New PM Articles for the Week of February 23 – March 1

New project management articles published on the web during the week of February 23 – March 1. We pan for the gold, every week! Recommended:

Must read!

ProjectsAtWork summarizes the findings of a new research report on Agile project management software. Key finding: nearly half of the PMs are managing projects not related to software development.
Skip Weisman thinks we might be having the “wrong” conversation with the “right” person.
Dorie Clark says that Email may be ruining your life, primarily because we’re using it for things it was never intended to do.

PM Best Practices

Kailash Awati reviews the shortcomings of traditional decision theory when managing in the absence of reliable information.
Patti Gilchrist explains why Six Sigma complements innovation, rather than stifling it.
John Goodpasture makes the case for project managers to develop business skills, especially literacy in financial accounting.
Irfan Shariff describes the Quality Function Deployment Matrix.
Harry Hall details the process of cranking out a compressed project schedule.
Nick Pisano outlines his approach for the professional development of new project managers.
Mike Gruia details an approach for building a strategic PMO that will establish “a sustainable competitive advantage.”
Mark Phillipy interviews Cornelius Fichtner and Kevin Reilly on the wide range of PMI related certifications – it’s not just the PMP! Just over an hour, safe for work.
Margaret Meloni explains how to get remote workers set up for success. Just over three minutes, safe for work.

Larry O’Brien summarizes five essential rules of software project management. Yes, there are excellent concepts that pre-date the Agile Manifesto.
Mike Griffiths explains the ideas behind his proposed presentation at Agile 2015: Eat risks for breakfast, poop awesomeness all day! Risks = fiber? Who knew?
Mike Cohn tries to explain the difference between a user story and a task, and triggers a comment storm!
Renee, Craig, and Tony let us listen in on their banter and reviews of some of their tools. Just 57 minutes, safe for work.

Joel Bancroft-Connors and his invisible gorilla, Hogarth, explain why the fives “whats” are more effective than the five “whys.”
Pawel Brodzinski delivers a bunch of sketches that illustrate Virginia Satir’s Change Model and Stuart Kauffman’s Fitness Landscape. Long post, but worth reading.
Bruce Harpham looks at two basic models of motivation: Frederick Herzberg’s classic hygiene factors and motivators, and Dan Pink’s Drive model.
Nada Aldahleh summarizes recent research on the effects of sleep deprivation and interrupted sleep.
Liam Barrett champions the value of emotional intelligence to leaders.
Michael Lopp describes the emotional J-curve of starting a new gig. He doesn’t call it that, but that’s what he’s describing. I do it 2 – 3 times a year, and he’s spot on.

Robert Kelly gets us back to the basics of organizing a meeting.
Elizabeth Harrin shares a video that shows what a conference call would look like if everyone was in the room. Painful, but true to life.
Kerry Wills offers a few reasons why meeting in person isn’t all that much of an improvement over the conference call.
Éamonn McGuinness lists some best practices for making meetings effective, including the “energy test.”

Enjoy!