E107 Now that’s Smart with Melissa McDonald
In this episode of Project Management Office Hours, PMO Joe welcomed Melissa McDonald for an in-studio discussion. We get to hear Melissa share the story behind starting her own consulting firm and why she’s called The Smart PM! Melissa and Joe also discussed Smartsheet, PMO Leadership, Benefits of starting your own business, Serving in the military and so much more.
Melissa is the Founder and Managing Director of The Smart PM LLC, a Woman Veteran Owned Small Business that provides expert Project Management services and support through the advanced use and development of Smartsheet’s collaborative work management platform. She shared, “My niche is Smartsheet. It was a tool that I found a couple of years back and I’ve brought it to different organizations with me and it’s been a great tool.”
Why Smartsheet? “I needed something more than Excel, not as difficult as MS Project for that. So I’d heard of Smartsheet and I looked into it, and you can start off small. You don’t have to buy a huge program.” Wonder where the Smart PM name comes from? As PMO Joe said, “So, Smart PM tremendous experience, served our country, supported our country also as a military spouse, educated in universities and in the military, educated in the use of technology to support industry. Folks, I’m trying to build if you’re wondering where the Smart PM name comes from, it’s all of these things contributing.”
Listen to the full episode to hear the full story from Melissa.
Connect with Melissa:
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissacmcdonald/
Connect with The Smart PM:
https://thesmartpm.pro
See the guest list for upcoming shows – https://www.thepmosquad.com/podcast
Thank you to THE PMO SQUAD and The PMO Leader for sponsoring this show.
The PMO Squad is a leading provider of PMO and Project Management services in the US. They assist clients building and improving PMOs, provide Project Management Consulting services, deliver custom Project Management Training and provide Project Management staffing services.
Learn more about The PMO Squad – https://www.thepmosquad.com
Where do PMO Leaders go for Information, Learning, Networking and Services? The PMO Leader community has “Everything You Need to Become a Great PMO Leader”. One PMO World, One Community!
Learn more about The PMO Leader – https://www.thepmoleader.com
The Smart PM is a Woman Veteran-Owned Small Business with Certified Project Management Professionals and Smartsheet Product and Professional Services providers. They are a 3x top 5% Smartsheet automation recognized user (aka “Automagician”). They develop and optimize custom programs in Smartsheet that actually work for PMOs, Operations, and your business processes.
TSP consultants are PMP, PMI-ACP, CCMP, SAFe, ITIL, and Smartsheet certified with more than 20 years of project portfolio management experience in the US Army, IT, Healthcare, Education, Manufacturing, and Construction.
Their services can expand outside of a PMO and include: assessment, design, custom development or pre-built solutions, consulting, training, or optimizing your current business program. They have designed and built HR Performance Assessment programs, Acquisitions & Dispositions templates, Month End tools, PPM tools, and so much more.
They are located in Phoenix, Arizona and provide onsite, virtual, and hybrid consulting options, as well as the availability to travel to your location.
Melissa McDonald is the Founder and Managing Director of The Smart PM LLC, a Woman Veteran Owned Small Business that provides expert Project Management services and support through the advanced use and development of Smartsheet’s collaborative work management platform.
Melissa is a Smartsheet Silver Partner and Reseller. More importantly, she is a former three-time PMO Director and Smartsheet user herself. TSP empowers PMOs, Departments, and Enterprises in project delivery and operational efficiencies to work smarter.
Melissa has more than 20 years of experience managing people, projects, and portfolios in both the government and private sectors. She has supported clients in various industries, to include the Department of Defense, IT, Healthcare, Finance, Engineering, Marketing, and Operations. Melissa has a Master of Science Degree in Project Management (MSPM) from Boston University and Bachelor of Science in Physics from Xavier University.
In addition, she is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), Agile Certified Professional (PMI-ACP), Certified Change Management Professional (CCMP), SAFe Agilist, and Certified Smartsheet Professional Services Provider and Trainer.
Before joining the consulting industry, Melissa worked her way up in corporate American from a Project Manager to implementing and leading PMOs. And before that, she proudly served on Active Duty in the United States Army as an Engineer Officer.
Melissa has spent over 20 years supporting the military community and has received the U.S. Army Forces Command Dr. Mary E. Walker Award and 2013 Volunteer of the Year for the Vicenza, Italy Military Community. She is an active member of PMI and The Women’s National Memorial. Outside of work, she loves to cycle, hike, and travel with her family.
Follow the Smart PM on LinkedIn.
ABOUT YOUR HOST
Joe Pusz started THE PMO SQUAD to bring real world PMO Leadership experience to the consulting space and to advocate for Project Management through his blog PMOJOE.com. The old saying is “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Following this mindset Joe left Corporate America in 2013 to start THE PMO SQUAD and work with fellow Natural Born Project Managers to advance Project Management Best Practices.
ABOUT OUR SPONSOR
THE PMO SQUAD focuses exclusively on PMO and Project Management consulting. Corporate America is full of Accidental Project Managers running projects who haven’t been trained to be PMs. To help solve this problem THE PMO SQUAD is on the Leading Edge with PMO As a Service. PMO As a Service allows our clients to focus on their respective core competencies while THE PMO SQUAD delivers Project Management expertise. Contact Joe at 678-591-7868. Follow The PMO Squad on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
Where do PMO Leaders go for Information, Learning, Networking and Services? The PMO Leader community has “Everything You Need to Become a Great PMO Leader”. One PMO World, One Community! Learn more about The PMO Leader – www.thepmoleader.com
