Tag Archives: Customer Communications

Articles related to communications with management, stakeholders, and project teams

New PM Articles for the Week of October 7 – 13

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New project management articles published on the web during the week of October 7 – 13. And this week’s video: Mike Clayton gives us some tips for better project communication, which is 80% of project management. 11 minutes, safe for work.

Business Acumen and Strategy

  • Steve Blank explains why most companies and government agencies engage in innovation theater, rather than actual innovation. 5 minutes to read.
  • Greg Satell analyzes the rapid stock price collapse of WeWork, a real estate firm incorrectly and unreasonably valued like a software firm. 5 minutes to read.
  • Amber Lee Dennis summarizes Evan Terry’s presentation on current trends in enterprise analytics. 7 minutes to read.

Managing Projects

  • Nehal Padia looks at global system rollouts, from who and why to implementation approaches and methods. And yet only 3 minutes to read!
  • Cornelius Fichtner talks with Susanne Madsen about the second edition of her book, The Power of Project Leadership. Video, 44 minutes, safe for work.
  • Mike Glen walks us through a manufacturing process example to illustrate how network analysis takes us from a list of tasks to an actionable work plan. 7 minutes to read.
  • Henny Portman recounts the origin of an article he wrote with Marisa Silva describing project “creatures” (such as the Pufferfish project). 2 minutes to read, plus 12 minutes for the article.
  • Glen Alleman defines capabilities-based project planning and explains why it’s so valuable. 6 minutes to read.

Managing Software Development

  • Stefan Wolpers curates his weekly list of Agile content, from liberating structures to Swedish-style agile leadership to pair coaching. 7 outbound links, 3 minutes to read.
  • Gábor Zöld curates his monthly engineering management roundup for October 2019. 11 outbound links, 4 minutes to read.
  • Gil Zilberfeld concludes his short series (part 1 here) on why the technical debt metaphor isn’t useful as a metric. 4 minutes to read both parts.
  • Johanna Rothman points out possible sources of extra work in an iteration, and a few strategies for managing it. 4 minutes to read.
  • Jay Geethan makes the case for microservices, as an alternative to monolithic mountains of code. When you say it that way … 2 minutes to read.
  • Victoria Bezsmolna briefly describes seven great continuous integration tools for DevOps. 6 minutes to read.
  • Dave Prior interviews Scott Ambler on PMI’s acquisition of Disciplined Agile. Yes, this is a big deal. Podcast, 34 minutes, safe for work.

Applied Leadership

  • Nancy Settle-Murphy illustrates the need for shared principles between service provider and client and how to arrive at them. 6 minutes to read.
  • Matt Plummer presents a short guide to building our team’s critical thinking skills based on the Critical Thinking Roadmap. 5 minutes to read.

Cybersecurity and Data Protection

  • Gene Marks briefs us on the three attack vectors being used to defeat multi-factor authentication. 3 minutes to read.
  • Curtis Franklin explains four attacks on network infrastructure, using techniques known as “poisoning.” 6 minutes to read.
  • Neha Malhotra shares some effective ways to promote cybersecurity in your organization. 3 minutes to read.

Pot Pourri

  • Elizabeth Harrin shares ten tips for giving a presentation, from preparation to delivery. 8 minutes to read.
  • Sarah M. Hoban recommends that we write a personal mission statement, based on Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” 3 minutes to read; 5 minutes for the podcast, safe for work.
  • Nigel Warburton suggests that in order to make laziness work, we have to put some effort into it. 5 minutes to read.

Enjoy!

New PM Articles for the Week of March 18 – 24

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New project management articles published on the web during the week of March 18 – 24. And this week’s video: Mike Clayton explains business acumen: what it is, why it’s valuable, and how a project manager can work to develop business acumen. This is what is needed in order to become a trusted adviser to your sponsor, key stakeholders, and executive decision makers. 5 minutes, safe for work.

Business Acumen and Strategy

  • If there were a Winter Olympics of global politics, Brexit would be the Luge. Here is the status, as of Friday; as of Sunday, a petition to scrap Brexit has over 5 million signatures. 4 minutes to read both. The wrong business strategy for where this finally lands might prove catastrophic.
  • Patrick Walsh provides his analysis of the California Consumer Privacy Act. 6 minutes to read. And Spencer Feingold notes that few companies subject to the law are ready to comply; another 5 minutes.
  • Asha Saxena notes that GAAP accounting standards do not permit data to be capitalized on the balance sheet; however, data is nonetheless a corporate asset. 7 minutes to read.

Managing Projects

  • Glen Alleman listed over 250 links to the presentations, briefings, journal papers, and articles on increasing the Probability of Project Success (PoPS) he’s authored over the years. Quite a stack!
  • Elizabeth Harrin tells us how to address current issues from the lessons learned log. You have one of those, right? 4 minutes to read.
  • Jennifer Bridges explores a critical decision: if a project is failing, do we end it or push on through? Video, 6 minutes, safe for work.
  • Andy Jordan looks at what a PMO should do, and what it shouldn’t 7 minutes to read.
  • Cornelius Fichtner interviews Andy Burns on making the PMO leaner and more agile. Podcast, 32 minutes, safe for work.
  • Dale Howard shows how to use ad hoc grouping of tasks in MS Project. 3 minutes to read.

Managing Software Development

  • Stefan Wolpers curates his weekly list of Agile content, from winning agile management trends to what data-driven means to contrasting Dow Jones Industrial Average members Microsoft and General Electric. 7 outbound links, 3 minutes to read.
  • John Gillespie reminds us that metrics which are easy to collect are not necessarily the metrics that matter. 3 minutes to read.
  • Paul Grizzaffi points out the technical challenges you’ll have to overcome in order to run your automated tests in parallel. 6 minutes to read.
  • Dave Kearney builds a case for prototyping as a means for achieving alignment between the designers, developers, and customers. 4 minutes to read.
  • Kristin Jackvony justifies extensive testing of the validation applied to user inputs. Boring but necessary! 4 minutes to read.
  • John Demian explains metric-based alerting, for those using Amazon Web Services. Somewhat technical, but the vocabulary lesson is valuable. 7 minutes to read.

Applied Leadership

  • The Forbes Insight Team and PMI explain how the C-suite can best support the transformation of the project management office. 3 minutes to read.
  • Peter Diamandis observes that traditional higher education, including the MBA, is losing its relevance and then calls our attention to what is replacing it. 9 minutes to read.
  • Chris Cook helps us look at delegation as actively assisting in someone else’s professional development. 5 minutes to read.
  • Tom Cagely continues his series on “guardrails” as a tool to maintain alignment with organization goals and objectives. Here is part 4; about 4 minutes to read both.

Research and Insights

  • Michael Grothaus recommends eight steps to reduce our exposure to digital data collection by Facebook, Google, and whoever else makes us nervous. 6 minutes to read.
  • Ananya Bhattacharya reports on a survey of US HR professionals and hiring managers indicates that souring foreign talent is an important part of their strategy. 3 minutes to read.
  • Paula Boddington shares her thoughts on the need for and possible elements of a baseline code of ethics for artificial intelligence. 14 minutes—long, but a thoughtful read.

Working and the Workplace

  • Peter Yang convinces us that slides are a poor form of communication—written narratives are where the enlightenment’s at. 3 minutes to read.
  • Adriana Girdler coaches us on the do’s and don’ts of meetings. Video, 5 minutes, safe for work.
  • Sarah Feldman reports on the results on a survey of what people find distracting at work. Just a minute to read.

Enjoy!

New PM Articles for the Week of March 4 – 10

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New project management articles published on the web during the week of March 4 – 10. And this week’s video: Harry Hall explains the difference between qualitative risk analysis and quantitative risk analysis. 4 minutes, safe for work.

Business Acumen and Strategy

  • Eshe Nelson observes the damage the UK has already inflicted on itself, no matter what sort of Brexit scenario actually comes to pass. 2 minutes to read.
  • Greg Satell traces the evolution of artificial intelligence from system to transformational ecosystem. 5 minutes to read.
  • Martin Zwilling tells us how to void some of the unintended consequences of using artificial intelligence for business purposes. 3 minutes to read.

Managing Projects

  • Elizabeth Harrin tutors us on project resource management—the ultimate guide. Agilistas, remember: “resources” doesn’t just mean “people.” 9 minutes to read.
  • Mike Griffiths tells about a project that involved a lot of uncertainty, change, and conflicting interests. One methodology does not fit all. 7 minutes to read.
  • Keith Baxter describes a ten-step approach to kicking off the risk management process for your project. 12 minutes to read.
  • John Goodpasture explains the project balance sheet—a depiction of the balance between what is the responsibility of the project manager and the business sponsor. 3 minutes to read.
  • Mohamed Hesham Youssef shares some advice on getting the most value-add from the procurement process. 4 minutes to read.
  • Joel Carboni reflects on the PRISM methodology (PRojects integrating Sustainable Methods), noting that it’s not just about being green; it’s about managing the impact of what we manage. 3 minutes to read.

Managing Software Development

  • Stefan Wolpers curates his weekly list of Agile content, from the agile-industrial complex to the state of cynefin to strategy maps. 7 outbound links, 3 minutes to read.
  • Johanna Rothman just finished her series on managing Agile transformations. This is her summary, with links to each article in the series. Total time for the series is about 9 minutes.
  • Li-Hsuan Lung suggests that product owners take an approach analogous to managing a personal investment portfolio. 4 minutes to read.
  • Thomas Sugar collects insights from designers at seven top companies on how to run a focused, productive design meeting. 12 minutes to read.
  • George Krasadakis counts out eight steps for defining a minimum viable product. 7 minutes to read.
  • Dave Prior interviews Melissa Boggs, the Scrum Alliance’s new Chief Scrum Master. Podcast, 28 minutes, safe for work.

Applied Leadership

  • Lila MacLellan summarizes key points from President Obama’s interview at the Experience Management Summit, talking about making tough decisions. 4 minutes to read.
  • Bob Frisch and Cary Freene suggest that the first decision a group should make is how they will make decisions. 3 minutes to read.
  • Pawel Brodzinski challenges the way we assess whether a candidate would be a good “cultural fit.” 4 minutes to read.

Research and Insights

  • Ed O’Brien shares the findings of his research into how much information we use to make decisions. TLDR: Less than you think. 6 minutes to read.
  • Tom Cagely notes that the wrong approach to measuring productivity can give rise to counter-productive behavior by both leaders and employees. 3 minutes to read.
  • Timothy Aeppel reports that US companies installed more robots last year than ever, except in the auto industry, which seems to have reached saturation. 2 minutes to read.
  • Nicholas Christakis contemplates the ways that artificial intelligence and human-like robots might change the way we humans relate to each other. 10 minutes to read.

Working and the Workplace

  • Tae Yoo puts the need for perpetual learning into perspective: The Fourth Industrial Revolution is here, and the pace of job skill disruption is increasing. 3 minutes to read.
  • Nancy Settle-Murphy lists her key a-ha takeaways from The Feedback Fallacy, by Buckingham and Goodall. It’s a behavior-changer! 5 minutes to read.
  • Sharlyn Lauby shares her rules for managing Email. 3 minutes to read.

Enjoy!