New project management articles published on the web during the week of June 17 – 23. We read all of this stuff so you don’t have to! Recommended:
- Alfredo Zangara examines the means by which project teams accumulate and pass along the “tribal knowledge.”
- Ken Whitaker looks at the pros and cons of virtual teams.
- Conrado Morlan recalls how his multi-cultural distributed project team bonded over dinner, with the waitress as moderator.
- Elizabeth Harrin reviews Charles Duhigg’s book, “The Power of Habit.”
- Cheri Baker also read Duhigg’s book, and reports from practical experience that new habits aren’t quite so easy to develop.
- Mike Griffiths makes the case that planning, beyond the point of diminishing returns, can be detrimental.
- Patrick Richard starts a new movement: Say No to #NoEstimates!
- Glen Alleman extols the virtues of reference designs, those well-understood solutions to common problems.
- Tristan Wember covers the basics of contingency planning and risk management.
- David Hillson reminds us that the techniques we use to analyze risks can also be used to assess a potential opportunity.
- Derek Huether shares a video on how Toyota Production System concepts improved the ability of a non-profit to feed the victims of Hurricane Sandy.
- Ian Webster reports the news that IBM’s Watson super-computer is recommending cancer treatments, and sees a trend worthy of Robert A. Heinlein.
- Kailash Awati looks at the commonly identified causes of project failures, and finds that they are symptoms of organization dysfunction.
- Johanna Rothman recounts a story of managing a portfolio of projects, as if people mattered.
- Shim Marom observes the trend toward organizations desiring agility enough to actually change.
- Bertrand Duperrin thinks the biggest barrier to change is accounting. Not the department, but the way we measure value.
- Ted Hardy and his wife go looking for a new house, and decide they need to document their requirements. So much for work / life balance.
- Kerry Wills finds a metaphor for project management in the winter sport of curling. No, this isn’t about “Hair on fire …”
Enjoy!