New project management articles published on the web during the week of November 9 – 15. We give you a high-level view so you can read what interests you. Recommended:

Must read!

• Danny Sullivan shares what he learned when Google invited him to an event for journalists on how machines learn. No calculus required at this level.
• Claudia Hammond summarizes recent research into dreaming and daydreaming. Apparently, the resting brain is a busy organ.
• Coert Visser explains the difference in motivation between doing what you find interesting and doing what you feel is important.

Established Methods

• Harry Hall covers the basics of preparing a project risk management plan.
• Mike Clayton is proposing a stakeholder engagement management maturity model.
• Todd Williams points out the gap between project managers and executive sponsors, and explains how to bridge it.
• Michel Dion reviews Cesar Abeid’s new book, “Project Management for You.”
• Chris Winfield explains how the Pomodoro technique changed not only his work week but his approach to life.
• Ryan Ogilvie describes the components of a release management process, from his perspective as an operations governance expert. It ain’t just about the software…
• Ciara McCarthy shows how to configure Sharepoint for Red-Amber-Green reporting.
• Allen Ruddock exposes the basics of managing internal and external dependencies.
• Glen Alleman lists the Immutable Laws of Software Development. Count the number of times he uses the word “margin.”

Agile Methods

• Mike Griffiths explains two related concepts: cost of change, and technical debt. This level of rigor is what separates the software engineers from the coders.
• Soma Bhattacharya reviews “The Project Manager’s Guide to Mastering Agile,” by Charles Cobb.
• Ajay Reddy summarizes Klaus Leopold’s metaphor of “flight levels,” and how they apply to scaling Scrumban.
• Samantha Webb shares five best practices for distributed Scrum teams.
• Mike Cohn makes the case for empowering everyone on the team to add items to the product backlog. As long as the product owner manages the list!
• Derek Huether: ”Nobody outside the team cares about the tasks and the hours associated with them. Nobody is keeping score.” It’s about outcomes.

Applied Leadership

• Art Petty wants you to understand how to assess power and politics in your organization, so he’s prepared a checklist.
• John Goodpasture summarizes research that asserts pre-school classrooms are preparing our kids with the social skills necessary for the modern office.
• Elizabeth Harrin reviews “Leading Effective Virtual Teams,” by Nancy Settle-Murphy. It sounds like Nancy decided to blog a book – bravo!
• Liane Davies makes several critical points about how we establish and maintain trust.

Podcasts and Videos

• Dave Prior interviews Kathryn Kuhn on her presentation at Agile2015, on human-centered solutions using design thinking. Just 27 minutes, safe for work.
• Cornelius Fichtner interviews Frank Parth on his PMI Global Congress presentation, “Successful Projects Depend on the Business.” Just 19 minutes, safe for work.
• Jesse Fewell gives a quick summary of the changes to the PMI-ACP certification, effective this month. Just five minutes, safe for work.

Enjoy!