Managing Projects with Half Double - Half the Time Double the Impact with Mattias Petrén
Agile and Project Management - DrunkenPM RadioShow Notes
I sat down with longtime friend and fellow PMI volunteer Mattias Georgson Petrén to get schooled on Half Double, the Danish hybrid framework that has been around for over ten years but I only just learned about. Mattias walks through where it came from (a frustrated group of practitioners, industrial funding, and research backing from Aarhus University), what it promises — half the time double the impact — and how it blends Agile cadence with the discipline of traditional, stage-based product management. We get into co-location, the 50% staffing rule, and why he treats Half Double as a lens layered on top of existing frameworks rather than a replacement for any of them. We close out with a conversation about where project managers fit into an AI-driven future that left me probably less worried than I've been about this in months.
Key Themes
- How Dave and Mattias met at a PMI chapter event in Malta back in 2008, and how that network led to real client work together - Mattias's path from engineering physics PhD to "accidental" project manager - The early days of Agile inside PMI circles, and the influence of conferences like Øredev - What Half Double actually is: a hybrid method built on impact, flow, and leadership - The origin story — Danish practitioners, an industrial fund, and Aarhus University research - Why Half Double performs best on complex projects, not predictable, fully-plannable ones - Co-location, the 50% staffing rule, and designing cadence into distributed teams - Why Mattias treats Half Double as a set of lenses layered on top of an existing framework (PMI, PRINCE2, Scrum) rather than a replacement for one - The "chasing tasks vs. chasing impact" trap that both traditional and Agile PMs fall into - Where project managers fit in an AI-driven future — and why Mattias isn't worried
Chapters
00:00 The Value of Networking in Project Management 02:47 Mattias Petrén's Journey into Project Management 05:11 The Evolution of Agile in Project Management 07:47 Introduction to Half Double Methodology 10:47 Understanding the Half Double Framework 13:15 Hybrid Approaches in Project Management 16:03 Leadership and Co-location in Half Double 18:47 Embracing Chaos in Project Management 19:51 The Role of Project Owners 21:41 Understanding Project Impact and Stakeholder Management 23:44 Integrating Agile with Traditional Project Management 26:01 The Half Double Methodology Explained 29:23 The Future of Project Management in an AI-Driven World
Links from the Podcast
Half Double Institute - https://halfdoubleinstitute.org PMI Agile 2026 https://agilealliance.org/pmi-agile-2026/ Dave and John Tanner’s session at Agile 2026 - "When AI Starts Doing Your Job: Surviving the PM Identity Crisis" https://tinyurl.com/23jc8uhs
Contact Mattias
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattiasgeorgsonpetren/ Email - [email protected]
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