New PM Articles for the Week of November 7 – 13

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New project management articles published on the web during the week of November 7 – 13, 2011.  We read all of this stuff so you don’t have to!  Recommended:

  • Ty Kiisel looks at an emerging trend – gamification.  Would making projects more like a game improve our ability to complete projects on time, on schedule, and with the requisite scope and quality?  Or, would those things even still be the objective?
  • Elizabeth Harrin interviews Dr. Suzanne Doyle-Morris, author of “Female Breadwinners.”  You might remember her as the author of “Beyond the Boy’s Club,” and her advice to women: “Project gravitas.”
  • Peter Saddington shares ten myths debunked in Govindarajan and Trimble’s book, “The Other Side of Innovation.”
  • Derek Huether isn’t just teaching a PMI-ACP prep class – he’s actually taken the exam.  And he has some pointers for those studying to take it, too (besides signing up for his class).
  • Bruce McGraw looks at the challenges in finding a content management system.  Hint: the users and the content are part of the solution!
  • Eric Willeke continues his series on Kanban, with a look at small projects with short durations.
  • Chuck Morton looks at deliverables, in the context of managing a project under contract.
  • Johanna Rothman concludes her five-part series on schedules and budgets.  Missed the first part?  It’s right here.
  • Marian Haus has been thinking about project planning, and she lists what she believes to be the seven essential planning documents.
  • Sam Palani has five steps to getting your project schedule correct.
  • Glen Alleman continues his series, “5 questions PMs must ask,” by looking at the U.S. Department of Defense approach to managing risks.
  • Kelly Kazimer tells it like it is.  “Not everyone can be a project manager.”
  • Joel Bancroft-Connors and Hogarth, the gorilla, consider success and failure.  Was Apollo 13 a failure?  Only if you think getting to the Moon is more important than getting back alive.
  • Bruce Benson notes that successful projects tend to draw a crowd – which can threaten the success of the project.
  • And Brad Egeland looks at the challenges of integrating the product of the project into the rest of the business of the organization.
  • Kevin Purdy gleans four important project management lessons from the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound.  “Plan backward from the goal …”
  • Kiron Bondale looks for project management wisdom in the words of one of the nuclear power industry’s most quotable men – Homer Simpson.
  • Bas de Baar, the Project Shrink and principal resident (aside from MacGuyver) of Shrinkonia, is soliciting nominations for the 2001 Shrinkies – “Awards for Awesome People.”  I nominated a whole list of them – add your voice!

Enjoy!