New project management articles published on the web during the week of February 10 – 16. We read all of this stuff so you don’t have to! Thanks to Michel Dion at Project Aria for publishing my guest post on planning project human resources management. Recommended:

Trends

• Zavain Dar invokes Immanuel Kant, to argue that Big Data is helping us move from logical analysis to a search for synthetic truths.
• Lyndsey Gilpin summarizes ten key things to understand about 3D printing.

PM Best Practices

• Kevin Korterud wants us to manage the procurement department as both a team member and as a project stakeholder.
• Tony Adams revisits risk management, not as a list of things to avoid, but as a means to find opportunities we can exploit.
• David Hillson answers three key questions about risk management in complex projects, and how the strategies of flexibility and resilience can make the difference.
• John Goodpasture considers an innovative presentation by Glen Alleman as a three-body problem, and asks if there should be four, or even five?
• Martin Webster notes five early warning signs of ineffective leadership.
• Anya Faingersh identifies four drivers for schedule delays.

Project Governance

• Tim Cushing summarizes the appalling state of the TECS upgrade project run by the U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agencies.
• Chi-Pong Wong identifies the six critical success factors for PMO success.
• Todd Williams reviews “Strategies for Project Sponsorship,” by Vicki James, Ron Rosenhead, and Peter Taylor.
• Michel Dion notes that different types of projects have different definitions of success.

Agile Methods

• Mike Griffiths notes, “Agile processes are an enabler for intelligent action, but not a guarantee of it.”
• Johanna Rothman continues her series on the cost of delay, with the cost of indecision and the cost of technical debt.
• Wayne Grant shares three more techniques for keeping retrospectives from getting stale.
• Vijaya Kumar Bandaru explains Scrum through the metaphor of prescribing and adjusting your medication when sick.

Productivity

• Joel Bancroft-Connors and Hogarth return from an eight-month absence with a post on [wait for it] … procrastination!
• Lisa Evans makes the point that the office just might be the worst place to get things done.
• Alina Vrabie reminds us of the origin of the eight-hour workday, and offers a few alternatives that might let us be more productive.
• Michael Stanleigh lists twenty stress reducers for project managers.
• Travis Bradberry explains how successful people stay calm.
• Anita Bruzzese is on the warpath against bad Email practices.

Podcasts and Videos

• Elizabeth Harrin tells how to employ a customer satisfaction-centric project management improvement process. Just 18 minutes, safe for work.
• Cesar Abeid interviews David Sparks on how to tame the Email beast. Just 53 minutes, safe for work.
• Mark Phillipy interviews Samad Aidane on how to apply neuroscience to understand cultural differences. Just 54 minutes, safe for work.

Enjoy!