"Three PMs walk into a bar: a business PM, an IT PM, and a Vendor PM…" Sounds like a bad joke, but if you don't get it right - the joke will be your project.

In this Top Shelf Replay episode, Kim and Kate revisit an episode that was originally inspired by one of their listeners. Very often, you aren't the "one PM to rule them all" - you may have other PMs involved in your project that you need to work with. But how do you decide who is what, and how do you prevent turf wars from turning your project into a slow-motion train wreck?

In this episode, we ditch the corporate fluff to dive into the messy reality of projects with "too many cooks". We discuss how to navigate the friction between different project management roles, how to handle "useless" vendor PMs who won't manage their own resources, and what to do when an executive buyer bypasses you to talk directly to the vendor. You'll learn how to look "one level up" in the hierarchy to identify what actually drives your counterparts and how to draw professional boundaries that keep you in the driver's seat.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How to use the "Hierarchy Hack" to uncover your counterparts' hidden motivations.

• Strategies for handling a vendor PM who refuses to do their job.

• Why a high-level human conversation beats a technical tool every time.

• The "Time and Materials" pivot to force vendor accountability.

• How to professionally block an executive from undermining your role.

From this episode:

• "The first thing to do is to have a conversation and, honestly, call it out in the open." — Kate

• "One of the ways I like to think about situations like this is one level up in the hierarchy." — Kim

• "I've been like, 'No, you can talk to me. Shut up, talk to me.'" — Kate

• "If I and my team are going to be held accountable... I have to be able to plan what we're accountable for." — Kim

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