New PM Articles for the Week of January 18 – 24

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New project management articles published on the web during the week of January 18 – 24, and we’re just sittin’ on top of the world. Recommended:

Must read!

  • Aaron Smith identifies ten strategy execution trends that will impact the way we manage projects in 2016.
  • Bruce Harpham retrieves six principles for success from Ashlee Vance’s biography of Elon Musk. If you’re going to admire a billionaire, this might be the guy.
  • John Goodpasture analyzes the idea that we should make mistakes early and often. Not all mistakes are created equal!

Established Methods

  • Aaron Smith summarizes three critical questions posed by Patrick Stroh, author of “Advancing Innovation,” to assess which ideas are worth pursuing.
  • Henny Portman reviews “Executive Sponsor Research Report,” from The Standish Group.
  • Glen Alleman describes capabilities-based planning, for software-intensive systems to be built for government customers, using Agile methods.
  • Gene Gendel points out the limitations of Red-Amber-Green status reporting.
  • Harry Hall details the operational risk management plan and the various sources of operational risk.
  • Ryan Ogilvie examines the part of IT that faces the customer, the service request system, from both the customer perspective and the IT perspective.
  • Women Testers Magazine for January 2016 is available for download. Not just for women and not just for testers – highly recommended.

Agile Methods

  • Renee Troughton considers a critical question for hiring a Scrum Master: what is the minimum viable Agilist?
  • Mike Cohn addresses the rationale behind the frequent question, “Does a Scrum team need a retrospective every sprint?”
  • Vikram Singh describes the most common methods used to gauge the level of effort required for each story in sprint planning.
  • Bart Gerardi describes the role of the Agile executive in changing the organization’s culture.
  • Kaushik Saha analyzes Kanban as a queue, using Little’s Law.

Applied Leadership

  • Elizabeth Harrin interviews Sarah Coleman, co-author of “Project Leadership.”
  • Cesar Abeid interviews Don Smith, “The Speech Wiz,” on the life and career value of developing your public speaking and communication skills. Just over an hour, safe for work.
  • Liane Davey explains how to create a sense of accountability in the people who report to you.
  • Kailash Awati shares his presentation on improving decision-making in situations with high ambiguity, using IBIS notation for issue mapping. About 48 minutes, safe for work.
  • Art Petty notes that leading drains the spirit, and offers some ideas on how to refuel.
  • Gina Abudi proposes creation of a team charter, articulating the purpose, mission, and goals of the team.

Other

  • Jamie Condliffe lists the 25 most popular passwords, gleaned from over two million stolen and leaked on the internet.
  • Thor Olavsrud reports on efforts to apply artificial intelligence to problems where not all of the information is visible. For example: Heads-up No-limit Texas Hold ’em poker.
  • Brad Rach extols the virtues of a paper notebook. His choice: Moleskine.
  • Johanna Rothman shares a few tips on the process of writing.

Enjoy!