Tag Archives: PMO

New PM Articles for the Week of April 2 – 8

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New project management articles published on the web during the week of April 2 – 8, 2012.  Dave and Sandra read all of this stuff so you don’t have to!  Recommended:

  • Ben Snyder describes the profile of a good project manager.
  • Don McAlister explains how micro relationships matter for “Project Management in the Matrix Crossfire”.
  • Steve Romero on “The Success of Canceled Projects”.
  • Joel Bancroft-Connors on the power of “And” to facilitate teamwork and communication.
  • Elizabeth Harrin reviews “The Language of Leaders,” by Kevin Murray, which he based on interviews with 60 CEO’s and business leaders.
  • PMI has announced the recipients of their academic research grants for 2012.
  • Tony Schwartz, author of “Be Excellent at Anything,” comes out against multi-tasking and in favor of focus.
  • Scott Lowe has five questions portfolio managers should ask before approving a project.
  • Margo Visitacion and Jerry Manas team up for a webcast on Wednesday, April 11 on how to focus your PMO on the big picture.
  • Geoff Crane finally publishes his white paper on the history of project management – twelve culturally significant projects over a period of 4500 years, focused on risk management.
  • Lynda Bourne clarifies: what does a project sponsor really do?
  • Andy Jordan has some ideas on how to bring a stakeholder who was “forgotten” until the last minute into the project.
  • Glen Alleman found an interesting quote: “Stop motivating people – they hate it.”
  • Derek Huether reports on the recent PMI Agile Community of Practice retrospective.
  • Terry Bunio shares an example of an Agile project  charter, based on user stories.
  • Peter Saddington reports on Scrum Wing 3D, an open source Scrum project management tool.  Holding stand-ups virtually, using avatars?  Wow …
  • Johanna Rothman addresses questions related to infrastructure investment and technical debt.
  • Shim Marom reviews “Blind Spots: Why We Fail to Do What’s Right and What to Do About It,” by Max H. Bazerman and Ann E. Tenbrunsel.
  • Kerry Wills looks at the importance of decisions, and understanding the consequences of those decisions.

Enjoy!

New PM Articles for the Week of March 12 – 18

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New project management articles published on the web during the week of March 12 – 18, 2012.  Dave and Sandra read all of this stuff so you don’t have to!  Recommended:

  • Todd Williams  shares the lessons behind “pushing string” to lead your leaders to the right solution by changing the problem definition.
  • Jorge Valdés Garciatorre advocates seeking optimistic team members for project successes.
  • Mark Mullaly explores the risks of using social media in Project Management.
  • Chris Niccolls takes an in-depth look at outsourcing lessons learned.
  • Kiron D. Bondale advocates and explains the benefits of downtime between project assignments.
  • Mike Krutza explains why good managers give instructions, instead of orders.
  • Elizabeth Harrin collected causes of conflict in project management from the audience at her recent presentation at the Pink Elephant conference.
  • Dennis McCafferty presents his PowerPoint on five enterprise-level project management mistakes to avoid.
  • Ben Work talks with Tom Petrocelli: “Project management is a discipline, and task management is a skill.”
  • Bruce McGraw sees a disturbing trend – the devaluation of the professional project manager (as opposed to the PMP holder).
  • Geoff Crane offers some tips on how to find a job in the modern, post-job board world.
  • Premanand Doraiswamy and Premi Shiv have a new book out: “50 Top IT Project Management Challenges.”
  • Guy Smith and his team at Diageo (Guinness, Smirnoff, and others) have a new book out: “if It’s Not Impossible, It’s Not Interesting.”
  • Joel Bancroft-Connors and his gorilla, Hogarth, take a look at story estimating via the team estimation game, as an alternative to planning poker.
  • Derek Huether finds an example of a visual management system (mieruka, for you Toyota management system fans) while driving through a school zone.
  • Mike Griffiths looks at interruptions, flow, quiet time, and instant messaging.
  • Terry Rankin has coined the best new word of the month – “technosterone.”  Remember “sniglets?”
  • Ken Ritchie liked a story on the news about Sara Blakely and her father’s views on the value (!) of failing … and learning.

Enjoy!

New PM Articles for the Week of November 14 – 20

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New project management articles published on the web during the week of November 14 – 20, 2011.  We read all of this stuff so you don’t have to!  Recommended:

  • Glen Alleman concludes his series on the five questions every PM must ask.  “How do we know we are making progress?”
  • Sandy Farnan looks at the prospect of recovering troubled projects.
  • Christopher Goldsbury looks at the U.S. Department of Defense track record on ERP implementations, and their recent claim that they are “going Agile.”
  • Peter Saddington thinks it’s time to start documenting Agile success stories, and he’s calling for submissions of case studies.  Sounds like a potential E-book!
  • Tom Mochal looks at the basic Scrum concepts of story points, team velocity, and team rhythm.
  • Gordon McMahon has some pointers on writing better user stories.
  • Jim Kinter argues that Scrum is not a methodology, but a world view, “relating to managerial interaction with those involved in production.”
  • Bill Krebs looks at the human factors associates with using a globally distributed team using Agile techniques.
  • Geoff Mattie reflects on the executive support required from Boeing executives to complete the 787 Dreamliner project, late and $10B over budget.  But still, a resounding success!
  • Donna Fitzgerald looks at the notion of an enterprise project management office.  Not just for IT projects, but all projects across the entire enterprise.
  • Elizabeth Harrin reviews Melanie Franklin’s new book, “Managing Business Transformation.”
  • Mark McDonald asks IT leaders if they are stranding their project managers on an island.  Interesting blog from a Gartner researcher.
  • Penny Pullan interviews Suzanne Robertson on the interaction between the project manager and the business analyst.
  • Bruce McGraw continues his series on finding a content management system.
  • Timm Esque and Michael Porter consider the level of trust required to succeed in high stakes projects.  “The more you attempt to centralize and “tighten” control, the less real control you will achieve.”
  • Ted Hardy says we should learn to embrace constraints, and even seek them out.
  • Brad Egeland looks at what’s involved in conducting a feasibility analysis, before beginning a project.  Hopefully, even before considering a proposed project for funding.
  • Patrick Richard listens to a pitch of the Eppora project management tool set, and decides it violates the KISS principle.
  • Bruce Benson says we should teach our daughters to play war games, so they learn the same collaboration and other real-world lessons as our sons.  Not to mention surviving the coming Zombie Apocalypse, eh, Bruce?
  • Terry Bunio looks at managing Agile projects, and channels Jeff Foxworthy.  “You might be a project management redneck if …”

Enjoy!