New project management articles published on the web during the week of February 8 – 14. And this week’s video: Eric Weiner on why some places excel at fostering creativity.

Must read!

• Nancy Settle-Murphy shares some fascinating insights for those of us hosting virtual meetings with global teams, based on Erin Meyer’s book, “The Culture Map.”
• Naomi Caietti shares insights from eight successful women on how they established themselves as project management leaders.
• Kathleen Turner interviews Frank Costanzo of Caliper on how firms are using predictive analytics for recruiting and retention, and on organizational barriers to leveraging the soft skills.

Established Methods

• Harry Hall identifies seven project manager productivity problems and suggest solutions for each of them.
• Elizabeth Harrin tells how to manage your first meeting with a project sponsor, with input from five project managers (including me).
• Bruce Harpham notes the value of standard operating procedures in maintaining quality, and tells how to create them efficiently and effectively.
• Ken Ashe critiques a fictional project manager: Harvey Keitel’s character from “Pulp Fiction,” Winston Wolf.
• Rajakumar Ramakrishnan identifies some challenges common to DevOps projects.

Agile Methods

• Rasmus Kaae aligns his experience growing up with sport horses to his experience with Scrum: collaboration and teamwork require clear communication and feedback.
• Joe Kelley says that, despite what the Agile Manifesto says about documentation, there is a need (and a place) for a knowledge management tool.
• Mike Cohn considers the question: should a Scrum team include a “stretch goal” when planning their Sprints?
• Dave Prior interviews Steve Elliott and Dennis Stevens on bi-modal operations, e.g. a deliberate mix of Agile and traditional methods in a new approach. Just 44 minutes, safe for work.
• The Clever PM argues that the Scrum Guide is just a starting point – once a team has experience, they should adapt and adjust.

Applied Leadership

• Johanna Rothman recounts three anecdotes that exemplify servant leadership.
• Colin Ellis extracts an interesting point about introverts and extroverts from research into project manager personality types.
• Coert Visser identifies five characteristics of effective teams at Google.
• David Cotgreave analyzes a story of service recovery at a restaurant where the team is having a bad day.
• Elise Stevens interviews Jana Axline about productive (and unproductive) ways to react to a crisis. Just 16 minutes, safe for work.
• Jacqui Spencer explains why self-reflection is so critical to developing leadership skills.
• Kerry Wills describes another meeting failure mode: a one-on-one with several spectators. Take it off line, guys …

Pot Pouri

• Cornelius Fichtner provides a detailed explanation of PMI’s continuing certification process and professional development units. Just 35 minutes, safe for work.
• Jerry Ihijerika looks at the proliferation of project management credentialing bodies and “instant PM” courses, and the proper role for academic programs.
• Joe Toscano shares a designer’s view of our changing expectations of communication and how we’re working to make “meaning” universally obvious.
• Brendan Toner reviews “Zen to Done,” by Leo Babauta. Neither David Allen nor Steven Covey, but apparently influenced by both of them.
• Maria Konnikova reviews research on how people learn to become resilient, when faced with potentially traumatic events. The key is how we perceive these events.

Enjoy!