Tag Archives: SaaS

New PM Articles for the Week of November 18 – 24

Posted on by
1

NewsboyNew project management articles published on the web during the week of November 18 – 24. We read all of this stuff so you don’t have to! Recommended:

Must read

  • Scott Berkun shares the notes from his data analysis presentation at the Warm Gun 2013 conference on measurable design. The model matters more than the data!
  • Michael Greer tells a story, illustrating how simply requesting sign-off in order to proceed can be a powerful tool for getting decisions finalized.

Leadership

  • Terry Bunio lists four critical qualities for a good manager.
  • Michael Lopp catalogs three basic roles for leaders. “In order to build epic shit at scale, a colorful tapestry of talent and degrees of experience is essential.”
  • Martin Webster asks if your leadership is actually slowing progress.
  • Peter de Jager shares his thoughts on helping a team form by creating opportunities for them to collaborate.
  • Cheri Baker recaps a few good communications habits that can make our colleagues feel more at ease.
  • Kenneth Darter takes a moment to help us develop our face-to-face social skills.
  • Cyndee Miller offers one final observation from PMO Symposium 2013: PMO Directors need to think like executives.

PM Best Practices

  • Elizabeth Harrin interviews Angel Berniz, who explains how the new project management standard, ISO 21500, will impact us.
  • Vincent McGevna defends the application of processes to the execution of projects.
  • Todd Williams breaks down the roles and responsibilities of the folks charged with rescuing a failed project.
  • David Hillson suggests a framework for identifying project risks, based on Edward de Bono’s Six Value Medals. You might remember de Bono for the Six Thinking Hats.
  • Luis Seabra Coelho examines the cognitive bias known as functional fixedness, and how it might apply to motivation.
  • Anya Faingersh recounts an old story that illustrates why an expensive solution delivered now beats a cost-effective solution, delivered too late.

Podcasts and Videos

  • Samad Aidane interviews Naomi Caietti, who explains how women in project management roles can achieve the right degree of assertiveness. Just 44 minutes, safe for work.
  • Cornelius Fichtner interviews Ricardo Vargas, who explains his approach to quantifying a qualitative risk analysis. Nerdy, but interesting ; 23 minutes, safe for work.
  • Cesar Abeid interviews Francis Wade on his consulting practice and book on time management. Just 48 minutes, safe for work.

Agile Methods

  • Glen Alleman critiques NPR journalista Elise Hu’s article on why Heatlthcare.gov was doomed from the start.
  • Jesse Fewell came from the Washington, D.C. Scrum User’s Groups with new insights into why the roll-out of Healthcare.gov failed so badly.
  • Shim Marom articulates the difference between doing Agile and being Agile.
  • Derek Huether covers the key barriers to Agile adoption, as found by VersionOne in their annual survey.

Pot Pouri

  • Harold Kerzner describes a family Thanksgiving, from a project manager’s point of view. But the PM is not the person actually in charge …
  • Karina Keith rounds up three blog articles on how to maintain your productivity over the holidays.  Makes me wonder if someone is missing the point.
  • Belle Beth Cooper has collected ten statistics on social media that should inform your company’s strategy for marketing and communication.

Enjoy!

New PM Articles for the Week of October 14 – 20

Posted on by
Reply

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

Must read

  • Harvard Business School Professor Michael Wheeler shares some lessons in negotiation, based on the recent U.S. government financial cliffhanger.  Parts one and two.
  • Elizabeth Harrin reports on Andrew Hubbard’s presentation at Conference: Zero.  Andrew is the editor of the APM’s Project Magazine.

The Strategic View

  • Johanna Rothman reflects on how Sony lost their mojo (and market share), and what project portfolio managers can learn from their sad experience.
  • Peter High reports on the top ten strategic technology trends for 2014, as envisioned by the Gartner Group at their recent ITxpo in Orlando.
  • Ron Rosenhead recounts a conversation with a retiring Director, who admitted that their perceived success in project delivery wasn’t accurate.  And what he should have done about it.
  • Daniel Burrus recommends a consultative approach, using knowledge and wisdom to add value.

PM Best Practices

  • John Goodpasture points out that, due to limited historical data, most projects live in a One-Sigma range, where RMS is the analytical tool of choice.
  • Andy Jordan explains the right way to use historical data.
  • Cesar Abeid interviews Erik Fisher, podcaster and author of “Beyond the To-Do List.”  Just 48 minutes, safe for work.
  • Bernardine Douglas lists some steps to take to get your project out of the ditch.
  • Nate Crews gets us up to speed on stakeholder management, as described in the PMBOK, Fifth Edition.
  • Allen Ruddock looks at the mix of methodologies, tools, and procedures we’ve adopted to manage projects, and decides the silver bullet is the people.
  • Cornelius Fichtner interviews Lindsay Scott on three chapters of her new book, “The Handbook of People in Project Management.”  Just 30 minutes, safe for work.
  • Kerry Wills shares the eight principles described in his second book, “Applying Guiding Principles of Effective Program Delivery.”

Agile Methods

  • Glen Alleman explains what risk management is, and why Agile and #NoEstimates are not risk management.  Not that there’s anything wrong with Agile!
  • Peter Saddington provides the Agile Coach’s take on making effective decisions.
  • John Reiling wonders if the problems in the initial roll-out of www.healthcare.gov will renew federal government interest in Agile project management.

Pot Pouri

  • Tatiana Czuchnowsky sings the praises of mobile apps Genius Scan, Evernote, and Dropbox.
  • Will Kelly has lined up six SaaS tools for distributed teams.
  • Brian Tullis tells of his experience so far in a graduate-level course in personal learning networks.
  • Kailash Awati shares a satirical parable of ABSERD customer service.
  • Shim Marom offers some well-known examples of brevity, and obscure verbosity.

Enjoy!

New PM Articles for the Week of October 7 – 13

Posted on by
Reply

Newsboy

New project management articles published on the web during the week of October 7 – 13.  We read all of this stuff so you don’t have to!  In the three-plus years I’ve been curating these weekly lists, I’ve always grouped related items, although that wasn’t always apparent to readers.  So I’m now adding section titles to the groups of related links.  I’ll base the titles on the content, of course, so expect them to vary from week to week.  Recommended:

Must read

  • Elizabeth Harrin notes four benefits you can achieve with well-managed stakeholders.
  • Shim Marom lists some project management principles that apply to business operations, as well.
  • Scott Berkun has some advice for the next Microsoft CEO: hire leaders who are eager to experiment, and free them do it.

SaaS and the Cloud

  • Louis Columbus argues that Salesforce is more than just CRM as a service: increasingly, they are the Cloud development platform of choice.
  • Steve Ranger looks at how the Cloud is impacting outsourcing, still one of the few growth areas in IT.

Agile

  • John Goodpasture has discovered how 3D printers are making hardware development Agile, by shortening the feedback loop.
  • Peter Saddington gives his perspective on dealing with conflict – both healthy and unhealthy.
  • Craig Brown suggests a work-in-progress approach to project portfolio management.  A PMO Kanban board?  Why not?

Anticipating Developments

  • Daniel Burrus notes that we’re moving from rapid change to rapid transformation.
  • Adario Strange reports on a fascinating development from Disney Research: touch screens with tactile feedback.  Once you get past the potential Virtual Pet apps, the mind boggles.

PM Best Practices

  • Henny Portman reviews Simon Buehring’s eBook on Prince2.
  • Allen Ruddock provides guidance on estimating project task duration, starting from the WBS and working down to the details.
  • Andy Jordan gives a brief tutorial on how to conduct a cause and effect analysis, using Ishikawa fishbone diagrams.
  • Kevin Korterud walks us through a great weekly status meeting.
  • Chuck Morton continues his series on project governance, with maturity levels two and three.

Pot Pouri

  • Martin Webster explains what makes us introverts tick.
  • Sean Whitaker offers a concise explanation of project management standards, frameworks, and methodologies.
  • Daniel Hemhauser has accumulated a list of Twitter Hashtags related to project management.  Apparently, there’s a lot more than just #pmot. – who knew?

Enjoy!