PMI Publishes Navigating Complexity: A Practice Guide

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Dave Gordon

Last week, PMI announced availability of a new publication on managing complexity in projects, programs, and project portfolios. Called “Navigating Complexity: A Practice Guide,” it is now available for download in PDF format at no cost, for a limited time. The print version will be available in mid-March.

The Guide organizes the causes of complexity into three categories, including human behavior, system behavior, and ambiguity. The need to align people, programs, and projects to manage complexity is addressed through organizational support structures, and useful practices in four areas: scope, communications, stakeholders, and risk. Principles are demonstrated via several scenarios, each with suggested actions. Key considerations in developing, implementing, and managing an action plan are included. An extensive literature review is included as an appendix, along with a glossary.

The PDF file is 113 pages, and includes an assessment questionnaire. The questionnaire is available as a separate download, along with a companion resource gap analysis and skills assessment. Additional resources, including white papers and case studies, are available on the same complexity program page as the downloadable files.

New PM Articles for the Week of January 6 – 12

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Dave Gordon

New project management articles published on the web during the week of January 6 – 12. We read all of this stuff so you don’t have to! Recommended:

Ripped from the Headlines!

Patrick Gray wonders about the impact revelations of spying by the NSA will have on the IT industry in the United States.
Wally Bahny lists the top ten tech blunders of 2013.

PM Best Practices

Niel Nickolaisen gives the CIO perspective on integrating Cloud and data center legacy apps.
Nick Hardiman has put together a nice little dictionary of “Cloud” terminology.
Andrew Makar shows a governance pyramid diagram that can demonstrate how your stakeholder analysis led to your communication plan.
Tony Adams tells of a software deployment where the participants and stakeholders were treated like the audience to a performance.
Allen Ruddock quotes Bananarama, “It ain’t what you do, it’s the way you do it.”
Elizabeth Harrin shares an infographic on how to balance development of your hard and soft skills.
Chuck Morton extols the benefits of constructive conflict.
Chris Tomich tells how he uses the issue-based information system (IBIS) diagramming technique to organize requirements (and so much more).
Dick Billows demonstrates how to develop a work breakdown structure, starting from high-level deliverables.
John Carroll: “The wise project manager understands the purpose of methodologies, tools and techniques and knows if and when to use them, but he allows them to fade into the background.”

Decision Making

Kailash Awati looks into how objectivity and ethics really work in organizational decision-making.
Luis Seabra Coelho explores choice architecture. Not a group of buildings, but the way you present alternatives to influence the decision. You know – marketing.
Ron Rosenhead presents an interesting scope change process, where the person who wants the change is required to arrange a “challenge” meeting.
Kenneth Darter talks us through building a business case for our project.
Glen Alleman explains what you have to be able to do in order to have a seat at the table when the important decisions are made.
Martin Webster shares his daily practices for time management (and actually getting things done).
Shim Marom reminds us that chaos is in the eye of the beholder, not (necessarily) the participant.

Agile Methods

Michiko Diby describes an experiment in clarifying user requirements, by re-stating them as features.
Jesse Fewell says we need to stop collecting requirements the way we’ve always failed at collecting them.
Dave Prior interviews David Anderson on how to apply Kanban as an evolutionary approach. Just 37 minutes, safe for work.
John Goodpasture looks at scaling Agile down – all the way down to one or two.

Recruiting

Lindsay Scott notes that, after experience and sector knowledge, hiring managers selected project managers based on personality and personal approach. Not in your resume? Well …
Michael Morrell explains how Big Data is impacting recruiting.

Enjoy!

New PM Articles for the Week of July22 – 28

Posted on July 28, 2013 by Dave Gordon

New project management articles published on the web during the week of July 22 – 28. We read all of this stuff so you don’t have to! Recommended:

Angela Workman-Stark recounts how the Royal Canadian Mounted Police learned to manage and drive change, after initially failing.
Elizabeth Harrin reflects on a heat wave, re-purposed artifacts, and the laundry, all on her first day back to work from maternity leave.
Scott Berkun recaps chapter 8 of his book, “Making Things Happen,” on how to make good decisions as a project manager.
Bertrand Duperrin observes an interesting side effect: effective collaboration reduces the number of workers needed for success, thus killing jobs.
Cyndee Miller comments on a report from The Economist’s Intelligence Unit, sponsored by PMI, called “Why Good Strategies Fail.”
Craig Brown suggests maybe we just need to simplify our strategy and focus on the main thing.
Will Kelly summarizes what has changed in PMBOK5, and what it means to those taking the PMP exam.
Glen Alleman offers some reading material on software cost estimating. Actually, it’s a whole reference shelf.
Gary Nelson warns that zombies may be invading our projects. But there’s a cure, and it doesn’t involve violence.
Ellen Gottesdiener explains how to manage scope as you discover requirements.
Martin Webster covers the basics of how to write a project plan.
Mike Griffiths considers the fine balance between planning away uncertainty, and executing away uncertainty.
Barbara Shannon tells us how to make people love our projects, by limiting the number of them.
Shim Marom raises the ethical question, “Are truthfulness and project management mutually exclusive?”
Neil Killick considers the ethics of letting his team fix bugs they didn’t create, at the expense of the work they’ve been asked to do.
Bruce Benson argues that your “best people” may not be the ones loudly finding fault with everyone else.
Andy Jordan addresses the question: how do you determine the value-add of your PMO?
J. LeRoy Ward notes some studies that indicate organizations with a lot of PMP holders tend to have more successful project outcomes.
John A. Byrne lists ten tough questions that interviewers at the Harvard Business School MBA program are asking applicants.
Jorge Valdés Garciatorres advocates the art of active listening.
Kerry Wills has some opinions on what makes for an effective EMail. Mostly, it’s brevity.