E16 Warick Pond from ASU and Hussain Bandukwala from Parwaaz Consulting
In this episode of Project Management Office Hours, Joe Pusz, PMO Joe has a great discussion with special guests Warick Pond, Executive Director with Arizona State University and Hussain Bandukwala, Chief PMO Coach with Parwaaz Consulting.
Warick provided us an inside view of the impact and challenges of Project Management within Higher Education. We learned of the ASU Project Management Network, Training and Certifications offered at ASU, the Entrepreneurial mindset and skills expected with ASU PMs and the need to be successful in our era of Digital and Industry Disruption! A special Thank You to Warick and ASU for donating seats to ASU Project Management training to the Veterans in our Veterans Project Management Mentoring Program. Thank You Warick!
PMO Leaders don’t have many resources to turn to for advice and education to grow in their role. Hussain provided his perspective on how PMO Leaders can be successful by understand what to do first in this role, understanding why PMOs fail so often and what skills are necessary to succeed in this role. As a leader in our Industry, Hussain is hosting the PMO Virtual Summit, a collection of 20 Global PMO Leaders from October 15 – 18th. To learn more visit https://pmovirtualsummit.com
Tune in for upcoming shows with Project Management leaders discussing a wide range of current topics and events! Our next show will be October 18th.
Recognized by U.S. News & World Report as the country’s most innovative school, Arizona State University is where students and faculty work to develop, advance and lead innovations. ASU is where nationally ranked and internationally ranked programs prepare next-generation innovators to thrive while advancing pioneering research, strategic partnerships, entrepreneurship and 
economic development.
ASU’s nationally ranked programs inspire the top-qualified graduates and have positioned the university as a “top-tier” recruiting and hiring institution by more than 50 of the country’s top corporations, according to professional recruiters and rankings services around the world. ASU graduates more than 20,000 thinkers, innovators and master learners every year. Take a deeper look at how ASU is building the next generation of leaders.
The University Technology Office embraces its role as both an enabler and catalyst for advancing the vision and work of the New American University. We are a values-driven organization. Our commitments are reflected in all the work we do in pursuit of operational excellence, the experience and delight of our community, and our strategic and innovative initiatives.
Warick Pond is the Executive Director for the Strategic Implementation Office within ASU’s University Technology Office. He brings a wealth of experience in IT portfolio and project management from both higher education and industry. In his role at ASU, he works with diverse teams resulting in the successful implementation of the tools, techniques, and methodology being utilized to assess, prioritize, manage, and monitor the hundreds of active projects comprising the institution’s IT portfolio.
Driving strategic initiatives toward implementation at ASU, Warick focuses on valuable partnerships that result in student success. With twelve years in higher education and seven in the private market, Warick brings an unique perspective to building a PMO. His most notable programs include managing the technology efforts for Starbuck’s College Achievement Plan, and eAdvisor Tracking which won Information Weekly’s Top 500 Technology Innovators award. Warick oversees these efforts as well as leading a team of skilled IT professionals that strive in the mission to provide expert knowledge and value in project management.
Previous to ASU, Warick worked 7 years at the University of Utah as a portfolio manager. His efforts in establishing an integrated PMO that leveraged frameworks within portfolio, project and resource management in combination with strategic enterprise governance at the University of Utah & University of Utah Health Science Center has been highlighted in the publications, Taming Change with Portfolio Management (http://www.tamingchange.com) and A Compendium of PMO Case Studies (http://marketplace.pmi.org/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx? GMProduct=00101376101). His experience in adult instructional design in the laboratory science industry with ARUP Laboratories and business development with Staples, Inc., brings a unique view to how technology services impact business capabilities.
Warick is a Certified Project Management Professional as well as being Scrum Master Certified.
Connect with Warick on LinkedIn. 
Hussain Bandukwala is the Chief Coach at Parwaaz Consulting and helps PMO leaders succeed. Through coaching, workshops and other resources, Hussain arms aspiring and first-time Project Management Office (PMO) leaders with experiential learning and confidence to achieve PMO triumph systematically and effectively.
He also works with PMO leaders and executives at high-growth small- and mid- sized organizations to conquer their biggest challenges in meeting strategic goals, achieving operational efficiency, and delivering project value.
Hussain has led and facilitated the setup of PMOs at several companies and advised numerous PMO leaders throughout their own PMO setup journeys. He has authored several PMO-focused publications, teaches at LinkedIn Learning and speaks frequently on the subject.
Connect with Hussain on LinkedIn and Twitter.
ABOUT PROJECT MANAGEMENT OFFICE HOURS SERIES
Project Management Office Hours is intended to provide Project Management professionals a place to drop in and discuss Success Stories, Best Practices, and Lessons Learned. Project Management Consultant Joy Gumz has shared with us, “Operations keep the lights on, strategy provides the light at the end of the tunnel, but project management is the train engine that moves the organization forward.”
Each of us has a unique story to tell, but collectively we share a message that organizations who embrace Project Management Best Practices perform better than those which don’t. Organizations which align Projects to Strategy perform better. Organizations with Engage Executive Sponsors deliver better results. Organizations which measure Project Management performance outperform those which don’t.
During our Project Management Office Hours, we hear directly from Industry leaders how to make an impact in our profession. How we, collectively, will Advance Project Management Best Practices, One Listener at a time!
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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.
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.
