New project management articles published on the web during the week of July 25 –31, 2011. We read all of this stuff so you don’t have to! Recommended:
- Janis Rizzuto interviews Scott Ambler on scaling Agile to create value across the enterprise.
- Ty Kiisel uses the occasion of his recent return to Japan to reflect on “knowing where you’re going” and engaging the team to map the route.
- Peter Taylor, author of “The Lazy Project Manager” is campaigning for real sponsors, and he has a detailed list of behaviors, good and bad, to guide the search.
- Jason Hiner has been studying the trends in IT, and says we will soon see only three kinds of IT professionals: Consultants, Project Managers, and Developers.
- Elizabeth Harrin quotes a survey that indicates most women don’t want to move into management roles. And then disputes those findings.
- Geoff Crane is back in school, finally finishing his undergraduate degree, but takes the time to write about assertive dialogue.
- Glen Alleman takes a look at a figure from a McKinsey report, using data from the Standish reports on success rates of IT projects, and finds the picture less than illuminating.
- Kelly Waters is proposing some basic extensions to the PMBOK to address Agile methods, as part of “Direct and Manage Project Execution.”
- Jeff Sutherland says he started practicing Scrum in 1967, while bombing North Viet Nam. And in the seventies, while teaching medicine. Fourteen minutes, safe for work.
- Meanwhile, Terry Bunio writes a “Dear Scrum” letter. “I guess I just need space.”
- Rob Prinzo presents the case for a “project assurance” methodology.
- And Bruce Benson argues against “quality assurance” becoming a substitute for project management.
- Josh Nankivel shares an update from Cornelius Fichtner on the changes they’ve implemented to The PM Prepcast in advance of the changes to the PMP exam, effective August 31.
- Andrew Makar suggests we “move beyond” certification, toward putting all we’ve learned into practice.
- Todd Williams recalls using unshelled peanuts as bait to get scurrying managers to stop by his cube and communicate.
- Curt Finch and Dan Vickers advocate for succeeding as a project manager by building influence.
- John McKee writes about leadership in the modern, “challenged” organization, and the Law of Unintended Consequences.
- Avinoam Nowogrodski wants to kill the project status meeting. Personally, I just to make them about exceptions, rather than affirming the obvious, but to each his own.
- Rick Swanborg notes five ways to “win” at project management. And no, Charlie Sheen didn’t make the list.
- Brad Egeland has posted a three-part series on project management benchmarking.
- Paul Boos continues his “Government Gone Agile” series with the five characteristics of the innovation personae.
- Bill Krebs writes about using kinesthetic intelligence in Scrum team meetings; techniques like “The Fist of Five” and “Chickens sit, Pigs stand.” Note: neither of these is a Kung Fu movie.
- Samad Aidane interviews Jonathan Jordan on the “7 Habits of Highly Effective Brains.” An hour and seven minutes, but well worth the time. Safe for work.
- Project Shrink Bas de Baar touches on introversion, mirror neurons, and the potential virtues of less-than-precision feedback.
- And Ted Hardy writes about subconscious information processing. Yes, it’s neuroscience week in the blogosphere …
- Derek Bruff reflects on what he learned about measuring progress from watching “Lost.”
- Matthew Saunders lists the couple of dozen tools he’s used over the years to manage various aspects of his projects, from MS Project and Jira to Omnigraffle and DropBox.
- Kerry Wills updates us on “consultant-speak,” using the Dilbert-language dictionary.
- Scott Jennings rebuts Michael Pachter on “crunching” as normal. Worth the click just for the picture of the puppy Michael is alleged to have kicked.
Enjoy!