Tag Archives: Leadership

New PM Articles for the Week of November 19 – 25

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New project management articles published on the web during the week of November 19 – 25. And this week’s video: Apple CEO Time Cook explains where his ethical compass comes from and what it means to be an ethical leader. 3 minutes, safe for work.

This week only! The Kindle version of my book, The Data Conversion Cycle: A guide to migrating transactions and other records, for system implementation teams, will be discounted to a mere $1.99 starting at 08:00 PST on Monday, November 26. It will return to the regular price at 17:00 PST on November 30. For those who prefer Dead Tree books, the paperback version is available for $6.99. Help the business SME’s on your team get ready for the New Year!

Business Acumen and Strategy

  • Joshua Brustein reports that growth at the big tech companies is slowing, stock prices are down, and some think regulation is coming. Call it “Peak Tech.” 5 minutes to read.
  • Robert Reich, former US Secretary of Labor, argues that it’s time to start taking anti-trust actions against Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon. 4 minutes to read.
  • Greg Satell notes that automation doesn’t replace jobs; it changes how tasks are performed. A sustainable competitive edge still requires people. 5 minutes to read.

Managing Projects

  • Harry Hall shares twelve tips to improve your delivery when speaking to a group. 3 minutes to read.
  • Andy Makar points out five things you can do to thank your team, even on a tiny budget. 5 minutes to read.
  • Tzvi Zucker argues that scheduling should be driven by people who will perform the work, not the tasks to be assigned. 8 minutes to read.
  • Glen Alleman describes the relationship between cost management and value management. 3 minutes to read.
  • Mike Clayton presents his updated list of the 52 best project management blogs. 15 minutes to read.
  • Dharam Singh reports that Dr. Ginger Levin, author, trainer, and long-time thought leader in the project management community, has passed away. 2 minutes to read.

Managing Software Development

  • Stefan Wolpers curates his weekly list of Agile content, from “agile trust” to healthy product debates to continuous alignment of product management. 7 outbound links, 3 minutes to read.
  • Kiron Bondale addresses a question from a learner: “Won’t the ideas from a retrospective use up some of the team’s capacity in the next sprint?” 2 minutes to read.
  • Cassandra Leung had to develop a test strategy from scratch, in a hurry. Here are the seven steps she followed. 4 minutes to read.
  • Kristin Jackvony shares her thoughts on how to prioritize what to test when there’s not enough time to test everything thoroughly. 6 minutes to read.
  • Pawel Brodzinski notes that self-organizing must be implemented throughout the hierarchy, not just at the lowest (team) level. 5 minutes to read.
  • Edwin Dando points out the need for increased accountability when increasing autonomy. 4 minutes to read.
  • Amir Ghahrai lists his choices for the top ten open source performance testing tools, with links. 2 minutes to read.

Applied Leadership

  • Alexander Maasik curates his weekly list of leadership articles, from leading an inexperienced team of junior developers to why analog still matters to finding strength in ambiguity. 5 outbound links, 3 minutes to read.
  • Rich Mironov provides a list of thoughtful responses to the ultimatum, “I’ll quit unless …” 7 minutes to read.
  • Lila MacLellan notes that we can have more of an impact in asking than we can in telling. 4 minutes to read.

Research and Insights

  • Aisha Hassan summarizes key points from the World Talent Ranking 2018 report. The US and UK trail western Europe in attracting, developing, and retaining talent. 2 minutes to read.
  • Mark McGranaghan presents findings from the Ink & Switch research lab’s study of the sources of slow software response (which isn’t always about the software). 15 minutes to read.
  • Keith Foote identifies trends for Big Data in 2019. 6 minutes to read.

Working and the Workplace

  • Elise Stevens interviews Paul Pelletier on disrespect in the workplace, from gossip to bullying and harassment. Podcast, 39 minutes, safe for work.
  • Ananya Bhattacharya reports that tightening restrictions on H-1B visas are leading Indian IT firms with a presence in Canada and Mexico to bring in workers from those countries on TN visas. 2 minutes to read.
  • Adriana Girdler tells us how to be confident at work. Video, 5 minutes, safe for work.

Enjoy!

New PM Articles for the Week of November 5 – 11

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New project management articles published on the web during the week of November 5 – 11. And this week’s video: Suzanne Lucas chastises corporate HR for using the term talent to refer to their employees when the reality is that we should be looking for skills, which are a result of study and hard work. 8 minutes, safe for work.

Business Acumen and Strategy

  • Nate Lanxon visits Amazon’s newest UK fulfillment center and contemplates how human and robot collaboration will evolve. 3 minutes to read.
  • Ben Goertzl reports on the newest citizen of Saudi Arabia—a robot, named Sophia. Probably unrelated: will robots have to someday pay into Social Security? 12 minutes to read.
  • Kayla Matthews looks at the GDPR, now in place for about six months, and asks: have we (meaning society) accomplished anything? 4 minutes to read.

Managing Projects

  • Glen Alleman notes that “Project risk often comes from non-technical aspects of the initiative,” and proceeds to list a few dozen sources. Save this one! 2 minutes to read.
  • Satya Naryan Dash does a deep dive into qualitative risk analysis, including such things as appetite for risk and risk urgency. 10 minutes to read.
  • Leigh Espy explains “The Five Whys,” a technique for root-cause analysis. 4 minutes to read.
  • John Goodpasture shares a model for three broad “customer-facing” roles for establishing, maintaining, and leveraging relationships with the customer. 2 minutes to read.
  • Tzvi Zukerman shares an approach to generate lessons-learned from failed projects. 4 minutes to read.
  • Mike Clayton explains the PMI Talent Triangle: why it’s important and what resources are available to expand your skill set. 8 minutes to read.
  • The folks at Clarizen shared their list of six important project management influencers (and they included me, so I’m blushing). 3 minutes to read.

Managing Software Development

  • Stefan Wolpers curates his weekly list of Agile content, from Enterprise Agile to servant leadership to working without managers. 7 outbound links, 3 minutes to read.
  • Danny Perez makes some suggestions on how to securely share passwords and other secrets within a larger team. 2 minutes to read.
  • Aaron Hodder provides a detailed description of lean testing concepts and practices. 9 minutes to read.
  • Robbin Schuurman describes and explains the background of five product owner maturity levels. 8 minutes to read.
  • Tom Cagely asserts that users stories are valuable when maintaining legacy applications as well as when developing new ones. 5 minutes to read.
  • Adam Auerbach explains that continuous testing requires more than simply test automation. 2 minutes to read.

Applied Leadership

  • Alexander Maasik curates his weekly list of leadership content, from managing through anger to saying no to making time for your passion project. 4 outbound links, 2 minutes to read.
  • Lila MacLellan extracts key points from an interview with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella: three characteristics to look for in leaders. 3 minutes to read.
  • Rasmus Hougaard observes that ego is the enemy of good leadership. 4 minutes to read.

Research and Insights

  • Sarah Kessler goes beyond the sexist hiring algorithm that Amazon has now discarded to ask: might this flawed tool still be better than a human performing the same task? 4 minutes to read.
  • Rahul Kapoor recaps his research into the decision for a company to self-disrupt—make significant changes to their business—in anticipation of a disruptive technology on the horizon. 7 minutes to read.
  • Keith Foote provides definitions and a bit of history for data repositories, from lakes to silos to warehouses. 6 minutes to read.

Working and the Workplace

  • Garland Coulson gives us an introduction to freelancing. Video, under five minutes, safe for work (aside from the subject matter).
  • Rebecca Addison gives us the executive summary of Upwork’s new survey of freelance workers in the United States. Technology is disrupting things here, too. 3 minutes to read.
  • Brendan Toner reviews Notability, which he says is about the best note-taking application on the market. 5 minutes to read.

Enjoy!

New PM Articles for the Week of October 29 – November 4

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New project management articles published on the web during the week of October 29 – November 4. And this week’s video: Mike Clayton explains Edward De Bono’s wonderful analytical toolset, the Six Thinking Hats. 6 minutes, safe for work.

Business Acumen and Strategy

  • Michael Spencer analyzes the business case for IBM’s acquisition of Red Hat. The big challenge will be retaining all of that software engineering talent. 4 minutes to read.
  • Jonathan Tirone reports on the growing number of private firms working to develop a commercially viable nuclear fusion reactor. 5 minutes to read.
  • Michael Coren recaps a Peter Thiel interview where he expresses doubt that Silicon Valley will continue to lead in innovation. They’ve jumped the shark? 2 minutes to read.

Managing Projects

  • PMI Talent TriangleMike Griffiths tells how to pursue the combination of technical skills, people skills, and industry-specific knowledge that makes up the Talent Triangle. 6 minutes to read.
  • The Clever PM leads us to discover our core competency. 4 minutes to read.
  • Elizabeth Harrin explains how to use the project manager’s “pocket database,” also known as a RAID log. 5 minutes to read.
  • Sylvie Edwards recommends we think beyond Expected Monetary Value when calculating risk reserves. 3 minutes to read.
  • Lindsay Curtis tutors us on the critical path method, from basic concept to common practices. 5 minutes to read.
  • Deb Schaffer shares some good practices for effective project status meetings. 4 minutes to read.

Managing Software Development

  • Stefan Wolpers curates his weekly list of Agile content, from the agile industrial complex to identifying the problem to be solved to whether holacracy is a solution or a cult. 7 outbound links, 3 minutes to read.
  • Kristin Jackvony contemplates Smoke Testing—why you need it and what tests to put in the script. 4 minutes to read.
  • Bas Dijkstrav recommends a simple criterion for determining whether to add a test to an automation suite. 4 minutes to read.
  • Justin Rohrman focuses on the “conversational” aspects of behavior-driven development (BDD). 6 minutes to read.
  • Ben Kelly notes that “test” is an overloaded verb, so we may need to be more precise when discussing research and experimentation. 4 minutes to read.
  • Lance Ng predicts that most mobile apps will fade away, based on his assessment of the economics. 6 minutes to read.

Applied Leadership

  • Alexander Maasik curates his weekly list of leadership content, from measuring what matters to why soft skills matter to the general formula for success. 5 outbound links, 3 minutes to read.
  • Tom Cagley recaps common attributes of a toxic work environment, as described in John Carreyrou’s book on failed Silicon Valley start-up Theranos. 3 minutes to read.
  • Rick Lynch lists four ways to pressure test strategic decisions, as inspired by the military. Think of it as mining for risks. 4 minutes to read.

Research and Insights

  • Maryam Kouchaki updates us on her research into when we are more likely to behave ethically. It turns out that gender differences are significant. 4 minutes to read.
  • Michael Grothaus reports on his experiments using a form of self-hypnosis to fall asleep, using a technique developed by the US Army in the 1980’s. 4 minutes to read.
  • Echo Huang recaps the results of surveys conducted, by nation, on whom a self-driving car should save in the event of an impending accident. Once again, culture matters.

Working and the Workplace

  • Lisette Sutherland interviews agile coach Molood Nouri Alavijeh, on building trust and effectiveness in remote agile teams. Podcast, 34 minutes, safe for work.
  • Nick Morgan notes that we are all now “unwitting participants in a massive unregulated social experiment.” Namely, virtual communication and collaboration. 4 minutes to read.
  • Jade Emmons explains her company’s vision of how to create a good company culture with remote workers. 5 minutes to read.
  • Suzanne Lucas offers her HR-expert view of the demands expressed by the leaders of the Google sexual harassment walkout. 4 minutes to read.

Enjoy!