Author Archives: Sandra Buddingh

New PM Articles for the Week of April 8 – 14

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New project management articles published on the web during the week of April 8 – 14.  Dave and Sandra read all of this stuff so you don’t have to!  Recommended:

  • Will Kelly explains why the U.S. government is finding it difficult to get the results they expected from their Agile programs.
  • Mike Griffiths looks at the wisdom of (self-organizing) teams, empowerment, and promoting shared leadership.
  • David Taber explains why Agile project management methodologies need controls in order to be successful.
  • Don Kim also looks at Agile governance, which might not really be an oxymoron.
  • Andy Jordan draws real world examples of Accountability and Responsibility from the RACl chart.
  • Johanna Rothman replies to a request for a self-assessment tool for transitioning to Agile.
  • Jesse Fewell looks at the underlying structural factors that can make Agile estimating techniques unreliable.
  • Michael Nir shares a chapter from his new book, “The Agile PMO.”
  • Khaliphani Khumalo moved from a projectized to a weak matrix organization. He shares his adjustment challenges and behaviors critical for success.
  • Kevan Hall looks at managing in a matrixed organization.  This will be more useful for the entry level or “accidental” project manager.
  • Glen Alleman recounts his experience as a coastal sailor as a metaphor for disciplined Agile.
  • Puneet Kuthiala applies “The Art of War” in his new book, “The Project Management Battlefield: Sun Tzu’s Wisdom on Project Management.”
  • Roz Baker talks execution, as in “getting it done.”  Plans are great, but at some point, the team has to deliver!
  • Dick Billows explains how to organize and manage virtual teams.
  • Joel Bancroft-Connors and Hogarth want to cut through the confusion on an endless EMail chain.  So they pick up the phone.
  • Susan Harkins shares some advanced formatting techniques for MS Word.  Definitely worth a look – there is at least one thing here you don’t know!
  • Cyndee Miller argues for synching talent with strategy.  As Jim Collins put it, getting the right people on the bus, in the right seats.
  • Scott Berkun explains how to improve the quality of the feedback you get, by improving how you ask for it.  Excellent post, Scott.  No, really!
  • Toni Bowers reports that more than half of the salary offers for technology jobs are simply accepted, without a counter-offer.  Maybe IT folks need agents?

Enjoy!

New PM Articles for the Week of January 28 – February 3

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New project management articles published on the web during the week of January 28 – February 3.  Dave and Sandra read all of this stuff so you don’t have to!  Recommended:

  • Dhan looks at Good vs. Great Project Manager Behaviors in a tribute to Level 5 Leadership described by Jim Collins.
  • Roger Kastner shares principles of creating team accountability based upon The Oz Principle.
  • Jerry Manas sees five trends that will crest in the coming year, and articulates how your PMO will need to prepare for them.
  • Elizabeth Harrin interviews Brian Weiss, VP of Practitioner Markets at PMI on his job, elearning, and the future for PMI’s certifications.
  • Patrick Richard listened patiently to Peter Forrester’s explanation of how to use the “efficient frontier” for portfolio optimization.  Now, he lists his objections.
  • Urban Anomaly has announced the release of Timeline 1.0, a minimalist project management app for the iPad for just $2.99.  So, I bought it – review coming shortly.
  • Project Insight announces version 10.1.  If you aren’t familiar with the product, you can have either SaaS or premises-based versions – one of the few like that.
  • Gary Nelson considers the five senses, and how we use them to perceive and communicate.  Especially with vendors.
  • Roz Baker has a JD in addition to her PMP, so when she talks about managing vendor relationships, we should take notes!
  • Andrew Makar looks at managing accountability in outsourced projects.
  • Of course, if you just need a “lite” solution, Peter Saddington found a Friend Disclosure Agreement.
  • Roger Chou recounts how Ang Lee worked with vendor Rhythm and Hues Studio, Fox Studios, and the government of Taiwan to film the un-filmable “Life of Pi.”
  • Michiko Diby advocates for the building of “project spirit,” offering examples from two Mars exploration projects and Battlestar Galactica.  It ain’t rocket science!
  • Bertrand Duperrin thinks “…we’ll need to learn to manage processes as if they were people and not people as if they were processes.”
  • Joel Bancroft-Connors and Hogarth remind us that good manners will never go out of fashion.
  • Bruce Benson advocates brutal honesty.  Well, he advocates honesty – brutality is in the eye of the beholder.
  • Rich Maltzman celebrates Super Bowl Sunday with … criteria for project success.  Of course, if the Patriots had beaten the Ravens, he’d be watching the game.
  • Kelsey van Haaster concludes his series on the parallels between chess and business analysis.
  • Vanessa Fiorido finds lessons for project managers in Psy’s “Gangnam Style” YouTube video.  And lessons in communication from “Call Me Maybe?”

Enjoy!

New PM Articles for the Week of January 21 – 27

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New project management articles published on the web during the week of January 21 – 27.  Dave and Sandra read all of this stuff so you don’t have to!  Recommended:

  • Andrea Brockmeier, Elizabeth Larson, and Richard Larson list some “competency trends” they see developing for PM’s and BA’s.
  • Elizabeth Harrin shares some ideas from her new book, “Customer-Centric Project Management.”
  • Woody Walker reminds us of five traits of good communicators.
  • Kailash Awati explores the differences between communication and pseudo-communication in organizations.
  • Michiko Diby asks, “Are you an IT adviser PM, or an IT push-backer PM?”
  • Vaughan Merlyn analyzes why typically Outsourcers deliver better project performance than in-house resources and shares his conclusions on how to improve in-house delivery.
  • Ken Hardin shares some observations gained from working with a new customer to re-vamp the design of their business website.
  • Colby Stream thinks we should broaden our knowledge base – not by learning more about IT, but about how our customers expect to use it.
  • Roland Hoffman says we can mitigate against our biases by understanding the sources of them.
  • Timothy F Bednarz contrasts Leaders and Managers in “Active Leadership Takes Courage, Passion and Conviction”.
  • Andrew Mcafee thinks the “Myth of Technological Unemployment” is starting to look more like a reality.
  • Ted Hardy expounds on what should go into a great bug report.  No, really!
  • Roz Baker is looking forward to migrating to the latest version of Sharepoint.
  • Will Kelly gives us the high points of Microsoft’s Project 2013 project portfolio management Software as a Service offering.
  • Craig Brown shares a “magic quadrant with trend lines” model from Noriaka Kana as a possible tool for project portfolio management.
  • Sarah Perez notes that BaseCamp is now available in a “Personal” version, with various functional limits and only five collaborators, for $25 per project.
  • Kathleen Welton shares how to master the art of Timeboxing. Hint…it starts with identifying priorities.
  • Bob Tarne advocates for refactoring by design.  “The key is to plan to the appropriate level of detail.”
  • Kelsey van Haaster continues his series on chess as a metaphor for business analysis.
  • Shim Marom looks at failure-as-a-good-outcome, in articles from Doug Sundheim, Amy Edmundson, and Joshua Gans.
  • Laua Burford considers the characteristics of the “flat” organization, and how project managers can effectively lead in them.
  • Joe Wynne shares how to support the introverts on your project team by awareness and adjustment of message delivery.
  • Dan Waldschmidt says it’s our attitude that determines whether or not we’ll succeed.
  • Peter Saddington has accumulated quite a reading backlog, so he’s applying Agile estimating techniques to … well, I guess everything is an Agile project now.
  • Don Kim posts a seven minute video introduction to Kanban by Gemba Academy. Safe for work.
  • PMI posted a ten-part video interview with board member Beth Partleton, on women in project management.  Each around two minutes, safe for work.

Enjoy!