New project management articles published on the web during the week of December 14 – 20. We give you a high-level view so you can read what interests you. Recommended:
Must read!
- John Goodpasture explains the Hybrid Operating Principle: Agile projects are simultaneously strategically stationary and tactically iterative and emergent.
- Adam Shostack derives design governance lessons from a presentation by the engineer responsible for the Death Star’s exhaust system. May the Force be aligned with your strategic initiatives!
- Peter Saddington describes two keys to effective communication: active engagement and active listening. Side note: in addition to being a Scrum consultant, Peter has an MA in Counseling.
Established Methods
- Braden Kelly unveils his Visual Project Charter, a poster-sized format for capturing and/or sharing project information in a team meeting. Better than a Word template?
- Diana Eskander covers the process of stakeholder management.
- Lynda Bourne addresses the meaning of corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and the triple bottom line, from a stakeholder’s perspective.
- Susanne Madsen gets us up to speed on managing change, using John Kotter’s eight-step model.
- Matthew Squair reviews the use of “Incredible” as a qualitative likelihood for risk management, when all the swans have been confirmed to be white.
- Ryan Ogilvie shares a colleague’s story about an off-the-shelf application that was too heavily modified to ever be maintained.
- Kailash Awati contemplates evolution and obsolescence, as they apply to enterprise architecture. Biology is destiny, even in metaphors.
Agile Methods
- Johanna Rothman continues her series on Agile methods for hardware development.
- Bob Tarne finds Gall’s Law reflected in certain Agile principles.
- Robert Galen describes user stories as a “lifecycle of conversations,” using the example of building a better mousetrap.
- Paul Goddard and Geoff Watts list ten tips for running an effective retrospective.
- M.W. Settlemire posts an academic-looking treatise, “Effective use of Kanban for monitoring and controlling low-complexity projects in a high-volume project environment.”
- Glen Alleman breaks down the definition of value into several units of measure.
Work Is Not A Place
- Aaron Smith interviews leadership trainer Brady Wilson on his new book, “Beyond Engagement,” and workplace exhaustion.
- Cornelius Fichtner interviews Jesse Fewell on his 2015 PMI Global Congress presentation, “Can you hear me now?” Just 23 minutes, safe for work.
- Harry Hall lays out a plan for aching your project management career dreams.
- Penelope Trunk helps her ten year old son realize that his job is becoming obsolete, that it happens to everyone, and he just needs to find a new one. Hilarious!
- Seth Godin takes a look at the economics of smart phones, where the perpetual interruptions of beeping and vibrating trigger opportunity costs.
Trends and the New Year
- Elizabeth Harrin shares her project management career retrospective for 2015.
- Mike Cohn proposes 21 New Year’s resolutions for ScrumMasters. Definitely get more fiber. And cut back on the sodium.
- Ramin Sayar notes five data analytics trends that will impact us in the coming year.
- Per Holmlund has a few suggestions for improving teamwork in 2016.