New PM Articles for the Week of August 5 – 11

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New project management articles published on the web during the week of August 5 – 11. And this week’s video: Redditor Hotwir3 shared this outtake from Malcolm in the Middle, where Hal needs to replace a light bulb. Some of us refer to this phenomenon as the Law of Three Other Things: in order to do any one thing, you must do three other things first, recursively. Less than a minute, safe for work.

Business Acumen and Strategy

  • Julian Birkenshaw opines that ecosystem businesses—those that position themselves as hubs within a network of suppliers and customers—are changing the nature of competitive advantage and business strategy. 6 minutes to read.
  • Georgia Frances King hosts a conference call with tech publishing legend Tim O’Reilly, who discusses competition in the digital-marketplace age. Video, 31 minutes, safe for work.
  • Peter Rejcek warns us that undeclared wars in cyberspace are becoming more aggressive, more highly automated, and more effective. 5 minutes to read.
  • Anders Melin reports on the growing war for senior cybersecurity talent. Lots of background information here—this is a critical skill for IT PM’s to develop. 4 minutes to read.

Managing Projects

  • Harry Hall explores what is needed for a great project charter. With a video (3 minutes), an online course, and a free template—who could ask for anything more? 3 minutes to read.
  • Peter Bregman and Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez share six tough questions to ask before launching a “moon shot” project. 5 minutes to read.
  • John Goodpasture articulates the hybrid operating principle: “Agile projects are simultaneously strategically stationary and tactically iterative and emergent.” 2 minutes to read.
  • Elizabeth Harrin looks at three methods to track percent complete for your project tasks and five ways to measure project performance. With a video (3 minutes) and a template. 5 minutes to read.
  • Robin Nicklas does a highly technical examination of scheduling schemes and leveling heuristics for resource-constrained projects. Nerd content over 90%! 8 minutes to read.
  • Andy Makar considers the career benefits of spending a year or two working in a corporate PMO. 4 minutes to read.

Managing Software Development

  • Stefan Wolpers curates his weekly list of Agile content, from failing agile transformations to liberating structures to right-sizing user stories. 7 outbound links, 3 minutes to read.
  • Matt Hartley begins a new series on his lessons learned, beginning with why software requirements in the real world are hard. 9 minutes to read.
  • Andy Glover and Matt Archer list ten reasons why we should fix bugs as soon as we find them, rather than prioritizing defects for correction or possible deferral. 6 minutes to read.
  • Maaret Pyhäjärvi looks at making some changes after two years of No Product Owner.
  • Tom Cagely tells us what to do when the daily Scrum has devolved into a daily status report and reinforces the practice as envisioned in the Scrum Guide. Total, about 5 minutes.
  • Bob Marshall reviews John Seddon’s upcoming book, “Beyond Command and Control.” 3 minutes to read.

Applied Leadership

  • Mike Clayton explains the GROW model of coaching, which might be better called GROW ME. Video, 5 minutes, safe for work.
  • Rick Woolworth helps us improve our mentoring to address the whole person, not just their career. 6 minutes to read.
  • Nancy Settle-Murphy provide guidance on “speaking truth to power” in ways that your boss can hear. 7 minutes to read.

Research and Insights

  • Patrick Collison and Tyler Cowan argues that we need a new science of progress, meaning “the combination of economic, technological, scientific, cultural, and organizational advancement that has transformed our lives.” 9 minutes to read.
  • Akash Deep lists a few of the ways that AI is transforming the way healthcare will be delivered. The business opportunities are limitless. 5 minutes to read.
  • David Gilbertson has far too much fun finding accounts that can be accessed with one of the 25 most common passwords. There’s a 17% chance that you’re using 123456. 6 minutes to read.

Working and the Workplace

  • Kiron Bondale points out some of the impacts that distributed work teams can have on stakeholders who aren’t part of the team. 3 minutes to read.
  • Anne Quito passes along the empowering advice that TED gives to nervous speakers. 3 minutes to read.
  • Tracy Middleton shares a quiz to help you determine your Chronotype, to optimize your schedule. I’m an early bird—moderately morning type. 4 minutes to read, a minute for the quiz.

Enjoy!

Title
New PM Articles for the Week of August 5 – 11
Article Name
New PM Articles for the Week of August 5 – 11
Description
New project management articles published on the web during the week of August 5 – 11
Author
The Practicing IT Project Manager LLC