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Someone on your project pasted the schedule into a free ChatGPT account to get it analysed. That is a data breach, and the confidentiality clause they signed does not care that it was convenient. Joe Klich calls it shadow AI, and he thinks it is the most under-discussed risk in construction right now. Joe spent 18 years in commercial construction operations, from the field through executive leadership, before founding Klich Consulting, an operational risk advisory for construction executives. He joins Dale and Val to talk about how fast AI capability is actually doubling (the METR curve has gone from every seven months to every three), why most people cannot keep up and what that gap means for project teams, and how regulators in the US, UK and Australia are all reacting rather than leading. In this episode: why Chinese models at three cents a task will put AI everywhere and magnify the governance problem; the difference between AGI and ASI and why nobody smarter than you will design their own off switch; AI as a hammer, not a colleague; why companies get AI backwards by starting with the tool instead of their people; the cybersecurity parallel from 2010 and why insurers, not legislators, will force AI governance by refusing to pay for AI-related losses; what the jobs of the future look like when a team of ten becomes five; and Joe's closing advice for anyone using AI at work. Connect with Joe Klich on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-klich-96020635/ Hosted by Dale Foong and Val Matthews. The Project Chatter Podcast has been running since 2018 and is free to access, always.

Your project is green. Every milestone hit. And the CIO still can't tell the business what value it created. Matthieu Sors has watched that conversation play out inside banks, telcos and software companies for 20 years, and he thinks the fix is a shift most PMOs haven't made yet: stop tracking outputs, start owning outcomes. Matthieu is French, based in Sydney, and has spent his career on portfolio management: NBN, banking EPMOs, and now Planview, where he works with executive teams on what comes next. He joins Dale and Machine Gun Martin to unpack the difference between an output and an outcome, why senior executives are already ready for the outcome conversation (and why the middle layer isn't), and what OKRs look like when they are done well. In this episode: the bank that reported 10 platinum, 6 gold and 5 silver milestones and still couldn't answer "what did we deliver?"; why large programmes are being broken into waves; delegation and empowerment without blowing the budget; the asset lifecycle and the sponsor role on infrastructure projects; value streams and product operating models; why OKR rollouts fall apart after two quarters; AI, quantum and the human in the loop; and Matthieu's final thought for every project manager updating their CV in a panic: you are not going anywhere. Connect with Matthieu Sors on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthieusors/ Hosted by Dale Foong and Martin C. The Project Chatter Podcast has been running since 2018 and is free to access, always. Contains one instance of strong language.

Is your work killing your relationships? For nine in ten business owners, the answer is heading that way. Dr Sabrina Starling started out as a psychologist in community mental health, burnt out, and rebuilt her working life around one limit: a 25-hour week. Today she runs Tap the Potential, hosts the Profit by Design podcast, and has written the How to Hire the Best series and The 4-Week Vacation. Val is travelling, so Dale hosts solo. They get into: Treating your time as worth $10,000 an hour, and what that means for what you stop doingWhy there are no "big C" emergencies in business, and what constant availability costs your teamHer research: nine in ten entrepreneurs are burning outServing the top 20% of clients who drive 80% of revenue, and hiring only for that sweet spotGiving every role one clear key resultDale's PMO story: cutting 70 monthly reports to 12, and nobody complainedBuilding up to a fully unplugged 4-week vacationA deeply personal story about why time, not money, is what matters mostGet Sabrina's chart of $10,000 an hour activities: https://tapthepotential.com/10k/ FIND SABRINATap the Potential: https://tapthepotential.com/Profit by Design podcast: https://tapthepotential.com/profitbydesignpodcast/ FIND USWebsite: https://projectchatter.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/projectchatterpodcast/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoudjc2m0ttmAkyvBnf8EnQ The Project Chatter Podcast has been running since 2018 and is free to access, always. If this episode was useful, share it with one person who needs it.

Change fatigue isn't real. It's the story you're telling yourself about the change. Dr Tammy Watchorn, the Change Ninja, is back on Project Chatter. A scientist turned healthcare change leader, Tammy learned early that change works through people, not process. Her third book, The Change Ninja vs Zombies, is out on 6 October: a gamified, Top Trumps style guide to spotting the things that drain your time, energy and mojo, and slaying them. Dale flies solo in the host seat for this one. They get into: Why transformation fails when nobody can name the problem it's solvingWhy you can't put yourself in someone else's shoes until you understand how your own brain handles changeVlad the Macro Zombie, Walter Wrong Question and Wolfie the work-about-work zombieHow to answer the awkward question before it's asked"Difficult" stakeholders, and the one word that quietly makes you oneWhy time speeds up as you get older, and how to slow it downThe case for being bored againUsing AI as a critical friend, not a ghostwriterKeep listening, keep liking, and keep paying it forward. FIND USWebsite: https://projectchatter.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/projectchatterpodcast/YouTube: https://youtu.be/_fy1ZsKSKgA The Project Chatter Podcast has been running since 2018 and is free to access, always. If this episode was useful, share it with one person who needs it.

We spend a fortune on governance, tooling and RACIs, then lose our best people to one person who nobody will have a difficult conversation with. Lisa Martello has spent her career in rail, from a Transport for London graduate scheme to programme and director roles at HS2 and beyond, with detours into utilities and construction. By night she runs Catching Bees, a 20,000 strong following built on holding a sarcastic mirror up to workplace behaviour: the exec petting zoo, the strategic seagull, talent stretching, the one way flex. In this episode she makes an argument most organisations quietly avoid. We are far too forgiving to the people behaving badly, and far too demanding of the people on the receiving end. The victim gets a list of actions: gather examples, prepare, call it out in the moment, call it out afterwards, book the meeting. The culprit gets the benefit of the doubt. We also get into: Writing bids and then wishing you could deliver them, and what changes when you become the clientWhy the fun is seeping out of projects at exactly the point teams need it mostThe five step slide from benefit of the doubt to resignation, and where leaders usually intervene too lateHow "below the line behaviour" gets weaponised to shut down anyone who says the project is in troubleCode switching, unprofessional hair, and the role model who arrived at exactly the right momentSkanska's two word intervention, "not cool", and why sitting in the discomfort works better than a meetingThree steps out of d******d territory, including the "is it me" moment that stopped Lisa from performance managing someone out of a job she has since excelled inImposter syndrome as a preparation engine, and a healthy disregard for authorityA serious conversation with a lot of laughing in it. FIND LISA AND CATCHING BEESCatching Bees on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catching_bees/Catching Bees on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/catching-bees/Lisa Martello on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-martello-2b65463b/ FIND USWebsite: https://projectchatter.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/projectchatterpodcast/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ProjectChatterPodcast The Project Chatter Podcast has been running since 2018 and is free to access, always. If this episode was useful, share it with one person who needs to hear it.

Every robotics demo looks the same: a humanoid doing kung fu, a humanoid dancing, a humanoid folding laundry. Eliot Dixon has spent his career in the parts of robotics that never make the showreel, and his view is blunt. The humanoid form factor exists because human environments are a compromise, not because it is the best way to get work done. Eliot's route into robotics started on a farm and a deep dislike of tractors. Physics, then a robotics degree, then years at Dstl working on sensing and UAVs, then Tata Motors building an autonomous vehicle for UK roads that was ultimately headed for the chaos of Indian ones. From there into ag tech, leading robotics and AI at Agri-EPI Centre, and now into infrastructure and construction. That path gives him an uncomfortable message for our sector. Agriculture has already run the experiment. Brilliantly engineered robotic systems, well funded, technically successful, and commercially dead, because they demanded that the entire farm change around them. As Eliot puts it, you are not designing a robot. You are designing a farm. Swap in construction and the warning lands the same way. So what actually works on a site today? Inspection and monitoring. Quadrupeds running nightly LIDAR scans, compared against the BIM, feeding tomorrow's work plan instead of a six-monthly architect's report. And the economics are shifting fast: platforms that cost well over £100,000 are now available at a few thousand for smaller sites. We also get into why drones are effectively grounded by UK airspace rules, why robotics almost never reduces headcount but changes the job mix instead, where the real return on investment hides, what data poisoning and teleoperated "autonomous" systems mean for trust, and why a dynamic construction site is a genuinely harder problem than a road in Delhi. In this episode: Why the humanoid is a compromise, not an endpointThe agricultural robotics failures construction is about to repeatInspection and monitoring: the only mature site use case right nowNightly LIDAR against BIM, and the decision loop it createsThe collapse in quadruped pricing and what it unlocksWhy UK airspace, not technology, is the drone blockerWhere robotics ROI actually comes from when nobody loses a jobAutonomy 2.0, visual models, and the behaviour problemStrawberries, dexterity, and why touch feedback is so hardEliot's closing advice for anyone briefing a roboticist Guest: Eliot Dixon, Roboverse Reply UK Hosts: Dale Foong and Val Matthews The Project Chatter Podcast is free to access and always will be. If you get value from it, pay it forward and share this episode with someone who needs it. Connect: Eliot Dixon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliot-dixon/ Project Chatter: https://www.linkedin.com/company/projectchatterpodcast/?viewAsMember=trueWebsite: https://projectchatter.com/

What if the fastest way to align a project team wasn't another 47-slide deck, but a two-minute film clip? In Episode 222, Dale and Val sit down with Dawn Mahan, project leader, educator and author, to unpack why movies are surprisingly powerful tools for project leadership, communication and team alignment. Dawn coined the term "Project Land" to explain why the world of projects behaves so differently from the day job, and it has stuck with thousands of people since. We get into: Dawn's origin story, from Y2K coder to accidental project manager after one out-of-the-blue phone callWhy Apollo 13, The Martian and The Matrix explain iteration, problem-solving and belief better than most training coursesThe real reason projects fail, and why the root cause almost always traces back to the start"Are you good?" vs "How do you feel?" and why that one change transformed how Dawn led teamsWhy communication is everyone's job, not just the project manager'sAssessing people on ownership rather than leadership, and why that is fairerTrust, vulnerability and healthy conflict, drawing on The Five Dysfunctions of a TeamWhether you are being parachuted into a live project or just trying to explain what you actually do to your family, this one is full of practical, human ways to lead people better. Dawn's books: Meet the Players in Project Land: Decide the Right Project Roles and Get People on BoardProject Land Goes to the Movies: 22 Blockbuster Strategies for Project Success Connect with Dawn: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dawnmahanInstagram: instagram.com/dawnjmahanProject Guru Academy: linkedin.com/showcase/projectguruacademyPMOtraining on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/pmotrainingPMOtraining on YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCLYJDA7-15rotZyEDEv8gygPMOtraining on Facebook: facebook.com/PMOtiger This podcast is free and always will be. If you got value from it, pay it forward and share it with someone in your team. Stay safe, be disruptive, and have fun doing it.

Most consultancy owners can tell you their revenue. Very few can tell you their net profit. That gap is where the money quietly leaks out. In this Australia-only episode, Val sits down with Josh Stone, who grew a civil and structural consultancy from £3m to £30m over a decade, sold out, and now coaches 70+ engineering, surveying, architecture and town planning founders on how to build businesses that actually pay them back. We get into the commercial side we rarely cover on the show: Why 30% net profit should be your benchmark, and what to do if you are sat at 12%How to escape the generalist "red ocean" and charge what you are actually worthWhy winning the work is only half the job, and how to stop client relationships living and dying with the founderThe four-stage path from technician to conductor to lifestyle or investorA grounded take on AI in engineering, and why the founders experimenting now will outbid the ones who waitIf you are stuck being the bottleneck in your own business, this is the practical, no-nonsense conversation to fix it. Guest: Josh Stone More from Project Chatter: www.projectchatter.com Free access, no paywalls. Keep liking, keep sharing, keep paying it forward.

Most data scientists have never touched a project. Yash Desai looked at the project controls world through the data first, and what he found says a lot about why this industry lags behind others on AI. In Episode 220, Dale is joined by returning co-host Martin and first-time guest Yash Desai, Head of Data and AI at Movar Reply, for a practical conversation on where data, AI and robotics actually fit in project delivery. We cover why project controls sits behind other industries, what an orchestration layer really is, how to future-proof your role, the data scientist vs project controller debate, hiring for drive over a skills list, robotics on site today vs the hype, and the Fable situation. No buzzwords, just useful insight. Chapters:00:00 Welcome back01:38 Who is Yash Desai?04:09 Why project controls lags on AI09:44 What is an orchestration layer?14:23 Future-proofing your role22:48 Data scientist vs project controller33:26 Grads and the assurance layer36:17 Why robotics is getting interesting46:21 Robotics in one to two years52:10 Should governments regulate robotics?57:23 The Fable situation and 'Pragmatic'01:01:01 Final thoughts Connect with Yash: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yash-desai-00847216b/Subscribe to Pragmatic: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/pragmaitic-7347631768201535488/ A free-access podcast. Pay it forward and share it on. www.projectchatter.com

88% of project schedules don't follow best practice. So why are we so keen to feed that data into AI and trust the output? In this episode, Dale and Val are joined by Michael Pink, Founder of SmartPM, for a sharp conversation on the forensic side of delay and the state of AI in project controls. Mike has analysed hundreds of thousands of schedules and built a career on working out who delayed what, and why nobody could ever agree. His core message: clean data is not the same as honest data. A technically tidy schedule can tell you a story that never happened, and if you point AI at it, you don't get insight, you get a confident wrong answer at scale. What we cover: Mike's route into construction, from a study-abroad debt to KPMG's construction consulting group25 years of change in the people and process side of schedulingThe shift from reactive forensic work to proactive project controlsData honesty vs data quality, and why integrity is the combination of both (framing credited to Isaac Dyer and Carlos Sanchez)The 88% problem: missing logic, inflated float and moving datesThe compression factor, and the exact point a schedule becomes infeasibleWhy a weekly update beats a monthly one, for almost no extra timeP6 vs Microsoft Project, and grading schedule quality across 35 metricsWhere LLMs genuinely help, and why quantitative AI is still the long gameThe future of the scheduler: less building and cleaning, more strategyA genuinely optimistic look at where the profession is heading, and why this might be the best time yet to be in project controls. This episode is proudly sponsored by nPlan.nPlan Summer AI Day 2026: Construction Superintelligence takes place in London on Thursday 25 June 2026, with a fireside featuring Peter Hancock, Project Director at National Grid, and Dima Pogorelsky, MD and Partner at BCG. February's event sold out with standing room only. Register here:https://www.nplan.io/events/nplan-summer-ai-day-2026-construction-superintelligence Connect with Michael Pink at https://www.smartpm.com or on LinkedIn. If you enjoyed this episode, help us pay it forward and share it. Stay safe, be disruptive, and have fun doing it.

Top of his MBA class at the University of Bath, technically sharp, and still firing out 20 to 30 applications a day with little to show for it. Nick Chizuka joins Dale and Val for an honest conversation about what it takes to land a role in project controls and consulting right now, and why the rise of AI has made the graduate market tougher than it was even a year ago. It is a candid look at the gap between what universities teach and what employers actually want, the false choice between technical and soft skills, and where the real jobs of the next decade might come from. In this episode: Why a top MBA no longer guarantees a job, and what changedTechnical skills vs soft skills, and why you need bothThe graduates' verdict on data, analytics and machine learningRobotics and physical AI as the next frontierThe energy and infrastructure bottleneck nobody talks aboutUsing the big firms as a springboard, not a destinationGrit, discipline, and hiring for attitude over CVNick's hard-won advice: don't get discouraged, get help, and network relentlesslyA reminder that people are not their behaviours. Set the environment for success and the right person will fly. This episode is sponsored by nPlan. nPlan AI Day, Summer 2026: Construction SuperintelligenceThursday 25 June 2026, from 3:00pmKachette, 347 Old St, London EC1V 9LP, and online nPlan's twice-yearly showcase returns with its biggest product moment of the year, including the launch of the nPlan Decision Intelligence Platform. The fireside brings together Peter Hancock, Project Director at National Grid on the Didcot substation, and Dima Pogorelsky, Managing Director and Partner at BCG, for a candid take on delivering the infrastructure behind the AI era. February sold out with standing room only, so book early. Register: https://www.nplan.io/events/nplan-summer-ai-day-2026-construction-superintelligence Listen, subscribe and follow Project Chatter wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this one, pay it forward and share the link. Stay safe, be disruptive, and have fun doing it.

Dale and Val are joined by Lisa Silander, Global Practice and UK Technical Lead for Project Controls at AtkinsRéalis. With 30 years leading planning and project controls teams across aviation, rail, water, manufacturing, and nuclear, Lisa has shaped delivery on some of the UK's most demanding capital programmes including Heathrow Terminal 5, Heathrow Q6, the Heathrow Expansion Project, Thames Water AMP5, and Yorkshire Water AMP7. In this episode we cover: Lisa's career journey into project controlsWhat attracted her to the discipline and kept her there for three decadesThe initiative she's leading to build UK project controls capability at AtkinsRéalisWhy humans will always be involved in projects, even as AI reshapes the workThe daily habits that have shaped her careerGrit, determination, and the human side of leading high-performing teamsPerspective as a woman building and leading teams in a complex industry A grounded, practical conversation with one of the most experienced voices in UK project controls. Connect with Lisa Silander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-silander-fcasa-b078645/ Follow the Project Chatter Podcast:Website: https://www.projectchatter.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/projectchatterpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoudjc2m0ttmAkyvBnf8EnQSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6m6J87LIOHVoY9FlaAXp53Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-project-chatter-podcast/id1869579042 If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and share with someone in your network. Keep listening, keep liking, and keep paying it forward.

We recently hosted the Controls and Skills Authority Digital Community of Practice Fight Night in Birmingham. This lively panel debate explores the impact of AI on project delivery, jobs, and industry practices. Experts challenge the notion that AI is just a tool or a threat, examining cultural, technical, and structural factors shaping AI adoption in construction and beyond. 3 Fights Culture is the No.1 Enabler for AI Adoption - Ronald Dyer vs Andrew KnightAI is just a tool, it won't replace jobs - Lisa Silander vs Marco FrisendaAI Does Not Improve Project Delivery - Sarah Crawley vs Kashan Ratyalhttps://www.controlsandskills.co.uk/

In this episode, Isabela Parisio, a legal expert in AI regulation, shares insights on the challenges and opportunities of regulating artificial intelligence. Topics include regulatory sandboxes, definitions of AI, accountability, privacy, military applications, and the future of AI governance. Key Topics Regulatory sandboxes for AI testingDefinitions and scope of AIAccountability and liability in AI systemsPrivacy concerns and data protectionMilitary applications and ethical considerationsLegal fictions and AI as a legal entityPolicy development and international cooperationChapters 03:59 Isabela's Background and Transition to AI 07:54 Intersection of Law and AI 11:07 Understanding Regulatory Sandboxes 14:44 Experimentation in AI Development 21:00 Privacy Concerns in AI 28:22 The Role of AI in Self-Regulation 34:39 The Human Element in Technological Advancement 39:30 AI in Military Applications: Accountability and Ethics 46:07 Navigating Accountability in AI Usage 56:40 Education and AI Literacy for Future Generations 01:01:41 The Legal Status of AI: A New Frontier 01:11:36 The Future of AI: Ethical Considerations and Governance Resources Responsible AI UK - https://responsibleaiuk.org/European Union AI Act - https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52021PC0206Johns Hopkins University AI Policy - https://www.jhu.edu/King's College London AI Research - https://www.kcl.ac.uk/Bicentennial Man (Movie) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118571/UK Data Protection Laws - https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/California AI Legislation - https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpaAI Summit 2023 - https://aibusiness.com/events/ai-summit-2023/

In this episode of the Project Chatter podcast, Val and Dale welcome Atif Ansar, co-founder of Foresight, to discuss the rapidly evolving world of data centers. Atif shares insights on the explosive growth and increasing complexity of data centers, highlighting the challenges related to energy supply, skilled labor, and technology redundancy. The conversation explores the role of AI in enhancing data center design and construction, the impact of edge computing, and the skills needed for future project professionals in this dynamic field. Atif also touches on innovative concepts like space-based data centers, emphasizing the exciting opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. In this conversation, the speakers explore the intersection of creativity and AI, discussing how technology influences project management and the future of jobs. They emphasize the importance of human essence in a technology-driven world and the evolving nature of data centers amidst global competition. The discussion also touches on the necessity of adapting to technological advancements and the potential for superintelligence in the future. Takeaways 🏗️👷🏼‍♀️ Data centers are experiencing explosive growth, with construction volume increasing significantly. 🏗️👷🏼‍♀️ The complexity of data centers has evolved, making them more akin to industrial assets than simple warehouses. 🏗️👷🏼‍♀️ Data centers require substantial energy, land, and skilled labor, creating challenges in construction. 🏗️👷🏼‍♀️ The lifespan of data centers is long, but technology within them evolves rapidly, leading to potential obsolescence. 🏗️👷🏼‍♀️ AI can significantly enhance the design and construction processes of data centers. 🏗️👷🏼‍♀️ Edge computing complements data centers, creating a fractal-like relationship between different computing structures. 🏗️👷🏼‍♀️ Project professionals should focus on becoming subject matter experts while also being adaptable and open to using AI.🏗️👷🏼‍♀️ The energy supply for data centers is a critical constraint, but innovation in self-supply and renewable energy is emerging. 🏗️👷🏼‍♀️ Understanding the components and costs associated with data centers is essential for project professionals. 🏗️👷🏼‍♀️ The future of data centers may include innovative concepts like space-based facilities. Creativity enhances the effectiveness of project management. 🏗️👷🏼‍♀️ AI allows generalists to be more valuable than specialists. 🏗️👷🏼‍♀️ Human jobs will evolve rather than disappear due to AI. 🏗️👷🏼‍♀️ The demand for human-specific jobs will be based on human preferences. 🏗️👷🏼‍♀️ Technological advancements can improve quality of life and efficiency. 🏗️👷🏼‍♀️ The luxuries of one generation become necessities for the next. 🏗️👷🏼‍♀️ We are transitioning from an analog to a digital world. 🏗️👷🏼‍♀️ Data centers are crucial in the global tech race. 🏗️👷🏼‍♀️ The construction of data centers will continue to grow exponentially. 🏗️👷🏼‍♀️ Continuous learning is essential in a rapidly changing technological landscape. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction 01:58 The Growth and Complexity of Data Centers 05:23 Key Components of Data Centers 08:01 The Future of Data Centers in Space 11:24 Energy Supply Challenges for Data Centers 15:30 Technology Redundancy and Lifespan of Data Centers 20:43 Edge Computing and Its Impact 23:58 AI's Role in Data Center Design and Construction 27:29 Skills for Future Project Professionals in Data Centers 30:44 The Intersection of Creativity and AI 33:46 The Future of Jobs in an AI World 36:18 Human Essence in the Age of Technology 39:39 The Evolution of Technology and Human Experience 43:42 Data Center Dynamics and Global Competition 52:11 The Future of Project Management and Technology #ProjectManagement #PMO #ProjectControls #Leadership #Culture #ProjectCertifications