New project management articles published on the web during the week of March 18 – 24.  Dave and Sandra read all of this stuff so you don’t have to!  Recommended:

•  Vincent McGevna think that project managers shouldn’t make all of the decisions.  Instead, they should champion the team’s decision making process.
•  Elizabeth Harrin interviews Kevin Baker, head of project and programme management at Airbus, and reviews Emily Bennington’s new book, “Who Says it’s a Man’s World?”
• Toni Bowers reports that the compensation gender gap has essentially disappeared in technology jobs, according to a Dice survey.
• Derek Huether thinks Marissa Mayer may have a point with her edict against working from home.
• Cheri Baker is at the other end of the work spectrum – she’s a “slasher.”  Meaning consultant/professor/writer, and she’s trying to stay organized.  Enter Kanban!
• Roz Baker doesn’t just manage projects – she manages stress, and so can you.
• Shim Marom adds to his recent thoughts on “Should you attend that meeting?”
• Scott Berkun interviews Phil Simon on his new book, “Too Big to Ignore: The Business Case for Big Data.”
• Peter Saddington presents a graphical depiction of what Agile looks like, from a UK government website.  Astounded?  Peter certainly was …
• Craig Brown presents an interesting dialectic: does a Scrum team need a product manager?  The answer is not the immediately obvious one.
• Johanna Rothman deflates Management Myth #15: “I need people to work overtime.”
• Michiko Diby gives the developers on her project team the things they need – appreciation, communication, and trust.
• Dr. Bruce Piasecki summarizes eight key points from his new book, “Doing More with Teams: The New Way to Winning.”
• Glenn Alleman argues that learning from your mistakes isn’t as fruitful as learning from successes – your own, and others.
• Chuck Morton explains where to look for risks – from risk taxonomies, to the WBS, to your assumptions.
• Alison Smith recently took a first aid course, and found something she can apply to project management – the “Primary Survey.”
• Andy Jordan debunks the idea that a PMO has an easy time of annual planning.  It’s a business process, and not an easy one.
• Brian Moran thinks annual planning is the wrong approach.  We need to set goals and make plans twelve weeks at a time.
• Mary Shacklett lists ten common “sand traps” that IT departments face every day.  And you don’t need a wedge to get out of them!
• Mark Norman breaks down the project brief. This list will also work for a basic Project Charter.
• Anna Schäfer provides a Project Charter checklist. There may be some surprises.
• Mandy McGill shares the deliverables and work required before a project launch and makes a very good case for formalizing the project launch.

Enjoy!