New PM Articles for the Week of April 4 – 10

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New project management articles published on the web during the week of April 4 – 10, 2011.  We read all of this stuff so you don’t have to!  Recommended:

  • Jack Duggal explores the DNA of the PMO.  He links six critical elements into a nifty double-helix, although no one who watches any of the CSI variants will be impressed with his graphics.
  • Craig Brown takes issue with the IIBA on whether requirements traceability is “optional.”
  • Glenn Alleman writes about Capabilities Based Planning, with the obligatory (for Glenn) diss of Agile.  If you’re a program or portfolio manager, this is a very interesting approach, and can help you manage priorities and resources among multiple projects / work streams.  While you’re on his site, check out his post on, “The train wreck starts when …”
  • For those who do practice Agile in some form or another, Bill Krebs talks about tracking burn-down progress.
  • Elizabeth Harrin suggests we keep our focus on managing projects for positive outcomes, rather than merely managing for compliance with our established processes.  Amen!
  • Bas de Baar talks about flags.  Not the sort of banderas you might see on a lapel or bumper sticker, or even a flag pole, but the shared symbolic constructs – paraphernalia and behaviors -that indicate what tribe someone belongs to.  Like the Busy Bodies.  Or the Nomads.
  • Bert Heymans relates his experience with one of his team members violating a non-disclosure agreement, and offers up his project management checklist for ensuring NDA compliance.
  • Chris LeCompte offers a list of five simple questions designed to elicit feedback from stakeholders.
  • Dick Billows writes about using brainstorming for project risk identification.  Most interesting to me was the suggestion that the facilitator begin with a warm-up exercise.
  • Ted Hardy reports on a recent trip to Sam’s Club, and his experience with “line-busting,” where an associate uses a hand-held scanner to pre-enter your purchases before you get to the register.  Good post, with even better comments on dealing with process backlogs.
  • Good project managers are a calming influence, and Brad Egeland lists some specifics on keeping calm under pressure.  No Prozac required.
  • Andrew Makar writes about three leadership behaviors of successful project managers.
  • Gary Hamilton, Gareth Byatt, and Jeff Hodgkinson open with the challenge of crossing a desert, and go on to list the contents of their project management survival toolkit.  What, no wool blanket or signaling mirror?
  • Speaking of survival: you normally don’t think of project management when you see some folks walking along a highway with plastic bags, picking up litter.  But if the litter is on Mount Everest, you should.  Anil Giri reports on the “Save Everest Campaign.”

Enjoy!