New project management articles published on the web during the week of July 9 – 15, 2012.  Dave and Sandra read all of this stuff so you don’t have to!  Recommended:

• Quentin Hardy reports that world-wide information technology spending will hit $3.6 trillion this year.
• Peter Saddington starts his new series on becoming an Agile Coach with some tips on how to be an effective mentor.
• Craig Mullen believes that project managers should facilitate, rather than dictate.
• J.D. Meier, author of “Getting Results the Agile Way” and Principal Program Manager at Microsoft, shares ten proven practices for more productive leadership.
• Joel Bancroft-Connors and Hogarth share their version of the physician’s maxim: “Do no harm in your first ninety days.”
• Peter Taylor places a lot of value in the ability to market what you’re doing.
• PMI has a short piece in Community Post, noting that more organizations are seeking Agile skills.
• Wayne Grant has decided that Scrum Master is a full-time job, no matter how much he likes being a team member.
• Don Kim suggests using a checklist to help define “done.”
• Donna Reed shares a recording of Daniel Vacanti explaining Kanban as analogies to economic concepts.  Just over an hour, safe for work.
• Derek Huether was interviewed on the Talking Work podcast, and asked, “Which is better, Agile or Waterfall?”  Just 41 minutes, safe for work.
• Jordan Bortz notes that Kanban, as it was originally developed for use in manufacturing, is a poor fit for software engineering.
• Elizabeth Harrin shares ten tips for good meeting minutes.
• Chuck Morton is advocating we walk our customers through the WBS as a way to reach agreement on the scope of the project.
• Mike Griffiths concludes his series on collaborative games for risk management.
• Bob Galen compares “traditional” risk management with the way it can be done in an Agile project, with multiple short-duration iterations.
• An uncredited article at ProjectManager.com claims that IT project management workarounds are a cardinal sin.
• Charlie Mayes notes that the UK government is investing £6.2 million in a new civil servant project management academy.
• Liz Larson suggests we use systems thinking to address common project pathologies.
• Lynda Bourne explains the “Flaw of Averages” and why we should give estimates as a range.
• Bruce Benson looks at information sharing, independent problem solving, and the number of meetings as an inverse metric of how the project is going.
• Kerry Wills is tired of conference calls where someone is breathing into their phone like Darth Vader.

Enjoy!