New project management articles published on the web during the week of April 16 – 22. And this week’s video: Zaman gives us a tutorial on adding cascading animations to PowerPoint. Imagine using this to brief your steering committee on the results of testing, or some other data-heavy topic. 9 minutes, safe for work.
Must read!
- Jenny Anderson reports on one of Amazon’s uncommon practices: teams prepare narrative memos rather than Powerpoints. Those of us who write are smiling. 2 minutes to read.
- Mike Clayton explains how to develop gravitas as a project manager. 10 minutes to read.
- Jan Schulz-Hofen shares an action plan for GDPR compliance. Yes, you need to care, even if you aren’t in Europe. 20 minutes to read—call it an investment.
Established Methods
Andy Makar shares a checklist to support transitioning responsibility to a new project manager. 5 minutes to read.
- Leigh Espy shares a list of basic project management steps for those who have unexpectedly become project managers. In case you were asking “for a friend.” 6 minutes to read.
- John Goodpasture explains the notion of the project balance sheet. Not Assets = Liabilities + Shareholder Equity but the relationship between the investment and how it’s being spent. 3 minutes to read.
- Elizabeth Harrin reviews CornerThought, a new tool for capturing lessons learned throughout the project and reviewing them at the right point in time in future projects. 6 minutes to read.
- John McIntyre notes that the value of producing a weekly project status report lies in the “mini-project audit” required to prepare it. 6 minutes to read.
- Greg Satell captures the key points from a survey by Deloitte on big data and cognitive technology projects. 5 minutes to read.
Agile Methods
- Stefan Wolpers curates his list of Agile content, from large-scale Agile to BDD treaties to protecting the product creation process. Seven outbound links, 2 minutes to read.
- Kiron Bondale wishes the Agile Manifesto had one more value: “We value Agility over Agendas.” Not meeting agendas—the other kind. 2 minutes to read.
- Alex Novkov returns to the manufacturing roots of Agile to consider the wisdom of “stopping the line” in the name of improving the process. 5 minutes to read.
- Doron Bar describes endgame testing—end to end from the user’s perspective. 6 minutes to read.
- Tom Cagley notes that Kaizen is more of a mindset than a process or workflow. 3 minutes to read.
- Mike Griffiths notes that software projects are evolving, to the point that the project manager role may disappear. Or at least, be less visible to the development team. 5 minutes to read.
Applied Leadership
- Alexander Maasik curates his list of leadership articles, from the dangers of unicorn worship to being wary of the next big thing. 2 minutes to read.
- Jeffrey Kotler describes how resilient leaders respond to failure. 4 minutes to read.
- Ron Carucci dismantles the three common reasons leaders give to avoid making hard decisions in a timely manner. 5 minutes to read.
Technology, Techniques, and Human Behavior
Anne-Marie Charrett examines the practice of and inherent risks to quality assurance in a continuous delivery environment. 3 minutes to read.
- Andrew Conrad shares five Powerpoint techniques that beat the crap out of whatever you’re doing now. Or maybe I’m just projecting. 5 minutes to read, set aside an hour to experiment.
- David Geer notes six barriers to test automation, all of which cry out for project manager attention! 5 minutes to read.
- Nir Eyal describes the Peak-End Rule, which explains why your last impression is the most lasting impression. 5 minutes to read.
Working and the Workplace
- Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman note that reliably productive people have a certain set of traits and skills. 4 minutes to read.
- Paul Sellers tells of the sudden outburst of anger by one of his students, and how it all turned out. 2 minutes to read.
- Francisco Sáez shares ten tips that will help us stay focused. 3 minutes to read.
Enjoy!
Title

Article Name
New PM Articles for the Week of April 16 – 22
Description
New project management articles published on the web during the week of April 16 – 22
Author
Dave Gordon
The Practicing IT PM LLC
