Tuesday Brief: Managing projects successfully requires more than just good people and solid processes. Increasingly, it demands thoughtful approaches to how we organize, share, and analyze information. Whether you're coordinating remote teams across time zones, presenting performance data to executives, or preparing for AI-assisted decision-making, the structure of your project information directly impacts your effectiveness. This week, we explore practical strategies for managing data and communication in ways that drive better project outcomes.
October 7, 2025
In This Issue:
Featured Article: Managing Projects Remotely With Precision
Video Tutorial: Top 5 Power BI Tricks Every PMO Should Know
Community Poll: What's your biggest project data challenge?
Live Event (10/8): Structured Data - The Hidden Force Multiplier for AI
PM Best Practices: The Documentation First Principle
Featured Article: Managing Projects Remotely With Precision
Remote work has shifted from temporary solution to permanent strategy, bringing unique challenges for project managers coordinating distributed teams across time zones. Ronald B. Smith shares essential best practices for managing remote teams effectively, from setting clear expectations and leveraging technology to navigating time zone complexities.
Drawing from experience managing international teams spanning Houston to New Delhi and London, Ron demonstrates how structured communication frameworks and intentional documentation practices become critical when team members never meet face-to-face. Learn practical approaches to flexible scheduling, asynchronous communication, and building cohesive virtual workplaces where teams thrive.
Video Tutorial: Top 5 Power BI Tricks Every PMO Should Know
Well-organized data powers better decision-making. MPUG MVP Erik van Hurck demonstrates five practical Power BI techniques that transform how PMOs present and manage project information, from using certified visuals and creating professional backgrounds to implementing consistent color themes with free tools like PowerToys.
His fourth tip, promoting and certifying semantic models, establishes data quality and trust, fundamental requirements for any analysis. Learn how to build Power BI apps for easy stakeholder access and make complex project information discoverable to diverse audiences.
Live Event (10/8): Structured Data: The Hidden Force Multiplier for AI
AI tools like ChatGPT are rapidly becoming part of the project manager's toolkit, but they often struggle when asked to analyze messy inputs: spreadsheets, SharePoint lists, screenshots, and Word tables. The result? Incomplete analysis, hallucinated answers, and inconsistent insights that undermine trust in AI-assisted decision-making.
Join us today as we explore why large language models struggle with loosely structured data, and how transforming that same information into structured, schema-based formats can multiply the value of AI analysis. Using real examples from project governance, we'll compare what happens when AI analyzes a Word table versus a JSON dataset. The difference is striking.
What You'll Learn:
Why large language models struggle with unstructured project data
How structured data formats improve AI accuracy and reduce hallucinations
Real comparisons of AI outputs from unstructured vs. structured inputs
Practical opportunities to capture and manage data in structured formats
Techniques to make AI analysis more reliable for governance and reporting
The work package is where scope, schedule, responsibility, cost, and progress naturally intersect. It's the structure that can carry the metadata needed to deliver real, multi-dimensional insight. This session demonstrates why that matters for AI analysis.
🗓️ Wednesday, October 8 🕛 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT 📍 Live on Zoom 🏅 1 PMI PDU: 0.75 Ways of Working, 0.25 Power Skills
MPUG host live events with leading experts on Wednesdays from 12:00pm - 1:00pm ET! MPUG members get access to live events where you get direct access to industry leaders, actionable insights, hands-on training, and opportunities to earn PDU's.
PM Best Practice: The Documentation First Principle
Before starting any remote collaboration session or making key project decisions, ask: "If someone reads this conversation six months from now, will they understand the context, the decision, and the rationale?" This simple question transforms how you document project information, creating structured records that serve both immediate team needs and long-term organizational knowledge. Document decisions with clear structure: what was decided, why, who was involved, and what happens next.
