Tag Archives: SaaS

New PM Articles for the Week of October 27 – November 2

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Just OverheadNew project management articles published on the web during the week of October 27 – November 2. We give you a high-level view so you can read what interests you. Recommended:

PM Best Practices

  • The second edition of Women Testers Magazine is now available. Not just for women or testers – this is some truly excellent content. Highly recommended!
  • John Goodpasture considers two views of “architecture.”
  • A Business Cloud News survey found that IT isn’t really driving SaaS adoption, and cloud-based applications are still providing data security challenges.
  • Andy Jordan concludes his long series on organizational risk management.
  • Johanna Rothman lays out an approach for tactical management.
  • Bruce Benson makes the case for getting into the weeds – researching the history, understanding past performance, and scheduling based on demonstrated capabilities.
  • Rebecca Mayville uses the butterfly as a metaphor for driving positive change.
  • Michelle Stronach recounts a sad story of how she took over a project in progress, from a well-liked, competent project manager who passed away.

Agile Methods

  • Kailash Awati describes how to apply the principles of emergent design to enterprise IT.
  • Glen Alleman shares his article, “Agile Program Management,” published in Cutter Journal. A long but excellent read.
  • Mike Cohn continues his series on sprint planning with the commitment-driven approach.
  • David Anderson notes that, as soon as organizations get used to time-boxing, they shrink the size of the boxes. Kanban (naturally) avoids this trap!
  • Don Kim believes that the Scrum team will only succeed if the Product Owner truly understands what is needed and can communicate it effectively.
  • Ravi Nihesh Srivastava proposes using Scrum to produce a high-quality technical proposal.

Leadership

  • Bob Tarne summarizes keys points from a recent presentation by Tom Peters.
  • Elizabeth Harrin interviews Oana Krogh-Nielsen, Head of the PMO for the National Electrification Program for the Danish rail system, Banedanmark.
  • Bruce Harpham interviews Terry Schmidt, whose resume begins with his internship at NASA during the Apollo Moon landing program, on strategic project management.

Podcasts and Videos

  • Cornelius Fichtner interviews Joseph Flahiff at the PMI Global Congress, on his new book, “Being Agile in a Waterfall World.” Just 30 minutes, safe for work.
  • Dave Prior rounds up with fellow Agilistocrats Richard Cheng and Dhaval Panchal to discuss Agile misconceptions they see in training classes. Just 15 minutes, safe for work.
  • Margaret Meloni shares an article by Roxi Hewertson, “Lead Like it Matters.” Just 3 minutes, safe for work.
  • Craig, Tony, and Renee interview Em Campbell-Pretty on the Scaled Agile Framework. Just 35 minutes, SAFe for work. Oh, stop rolling your eyes …

Pot Pouri

  • Linky van der Merwe tells us about the African Storybook Project, which aims to translate children’s stories into African languages and publish them on the internet.
  • Pat Weaver celebrates the 30th anniversary of the PMP examination with a brief history of PMI, the PMBOK, and the PMP credential.
  • Ralf Finchett shows the Project De-Motivational posters he’s been working on, and asks if we have any ideas. Wait until I take my medication, Ralf …
  • Kerry Wills finds the humor in Reply to All when “All” is the entire company.

Enjoy!

New PM Articles for the Week of August 11 – 17

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Balloon Above the TreesNew project management articles published on the web during the week of August 11 – 17. We give you a high-level view so you can read what interests you. Recommended:

PM Best Practices

  • Pawel Brodzinski expands on Jerry Weinberg’s definition, as “a process of creating an environment where people become empowered.”
  • Mike Griffiths considers the limitations of graphical depictions of data, when the information we should be consuming doesn’t graph so well.
  • Ammar Mango plots alternative routes through conflict.
  • Bryan Barrow explains his alternative to Post-It Notes for facilitating a project planning exercise.
  • Michael Girdler extols the virtues of a good scope statement.
  • Roberto Toledo lists his guidelines for fostering innovation.
  • Bruce Harpham begins a series on regulatory project management.
  • Dovilė Misevičiūtė notes that most attempts to institute time tracking fail within the first few months, usually for the same reasons.
  • Rachel Burger spoils “Guardians of the Galaxy,” pointing out the project management lessons. You could have at least waited until the DVD came out …

Agile Methods

  • Kevin Aguanno compares use cases and user stories, and how each can be the right tool for the job.
  • Bart Gerardi explores Bill Wake’s acronym, INVEST, on how to improve the quality of user stories.
  • Mike Cohn reflects on the balance of specialists and generalists in that most Agile team, the sandwich shop.
  • John Goodpasture explores the need for a release sign-off when applying Agile methods. Because it’s not just about software developers.
  • Chuck Morton continues his series of comments on Peter Morris’ article in the October PM Journal. This episode: Agile is not a project management discipline.

Following the Trends

  • Albert Barron explains [whatever] as a service, using pizza. Yes, even your grandmother will understand this one. Admirable, Albert!
  • Marco Visibelli shares recent lessons learned that tell us how companies make (and lose) money on Big Data projects.
  • Rich Maltzman interviews Kim Marotta on how MillerCoors is applying a sustainability strategy to improve performance.
  • Matthew Kosinski interviews Workday’s Liz Dietz on their upcoming Higher Education product.

Podcasts and Videos

  • Cesar Abeid interviews Rich Maltzman of EarthPM on applying sustainability practices to project management and the PMBOK. Just 49 minutes, safe for work.
  • Cornelius Fichtner interviews Thomas Juli about integrating personal happiness and focus with project success. Just 32 minutes, safe for work.
  • Glen Alleman links us to seven podcasts from Mary Ann Lapham and Suzanne Miller of the Software Engineering Institute on the principles of Agile development.

New Books

  • Elizabeth Harrin reviews “Project Management Workflow: A Business Process Approach,” by Dan Epstein and Rich Maltzman.
  • Henny Portman reviews Alan Ferguson’s new book, “Integrating Prince2.”

Enjoy!

New PM Articles for the Week of June 23 – 29

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Gathering RosebudsNew project management articles published on the web during the week of June 23 – 29. We gather all of this stuff so you don’t have to search for it! Recommended:

Sports Metaphors

  • Conrado Morlan uses lessons from the Formula One racing circuit to illustrate risk management.
  • Kerry Wills explores the parallels between soccer and project management. Or, for those outside the U.S., football and project management.
  • Kevin Korterud finds project management lessons in effective World Cup coaching.

PM Best Practices

  • Glen Alleman helps us on our search for the simple solution for our complex problems, by telling us the simple truth: there isn’t one.
  • Samad Aidane has published an ambitious series of articles on LinkedIn: ERP Projects, the complete guide.
  • Tom Barnett shares his all-purpose framework for planning a SaaS application implementation.
  • Dr. Karen McGraw offers some ideas on how to effectively manage organizational change.
  • Esther Schindler addresses the most difficult challenge in modern project management: a virtual team of freelancers and contractors.
  • Omar Al-Hajjar looks at ways for work-at-home team members to be effective.
  • Chuck Morton considers another philosophical question: should the project manager work toward effectiveness goals, or just efficiency goals?
  • Linky van der Merwe relates a case study of a stressful project in Mauritania, where the culture and environment presented unique challenges.
  • Harry Hall tells us how to audit compliance and effectiveness of project management risk processes, within a PMO.
  • Rich Maltzman and Dave Shirley preview their recorded presentation at the PMI Scheduling Community of Practice, on the long-term perspective.
  • Elizabeth Harrin posted her June roundup of project management news.

Agile Methods

  • Mike Cohn explains why guitar hero Alvin Lee, whose “I’m Going Home” was a high point of “Woodstock,” would be a great Scum team member. Crazy ‘bout my baby!
  • Pawel Brodzinski believes the best way to limit work in progress might be to make it harder to start new projects than to finish them.
  • Dele Oluwole notes that the tester has a substantial in the Scrum team.

Professional Development

  • Michelle Stronach tells how to be successful as a consulting project manager.
  • Simon Buehring interviews Lindsay Scott on the career prospects for women in project management.
  • Robert Wysocki and Joseph Matthews begin a series on how to succeed as an “occasional” project manager (as opposed to a “career” project manager).
  • Venkat Rao observes that complex debates are not about winning, but about “winning over” people to your point of view.
  • John Goodpasture describes an interesting approach to enforcing an honest debate: have the opposing sides summarize each other’s best arguments.

Podcasts and Videos

  • Cornelius Fichtner interviews David Blumhorst, who says project success is about achieving business goals. Just 24 minutes, safe for work.
  • Craig Smith and Renee Troughton interview visual facilitator Lynne Cazaly. Just 31 minutes, safe for work.

Enjoy!