New PM Articles for the Week of September 19 – 25

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New project management articles published on the web during the week of September 19 – 25. And this week’s video: psychologist Shawn Achor argues that happiness inspires productivity. Just 12 minutes, safe for work, but people will crowd around to see why you’re laughing uncontrollably.

Must read!

  • Mike Clayton describes Kurt Lewin’s Freeze Phases model of organizational change, which is predicated on the notion of driving forces and restraining forces.
  • Esther Derby collates a list of questions that could lead to more effective organizational change, if they were only asked.
  • Ryan Avent scans past the disruptive trends of automation replacing humans to ask the question: what will a world without work be like and how can we make it livable?

Established Methods

  • Elizabeth Harrin celebrates ten years of blogging by following up on the best articles from each of those years (and the most popular so far from 2016).
  • Harry Hall tutors us on the management reserve for project budgets.
  • Shuba Kathikeyan summarizes the steps in project cost management, and recommends several good practices for project managers.
  • John Goodpasture makes the counter-case: measuring everything may be more detrimental than no measurements at all.
  • Cornelius Fichtner interviews Dave Davis on achieving benefits realization management. Just 43 minutes, safe for work.
  • Brian Livingston describes good, bad, and ugly results of project closeout.

Agile Methods

  • Stefan Wolpers curates his weekly list of new articles and posts on Agile topics, from people and teams to frameworks and products.
  • Henny Portman reviews The Lean Machine, which describes how Harley-Davidson adopted lean product development.
  • Joel Bancroft-Connors and his gorilla, Hogarth, explain that Agile coaches are like vampires: they have to be invited in.
  • Christian van Stom describes the motivational retrospective, as way to not just refine a process but develop a desirable culture.
  • Dave Prior interviews Agile Manifesto signer Alistair Cockburn in a long (79 minutes), wide-ranging conversation on consulting, Agile, and lifestyle. Safe for work.

Applied Leadership

  • Kent Lefner makes a table of the top ten reasons projects fail from a study by PWC and includes key indicators and considerations for each.
  • The Clever PM makes the practical case for limiting the choices we present to both our teams and the executives.
  • Elizabeth McCormick describes the venerable concept of a Mastermind and explains what you can get from being a party to one.
  • Art Petty lays out five ways we can productive work with people we actively dislike.

Technology and Techniques

  • James Kobelius explains how to apply industrial-style discipline to the development of business analytics.
  • Kupe Kupersmith describes Lean Business Analysis, and a way to reduce waste in getting to decisions.
  • Nicholas Malahosky details twelve ways to improve cross-office collaboration.

Working and the Workplace

  • Bertrand Duperrin looks at a modern torture we inflict on ourselves: the notifications from our devices that interrupt us dozens of times a day.
  • Coert Visser examines deep work, (self-) interruptions and attention residue, and the positive impact of brief breaks.
  • Lisette Sutherland wonders whether it’s time for a digital vacation. Less than eight minutes, safe for work, even if you’ve already set up your out of office message.
  • Brendan Toner revisits his task management review for the new version: Droptask2.0.

Enjoy!