The Practicing IT Project Manager

As 2011 comes to a close, I figured I’d look back and choose my twelve favorite “theory and practice” Practicing IT Project Manager blog posts from the past year.  Most were inspired by events that took place “on the job,” but a couple of them arose from dialogs I followed on other blogs and the group discussions on LinkedIn.  Some are about common IT project tasks, like testing, data conversion, and design; others are about communicating with stakeholders and customers, and a couple are about career development.

In order of posting:

Stakeholder Analysis (and Fish Dinners)

The Art of Communicating Estimates

The Project Manager as Specialist (or Generalist)

Resisting Change – A Marketing Perspective

Studying Leadership (for project managers)

What Are Our Change Control Procedures Trying to Control?

Introverts and Extroverts

The Happy Path

Data Assumes the Shape of its Container

There’s More to a Design Than Requirements

Converting Historical Data (Or, not)

The Three “Ins” That Are Putting Our Projects Behind Schedule

If you’d like more posts like these (or fewer), please share your comments.  Happy New Year!

New project management articles published on the web during the week of December 19 –25, 2011.  We read all of this stuff so you don’t have to!  Recommended:

• Peter Saddington has posted an excellent four-part article on the process of driving change, from his perspective as an Agile coach.
• Sam Palani looks at the key trends of 2011, and what developments he expects during 2012 for each of them.  Great insights, Sam!
•  The seventh edition of the PMI Project Management Salary Survey finds that PMP credential holders in the U.S. average 16% higher salaries than their non-credentialed peers.  Looking closely, the longer you’ve had the credential, the higher the average salary.
• Bruce McGraw gives some stern advice to those who aspire to be project managers.  “It is a not a job for the faint of heart.”
• Joseph Flahiff writes, “[The PMI-ACP Certification] should be on the radar of every CIO, human resources (HR) professional and IT manager.”  He makes an excellent case.
• Derek Huether explains the difference between “doing” Agile and “being” Agile.
• Michael Hamrah shares his thoughts on Kanban.
• Susan Harkins shares ten ethical rules for IT consultants and contractors.
• Taralyn Frasqueri-Molina is encouraging project managers at all experience levels to tell their stories.
• Brad Egeland looks at why we seek advice from other consulting project managers.  Or, not.
• Joel Bancroft-Connors and Hogarth look at indecision.  Or more accurately, the inability to commit to a decision.
• Glen Alleman shares a line from one of his colleagues. “How do ya know you’re in the ditch?  The weeds are hittin’ the windshield.”
• Kiron Bondale has some recommendations for dealing with the initial transition to production in a multi-phased project.
• Andrew Makar has been working with Mindjet’s free social collaboration tool, Cohuman, and he has some ideas for how to apply it for specific activities on projects.
• Bert Heymans shares some thoughts on creating templates.

Enjoy!

The exposure draft for the third edition of the Standard for Portfolio Management is now available for comment on the PMI website, through January 14, 2012.  Click here to access the document; note that you need a current PMI login.

UPDATES: The exposure draft for the third edition of the Standard for Program Management will be available for comment from February 6 through March 6, 2012.  The exposure draft for the fifth edition of the PMBOK will be available for comment from February 17 through March 20, 2012.