Emiliano Soldi’s Project Management Agile Blog premiered in September 2009 under Soldi’s direction. In that, the blog has a leader that has walked the walk.

Emiliano is a senior project manager with over 15 years of experience in the ICT sector. He told us that “his core skills lie in Project and Portfolio Management as well as PMO (Project Management Office) setup and operation, i.e. methods, techniques and tools to ensure projects are always aligned to business needs, coordinated and executed at maximum efficiency.”

A PMP and CSM certified professional, with solid knowledge of the project management standard and of the agile disciplines, Emiliano “is currently managing software development projects for his company and giving project management consultancy, using both the Traditional and Agile/Scrum Project Management approaches.

He is also an experienced trainer in various Project Management disciplines.

“As a founding partner of a Project Management Consultancy agency, I have experience in the main aspects of client management, from sourcing the business and negotiating bids to full delivery of assignments with multiple teams, as well as an huge technical experience in conducting software development projects.”

Emiliano was motivated to start PM Agile Blog “because project management is a fascinating, eclectic and complex discipline and I would talk about it and find a way to share my ideas and to gather new ideas from the others. I love to communicate and to share my passions: project management is one of the most important passions I have.”

Publishing once a week, his most widely read post tackles the beginning of a project by way of a meeting:

Planning a Kickoff Meeting

He has three posts that he calls his personal favourites:

Prioritizing User Stories

The SWOT: an innovative tool for agile retrospective

Conducting the User Requirements Gathering Interview

Follow Emiliano and the Project Management Agile Blog on Twitter @EmilianoSoldi

URL: http://www.emilianosoldipmp.info/

RSS Feed: http://www.emilianosoldipmp.info/feed/

If you enjoy Project Management Agile Blog, leave a comment and share your thoughts with others. Leave a ranking feedback too.

The Planner Tutorials Hub is a blog for project managers, controllers, schedulers and planners alike with a need for quality guides on how to work with certain tools common to the trade. Planner Tutorials is headed by Michael Lepage, a “a Primavera and Project Management expert working with companies large and small.”

Lepage also works as a trainer and instructional designer and holds a Project Management Professional cerfication from PMI.org. He says he started the weekly blog in August 2011 because he felt those occupations would be well-served in a weblog format.

“I write tutorials because I love to teach and I’m pretty keen on technology,” Michael says. “There seems to be a lack of tutorials and how-tos on the web for the tools that project managers and planners like Oracle Primavera. We’re trying to help fill that gap by providing real-world step-by-step tutorials for beginners or the advanced user.”

What motivates Michael to post? “Well, there’s a need to pass information on and to make it available to the community. The community as a whole becomes stronger when it’s engaged and resources are available to foster best practices and insightful discussion. Our tutorials are for planners, schedulers, project managers and other project controls professionals.”

The most widely read blogis a video that explains how to include Excel data in a Primavera update

Video Tutorial: Activity Splitting in P6 Using User Defined Fields

Two other posts, including User Defined Fields, serve as his own personal favourites:

How to Convert a Project’s WBS to Activity Codes in Oracle Primavera P6

Project Management is a blog run by Chilean Computer Engineer, Business Consultant and Project Management professor Adrian Moya Anex. Written in Spanish, Google allows for the blog to translate to English.

“I am a IT professional Systems Auditor, Quality Analyst, I’m graduated in business management. I have 30 years of experince in project management,” Adrian says. “I started the blog in July 2008 in order to share the knowledge about project management.”

“It is a good blog,” he says. “I share my expertise to avoid the failures and to avoid spent money in a black hole. Remember: I have 30 years of expertise. Mostly my projects were successful because I have applied the best practices.”

Adrian says the intended audience for Project Management includes those who work in goverment, business management, project sponsorship and project management.

Adrian says he most popular post tackles the Gantt chart:

Guide to develop a Gantt chart – (ENGLISH)

These are among his favourite posts:

Why IT Projects Fail in our Business – (ENGLISH)

Risk Management – (ENGLISH)

Project manager to Leader of Projects – (ENGLISH)

URL:  http://adanexpm.blogspot.com/

If you enjoy Project Management blog, leave a comment and share your thoughts with others. Leave a ranking feedback too.

Frankly PM is a monthly project management “lessons learnt” blog under the leadership of Cola Richmond. Cola is a London-based Senior Digital Project Manager, currently serving as Head of Project Management for an undisclosed corporate communications agency.

Frankly PM is one of two strong social mediums Cola heads up, as she has expanded her reach to Paper.li as well. “I run the Digital Project Managers’ Daily News,” she says. “There are some great conversations going on in the world of digital and web project management and the Daily News endeavours to capture the best of these.”

Cola started her blog in 2007 and continues monthly operation of it as “a way to stash my ‘lessons learnt’.”

“FranklyPM is a collective digital web project manager scrapbook and journal,” she told us. “In terms of motivation to post, when I need to work through processes, I find writing it down in a blog/diary for provides clarity of thought – then action. I gear the blog toward friends and fellow PMs in the digital, IT, media and web worlds.”

Being a veteran on all sides of her sector doesn’t hurt the experience she can draw from in her writings, either. “With over 15 years’ experience in online communications, as a producer, developer and designer, I’m a jack of all trades – which in my line of work is a big, juicy bonus.”

Here’s a look at some of the posts you can find on Frankly PM:

Come to the Dark Side. We have Cookies!

The War between developers, designers and project managers

Project Initiation Documents – the start of a meaningful relationship

Check out Cola and the Frankly PM blog by way of the Twitter handle @franklyPM

URL: http://franklypm.com/

RSS Feed: http://franklypm.com/feed/rss/

If you enjoy Frankly PM blog, leave a comment and share your thoughts with others. Leave a ranking feedback too.

Project Manage This holds a unique spot in PPM Community: to date, it’s the only one we’ve come across that posts on a purely anonymous basis. We intend to protect the anonymity of its editor-in-chief whilst opening your minds to what this PPM blog can bring to the table, primarily as a blog with an unmatched perspective and narrative.

“The voice isn’t meant to be me; instead its a conglomeration of PM types,” says the editor, who we’ll respectfully refer to as PMT. “I’ve been managing projects and programs for over a decade. I currently manage 12 pm types and am inspired each day by them. Watching the challenges they face, and witnessing them overcome each with grace is what keeps me going.”

The blog is the newest on the PPM Community, premiering on a weekly basis 8th October 2011. PMT effectively deals with the ins and outs of project management, tackling the Yin and Yang inherent with such a job.

“Simply put – it’s an outlet. I wanted to create a space to post tips, tales and observations about the career I love and hate,” PMT says. “Project managers, program managers, producers, account managers, coordinators, and the like. (They are) the unsung heroes. We’re the ones that keep things moving and get it done on time and on budget. We keep our teams motivated and on track, make sure our boss and/or client is happy, and ensure that the community we’re building for get the best product possible. You never see us sweat, rarely hear us swear, and are amazed at how calm we are when fires erupt. That’s because we’re good at what we do.

“We absolutely love our job. Making things happen, getting things done, that’s our nature. We never ever vent at work. Ok, rarely do. But we do have tales to tell. ‘Project Manage This’ is a place for PM types to love and hate the career we’ve chosen.”

The brief time away from the job – weekends – allows PMT the ability to reflect on what would make for good content in the blog.

“When the weekend rolls around, I simmer on the events of the week,” PMT says. “Instead of just thinking about it, I’ve decided to type something up.”

As PMT wants to protect their anonymity, the most we can tell you about their professional background is that PMT “was born a PM type, as I’m sure most people visiting your blog were.” PMT also made clear that the blog “isn’t about me. It’s about PMs.”

Considering that Project Manage This is in its early days, PMT had only one post they could really shed light on:

Top 10 Plus 1 – Personality Traits of a PM

Follow Project Manage This by way of the official Twitter handle – @pmthis

URL: http://projectmanagethis.wordpress.com/

RSS: http://projectmanagethis.wordpress.com/feed/

If you enjoy the Project Manage This, leave a comment and share your thoughts with others. Leave a ranking feedback too!

Ward Wired is a blog that began in April 2011 headed by J. LeRoy Ward, an experienced global executive with 36 years experiences in project, programme and portfolio management across the private and public sector. LeRoy currently serves as Executive Vice President, Product Strategy & Management at ESI International, but also counts a variety of other functions, including the WardWired blog, to spread the message from his experience in PPM.

“As a frequent public speaker, I also blog about the things I present. Having authored multiple publications including several PMP and PgMP preparation guides and CDs,” says LeRoy, who’s a certified PMP and PgMP himself, “I can relate to all those going through the rigorous exam process!” His articles have appeared in such publications as Chief Learning Officer, PM Network and Project Manager Today, and he is frequently quoted in key industry print and online publications.

The accolades do not stop there. LeRoy also serves as a Member of the Executive Team for more than 20 years in one of the world’s largest corporate training-adult learning-firms. He can also lay claim to a broad, expansive international experience, especially in negotiating licensing partnerships and operations across the globe including Canada, Poland, South Korea, China, Singapore, Brazil, Japan, Australia and India. Today he also serves as the editor for the ESI International Project Management Series of books, published by CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group.

So on top of all of this, why start a blog?

“I wanted to talk about interesting and unusal topics not discussed in other blogs,” LeRoy told us. “I always wanted to write for a living, as I enjoy it. My motivation was to offer content that one wouldn’t find on conventional sites such as PMI, Gannthead, and others, not that I don’t think their content is good; it is. It’s just predictable. I want to get people thinking in different terms about PM and I want to bring a smile to their faces.

“I approach project management topics from a different point of view. I challenge conventional thinking and try to be very realistic in my discussions. I try to be relevant, but more importantly, I try to bring to light very interesting ideas and thoughts to provoke conversations.”

Having worked as a practitioner (mostly in IT) and trainer/consultant in PPM, LeRoy adds that the blog targets anyone and everyone in the project, programme and portfolio management area.

He says his most popular post (and one of his three favourites as well) tackles project quality in a insightful bit on a business analyst in the making:

Project Quality, Cashews and a Japanese Cocktail Waitress

Two other favourites of LeRoy’s include the following:

Want Some Tips on Stakeholder Engagement? Don’t Ask Leo Apotheker!

Throw Those MBOs Away – Here’s a Better Standard of Performance!

To follow the latest posts and happenings at Ward Wired, follow J. LeRoy Ward on Twitter @WardWired.

URL: http://www.wardwired.com

RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/wardwired/

If you enjoy the Ward Wired blog, leave a comment and share your thoughts with others. Leave a ranking feedback, too!

Think Productivity! is a blog headed by Steffen Lentz, a Zurich-based senior practitioner in software projects who premiered the insightful project management blog in July 2011 and adds updates twice a month.

“I have a solid methodical background in RUP and agile thinking,” Steffen explains. “I co-authored a book (in German, Software entwickeln mit Verstand) which develops a new view on productivity of software projects. It is based on an understanding of how problem solving works and how people in teams effectively perform such knowledge work.”

“The goal (of Think Productivity!) is to share the insights we give in the book and to promote the new thinking within the English speaking community.”

Think Productivity! targets a variety of professions, including managers, “anybody working in (software) projects”, and “anybody interested in management approaches in general.” Being an agile thinker has allowed Steffen to expand upon some contradictions in the philosophy of how to manage both software development processes and project management.

“The blog sheds light on the fundamental contradiction we see in today’s approaches to software development and project management.

• Large process models with a tayloristic and a ‘one solution’ approach
• Agile and lean methods with a purposeful free and evolutionary approach

“The blog contributes to a new understanding of how software development works beyond the technology, and how teams performing such knowledge work really get productive and should be managed.

“Getting an understanding of this very nature of software projects helps to understand how methods work for us (and how they don’t).”

Although Think Productivity! is relatively new in the PPM blogosphere community as it relates to this release date, Steffen says he has continuously found sufficient motivation to post. He says he enjoys “contributing to a changing view on the management of projects and organizations.”

And with an experience padded by dalliances in both software development and project management, his working life provides for some intriguing posts to write about.

“Being a practitioner in software development since even back in school, I’ve worked as a consultant for more than 10 years,” he says. “I gathered hands-on experience in a number of quite different roles and disciplinces within major software engineering projects. This contributed to my holistic view about how software projects act inside, which I now translate into my daily work as a project manager for a major bank in Zurich, Switzerland.”

The most popular Think Productivity! post is a considered, thought-out one that explores posts of other PPM Community members:

Theory X or Y – some background for your choice

As Theory X or Y is also listed as one of his favourite posts, Steffen included two other standouts as well:

The hidden Taylor in our thinking

Agile CMMI – is there a point?

Steffen keeps Think Productivity! readers informed about the latest posts through his Twitter handle, @SteffenLentz

URL: http://www.thinkproductivity.net/

RSS Feed: http://www.thinkproductivity.net/?feed=rss2

If you enjoy the Think Productivity! blog, leave a comment and share your thoughts with others. Leave a ranking feedback too.

Planbox Agile is a blog operated by Alexandre Gauthier since 2009 used in conjunction with the the Planbox Agile project management tool, owned and operated out of Montreal. Alexandre told us “makes it easy for small teams in organizations of all sizes to plan, collaborate and deliver.”

“There is a lot of confusion in the project management community about Agile and we try to do our part to clarify it,” says Alexandre. “The Planbox Agile Blog shares ideas, thoughts, learnings and opinions on Agile & Scrum. We also let customers and guest bloggers share their experiences as well.

“We are also very involved in the BackboneJS and NodeJS development communities and we sometimes share widgets we develop or are using.”

Alexandre serves as product & marketing manager for Planbox Agile, overseeing a blog that features contributions from both he and from CEO/Cofounder Martin Drapeau, as well as a few other contributors. Planbox Agile blog aims to add a new post each week. Alexandre told us that the blog is geared toward Agile enthusiasts, PMs, ScrumMasters, and project managers, as well as Software developers, Startups & Entrepreneurs

“Mostly in the technology and software industries,” he added.

When asked what proved to be great blogging motivation, Alexandre responded: “‘A ha!’ moments! Whenever we stumble into something worthwhile that we think can help clarify or give back something to the community, that’s when we post.”

Alexandre received a pleasant surprise when we asked him what the popular post was. You will too, no doubt:

Top 15 Ways Chuck Norris messes with Agile

He has three other posts that he considers to be his favourites:

My Product Owner is stronger than yours!

Roadmaps vs. Timelines in an Agile World

Dipping Your Toes Into Kanban

Keep up to date with the latest blog posts by Alexandre, Martin and the Planbox Agile Blog via Twitter @PlanboxInc

URL: http://www.planbox.com/blog

RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/planbox

If you enjoy the Planbox Agile blog, leave a comment and share your thoughts with others. Leave a ranking feedback too.

PM Notes is a blog hosted by Nina Braschler, a senior project manager based in Switzerland. A bilingual professional, Nina blogs in German, but English translations are available through Google Translate.

“I do some coaching for project management in my company,” Nina says. “The questions of the ‘coachees’ inspired me to write about project management issues.”

Nina offers up to two posts each month since she premiered PM Notes in October 2010. She describes the blog thusly: “The posts highlight some stories of my project management workday life. It’s intended for everyone who is interested in project management.”

With modern translation tools like Google Translate and a strong command of the English language, Nina has crossed over between two leading EMEA languages and cultures, due in part to her Tweeting practises (@ninusch01) in both English and German.

Nina currently works as an FH Information Specialist & Senior Project Manager for Namics, a internet company based in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Previously, she’d worked at the Social Security Institute and Helvetia Gruppe, also in St. Gallen.

Her most popular post talks about a communications matrix:
The trade-off matrix as a basis for communication in the project (German original)

Some of her favourites include these three:

Project management on the road to Web 2.0 (German original)

Caution in dealing with rough cost estimates (German original)

The unpleasant Project …. (German original)

URL: http://pm-notes.blogspot.com/

RSS Feed: http://pm-notes.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

If you enjoy PM Notes, leave a comment and share your thoughts with others. Leave a ranking feedback too

Adevntures In Project Management by Brett Harned is a blog by the Philadelphia-based senior project manager of the same name who has an extensive list of experiences and clients in a web capacity to which he has supplied his services. In March 2010, Brett wanted to expand upon the lessons he’d taken from a life in projects to the PPM blogosphere.

“I started blogging about project management, because I felt like I could provide a fresh perspective on web project management,” he says. “I’m also trying to build a web project management community in Philadelphia, and thought that sharing my ideas and feelings about my work would be a good way to start connecting people and starting conversations.”

Brett’s fascination with the creative process and his passion for concise communication, strategy, and attention to detail means that his clients at Happy Cog get a project manager who immerses himself in the work product, not just timelines and milestones.

“I have a deep understanding of web process and his ability to apply methodologies to any project makes clients happy. I’ve also become adept at translating the language of web design to our clients, which can sometimes get confusing and conceptual.”

Brett manages projects large and small, and all of them receive the same level of care and dedication. Zappos.com, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the National Constitution Center, and the Presbyterian Church (USA) are among some of the clients he has had the privilege to work directly with.

“If there is one thing I can tell you, it’s that project managers are not robots. Sure, they might rely on dates and numbers, but they have hearts, too! As part of a Philly-based PM team, I try to practice what I preach on the blog about my own adventures in project management.”

Though frequency can vary, Brett says he likes to add around two new posts each month. His writing style engages and encourages interaction and response. “I tend to write about PM topics that lean more toward soft skills and team management,” he says. “I’m not a technical guy, so my posts are more about my own feelings or opinions and less about process. I give a pretty strong point of view and try to infuse some humor, but encourage serious discussion and/or feedback.

Brett gets a lot out of the social media experience, to which he’s acquired a solid following thus far (he’s on Twitter @brettharned). “I’m just putting my opinion out there for my friends, colleagues and twitter followers to read,” he says. “I don’t think I am the best project manager out there, but I like to think I have some insights to share. And, if anything, I hope people read my posts, share them and comment on them to continue the discussions I start on the blog.”

Brett most widely read post has been picked up at PM Hut that also ranks as one of his three favourites:

You’re a Project Manager, Not Superman

His other two personal favourites include:

I’m Not a Robot. Beeeep

Stick to the budget, man!

Brett says that he has also tried a non-regular featured intended to introduce web professionals to people who’ve managed web projects. “I started running interviews with web professionals about Working with Project Managers. There is no set cycle on these articles, they are published as interviews are completed.”

URL: http://brettharned.com/

If you enjoy the Adventures in Project Management by Brett Harned, leave a comment and share your thoughts with others. Leave a ranking feedback too