New project management articles published on the web during the week of April 21 – 27. We read all of this stuff so you don’t have to! Recommended:
Leadership
- Peter Saddington shares the high points of a recent Inc.com article contrasting average bosses with extraordinary bosses.
- Zach Watson looks at the growing trend toward “flat” organizations and empowered teams of workers.
- Martin Webster begins a series describing the popular leadership models, at a high level.
- Mike Cohn gets in touch with his inner Hippie, and worries about our growing inability to live in the moment.
PM Best Practices
- Glen Alleman explains why the concept of operations has to come first, followed by capabilities, and then, finally, requirements.
- John Goodpasture notes that one organization may have different components, each with it’s own risk tolerance, perceived exposures and opportunities, and politics.
- Andy Jordan lays out the case for engaging the project managers in the implementation of portfolio management.
- Chuck Morton explains why tailoring formal processes to the project helps ensure those processes will actually be followed.
- Francis Hooke shares a project health check in the form of an acronym, PROJECT. Naturally!
- Peter Tarhanidis walks us through his approach to turning a large, complex project into something more manageable.
Agile Methods
- Johanna Rothman continues her series on designing your Agile project.
- Derek Huether has names for ten of the disruptive behaviors exhibited during the daily stand-up. What, no Dora the Explorer?
- Nick Pisano disputes the selective quotes of Deming by Agilistas, looking for reasons to avoid the hard work of measuring quality.
- Jai Singhai claims that Scrum supports all seven Lean principles. And then he tells us how it does it.
Professional Development
- Elizabeth Harrin lists five more things you should know, as a new project manager.
- Michel Dion reflects on a year of intense professional development, and finds seven principles for personal growth.
- Tom McFarlin extols the virtues of code reviews, as a path to personal development. Note: this principal applies to project reviews, too!
Podcasts and Videos
- Mark Phillippy interviews the legendary Frank Saladis, founder of the International Project Manager’s Day (and the Project Manager’s Blues). Just 44 minutes, safe for work.
- Cesar Abeid interviews Jeff Goins on how he got his start as a writer. Just 48 minutes, safe for work.
- Cornelius Fichtner interviews Margaret Meloni, who addresses our biggest uncertainty: are they really working on our project, or doing something else? Just 26 minutes, safe for work.
- Michael Greer shares a six-minute video on the balance between responsibility and authority. Safe for work.
Enjoy!