Tag Archives: Project Management Office

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.  Dave and Sandra read all of this stuff so you don’t have to!  Recommended:

  •  Vincent McGevna think that project managers shouldn’t make all of the decisions.  Instead, they should champion the team’s decision making process.
  •  Elizabeth Harrin interviews Kevin Baker, head of project and programme management at Airbus, and reviews Emily Bennington’s new book, “Who Says it’s a Man’s World?”
  • Toni Bowers reports that the compensation gender gap has essentially disappeared in technology jobs, according to a Dice survey.
  • Derek Huether thinks Marissa Mayer may have a point with her edict against working from home.
  • Cheri Baker is at the other end of the work spectrum – she’s a “slasher.”  Meaning consultant/professor/writer, and she’s trying to stay organized.  Enter Kanban!
  • Roz Baker doesn’t just manage projects – she manages stress, and so can you.
  • Shim Marom adds to his recent thoughts on “Should you attend that meeting?”
  • Scott Berkun interviews Phil Simon on his new book, “Too Big to Ignore: The Business Case for Big Data.”
  • Peter Saddington presents a graphical depiction of what Agile looks like, from a UK government website.  Astounded?  Peter certainly was …
  • Craig Brown presents an interesting dialectic: does a Scrum team need a product manager?  The answer is not the immediately obvious one.
  • Johanna Rothman deflates Management Myth #15: “I need people to work overtime.”
  • Michiko Diby gives the developers on her project team the things they need – appreciation, communication, and trust.
  • Dr. Bruce Piasecki summarizes eight key points from his new book, “Doing More with Teams: The New Way to Winning.”
  • Glenn Alleman argues that learning from your mistakes isn’t as fruitful as learning from successes – your own, and others.
  • Chuck Morton explains where to look for risks – from risk taxonomies, to the WBS, to your assumptions.
  • Alison Smith recently took a first aid course, and found something she can apply to project management – the “Primary Survey.”
  • Andy Jordan debunks the idea that a PMO has an easy time of annual planning.  It’s a business process, and not an easy one.
  • Brian Moran thinks annual planning is the wrong approach.  We need to set goals and make plans twelve weeks at a time.
  • Mary Shacklett lists ten common “sand traps” that IT departments face every day.  And you don’t need a wedge to get out of them!
  • Mark Norman breaks down the project brief. This list will also work for a basic Project Charter.
  • Anna Schäfer provides a Project Charter checklist. There may be some surprises.
  • Mandy McGill shares the deliverables and work required before a project launch and makes a very good case for formalizing the project launch.

Enjoy!

New PM Articles for the Week of March 11 –17

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New project management articles published on the web during the week of March 11 – 17.  Dave and Sandra read all of this stuff so you don’t have to!  Recommended:

  • Andy Jordan reminds us that the way we deal with stressful situations is what defines us as leaders.
  • Elizabeth Harrin and Phil Peplow identify six barriers to customer centricity.  Extracted from their book, “Customer-centric Project Management.”
  • Peter Tarhanidis asserts that the customer mindset is always right.
  • Shim Marom presents a decision tree on “Should you attend that meeting?” courtesy of Elizabeth Grace Saunders.
  • Gary Laverty reviews Charles Tryon’s third edition of “Managing Organizational Knowledge.”
  • Frank Saladis has a new book out, “Positive Leadership in Project Management.”
  • Samad Aidane interviews Lina Echeverria, author of “Idea Agent,” 63 minutes.  Also  Geoff Trickey on risk personality types, 45 minutes.  Both safe for work.
  • John Simko shares specific criteria when doing nothing is the appropriate action.
  • Dave Prior continues his interview with Personal Kanban author Jim Prior.  Just 25 minutes, safe for work.
  • LeRoy Ward notes that, if your organization isn’t good at project management, Agile practices will like make a bad situation worse.
  • Ben Ferris shares five tips for making better decisions.
  • Bruce Benson notes that finding the root cause of your current problems is the first step; looking at alternatives comes later.
  • Chuck Morton explains risk buffers, using the example of a daily commute.
  • APQC has released a best-practices study called “Effective Project Management Offices.”
  • Roz Baker lists the bare minimum fields required in a defect log.  Her definition of “PICNIC” is at the bottom, next to the smiley face.
  • Andrew Makar presents a great tutorial on how to create a custom status report within Project 2010.
  • Sue Cochran creates a Project Charter primer by defining the core charter
    requirements.
  • Whitson Gordon sings the praises of Evernote.  (And so do I!)
  • Brett Beaubouef explains the basic equation of requirements management: What + Why = How.
  • Patrick Richard shares insights from a Harvard Business Review blog post, on why employers aren’t filling their open jobs.
  • Toni Bowers has a short list of meaningless phrases you should remove from your resume.  Like “responsible for …”
  • Chip Camden addresses the question of whether age-ism is a factor for us IT consultants.  And then he shaves off his beard!
  • Amanda Augustine has some pointers for IT types who need to perfect their pitch.  Elevator pitch, that is.
  • Srinivasa Rao has been observing the behavior of his Generation Y colleagues, and thinks they will change the way projects are managed.
  • Venkat Rao addresses the biological aspects of curiosity, and ranges from boredom to the destruction of the universe.  Long, but a worthwhile read.

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!