New project management articles published on the web during the week of January 29 – February 4. And this week’s video: Personal Kanban author Jim Benson introduces a new series of videos—The Agile Heretic. “We’ve gone from Death Marches to Death Sprints.” Sounds interesting! 7 minutes, safe for work.

Must read!

• Tsedal Neeley expounds on swift trust, passable trust, direct knowledge, reflected knowledge, and how we build trust with colleagues we rarely see. 5 minutes to read.
• Jesse Lynn Stoner explains how to make an effective apology and increase trust. 3 minutes to read.
• Henny Portman reviews Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, a classic work on getting to collaboration by beginning with creating trust. 3 minutes to read.

Established Methods

• Harry Hall explains the what, why, and when of evaluating project risks. 3 minutes to read.
• John Goodpasture unpacks the concept of coupling to explain why, even in an Agile approach, dependencies can be reduced with a proper temporary architecture. 2 minutes to read.
• Laura Barnard notes that Agile and PMO are not mutually exclusive concepts. In fact, they can complement each other. 7 minutes to read.
• Elizabeth Harrin curates her list of recommended project management certification training courses, for PMI and PRINCE2 certifications. 5 minutes to read, 6 outbound links.
• Bonnie Biafore and John Riopel have some suggestions for building your organization’s methodology. 3 minutes to read.
• Elise Stevens interviews Marisa Silva on positioning the PMO to deliver impactful value. Podcast, 18 minutes, safe for work.

Agile Methods

• Stefan Wolpers curates his weekly Agile roundup, from useless Agile metrics to big room planning, to the case for fewer product managers. 3 minutes to read, 7 outbound links.
• Dan North coins a new term: SWARMing, Scaling Without a Religious Methodology. 17 minutes to read.
• Kiron Bondale looks at the leadership problem of Agile adoption—organizational adoption of an agile mindset. 2 minutes to read.
• Tom Cagley has collected a few metrics that can determine if our objectives in adopting agile methods are being met. 4 minutes to read.
• Mike Clayton explains Kanban, from its roots in Toyota’s JIT manufacturing system to adoption by the Agile movement. Video, 6 minutes to watch; safe for work.
• Paul Merrill explains why you won’t be able to convert your entire testing team to use automated test tools. 6 minutes to read.

Applied Leadership

• Art Petty recaps an anecdote that illustrates how to handle an attack on your credibility during a meeting. 5 minutes to read.
• Bob Tarne notes that psychological safety—the perceived ability to push back on a management request—is created by managers, not team members. 2 minutes to read.
• Doug Thorpe receives an Email from a former colleague that was “less than flattering,” and notes that leaders can’t win over everyone. 4 minutes to read.

Technology, Techniques, and Human Behavior

• Jeff Furman tips his hat to Mary Ann Jensen, the neglected co-author of the update to Dr. Bruce Tuckman’s Stages of Team Development Dr. Jensen is now a psychologist in private practice. 2 minutes to read.
• Amy Hamilton recommends some small behavior changes that might help you to avoid a cybersecurity breach—at home, at work, and en route. 3 minutes to read.
• Julian Strachan says that it’s OK to be techno-skeptical—after all, a technology does not control how it is used. 4 minutes to read.

Working and the Workplace

• Eamonn McGuinness describes a model for handling those little interruptions and distractions that pop up throughout the day. A minute to read, or a video at 3 minutes; safe for work.
• Leigh Espy shares her tips for getting things done in a timeframe a little closer to your original estimate. 3 minutes to read.
• John Yorke notes numerous studies that say there is an inverse relationship between hours worked and productivity. 8 minutes to read.
• Nils Salzgeber argues that the key to higher productivity is to manage your energy, rather than your time. 19 minutes to read.

Enjoy!