The Practicing IT Project Manager

New project management articles published on the web during the week of May 23 – 29, 2011.  We read all of this stuff so you don’t have to!  Recommended:

• Skip Angel argues that “Organizations and teams must come to understand why they need agile before choosing a methodology or tool to implement it.”
• Elizabeth Harrin reports on Dr. Lynda Bourne’s presentation on “managing up” at the recent PMI Global Congress EMEA in Dublin.
• And Dr. Bourne speaks for herself, with a wonderful parable about three brothers who inherited 17 camels, and the wise neighbor who let them do their own math.
• Andy Jordan looks at project managers who are also subject matter experts.  “If the PM is expected to be a comprehensive business expert, then other aspects of their work will suffer.”
• Paul Boos shares his recent experience using an influence network map understand relationships in his organization, prior to presenting a prototype.  Very cool!
• Rick Freedman reports on recent research that reinforces the Agile notion of breaking development projects into smaller pieces in order to foster teambuilding.
• Peter Saddington shares a recording of the webinar of his “10 Key Attributes of a Great Product Owner.”  Just 51 minutes, safe for work.
• Todd Williams is advocating for re-thinking the notion of a PMO, based on his assertion that there are no IT projects, only business initiative that have IT components.
• Craig Brown shares a case study in tracking identified requirements, work remaining, and work done over the course of a project.  Not just a burn-down chart, it also reflects the evolution of scope as the organization’s understanding of the work progresses.
• Glen Alleman talks up two books on earned value and earned schedule, and why these books (and techniques) are important.
• Keith Mathis reviews the five phases of the vendor selection process.
• Andrew Meyer tells us that he loves requests for proposals.  Not the RFP itself, but the understanding of the problems and solutions the RFP process brings to stakeholders.
• Bas de Baar asks, “Wouldn’t it be great to have a Lonely Planet for your organization?”  Not just for visitors, but for the folks who work there.
• Tom West, the legendary project manager who was the subject of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Soul of a New Machine” passed away last week.  Brilliant, manipulative, driven, and occasionally ruthless, Tom set a dubious standard for a generation.
• Josh Nankivel has created a 22-minute You-Tube video for those who ask the question, “How can I break into project management?”  Great advice for the new graduate!

Enjoy!

The PMI Agile Community of Practice sponsored a webinar discussion today between Alistair Cockburn and James Shore on “The merits and limitations of certifications.”  Both are well-established Agile teachers and thought leaders, and I thought their arguments reflected the dialogs we’ve been having here in the blogosphere.  A recording of the webinar is available here.  It runs 58 minutes, safe for work.  Highly recommended.

James raised a point that I felt was not sufficiently rebutted: that certification contributes to “stagnation” in the field.  I will disagree, and point to the ever-increasing number of PMI standards, publications, and other resources that have accompanied the dramatic increase in the number of PMP credential holders over the last few years.  PMI sponsors conferences, publishes papers, provides scholarships, and promotes publications by various experts in their bookstore. And they continuously improve the quality of both their publications and their credential exams; witness the coming updates to the PMP and PgMP exams, and the coming fifth edition of the PMBOK.  Far from being stagnant, I would argue that the field of project management has benefited tremendously from the alignment of interests brought about by the PMP credential program.  It has been the nucleus for development of a market of practitioners and their employers, resulting in new software, knowledge, and consulting products of every kind.

I hope you’ll add your thoughts on the webinar and on the value of professional credentials and certifications  in your comments to this post.

New project management articles published on the web during the week of May 16 – 22, 2011.  We read all of this stuff so you don’t have to!  Recommended:

• David Hillson suggests we take “the Ikea approach” to risk management.  Ever assemble furniture from Ikea?  Check the instructions – few words, lots of pictures, all tools supplied.  Hmmm …
• Elizabeth Harrin reports from the PMI Global Congress EMEA in Dublin, with a summary of Alfonso Bucero’s presentation, “How what you say impacts your project.”
• Bas de Baar tells us how to influence a “temporary tribe” – a group pursuing the fulfillment of a certain outcome that disbands after they reach their goal.  You know; a project team.
• Lynda Bourne argues that project delivery teams are stakeholders, too.
• Jordan Bortz writes about the cultural aspects of bringing elements of Japanese project and production management techniques like Lean, Kanban, and Scrum to the west.
• Did you know the Project Management Association of Canada has had a Certified Agile Project Manager designation for over two years?  Peter Saddington has the details.
• Samad Aidane interviews attorney Matt Karlyn on best practices for drafting statements of work.  Highly recommended; forty minutes, safe for work.
• Michael Greer advises us to never build more than you want to revise, because re-work will happen.  Design your project with re-work opportunities built in!
• Patrick Gray suggests a major project needs a follow-up by the project team, including all of that stuff we said we’d add to “phase two.”
• Michael Wood is already preparing for 2012, thinking through the effects of the tsunami in Japan and high gas prices will have on the supply chain.  Think globally, plan locally?
• Todd Williams presents a model for project success, directed at progressive CIO’s.  “The concept of the IT project has vanished, there are just projects using IT resources.”  Including IT project managers, right?  Right!
• Craig Brown explains the difference between requirements management and project scope management.
• Glen Alleman expounds on our probabilistic world.  “No credible project manager believes that the numbers – cost, schedule, and technical performance – are deterministic.”
• Bruce Benson says your project does not need more people, more time, and more money.  And he seems to mean it, despite not knowing anything about your project.

Enjoy!