New project management articles published on the web during the week of August 13 – 19, 2012.  Dave and Sandra read all of this stuff so you don’t have to!  Recommended:

• Gil Broza continues his excerpts from “The Human Side of Agile” with a look at the “improvement” mindset.
• Kailash Awati summarizes a paper by Christopher Bull, entitled “Politics in Packaged Software Implementation.”
• Bruce McGraw wonders why government IT procurements seem to fail so frequently.
• Cheri Baker notes that the problems that arise from success require as much attention as the problems that arise from failure.
• Curt Wang argues that change is a process, not an event.
• Geoff Mattie notes a key finding of the PMI “Pulse of the Profession” report for 2012 is that the most important skill for PM’s is aligning the project team and organizational objectives.
• Jason Hiner reports on the five hottest IT trends of the year.  Most interesting phrase: “The projectization of IT.”
• Jack Wallen shares ten important lessons he’s learned from two decades in IT.
• PMI Community Post readers are quoted in an article based on the differences in project management for non-profit and corporate organizations.
• Joel Bancroft-Connors and Hogarth channel Jack Kennedy, on why you should take the opportunity to help others.
• Roland Hoffman reports the results from his LinkedIn poll, “What is the most common mistake project managers make?”
• Esther Derby says focusing on delivering value will actually improve project financial results more than focusing on cost reduction.
• Elizabeth Harrin reviews “Value Management: Translating Aspirations into Performance,” by Roger H. Davies and Adam J. Davies.
• Samad Aidane interviews Vicki James on how to best use the talents of business analysts to deliver value.  Just 24 minutes, safe for work.
• Glen Alleman looks at requirements elicitation, in the context of capabilities-based planning.
• Steve Hunton explains the distribution of chores between Scrum Master, Product Owner, and project manager.
• Nancy Nee explores how the “soft skills” are best applied to collaborative teams, using Agile methods.
• Susan Tuttle advocates “stealth” mentoring – modeling the behaviors of a fellow project manager with a successful track record.
• Soma Bhattacharya lists some techniques for combating burnout.
• Kenneth Darter has his own suggestions for avoiding project burnout.

Enjoy!