The Practicing IT Project Manager

New project management articles published on the web during the week of October 24 – 30, 2011.  We read all of this stuff so you don’t have to!  Recommended:

• Eric Willeke starts a four-part series on applying Kanban to software development projects.
• Craig Brown shares a video of Jim Benson, the author of “Personal Kanban,” talking about why Kanban works.  Excellent, and safe for work.
• Peter Saddington shares a video on Kanban, as practiced at your local Starbucks, and how it’s applied to Scrum.  Safe for work.
• Also from Peter: a development process flow, with zombies.
• Elizabeth Harrin had a chance to chat with Dave Shirley, co-author of “Green Project Management” and winner of the Cleland Award for PM Literature.
• Terry Bunio thinks we need to be more specific: are we talking about Agile product management, or Agile project management?
• Mike Griffiths talks about using Actor Network Theory to measure project success, and illustrates with two different dome construction projects.
• Eddie Williams is concerned that the IT industry is accepting failure as the norm, and he has some recommendations.
• Bruce Benson talks about eagles, sparrows, and turkeys, and why you should spend more of your time on the turkeys.
• Kerry Willis talks about why escalation should be a last resort.
• Jason Hiner shares the key points from a presentation by Gartner Group analyst Ken McGee.  It’s a somewhat radical assessment of where IT needs to go, and what need to stop, right now!
• Chip Camden wants to remind us that computer systems are deterministic in nature, and we need to get to the root cause, not just offer “explanations.”
• Glen Alleman says a good work breakdown structure should be “mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive.”
• Cyndee Miller has some of the details behind the “Watson” project that beat the two greatest Jeopardy champions in history at their own game.
• Mike Beard shares a simple self-rating test for leadership, using the characteristics considered for selecting the Chief Executive of the Year by Chief Executive magazine.
• Nucleus Research released its report on the top ten tech trends for 2012.
• The Association for Project Management held their project management awards banquet last week, and chairman Mike Nichols shared an uncompromising vision: “All projects succeed.”
• Mike Inman shares his thoughts on where procurement can improve – by trusting suppliers.
• Bruce McGraw says the PMBOK is like Wikipedia.  Well, the part about it being developed by volunteers who each contributed their expertise.
• Geoff Crane relates hostage negotiation to project management.  Well, the part about influencing behavior.

Enjoy!

An old friend, Larry Stevens, sent me a link to the YouTube video below.  Of course, it’s cool, and creative, and absolutely fascinating, but the first thing I did when I saw it was to mentally pencil it out as a project.  Define the scope for a home light and sound display based on a song from “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” design the presentation based on the layout of the front of the house, and script the light show.  Cost out the components, conduct the procurement, figure out how to test it, assemble everything in some staging area, and then install it.  Will it need additional electrical outlets?  How many, and where?  Cost it out, and schedule it.  Labor to mount all of the lights, devices, etc?  Pumpkins to carve, decorations to hang, and on and on.  Then the operating schedule, and plans to remove it after the holiday is over, and store it all until next year.  About half way through the video, I flashed on a scene from “Men in Black.”

Dee: “They’re beautiful, aren’t they?”
Kay: “What?”
Dee: “The stars. We never just look at them anymore.”

So I started it over, and tried not to think about what was involved in creating it. I hope you do, too.   Happy Halloween!

New project management articles published on the web during the week of October 17 – 23, 2011.  We read all of this stuff so you don’t have to!  Recommended:

• Walt Zeglinski shares the positive accountability model, linking workforce engagement and goal alignment to describe an organization’s culture.
• Derek Huether concludes his three part series on the mainstreaming of Agile with a link to a 3-minute video on the role of the first follower in starting a movement – safe for work.  He also has an update from his first PMI-ACP class in the DC area.
• Peter Saddington shares observations from someone who took the PMI-ACP exam on October 6^th.  Worth a review even if you don’t plan to pursue the credential.
• Glen Alleman is working on a webinar on “the integration of Agile with the contractual management of the Federal Acquisition Regulation.”
• Marc Loffler thinks maybe a team of product owners might be a good approach.
• Bas de Baar explores group interaction, based on insights gained from an article by Trudy and Peter Johnson-Lenz, “Rhythms, Boundaries, Containers. Elements of Social Systems.”
• Elizabeth Harrin says we should assume positive intent at the office (as opposed to, say, everywhere else).
• Bruce Benson suggests that we need to translate the jargon used by the project teams and the business folks, in both directions.
• Hajar Hamid offers some guidance on how to introduce timeboxed meetings to your team.
• Jason Hiner came away from the annual Gartner Symposium with an interesting list of tech trends to watch for in 2012.
• Conrado Morlan continues his examination of the different generations in project teams, with a look at Gen X.
• Bruce McGraw shares a list of resources for helping us deal with people issues on our projects.
• Paul Boos shares the final installment of his series on the Feng Shui for establishing a culture of innovation.
• Johanna Rothman says, “If you are a program manager, make sure you know which team you are trying to manage.”
• John Reiling suggests we try transplanting ideas from project management as practiced in other industries.
• Andrea McDougal lists a whopping 30 potential career paths for a practitioner with a degree in project management.
• Kiron Bondale thinks project managers could learn a few lessons from Steve Jobs.

Enjoy!