New PM Articles for the Week of January 20 – 26 | The Practicing IT Project Manager

New project management articles published on the web during the week of January 20 – 26. We read all of this stuff so you don’t have to! Recommended:

PM Best Practices

Pawel Brodzinski defines “the leadership gap,” and how to close it.
Tony Consentino reports on research that shows analytics will be a top business technology priority in 2014.
Mary Shacklett details how Cloud solutions are being used to reduce operational risk in five specific supply chain management cases.
Elizabeth Harrin follows up last week’s book review with an interview of Brigitte Cobb, author of get-things-done book, “Make it Fly.”
Michelle Symonds says we shouldn’t ignore scope and schedule, just to stay within budget.
Glen Alleman says that the key to delivering value is showing up on time, on budget, with the needed capabilities.

Communication

Dave Wakeman tells how to improve your communications by being more focused and conscious.
Cheri Baker shows how to be open to feedback, based on lessons learned from writing her first novel.
Steven Levy finds an interesting lesson on communication on Richard Sherman’s adrenalin-filled post-game interview, last Sunday. Go, Seahawks!
Brad Egeland concludes his series on delivering bad news to your client.
Tony Adams quotes Nietzsche on why people don’t want to hear the truth, and then explains why you tell them, anyway, in terms that matter to them.

Bruce Benson finds lessons for project managers (and their managers) in a slightly confused “war on dementia” public awareness campaign.
Nicole Scrudato explains why project management is like a trip to Las Vegas. And to those of you planning to come here: thank you for supporting our economy!
Tim Walker explores diagnosing and treating a bad project manager.

Cesar Abeid interviews blogger Jared Easley on overcoming self-doubt, and how he “got” Seth Godin for a blog interview. Just 41 minutes, safe for work.
Cornelius Fichtner interviews Dr. Emad Rahim, who explains how to identify stakeholders. Just 25 minutes, safe for work.
Peter Saddington shared a video depicting a conference call in real life. Just four minutes, safe for work, but too accurate to be anything but depressing.
Barry Hodge shared a video by Marie Forleo on how to improve your communication skills by inserting an “intentional, awkward pause.” Just six minutes, safe for work.

John Goodpasture expands on a recent comment by Mike Griffiths, detailing traits of good (and bad) product owners.
Adrian Fittolani reflects on making the practice of Scrum evolve, and recommends a few good books.
Peter Saddington shares a badly distorted view of Agile, derived from listening to consultants and reading Gartner Group reports. “The Sluggish Manifesto?”
Christian Vos explains why you need a definition of “done” at the sprint and release level in Scrum.
Wayne Grant explains how to get to a definition of “done,” at the user story level.

Shane Snow finds wearable tech devices all share the same problem as early MP3 players – they all suck for different reasons, because they’re not about what users want.
Scott Berkun reviews Tom Standage’s book, “Writing on the Wall: The First 2,000 Years of Social Media.”

Enjoy!