New project management articles published on the web during the week of January 16 – 22. And this week’s video: Harry Hall shares a few ideas to improve our project cost management approach. Less than four minutes, safe for work.

Must read!

• Kailash Awati examines the potential for data science to do considerable damage when we ignore social and ethical considerations. Weapons of math destruction, indeed!
• Art Petty describes the “energy sinks” (the opposite of “source”) that burn us out and lists some actions we can take to turn them off.
• Jesse Lynn Stoner suggests that humiliation might be a gift – a wake-up call – and quotes Gandhi’s comment on the proverb: the truth hurts.

Established Methods

• Atif Qureshi curated responses to a request for predictions: what will be the top project management trends in 2017? Of course, he has his own predictions.
• Leigh Espy shared a simple but complete scope statement template for download. Just name and Email required.
• Mike Clayton posts a basket full of ideas that have nothing to do with project management that will nevertheless help us be more effective project managers.
• Samuel Bacharach describes the characteristics of four type of influencers – Top Dogs, Gatekeepers, Gurus, and Players – who can make or break your project.
• Mike Griffiths introduces a loose series of blog posts on the #NoProjects principle of continuous software development.
• Kristyn Medeiros waxes poetic on the stoplight colors we use for status reporting.

Agile Methods

• Stefan Wolpers curates his weekly list of Agile content, from Guerrilla Innovation to Kanban metrics to saying no to customers.
• Craig Brown makes the case for still using Planning Poker, even after you’ve been using Agile methods for a while.
• Derek Huether created an infographic that enumerates qualities of good and bad ScrumMasters.
• Madhavi Ledalla sketches the “Art of the Scrum Master.”
• The Clever PM articulates the challenges of trying to reliably predict the future behavior of your customers.
• Donna Reed tells about Kaizen, or “change for the better,” and creating a high-maturity Agile culture based on continuous improvement.
• Yona Gidalevitz describes the application of ethnographic research to UX design for users from a specific culture. There’s more to it than just translating words to their language.

Applied Leadership

• Elizabeth Harrin reviews Gary Lloyd’s new book, “Business Leadership for IT projects.”
• Wayne Turmel points out the obvious – of course a project manager is a people manager.
• Kerry Wills reminds us to set the example: “Act what you expect.”

Technology and Techniques

• Craig Smith interviews quality consultant Anne-Marie Charrett on context-driven testing, exploratory testing, and women in technology. Just 40 minutes, safe for work.
• Cade Metz reports on the growing number of high-end physicists finding work in the software teams of Silicon Valley.
• Jake Rhuede of Red Stag Fulfillment posted an interesting infographic on the ways artificial intelligence is infiltrating E-commerce.

Working and the Workplace

• Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Adam Yearsley point out the types of work where people with high EQ are less effective.
• Suzanne Lucas considers the case of the employee who refuses to answer (or even read) Emails in the evening.
• Jennifer Aldrich explains why hiring for culture fit is not antithetical to hiring for diversity.
• Jack Simpson notes that if you don’t finish what you’re working on, you’re not productive – you’re just busy.

Enjoy!