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

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Fixing Projects is a blog that premiered in May 2010 under the direction of Carol Long, CEO for Three Triangles Performance Ltd. Carol has experience as a programme and project manager, interim manager and consultant in high-tech, public and not-for-profit sectors. She specialises in assisting senior management get value from their project, and also has an expertise in project rescue.

It is the notion of rescuing projects that drives Fixing Projects posts.

“I’m motivated to post by a desire to stop projects failing – I have some insights and experience to share that might help and look for comments and ideas from other managers,” Carol says. “I hate to see the results of failed projects: wasted talent and resources, the demotivated teams, the stakeholders failed.

“If I can reduce the failures by sharing what I see and do in a few organisations with managers and executives around the world, then I will have done something worthwhile.”

The insights and tips from Carol’s experience shine through in Fixing Projects, which usually provides a single post a week (though more are available in other weeks).

“Programme and project management is more than following a method: it is running a temporary organisation with an objective to bring change,” she says. “This blog gives insights, experience and hints to senior managers and project managers to help them improve their project portfolio, programmes and projects. There are tips for PMO, quality and risk managers, too.

“We bring experience, insights and techniques to Boards so their organisation chooses an effective and balanced portfolio of programmes and projects, independent and knowledgeable support to enable board members to be great programme/project sponsors, coach project managers to achieve excellent delivery.”

Carol listed two posts as the most widely read Fixing Projects pieces:

What is IDEF0?

PRINCE2, PMBoK, Agile

She also three other pieces she lists as her favourite:

The delivery of benefits is moderated by risk and quality

Kanban: visualizing work in progress

Planning Communication for Governance

Fixing Projects particularly tries to entice readers with specific weekly topical writings. For instance, Carol pointed to a 2010 series she did on communication for project managers.

Be sure to monitor Fixing Projects and Carol on Twitter @fixing_projects.

URL: http://3triangles.co.uk/

RSS Feed: http://3triangles.wordpress.com/feed/

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Wisewolf Talking is a blog run by consultant/business coach Wendy Mason. A public sector consultant for years specialising in project & programme management, Wendy switched to the private sector for good four years ago.

Wendy today has a successful career working with private and public sector organisations and she has worked with the third sector. Wendy supports people and organisations going through change and wanting the best from their people, services and contracts. She is used to dealing with people at all levels and from all kinds of backgrounds.

Wendy has been a director of a government agency, a large voluntary organization and a small sport’s promotion company and she has earned her stripes in line management.

A fan of blogs and blogging in general, Wisewolf Talking originated in November 2008, and today posts three new pieces a week.

“I’ve always enjoyed writing and when I discovered blogging it seemd a great means of self expression. Now I regard myself as a professional blogger,” she told us. “I love being actively engaged in social media and now it is also part of my business portfolio.”

“Wisewolf Talking provides information and comment for those leading and leading or managing change – from strategy, portfolio and programme management to personal development and things to help you make the most of the opportunity!

“We also include thought pieces to stimulate discussion and to help you develop yourself and your business. Sometimes original, sometimes just interesting pieces from elsewhere – but its all aimed at helping you to meet the challenge.”

Wendy intends through Wisewolf to speak directly with “those interested in leadership, management, project and programme management and social media.”

Her most popular pieces include these two:

Lifecycle Leadership – How many styles do you need?

The Simplest Model of Change

Her favourite posts include:

Being a great boss – acting with integrity

Do you wear a mask at work?

Lessons in Personal Branding

Follow Wendy and the Wisewolf Talking blog online @WWisewolf.

URL: http://www.wisewolftalking.com

RSS Feed: http://wisewolftalking.com/feed/

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Martin Webster, Esq. is a blog from a Systems Support Manager of the same name at Leicestershire County Council. Martin has over 10 years project and programme management experience. Martin’s professional interests include project management, leadership, and strategic information systems planning.

He started the Martin Webster, Esp. blog in June 2009 and has posted weekly since January 2011.

“(Running a blog) seemed like a good idea,” Martin said. “It’s had a few false starts but I’ve been posting regularly since January 2011.”

“Originally an eclectic mix of topics covering my interests: watercolour painting, music, Linux, strategic management etc., now I’m focusing on project management, change, leadership and related topics. However, you will probably find the odd post on Linux from time to time.”

Martin is a fan of blogs in their communal aspect.

“I’m motivated to blog by the challenge and commitment,” he says. “I hope to improve my writing skills and knowledge of the topics I write about. Blogging is also about community; sharing ideas with like-minded people. Contributing to the (PM) community is rewarding and gives me confidence. Hopefully I’ll meet some new friends (and opportunities) along the way.”

“Having an eclectic blog means that I have a number of audiences: Linux users who’ve got stuck and management professionals and practitioners who are interested in what I write about.”

Martin started his career started in electronic engineering and have developed skills in a number of industries and jobs. Among them, high-echelon metrology, quality assurance, technical costing, IT management, project and programme management, service management etc.

He adds: “I’m ready for my next leadership challenge!”

The most popular blog posts at Martin Webster, Esq. all came from 2009:

Installing Amazon MP3 Downloader on Ubuntu 10.10

Running SqueezeCenter on a Buffalo LinkStation Live, part 1

Strategic Information Systems Planning: Approaches to Strategic Management

The following three are his personal favourites:

The Project Control Cycle

Engaging Your Stakeholders

How to Plan for Your Project More Effectively

Martin is hosted at WordPress.com and is part of Post A Week 2011.

“I aim to post at least one project management related post each week,” he says. “This may cover IS management, organisational change, leadership, strategy, or project management issues such as planning, stakeholder management etc.”

Follow Martin and the blog on Twitter @TristanWember

Blog: http://martinwebster.eu/

RSS Feed: http://martinwebster.eu/feed/

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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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Change Happens by Maciver Projects is a blog focused on the relationship between project management and change management and the importance of both capabilities to deliver change in organisations. Blogging weekly, the Change Happens blog was started in February 2010 as an opportunity to share experiences, specifically about the space overlapping both change management and project management professions. There is a lot of information that can be shared between the two. Change Happens hopes to stimulate debate on how to learn from each.

Change Happens explores the relationship between project management and change management. It asks questions about the skills required to be a project or change manager and explores the methods widely used, but not always widely understood. The blog is a must read for people working on projects that require those impacted by the project’s outcomes to change – usually behaviours. The information is useful to both practitioners (the change and project managers themselves) and people experiencing the changes.

Change Happens is written by Lynne Maciver and Lynne is a Programme Manager with experience leading large scale projects and programmes for organisations in the utility, public and infrastructure sectors for around 15 years.

The most read article to date on Change Happens is a series on Kotter’s Leading Change providing a summary of each of Kotter’s 8 steps:

The first in the series – Establish a Sense of Urgency.

Lynne’s personal favourite is: “Creating an adaptive culture the Zappos way” which explores how the American company Zappos have succeeded in integrating change into the very foundations of their company culture. An amazing feat.

Creating an adaptive culture the Zappos way

The Change Happens run a series of topics usually over a period of 2 to 3 months such as Kotter’s Leading Change last summer and are currently exploring Project Manager competencies.

You can reach the Change Happens blogger on Twitter at: MaciverProjects

URL: http://www.maciverprojectservices.co.uk/blog

RSS Feed: http://www.maciverprojectservices.co.uk/blog/feed/

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publicsectorpm.com is a blog headed by veteran public sector project & programme manager Jon Hyde that allows him to share several of the working life lessons he has come to embrace. In the midst of a belt-tightening recession, the blog he started in November 2010 can help fellow project managers in public life.

“The blog is about real life project management from the heart of the public sector. Resources are tight and the public sector is being forced to transform at an unprecedented rate, just to maintain current service levels,” Jon says. “Effective project and programme management lies at the heart of successful business change. This blog aims to identify and celebrate best practice.”

“I enjoy sharing knowledge and learning from others, and my intended audience include project and programme managers from around the world.”

The most widely-read article on Public Sector PM is about portfolio management:

Economy-Class Portfolio Management

His personal favourites since he started in November include:

Desert Island PM Tools

Council Responses to the Cuts

Agile Project Management the Cure for Perfectionism and Missed Deadlines?

To keep abreadst of happenings at Public Sector PM, follow Jon on Twitter @publicsectorpm.

URL: http://publicsectorpm.com

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

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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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The Project Box combines industrial psychology with project management topics to deliver a thought-provoking weekly blog under the editorial practice of Bernardo Tirado.

Bernardo is an Industrial Psychology practitioner and has worked in project management capacities for Fortune 50s from project manager to portfolio level leader. Bernardo was also an adjunct professor teaching industrial psychology at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels at Metropolitan College of New York. He says that through his use of The Project Box, he aims to approach project management from a psychological perspective.

“I wanted to provide an industrial psychology perspective on how to manage projects,” he says. “Many times Six Sigma, PMP, Prince2 focus on the technical elements in running projects but that’s only 10 to 20 % of projects success. The remaining is really contingent on human delivery. The Project Box provides insights and tools for Project Leaders to manage project teams. It focuses on the psychological impact of change and tips to delivery efficiency.

“Having been a professor teaching industrial psychology, I’ve always had the inclination to share/teach others through my experiences. I firmly believe a great leader is one that can pass on knowledge to others.”

Bernardo is a recent addition to the PPM blogosphere, having premiered The Project Box 25th June 2010, just six weeks prior to this profile. He says the most popular article on The Project Box focuses on comparing two regarded project management certifications.

Project Management Professional vs. Six Sigma

He also has three posts he lists as his particular favourites:

Knowing the Informal Leader in your Project Team

How to Maximize Business Process Re-engineering: People, Process, Tools

Body Language: You Say More Than You Think

You can follow Bernardo and The Project Box on Twitter @bernardo_tirado and on Facebook.

Blog: http://www.bernardotirado.com/

RSS Feed: http://www.steppingintopm.com/feeds/posts/default

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EarthPM’s oft-mentioned slogan is “at the intersection of Green and Project Management,” a power-packed credo for two veteran project managers left with an indelible imprint on the importance of resource sustainability.

Rich Maltzman and Dave Shirley have worked primarily as project management practitioners in their respective 30 years of field experience, and in launching EarthPM they both have undertaken a regular publication they describe as “part altruism, part business idea.” More than that, environment-oriented projects and sustainability tap into a growing concern in world economic growth and prosperity, giving that business idea an opportunity like never before. Rich says that project management principles remain central to the goals of EarthPM because of their closeness to the medium.

“We’re motivated to blog by news stories and other pm blogs,” Rich says. “Our site is devoted to the intersection of Project Management and “Green” – where green has to do with preventing climate change, preserving resources, and getting things done effectively and efficiently, which should already be flowing in the ‘green’ blood of any project manager worth their weight in risk registers.”

While they are unable to cite favourite posts or a most widely read post – “We have 125 posts, all with roughly equal readership” – they describe the blog in buzzwords that tap across all mediums affected by sustainable project management. Or – considering the buzzwords they used included “Eclectic”, “electric”, “executive-level”, “energizing”, and “engaging” – all the relevant ones that shared the same first letter as “EarthPM”!

You can follow EarthPM and Rich Maltzman on Twitter @RichEarthPM.

URL: http://earthpm.com/

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

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