New PM Articles for the Week of March 10 – 16

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Cartoon NewsboyNew project management articles published on the web during the week of March 10 – 16. We read all of this stuff so you don’t have to! Recommended:

Decision Making

  • Steven Levy examines a key lesson-learned from Fukushima – just because a high impact event is unlikely doesn’t mean you should decide to ignore it.
  • Gina Abudi reminds us that decision-making benefits from engagement, alternatives analysis, and risk analysis. And a weighted approach.
  • Deanna Landers: “We must learn to manage complexity, as it is not going away any time soon.” Indeed.

PM Best Practices

  • Coert Visser shares a case study follow-up from Niklas Tiger, confirming that his experience managing a project in small steps (Agile) had lasting benefits.
  • Margaret Meloni provides a high-level view of the seven principles of PRINCE2, and a link to a free e-book.
  • Raju relates using Scrum within the context of a project governed using PRINCE2, subject to a little tailoring.
  • Elizabeth Harrin reviews “Productivity,” by Graham Allcott, disputing his assertion that a project should have no more than five milestones. Bonus from the book: What to do with Emails.
  • Glen Alleman recommends three rigorous, hard-skills books for your project management reading pile.
  • George Dinwiddie argues that the short-term mentality of a project can hamper the long-term value of the delivered product, especially in software development.
  • Mike Brown thinks we can save time by focusing on the areas where we do not agree.
  • Gary Nelson uses the acronym CANDLE to describe how we should engage with the team, to get the best long-term performance.
  • Brad Egeland explains the maxim, “Praise loud, blame soft.”
  • Cheri Baker links tea with time management. Um, since you live in Seattle, shouldn’t this be “coffee?”

Agile Methods

  • Len Lagestee offers some suggestions on the proper way for managers to participate in Agile team sessions, without negatively affecting the interactions.
  • Sriramasundararajan Rajagopalan looks at the distribution of responsibilities between Scrum Master, project manager, and the Agile PMO, using a RACI chart.
  • Johanna Rothman describes a method for designing your Agile project, based on how you release products and application of the Cynefin model. Part one of two.
  • Mike Griffiths applies research expressed in “Scaling Up Excellence,” by Robert Sutton and Huggy Rao, to address scaling up Agile.
  • John Goodpasture shares some lessons learned from an Agile practitioner’s notebook, based on an experience with six (partially) cooperating teams.
  • Steven Crago explores the fear of Agile transformation, as resistance to change.

Governance

  • Martin Webster lists the ten organizational assets required for project success.
  • Andrea Brockmeier reminds us that, while the project manager is ultimately responsible for the success of the project, there are other parties with their own responsibilities.
  • Jim Young provides a quick summary of a number of project management methodologies, and what can go wrong when using any of them.

Podcasts and Videos

  • Cesar Abeid interviews Mark Phillipy, the Sensible Project Manager, on servant leadership and reviews “Project: Success,” by Mark Sieverkropp. Just 46 minutes, safe for work.
  • Michel Dion shares a short video by Susanne Madsen on project leadership. Five minutes, safe for work.

Enjoy!