Host Alex Tuck welcomes IT program and project manager Claudia Wright to Project Zero season two. Wright shares her 25+ year path from data entry and administrative work at the EPA to database management, then coding (COBOL/DB2) at BellSouth, where frustration with “work thrown over the cubicle wall” pushed her toward business analysis and requirements. She became a project manager at a global grocery retailer, where her “Project Zero” involved enterprise work supporting store planograms and related systems, learning end-to-end delivery (resource planning, production turnovers, failback plans, signoffs) under a mentor, Cindy, who helped standardize templates and lessons learned. Wright’s key PM skill is “know your place,” adapting to organizational perceptions and leadership priorities, and she views AI as helpful for efficiency (e.g., note-taking) but not a “magic pill,” requiring planning and verification.

00:00 Season Two Kickoff

00:34 Claudia Career Origins

04:01 Finding Project Management

05:42 Sewing Meets Structure

07:02 From Coding to Leading

12:07 Technical Edge and Estimates

15:08 Project Zero Story

18:59 Mentorship and Lessons

20:50 Know Your Place

26:19 AI Is Not Magic

29:37 Wrap Up and Connect

Connect with Claudia Wright

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudiawright-mba-pmp-cisa/

Connect with Alex Tuck

• Personal LinkedIn: Alex Tuck
• Website: www.tuckconsultinggroup.com
• Company LinkedIn: Tuck Consulting Group

Email: alex@tuckconsultinggroup.com

On this episode of Project Zero, host Alex Tuck welcomes Zack Tembi, CEO of Single Fin, a startup that supports the cybersecurity and infrastructure needs of Fortune 500/1000 companies. Tembi recounts his path from Roanoke College to early roles at Netuitive and as an early Splunk employee through its growth and Cisco acquisition, then founding Single Fin to prioritize customer outcomes and cut through AI “noise.” His “Project Zero” occurred during COVID while launching a major video game, during which a PM succeeded by calming stakeholders, code-switching between executive and engineering audiences, aligning technical work to strict uptime/capacity metrics, and unifying goals. Tembi describes Single Fin’s internal use of named AI agents with role-based access to scale operations, urging PMs to build skills by testing tools and exercising agency to implement practical AI use cases.

00:00 Season Two Kickoff

00:29 Meet Zack Tembi

03:06 Startup Roots and College

04:28 Early Career Lessons

06:01 Splunk Growth Story

07:08 Founding Single Fin

08:35 AI Hype and Reality

10:54 Project Zero Story

12:18 Great PM Traits

18:28 AI Agents for Work

23:31 Cool AI Use Cases

28:22 Where to Connect

29:46 Closing Thanks

Connect with Zack Tembi

• Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/single-fin-enterprises/
• Weekly Newsletter Signup: https://ciosurge.beehiiv.com/subscribe
• Newsletter Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ciosurge/

Connect with Alex Tuck

• Personal LinkedIn: Alex Tuck
• Website: www.tuckconsultinggroup.com
• Company LinkedIn: Tuck Consulting Group

Email: alex@tuckconsultinggroup.com

Host Alex Tuck interviews Shawn Harris, CEO and co-founder of Co-Worked/Creative Harmony. Harris recounts his early career in technology at IBM while still an undergrad, later formalizing project management at TJX amid tight retail delivery windows and PMI-style rigor. His “Project Zero” centers on leading TJX’s migration of credit transaction processing from an outsourced provider to an in-house data center, emphasizing extensive cross-functional planning and cutover execution; he also contrasts enterprise delivery with consulting, where project control ties directly to profitability. Harris argues PMs benefit from entrepreneurial methods to build credibility and authority. He introduces Harmony, an agentic AI project manager that embeds into Microsoft 365, coordinates work across existing tools, follows up on tasks/risks, and generates status outputs so PMs can lead from “the balcony.”

00:00 Season Two Kickoff

00:40 Meet Shawn Harris

01:54 Early Career at IBM

03:18 Retail PM Rigor at TJX

06:21 Tech Upbringing and Gadgets

09:10 What Project Zero Means

09:40 Project Zero at TJX Cutover

16:20 Consulting vs Enterprise PM

20:57 Top Skill Entrepreneur Mindset

25:08 Harmony Agentic PM Overview

31:31 Why Tools Aren’t the Work

Connect with Shawn Harris

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnharris/
• Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coworkedai/
• Company Website: https://coworked.ai/

Connect with Alex Tuck

• Personal LinkedIn: Alex Tuck
• Website: www.tuckconsultinggroup.com
• Company LinkedIn: Tuck Consulting Group

Email: alex@tuckconsultinggroup.com