I got an announcement today that Herding Cats was nominated for a spot in the Top 100 Business Blogs in the category of Operations Management. I've never been one for awards. I'm certainty not ungrateful, but being influential in your peer group probably can't be measured in a survey.
The list of PM Blogs includes those I know and some I was unaware of. Here's the list. Herding Cats is in between QuantumLeap and Eight to Late. Both good company.
- Stepping into Project Management -a new blog for me, about the experiences of a Project Manager.
- Guerrilla Project Management - an interesting site I have not heard of. The Statement of Work book is worth a read as a starting point for developing a description of what Done looks like for a software projects. A bit traditional for my tastes in our IMP/IMS world, but a great start.
- Fear No Project - I know this Blog but haven't read it in awhile. As a software development Blog it looks like a good read. But makes the common mistake that PMBOK is method and a waterfall method at that. Waterfall is not allowed in defence acquisition, was debunked in the late 70'2 by Walker Royce. Read Software Management Renaissance to see how this is handled. And the orginal paper, 1970, Managing the Development of Large Software Systems. I do wish those with voices would come to a better understanding about PMBOK and Waterfall. But take a look, good information here.
- Project Management Student - Josh's blog is a must read. I've known Josh for sometime and he's contributed to the development of good Work Breakdown Structure training materials.
- Portals and KM - I have not heard of Bill Ives. The Blog is focused on Web 2.0 and Enterprise computing. I know somethings about those topics, but from the project management side.
- Quantmleap - Shim and I have exchanged emails and Blog posts for several years now. He's recently posted any Earned Value in the Agile world in a way that simply and clearly describes the principles of measuring physical progress to plan. A concept required for success, no matter what software development method is being used.
- Eight to Late - Kailash is a kindred spirit physicist with shared world views about the nonsense that passes off as populist advice in the absence of any evidence that is works outside of anecdotal experience. K's Blog have the proper references to back up his message. One of the best is the background on Reference Class Forecasting that is becoming the normal in probabilistic duration estimates. There's a big discussion going on LinkedIn Earned Value about duration estimates. K's posts would be a good place to start. Reference Classes are used in many domains - manned space flight is one I work - where pre-defined boundaries of the variances are derived from past performance (actual numbers) and models of the interactions of the operating components and their own probabilistic behaviors.
- A Path To Peace - I'm not qualified in the coaching role, at least outside the technocrat domain I work in. This site provides lots of advice about career as well as interpersonal actions.
- The Critical Path - Derek and I have communicated in the past. I like the Zombi's paradigm and the layout of the site is very modern, with lots of great content focused on agile development.
- Leading Answers - Mike's site has recently been focused on risk management and that's of great interest to me.
- Bertrand Duperrin's Notepad - is a site new to me. Looks like Bertrand has hands on experience in enterprise IT at major companies. I worked in France for a year in the petrochemical control systems business. The level of technology was much more sophisticated than in the US at that time, so I assume it has continued to progress.
- Manager Tools - looks like a commercial site for meetings and career processes. Free membership, so worth a look.
- Ron Rosenhead - Ron is one of my favorite UK blogs. Lots of good thoughtful practical advice.
- The Enlightened Manager - is a consultant blog of Cheri Baker. New to me. Coaching and organizational development offerings. Some nice posts about work related activities.
- NOOP.NL - Jurgen Appelo's site promotes his book Management 3.0. A bit too self promoting for my taste. A sample of Jurgen's view of the world is best expressed by him ... According to various sources I'm the "most popular/influential" person in the Agile world in Europe. In the U.S. we'd call this Hubris.
- PM Hut - is a consistent source of PM information. Some really good, some a bit less, only because it is a bit too simple. But it serves its purpose and therefore should be on your list.
- Girl's Guide to Project Management - Elizabeth's Blog is one of my favorites. Lots of hands on experience, thoughtful advice, and working examples from the field. APM focused, so it's a nice reference to how projects are managed outside the US. Elizabeth provides examples from the UK for projects that have run into trouble and makes credible suggestions for corrective action. Between Elizabeth and Ron, a good insight into PM in the UK.
- Crossberry - Paul and I have corresponded for some time, when he ran the SAP Global PMO (or something close). We share lots of common thoughts around how to manage enterprise class projects and how NOT to manage enterprise class projects. Paul's advice comes from the school of hard knocks.
All these Blogs are worth the reading effort. I have some of my own, in no particular order, other than going down my Google Reader list. I'd recommend:
- Shift Happens! - Mike Clayton's site about risk and project management. His book Risk Happens! is a must read for anyone wanting to understand how to be a risk manager. Mike has a nice newsletter, speaks to the topic of risk from hands on experience, and is well grounded in the practical aspects of improving performance of both the people and processes. Mike is another kindred spirt from physics, so the notions of tangible evidentiary materials is the core of his paradigm.
- Projects At Work - Aaron Smith is the editor of this site and provides a very useful service to all project managers interested in well rounded resources. Free membership is required, but more than worth the effort.
- Ferhan Bulca - is a colleague I've worked with in the scientific instrument business. Ferhan is a systems engineer as well as a software product development manager. His posts are focused on the broader issues of system integration, capabilities planning, and over all project performance measurement.
- Mario Vanhoucke - Mario and his colleague Stephan Vandevoorde have state of the art project management tools, based on academic theory tested in the field. Stephan's firm Fabricom, builds airports, energy facilities, and other infrastructure using their ProTrak tool. This tool uses Earned Schedule and other advanced processes.
- John Goodpasture - is one of the best credible sources for agile management. John has several books based on hands on experience in large enterprises. I'd trust John for any advice around agile, since this advice comes from a wide variety of mission critical projects.
- Kelly's Contemplation - Robert Kelly provides hands on advice for project management from direct experience deploying agile enterprise solutions.
