb 24, 2026

118 - PM Turf Wars: Sharing your projects with other Project Managers

"Three PMs walk into a bar: a business PM, an IT PM, and a Vendor PM…" Sounds like a bad joke, but if you don't get it right - the joke will...

23:57Feb 10, 2026

117 - Top Shelf Replay: Say No by Saying Yes

Project managers are constantly told they need to "learn how to say no." But in the real world—especially when the ask comes from a sponsor,...

44:11Jan 30, 2026

116 - How to quit your job and completely fail as a PM contractor

Thinking about going contractor ? Kate and Kim share how they each left corporate and made the leap—two very different stories (burnout vs a...

40:06Jan 15, 2026

115 - Top Shelf Replay: Trust Bricks

As project managers, we spend a lot of time talking about tools, processes, and delivery frameworks—but far less time talking about the invi...

39:35Dec 16, 2025

114 - Happy Hour Chatter: What PMs Really Do, Fear in Decision-Making, and Lessons from Going solo

Kim and Kate settle in for a classic PM Happy Hour episode — the kind where the drinks are metaphorical, the conversation is wandering in th...

42:40Dec 9, 2025