Managing Projects with Humanity and Impact – Prioritisation, HiPPOs and Avoiding Burnout
James Louttit, award-winning author of Leading Impactful Teams – Achieving Low-Stress Success in Project Management, will lead an engaging and practical session focused on one of the biggest challenges facing professionals today: delivering meaningful outcomes while balancing competing priorities, stakeholder demands, and the rapid pace of technological change. James has regularly been referred to as “Ireland’s Leading Expert in Project Management” but while his approaches are grounded in a deep understanding of project approaches and challenges, he brings humour and practicality to a world that is often over-complicated and difficult to navigate.
For members working across intelligent transport systems, infrastructure, and digital transformation initiatives, projects rarely fail because of technology alone — they struggle when priorities clash, decisions stall, or teams burn out.
In this session, James will share practical approaches to:
Avoiding burnout while delivering value for your organisation
Managing multiple priorities and making clear trade-offs
Handling the “HiPPO” (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion) with professionalism and confidence
Estimating and planning work realistically
Engaging stakeholders through simple but powerful facilitation techniques
Balancing delivery pace with long-term sustainability by making capacity clear and driving realistic decision making
Through relatable stories, practical tools, and interactive discussion, you’ll leave with immediately applicable techniques to bring back to your own projects and teams — helping you deliver impact without unnecessary stress.
The session will conclude with time for Q&A with James