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/

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adaQuest blog is a relatively newer addition to the PPM blogosphere, having originated in June 2011 under the stewardship of “experienced program management professionals who recognized the need for a more efficient project management model.”

Based in Bellevue, Washington, USA, “adaQuest specializes in a unified approach to Localization Services, Project Portfolio Management (including Enterprise Project Management), and PMO Solutions. adaQuest is a Microsoft_^® Certified Partner in Enterprise Project Management Solutions and an authorized Reseller of all Microsoft products. adaQuest has been assisting clients in meeting project and corporate objectives since 2001.

The adaQuest blog has featured sections covering PPM, PMO, Localization (“including but not limited to Localization from the Project Management point of view”), and Professional Services, which adaQuest says are applied primarily to adaQuest’s project management services.

We spoke with Paola Taylor, PMP, who serves as the adaQuest’s Marketing Manager, about the adaQuest blog. She informed us that the blog presented great opportunities to showcase the company’s expertise.

Says Paola: “We started the blog to spreadout knowledge on the fields of Project Management and PMO, and feature adaQuest’s expertise in the Localization Project Management area. In terms of our motivation to post, we love to be able to talk about Project Management and Localization to spread knowledge and to get feedback from readers.”

The intended audience for the adaQuest blog includes project managers, PPM directors and practitioners, PPM clients, PMO directors and localization project managers.

Paola says the most popular post tackles PMO maturity:

Project Management Maturity – The Role of the PMO

Two other posts – in addition to the one above – were mentioned by Paola as personal favourites:

Differences between Globalization, Internationalization, Translation, Localization

Configuring Sharepoint 2010 to seemlessly run Project Server Excel Report

Keep up with Paola and the adaQuest blog on Twitter @adaquest_kat and @Adaquest_Paola.

URL: http://blog.adaquest.com/

RSS Feed: http://blog.adaquest.com/feed/

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Kelly Project Solutions is a blog run by North Carolina-based project manager Robert Kelly, who founded the blog with Jasmin Valentin-Kelly in July 2010.

“Our blog takes a more holistic, strategic view of Project Portfolio Management to illustrate the benefits and true value-add of the discipline within the organization,” Robert says. “Kelly Project Solutions help our clients realize their vision by leveraging a combination of impartial project management methods and seasoned associates to tailor solutions to today’s economy and at costs modest to the successes enjoyed by our clients.

“We offer the following services to meet our customers where they are at in their project management environment:

• Project/Program Management Resources
• PMO Development (Internal or Hosted)
• Consulting Services (Assurance, Salvage, etc)”

Robert told us that while he was impressed with the volume of blogs available on matters pertaining to project management, he felt KPS could provide a more corporate view in PPM matters.

“There are so many excellent blogs on Project Management best practices from and for the Project Manager,” he says. “We didn’t see many that are focused on the enterprise, executive view and this is where we as a profession need to get more support.

“Our intended audience includes the executive management of an organization. The PMO Director, CIO, CFO that needs to fight through the sales pitches and understand the real value and potential of Project Portfolio Management at the enterprise level.”

KPS offers between two and three new posts each month, offering outlets for project personnel from some strong career backgrounds – Robert has over 11 years in Project/Program Management experience in IT Services, Product Development, and Business Process Redesign, while Jasmin can point to over 10 years of experience in various finance roles at some of Wall Streets largest financial services firms.

The most widely read post concerns project success rates:

Can Project Success Exceed 47%

Robert pointed to other non-KPS posts that served as his personal inspirations:

ZDNET: CIO analysis: Why 37 percent of projects fail

TALKING WORK: It’s All About People

OLIVER LEHMANN: 100 Hundred Rules for NASA Project Managers (.pdf)

Follow the KPS blog on Twitter @kellysolutions.

Blog:  http://kellyprojectsolutions.com/KPSBlog/

RSS Feed: http://kellyprojectsolutions.com/KPSBlog/?feed=rss2

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PMO Cheerleader is a blog from a local authority PMO Manager in South West England named Emma Jarvis. Why “cheerleader”, you ask? Well, partly because Emma describes herself as an enthusiast for PMO.

“I would describe myself as a PMO Cheerleader and generally enjoy shaking my metaphorical pom-poms at anything project or programme management office related,” Emma says.

The blog is in its early stages, as it currently holds the title of youngest blog on the PPM Community, having originated in May 2011. She posts weekly and admits to using PMO Cheerleader as a tool for self-improvement.

Emma says she fell into the PMO career path accidentally in the middle of last decade.

“It was only meant to be another temp job for 3 months after university,” she says. “There was no way I was going to work in an office for the rest of my life. I worked as a Project Support Assistant for 3 years before becoming the ICT PMO Manager in 2008. In 2011 the team moved out of ICT and into Business Transformation. So really I only really know about PMO stuff!”

“The main reason for starting the blog was to help me do my job better. It’s a chance to keep a record of progress and reflect on it.”

Moreover, she gets directly to the nuts and bolts of a functioning PMO – the one which she currently works at.

“It’s a blog about a PMO that happens to operate within a local authority,” she says. “It’s about our move from an IT PMO to a more ‘Corporate PMO’, the type of work we’re involved in and areas that we’re keen to improve in. It’s not a corporate blog, a political blog or a blog about local government. It’s purely an expression of my own personal views and opinions relating to the world of programme and project management offices.”

Emma told us she’s motivated to post by a variety of factors. She listed them for us:

• Current work that I’m enjoying
• Things that I’m tearing my hair out over
• Lessons I’ve learned over the last few years
• Things that I want to learn more about
• And most importantly proving to my other half that this isn’t another fad (I can’t help it if yoga, belly dancing, knitting and reflexology weren’t my thing)

To date, Emma is still looking to populate PMO Cheerleader, and can only point to her first three articles as her favourites:

• Farewell IT PMO (Part 1): It was nice knowing you! (also most widely read to date)
• Farewell IT PMO (Part 2): Hello “Corporate PMO”?
• Benefits Realisation: Schoolgirl Errors

Follow Emma and the PMO Cheerleader on Twitter @pmocheerleader

URL: http://pmocheerleader.wordpress.com/

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SpanishPMO is a Spanish-language project management blog run by Fermin de Rojas that focuses on elements within PM, namely methodologies, tools, jobs and coaching. A bilingual project management expert educated at Brighton University, Fermin was startled to find a wealth of PM blogs available in English, compared to the relative lack in his native Spanish, and decided to take care of such matters himself as a major audience seemed to be missing out.

“I took for granted that everybody could speak english or at least could read it, but realised that there were very little information regarding Project Management in Spanish,” Fermin told us. “Bear in mind that there are 350 million Spanish speakers, mainly in Latin America, EEUU and Spain.

“This is the main reason why SpanishPMO.com was born, a website focus in project management in spanish, specialized in articles of how to set up a PMO, methodologies like Prince2 and PMI, tools, cyber security, coaching, negotiation and leadership skills.”

Fermin uses SpanishPMO as a portal in “specialized in articles of how to set up a PMO, methodologies like Prince2 and PMI, tools, cybersecurity, coaching, negotiation and leadership skills.” He says his audiences not only centers on those practising or interested in practising project management and leadership, but also those who work in an office environment.

“I motivated to blog through my own goals of personal self-improvement and self-satisfaction. I want to evangelise the word of Project Management and Agile method in the Spanish mentality.”

Fermin says his most popular post concerns Spanish-language books fellow speakers can turn to as PPM-related resources (links in Spanish only)
Libros

Among his favourite posts are:

• Creacion de Una Oficina de Proyectos (PMO)
• JIRA la herramienta perfecta para la administración de proyectos
• Funcionalidad Frankestein

Be sure to keep track of Fermin and SpanishPMO on Twitter @spanishpmo

URL: http://spanishpmo.com/

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The PMOSIG – Project/Programme/Portfolio Office Specialist Interest Group – is a voluntary UK organisation focused on PMO. The blog features as part of a recent revamp of the PMOSIG website.

The PMOSIG blog is a recent new feature – launched in December 2010 – to compliment the group’s website and LinkedIn group. The blog’s aim is to share news, articles, competitions, book reviews, links to useful resources – all within the PMO domain

The PMOSIG is a group staffed by volunteers and welcomes guest blog articles from anyone with an interest in the PMO industry – contact can be made through the website

The PMOSIG regularly holds conferences throughout the year and has a thriving commmunity of over 1000 members, membership is free

Recent articles include – Return on PMO Investment and a New Year Greeting inviting members to share their aspirations for the new year.

You can also follow the PMOSIG on Twitter: @pmosigUK

Blog: http://www.pmosig.co.uk/blog/

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

The AFA blog is one of the most recently established blogs on PPM Community, premiering 1st November 2010. It’s company blog for AFA, established as a management consultancy organisation 15 years ago and since developing into a reputable training course provider.

Alan Ferguson suggested AFA to PPM Community, as the blog updates 3-5 times per week.

“As one of the most successful and well known project management specialists throughout the UK and Europe, AFA would like to give a unique insight into the mind of some of the most respected managers within the community and a unique ‘all access’ view of our organisation,” he says. “We hope the AFA blog will give people an insight into practices for delivering change, including portfolio, programme and project management as well as AFA as an organisation.

The newness of the blog creates an uncertainty as to where the content of the blog will lead over time, though change could be a key area of focus.

“What will we be discussing? Of course we don’t know – that is the beauty of a blog,” Alan says. “When AFA was founded by me over 15 years ago the world was simple – we used project management. But as time has moved on we have all realised that we need more tools, methods, methodologies, disciplines, practices… Then there is programme and now portfolio management, offices, maturity models and a whole range of super-techniques: benefits, risk, value. And below all this sits the softer side of achieving change – change management. Well we have found ourselves referring to this set of methods as Practices for Delivering Change. So I think the theme of the blog will be Practices for Delivering Change.”

Alan’s experience includes updating the most recent Best Practice management guidance. AFA, he says, is in demand to deliver master classes and other training events throughout Europe. Since founding AFA, Alan has delivered assignments in numerous locations as far afield as New York and Canberra; he has experience in working with both public & private sector organisations.

“Here at AFA, we are having more and more fascinating discussions on blogs and discussion groups and thought we would like to pull these debates together in one place,” he says. “The best way to do this was to a create a blog, which we hope in time will become a community, a place like minded colleagues can share their views and ideas.”

The most widely read post on the AFA blog is:

Are you a true Project Manager?

Some of Alan’s favourites include these three:

PRINCE2 with UNIFIL in South Lebanon

Evaluating a P3O Initiative

Are you a true Project Manager?

Follow the AFA blog on Twitter @AFA_Alan, on LinkedIn and on Facebook.

Blog: http://www.afaprojects.com/blog/

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

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International Community for Project Managers is a blog directed by founder Shawn Futterer, PMP. The weekly blog known for short as ICPM began in 2006 with the goal of helping “project managers around the world connect, share and learn from one another. Better projects through community knowledge.”

Shawn has managed project and people for over 15 years, in Manufacturing, Retail and Telecommunications capacities. Shawn has experience with projects of all sizes and scope and is currently managing a team of project managers for a fortune 50 Telecom company. In short, he can write for a variety of project managers across a wealth of experiences.

“I’ve managed projects from a few thousands dollars to hundreds of millions of dollars and with scopes and durations from 30 days to 5 years or longer,” he said. “I’ve tackled projects that impact local businesses all the way through projects that have national impact on a large scale.

“The blog is for any professional who is connected in any way to managing projects. ICPM is a culmination of many blogs and many bloggers. ICPM covers a wide range of topics related to project management.”

The most widely read article on ICPM is How to Become a Project Manager. Some of his favourite posts include:

Creating Clear Project Requirements 1 of 5
Using a PMO to Achieve Results in Your Agency
Convince Executives of the Value of Project Management

Follow ICPM and Shawn on Twitter @theicpm.

Blog: http://theicpm.com/

RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/theicpm/feed

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PM Conversations is a blog which aims to simulate “real” conversations around the state and practice of the project management discpline. Kicked off in 2009, Ajay blogs once a month on the challenges we face in project management  and shares knowledge and information along with perspectives of senior project professionals.

Ajay is based in India, and has over 15 years of experience in PM disciplines such as academician, consultant and entrepreneur. Over the last decade, Ajay has proven his expertise in New Product Development Management, Strategy Execution with Portfolio and Program Management, Organizing for Mega Projects, Setting up PMO’s across multiple industries including Pharma, IT, BFSI, Telecom, Power, Metals, and Manufacturing. His key competencies include conceptualizing PM Centers of Excellence and deploying enforceable processes that bring efficiencies and scalable benefits to organizations.

PM Conversations is a blog for any project, programme, portfolio and PMO Managers as well as senior professionals and CIOs.

Recent posts include;

• Licence to Drive – Is Project Management a Commodity or Craft?
• Improving Project Selection Using Appreciative Inquiry (AI)
• Dos and Dont’s of Building Effective Project Management Offices

To visit PM Conversations;

Website: http://www.pmconversations.com/

RSS Feed: http://www.pmconversations.com/feed/

You can also follow Ajay at: @PMAcad

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Around The CHAOS (ATC) is a fairly new PPM blog run by Sam Palani, PMP, a veteran international Senior IT Project / Program Manager and Technology Management consultant for over 15 years. Begun in June 2010, Sam says he introduced ATC to the PPM blogosphere as agent to fill a specific gap.

“Though there are a lot of project management blogs out there, there is not one that focus on enterprise project management or aims at leveraging the technology for Project Management,” he says. “ATC aims to bridge that gap.”

Sam also says ATC aims to be a “forum for PMs to share knowledge and kindle related thinking.”

His international background has allowed Sam to manage major technology related initiatives for a number of fortune 50 clients in Asia, Europe and North America. Sam also has expertise in delivering and supporting ERP systems, ranging from simple to highly complex architectures. Holder of an MBA, Six Sigma Green Belt and Graduate certificate in management from Duke University, Sam is currently working on Enterprise Technology projects in the Bay Area of California.

Sam admits he’s still working out the publishing pattern for ATC. “Since there is lot of background work that is required to come out with a unique and still relevant content, there is currently no pre-defined scheduled,” he said. “However, on an average it has been every two weeks.”

He also says that the blog aims to live up to the title.

“Around The CHAOS as the name signifies is all about getting around CHAOS to get more productive and effective,” he says. “That, according to me, is the true essence of Project Management. In other words the posts are related to identifying the sources of CHAOS within Projects and Organizations and How to effectively get around them using PM, Technology and a little common sense. The blog intends to cover topics that are related to the Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM) area as well as the Technology enables EPPM. Topics that will be covered in this blog will be primarily related to Project management and Project Management related Technology, however there might also be posts around Business Process Management topics.”

Sam adds that ATC trends both in and outside of specific project management realm for his readers. He says he specifically “targets the Enterprise Project Portfolio Management community as well as individual Project Management consultants. Since there is a significant Enterprise technology content in the blog, technology consultants are also an intended audience of this blog.”

The most widely read article on ATC is

Supercharge Your Next Conference Visit (Apps & Common Sense)

Sam lists the top three articles on ATC as:

Supercharge Your Next Conference Visit (Apps & Common Sense)

Use a Responsibility Matrix to fight Project CHAOS

Getting around the Chaos By Meeting Short

Learn more about ATC through their social media outlets. You can catch it on Twitter @samx18 and Facebook at www.facebook.com/aroundthechaos

Blog: http://www.aroundthechaos.com

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

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