PM Academy · Onsite #1
Session Recap · Onsite #1 Kickoff
New Orleans
The first cohort of the PM Academy. A mix of seasoned PMs and first-time project managers spent six hours building a shared language for how Grace runs work.
PM Academy · Onsite #1
Session Recap · Onsite #1 Kickoff
The first cohort of the PM Academy. A mix of seasoned PMs and first-time project managers spent six hours building a shared language for how Grace runs work.
Session Summary
New Orleans went first. The first cohort, a mix of veterans and new PMs, spent six hours turning three ideas into instincts, and each of the three surfaced in the room’s own terms.
Establishing Clarity
A timed paper-airplane build did the teaching. Almost everyone started folding before anyone asked what “good” even meant. Their own conclusion: a checklist tells you what to do, not whether the team read it the same way. Clarity is a conversation, not a document.
Controlling Advancement
The same exercise surfaced the pull to rush. The counter-move that stuck was to slow down and get it right. Speed without clarity reaches the wrong place faster.
Protecting Integrity
The most candid stretch was about ownership: what to do when a principal overrides a project manager’s call. Protecting the work means naming the trade-offs out loud, even when that takes courage. Moving ahead on an unclear ask quietly takes on a risk that is better surfaced early.
The takeaway
Run the project like an owner runs a business. Establish clarity before moving, own the outcome rather than the steps handed out, and the rest follows.
Each table then drew its Ideal PM. Four different sketches carried the same three instincts, and this first cohort set the pace for the rooms that followed.
Participant Artifacts
Four tables produced four different drawings with the same instincts underneath.
The PM walks the project from a fog of unknowns, the “?” cloud, to a finished building, carrying the work (the paper airplane) balanced against time and budget (the hourglass and money bag).
Communication · Commitment to consistency · Follow-through · Integrity to the project · Consistency in communication with the team
Three shapes sit inside one system: circle, square, and triangle. The PM keeps competing parts in equilibrium rather than favoring any one.
Learn something new weekly · Transfer management knowledge into active projects · Be pro-active filling the “gaps” · Stay non-judgmental and more comprehensive
One figure doing it all at once, present and engaged, with the budget on the belt. A reminder to look at every project through the lens of litigation: stop, listen, compose, and achieve.
Stop · Observe · Reconcile · Communicate · Present & engaged
Six priorities kept in the air at once, in front of a room full of stakeholders. The PM is the calm center keeping every plate aloft without letting one drop.
Timely · Clarity · Effort · Finance · Precise · Open-minded