Instead of reaching out to you with a list of Best of articles I’ve read recently, which would give you access to information that might come handy if you’re working in projects, are passionate or just curious about the topic, I decided a curated list of content sources might be even better for you on the long run. So I’m recommending today three quality content websites you can access anytime you need or feel like it.
It’s like that classic saying: “If you give a man a fish, he will be hungry tomorrow. If you teach a man to fish, he will be richer forever.” Updated to our current reality: if you want to add value to someone’s effort, help him by offering something he would need to pay for otherwise. And what these people I’m going to tell you about are doing it definitely seems to be too good to be free! I’m their number one fan and I’m super grateful for the effort they put in generating all this content.
That being said, let’s move on to the actual recommendations and a few words about why I personally follow and treasure each and every one of them.
Tom @ Impact Theory – one of the best things for your mind, both personally and professionally
I’ve been following Tom for quite a while and, since he launched the Impact Theory University, I’ve been an active member of his community.
I especially appreciate the quality of the content and the obsessive manner of dissecting every idea until even someone not familiar with the specific topic can understand it. Both the content and community features were life savers for me during the pandemic, when I needed something (good) to occupy my mind and likeminded people to surround myself with, even if only in a virtual space.
More than that, you know those moments when you reach a roadblock? You know what you want and what you need to do but, somehow, you can’t manage to do it. Those are the moments a great coach would be badly needed, but you might not have one on speed dial 😊 Well, that’s what Impact theory was to me in the last 2-3 years: my virtual ideal coach.
And… one touch of personal and unharmful “craziness”: I love the idea of immersing one’s mind, almost obsessively, in one-directional content until you can really grasp the underlying concept. I define myself as a generalist and I often say that when it comes to projects (but not only in that scenario) I need to know enough to be able to make a decision or facilitate one. Well, Tom has this fantastic way of approaching a completely new subject and immersing into it until you understand it well enough to be able to explain it to others as well.
It goes perfectly with the principles of an Agile mindset, so if you want to explore it without necessarily taking a deep dive into it, see if his way of thinking resonates with you.
New content is available weekly, so you can easily use the podcast or YouTube version while travelling alone or when you’re stuck in traffic.
Besides being business/personal development oriented, Tom’s mission is to develop the new Disney, so you can definitely find some interesting projects there.
Sooo… enjoy and I hope it works for you at least as well as it did in my case. Here you go:
Elisabeth – one of the most consistent PM bloggers out there and much more!
Falls in the category of: I offer PM services myself, but if I were to recommend someone doing the same type of things, a professional I look up to, it would be Elisabeth.
I had the pleasure of participating to a few of her low-attendance webinars and had a few interactions, and I can definitely say she’s a very nice and open person, a super professional in everything she does.
Not the least:
Her website rocks! It’s packed with free resources, well documented articles and action guides.
And if you have the chance to read one of her books, they also rock!
The Scrum toolbox podcast – for when you badly need to snap out of it!
I don’t know if it’s the same for you, but sometimes business books about heroes and success stories can get quite depressing for me. Because I feel that exactly that missing link that you need to move further is still… missing! Like that gap between knowledge and practice. That part where you understand how to interact with new people, some of them inexperienced, some of them super extra resistant to change or plain stubborn and, on top on everything else, in key top positions…is simply not there.
And I could go on and on about this but you got the point already and it would be only to vent out my frustration some more. Because yes, it happens. Even when you have tons of experience, even after you delivered big projects successfully, you can get frustrated from time to time. It’s part of us, it’s human, it’s natural and it’s healthy to admit it. But only as long as we actually do something about it besides venting.
Speaking of which, Scrum Toolbox Podcast is precisely the solution you need to stop venting and start acting. When I was transitioning to Scrum and Agile, I used to listen to it on a daily basis. An episode was about 20 minutes worth and I was certain I would find at least a couple of good ideas to take away.
Plus, it’s rich in what I like to call “war stories”. Situations and challenges we end up encountering and the ways others used to deal with them. I loved this approach as it helped me understand I’m not the only one going through this or that, others do as well. That yes, there are options a, b, c that you know of and can implement, by the book, and sometimes it still doesn’t work! And, most of all, I understood that, even in these situations, we need to start doing something and then, step by step, without discovering a receipe that’s gonna work like a charm every time, we will unblock the situation and things will work better.
Long story short, if you are into Scrum and:
You want to know where others struggle and how they overcome different problems
You have tons of experience, but you are stuck in traffic or bored while driving and you want to listen to something (definitely not boring) to stay on topic, reminisce and smile, remembering similar problems
This is the place to go!
