New project management articles published on the web during the week of April 30 – May 6. And this week’s video: Mike Clayton explains the acronym ITTO, which refers to inputs, tools, techniques, and outputs, and why it takes up so much of the PMBOK. 4 minutes, safe for work. And two pictures from Bisbee Arizona, courtesy of Steve Miller—Thanks!
Must read!
- Avery Phillips notes that ransomware is here to stay. And paying the ransom may not be as damaging as the loss of trust. 3 minutes to read.
- Bhaskar Chakravorti observes that, while the GDPR might seem like a good template for data privacy, not all countries agree that regulation is the best solution. 7 minutes to read.
- Youyou Zhou analyzes the data, finding that far fewer international students are coming to the United States for an education. 2 minutes to read.
Established Methods
Niansheng Chu tutors us on Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, a structured approach to finding the risks inherent in a design or process, with examples. 8 minutes to read.
- Suzanna Haworth gives us a deep understanding of the RACI chart and various alternatives. Also, a template! 15 minutes to read.
- Sylvia Gindi does a deep and thorough dive into project deliverables and explains why a milestone isn’t a deliverable. 10 minutes to read.
- Elizabeth Harrin examines five common roadblocks to success encountered by many (most?) projects and how to move them off the road. 4 minutes to read.
- Brad Egeland also identifies five common causes of project failure and how to avoid them. 6 minutes to read.
- John Goodpasture goes back to Nate Silver’s new classic, “The Signal and the Noise,” to frame Bayes Theorem as an iterative process. 2 minutes to read.
Agile Methods
- Stefan Wolpers curates his weekly list of Agile content, from decisions under uncertainty to minimum-viable-whatever to “other” customer success metrics. 2 minutes to read, 7 outbound links.
- Bisser Ivanov begins a series he’s calling Kanban 101. 3 minutes to read.
- Johanna Rothman explains the difference between minimum viable experiment (MVE) and minimum viable product (MVP). 5 minutes to read.
- Ilia Pavlichenko describes The Speed Boat Game—an interesting product metaphor to get clients to talk about their pains and perceived value of a product. 3 minutes to read.
- Marie-Eve Trempe provides a quick tutorial on velocity for Scrum teams and how to measure it and use it.
Applied Leadership
Alexander Maasik curates his weekly list of leadership content, from why entrepreneurs fail to tackle big problems to your imagination as a superpower. 3 minutes to read, 5 outbound links.
- Jory McKay presents 5 key goal-setting exercises for high-performing teams, as practiced at places like Google, LinkedIn, DropBox, and more. 15 minutes to read.
- Mary Jo Asmus says that leading means staying out of the weeds—if you love the work, maybe you shouldn’t be a manager. 2 minutes to read.
- Wanda Thibodeaux lists 15 signs that someone is trustworthy. 4 minutes to read.
Technology, Techniques, and Human Behavior
- Emily Esposito preps us for Gutenberg, the new visual editor to be used in WordPress 5.0, due later this year.
- Greg Satell recaps the history of data records, from Hollerith cards to relational databases, in explaining why distributed computing (the internet) needs secure, distributed data. 6 minutes to read.
- Katrina Clokie lays out a decision process for selecting a test automation tool. 4 minutes to read.
- Ephrat Livni recaps recent research that shows how your current opinions can influence how you interpret new facts. 3 minutes to read.
Working and the Workplace
- Art Markman tells us how to conduct a meeting without dominating the conversation. 2 minutes to read.
- Lisette Sutherland calls our attention to five interesting tools for remote work and collaboration. Podcast, 7 minutes, safe for work.
- Leigh Espy lists some of the reasons to choose a career in project management. If you are mentoring someone, send this to them! 5 minutes to read.
Enjoy!
Title

Article Name
New PM Articles for the Week of April 30 – May 6
Description
New project management articles published on the web during the week of April 30 – May 6
Author
Dave Gordon
The Practicing IT PM LLC
