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The December edition of PM World Today, the monthly eJournal produced by PMForum, contains an array of new and fascinating project, program and portfolio management articles, papers and news. New this month are three opinion pieces (Viewpoints articles), three Feature Papers, six PM Tips & Techniques (advisory) articles, four book reviews and reports from international correspondents in 13 countries.

December Viewpoints – Fresh Opinions & Perspectives

Morten Fangel, founder of the Danish Project Management Association and former Chair of the International Project Management Association (IPMA) has authored a Viewpoints Article on the topic of “Is Best Practice always identical with Best Project Management?” When best practices correspond with PMI’s Guide to the PMBOK ©, IPMA’s Competence Baseline, or other such ‘standards’, the question becomes quite interesting. In responding to a set of questions posed by Professor Peter Morris in the UK, Morten offers his perspective.

“Why Program Management” This is a question answered by Russell Martinelli, Manager of Program Management Methods within the Corporate Platform Office at Intel Corporation, in his Viewpoints article this month. He also discusses some important distinctions between program and project management. According to Russ, “Why do I focus on program management? Because program management is my profession... If implemented correctly, program management can become a powerful element of a company’s product, service or infrastructure delivery system.” Program management is a hot topic right now. When you read Mr. Martinelli’s article, you can see why corporations like Intel are embracing it.

Rebecca Winston, Fellow and former Chair of the Project Management Institute (PMI®), offers her opinion about the use of checklists in her Viewpoints article on the subject of “Checklist Project Management!” According to Becky, “During several postings with a variety of clients, it has come to my notice that we have a broad contingency of practitioners and those who claim to be professionals who are checklist lazy. Yes, some among us have become checklist-only project managers.” To see Becky’s real opinion and for some advice, check out her paper.

Feature Papers that Challenge & Entertain

The December PM World Today contains is an important paper by Mr. Stanislaw Gasik in Warsaw, Poland, entitled “UPMM – a Full Model for Portfolio Management.” This is serious new contribution to the literature on the topic and should be read carefully. This is Mr. Gasik’s first contribution to PM World Today, on a topic that is both timely and important in the PM world.

Mark Kozak-Holland, frequent and popular contributor to PM World Today in Canada, provides part 16 in his series on Winston Churchill, the Agile Project Manager. His paper this month is entitled “Churchill’s Team” and discusses how “Churchill’s organization prepared itself for the air battle to meet his short term objectives of staving off the invasion” in 1940. This is another interesting and entertaining lesson from history.

Bas De Baar in the Netherlands is back with an entertaining essay on “Why do developers contribute to Open Source?” Bas suggests “It is possible that people get involved in open source development for the money, the glory, and eventually, the girls” and “The open source way doesn't interfere with other worldly issues like making profits. It is just all the gods and their universes.” If you are an IT or software project manager, you will enjoy this article.

PM Tips & Techniques – advice from PM Consultants & Executives

Six advisory papers are included in the December issue, helpful and practical suggestions from project management consultants, experts, and company executives.

Cheryl Strait, principal consulting manager at Robbins-Gioia, LLC, in the USA, has provided another serious and important article entitled “Enhance your eDiscovery capabilities!” Those project managers who have been involved in litigation of any kind recently will appreciate her suggestions.

Curt Finch, CEO of Journyx in Austin, Texas, has contributed another interesting paper entitled “Avoiding Fake Referrals.” Curt provides some useful advice on how to more carefully qualify a vendor.

Michelle LaBrosse, founder and Chief Cheetah at Cheetah Learning, has contributed an article entitled “10 Ways to Inspire Your Team”, distributed through Cheetah’s “Know How Network”. As usual, Ms. LaBrosse provides some very good advice.

Tim Bergmann, Director of Education for True Solutions, Inc. in Dallas, Texas, USA has provided an article entitled “The Seven Deadly Project Sins: Part 5 - Personalization.” This is the fifth paper in a series in which he discusses problems we often create for ourselves as project managers. This article is both entertaining and thought provoking!

Anders Heie, founder and CEO of KaDonk, a project management technology company based in California, has authored a paper entitled “Sharing and Collaboration – Enable your team while holding them accountable.” For those dealing with ever changing requirements and Agile PM, Mr. Heie offers some valuable advice.

Rudolf Melik, CEO of Tenrox and author of the recently published book “The Rise of the Project Workforce: Managing People and Projects in a Flat World” has provided an interesting and useful article entitled “’Juggling School’ for Project Managers: Seven Reasons to Overhaul your Project Management System.” Consider his suggestions, drawn from his best selling book.




Book Reviews, Regional Reports, PM News and Stories!

In addition, the December PM World Today contains an Editorial by Managing Editor David Pells, two Letters-to-the-Editor, four Book Reviews, and Regional Reports from correspondents in 12 countries, including Brenda Treasure in Australia, Ed Naughton in Ireland, Renate Prantner in Austria, Jaycee Krüger in South Africa, Manfred Rieck in Germany, Florin Gheorghiu in Romania, Irwin José Franco in Ecuador, Miles Shepherd in the UK, Thibaut Goupil in France, Theofanis Giotis in Greece, Alexander Matthey in Switzerland, and Mounir Ajam in the UAE. For a snapshot of professional PM in those locations, visit http://www.pmworldtoday.net/regional_reports/2007/dec.htm.

The December PM World Today also contains 75 news articles and stories on the following topics:

• Calls for Papers – for conferences and events around the world


• Future PM Events – announcements, notices and stories of major 2008 conferences and events


• PM Community News – stories about individuals featured in recent news


• PM Research News – a research conference in Denmark


• PM Education News – from London, Dubai & Ohio


• PM Profession News – announcements & developments from APM, IPMA, PMI


• PM Industry News – articles about PM companies, products & services


• Fascinating Projects – stories about real projects around the world


• Publishing News – announcements from publishers


• Other News Affecting Projects & PM – news from the UN, US government, World Bank and other sources

Global in scope and content, PM World Today is now the world’s leading and most robust online eJournal. To expand your horizons, increase your PM knowledge, stay abreast of latest news, or be seriously entertained again this month, visit www.pmworldtoday.net.