New PM Articles for the Week of June 21 – 28

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Sydney HarborNew project management articles published on the web during the week of June 21 – 28. We give you a high-level view so you can read what interests you. Recommended:

Must read!

  • Tushnar Patel pulls a few key statistics from a recent survey of project portfolio managers by Innotas.
  • Shim Marom offers a few insights from his own experience on the clash of Agile and Waterfall approaches in organizations trying to make both work.
  • Johanna Rothman examines some unrealistic expectations that managers have about what their people “should” do.

PM Best Practices

  • Elizabeth Harrin reviews Mario Trentim’s new book, “Managing Stakeholders as Clients.”
  • Glen Alleman recommends a book by Mark Maier and Eberhardt Rechtin, “The Art of Systems Architecting.”
  • Kailash Awati invokes Joseph Heller and Gregory Bateson’s double-bind theory in examining paradoxes at work.
  • John Goodpasture repeats advice from Dorie Clark on preparing for “networking events.”
  • Aaron Smith lists some of the key findings of the fourth annual benchmarking survey of PMO’s by ESI International
  • Ryan Ogilvie considers ways in which we can improve problem management, even when we’re not the problem manager.

Agile Methods

  • Pawel Brodzinski notes the de-motivating effects of hierarchy-driven organization structures. Finding yourself at the bottom of a tall org chart is a definite downer.
  • Mike Cohn discounts the value of a complicated story hierarchy.
  • Joel Bancroft-Connors and his gorilla-conscience, Hogarth, look at the possibility that the Pareto Principle might begin to explain resistance to Agile methods.
  • Mike Stuedeman identifies three common reasons organizations struggle with Scum and Agile.
  • Tom McFarlin shares how his approach to providing estimates for custom software development has evolved.

 

Outside the Lines

  • Bruce Benson examines the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Air Force for lessons on the difference between a noble purpose and effectiveness.
  • Wanda Curlee see opportunities for project managers in the ever-evolving Internet of Things.
  • Tony Sarris, on the other hand, finds HAL enabled by the Internet of Things. I don’t relish the prospect of having conversations with the coaster under my beer.
  • Matthew Squair finds a moment of Zen in the news that hospital drug pumps can be hacked. Hannibal before the gates, indeed …

 

Enjoy!