29: Project Management with Jennifer Puma

Dana Linnell — Thu, 02 Dec 2021 06:00:00 -0600

Jennifer Puma and I talk about project management in evaluation, including how she manages evaluation projects from start to finish and how she brings her project management training into her organizations and with the clients she works with. We discuss things like scoping projects, setting up ad hoc meetings, how project management aligns with various types of budgeting approaches, and so much more!

Also, be sure to check out the Glass Frog Podcast, which is another evaluation-related podcast that I highly recommend!

As a reformed management consultant, Jennifer leverages more than 15 years of consulting and project management experience to manage program evaluations and research projects at Glass Frog. Her functional specialty is in the development and practical application of theories of change and evaluation frameworks. Jennifer holds a B.A. degree from The College of New Jersey and a M.P.A. degree from The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband and ridiculous rescue dog, Sammy.

Here is the John Oliver clip that Jen mentions as well: Nothing Good Happens in Excel. As Jen says, "When it comes to project management, we do some of our work in Excel and share with clients but are careful to check in, first, about their level of comfort with Excel. John Oliver's observation is funny because it's true."

Music by Matt Ingelson, http://www.mattingelsonmusic.com/

28: Project Management with Jennifer Bisgard

Dana Linnell — Thu, 18 Nov 2021 06:00:00 -0600

Jennifer Bisgard and I talk about project management in evaluation, including how she manages evaluation projects from start to finish and useful tools in her company's practice. Jennifer has a wealth of information in her over 20 years of experience leading evaluation projects, and I learned a lot about how to better do this work from her. Khulisa has a wonderful library of resources including blog posts about QASP, analyzing WhatsApp data, and using rubrics. Every Tuesday they publish #EvalTuesdayTip.

Ms Jennifer Bisgard co-founded Khulisa Management Services in 1993. An expert in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and organisational development, she leads evaluations and capacity building assignments in the Education, Power, and Democracy and Governance sectors. Khulisa has about 100 staff, based in Johannesburg, Nairobi, Lusaka, Mbabane, and Bethesda.

Prior to establishing Khulisa, Jennifer was the Senior Education Specialist at USAID/Pretoria from 1988 to 1993.

Ms Bisgard has served on boards for the: African Evaluation Association (AfrEA), International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation (IOCE) and South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association (SAMEA). She is a current board member of BetterEvaluation.

Jennifer co-authored a chapter of “Evaluation Failures: 22 Tales of Mistakes Made and Lessons Learned” published by Sage Publishers in August 2018. The book, edited by Kylie Hutchinson, includes a forward by Michael Quinn Paton.

She has a Master’s Degree in Social Change and Development from Johns Hopkins University.

She is an American but has been in South Africa for 33 years. She is married to Marc (a dual Dutch-South Africa citizen) and has three boys: Zuko (adopted, now 23); Dylan (18) and Thomas (14). The family is completed by Border Collie, Riley and Africanis, Milly.

Music by Matt Ingelson, http://www.mattingelsonmusic.com/

EvaluLand - Episodes Tagged with “Project Management”

29: Project Management with Jennifer Puma

28: Project Management with Jennifer Bisgard