I love looking at situations through different glasses to get several perceptions. I love reading and thinking about human behavior. And I adore authors that take on a multidisciplinary approach. So I must be ecstatic when all three are combined. I am.

In Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another Philip Ball explains to us what happens if you try to explain human behavior by using concepts and theories from physics. It is a treat. Ball writes clear and entertaining, and the ideas behind such a "physics of society" make your head spin. Not necessarily because you are staring at the ultimate truth, but just because you have never looked at your own behavior like that.
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With a title like that, I just had to read it. An answer to an ultimate question. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Wouldn't you like to know why some ancient societies are extinct, while others are still full alive? It also might shed some light on why projects fail or succeed. Society is a group of people living and working together. So is a project, just a wee bit smaller.

Jared Diamond argues that there are five factors involved in the survival of societies. The remaining 99% of the book he provides examples to support his claims. His examples range from the original inhabitants of Eastern Island to the genocides in Rwanda. The broad spectrum of topics makes it captivating.

What did I learn? Well, first of all, the five factors that cause a society to collapse or survive are:
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I had some nice discussions with fellow PMs about books that have influenced them. I though that it would make a nice series of postings.

First of, Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. I actually read this book last year on the Transsiberia-Express, but that is irrelevant. Relevant is that Levitt is an economics professor that uses statistics to attack everyday "common wisdoms". In the first part he explains that crime didn't drop in the US because of stronger punishments or gun laws, but by the legalization of abortion. Although one can argue about the validity of his findings and reasoning, you have to admit that the guy creates one intriguing book. It is exactly this aspect that influenced me: ask good questions, and provide against common wisdom answers. It is a technique that creates amazing reading material, and stimulates the brain of the reader.

Some of his other questions in Freakonomics:

- which is more dangerous, a gun of a swimming pool?
- Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?
- How much do parents really matter?

I am definitely going to give this a try for my next book…

OK, I must admit… I am not your regular Project Management guy, I love to tinker with PM software, tweaking it and see if it holds up to the expectations. Although I have given dotProject a test drive a while ago, I still consider it as one of the easiest tools in the open source arena. But this post is not about the software, this is about a good book about it, finally! "Project Management with dotProject" is a very accessible, but comprehensive overview for those who want to use the [TAG-Tec]dotProject[/TAG-Tec] PM software.

Lee Jordan starts out by handling all aspects for installation of the system. I know how to do it, but I think with this guide almost everyone with a little software background can do it. What I like the most about the book is that it not only covers the administration and actual use of the software, but also where to find hacks for things not included in the default dotProject installation. If you are serious about using dotProject, I highly recommend this book.

I have found the best book that I have ever read about software project management. The book that every PM that is certified in one way should have read. Without it the certification means nothing…

I am talking about AntiPatterns in Project Management.

This book describes AntiPatterns that occur in project management. An AntiPattern is a way to describe situations in software projects that have a negative impact on the overall project performance. Situations that are wrong. The book describes ways to detect them, and how to solve them.

For everyone that has done several projects it is a fest of recognition. The authors use a very humorous approach to describe some of the saddest episodes in a project life. But I was rolling over the floor laughing while reading this 400+ pages book.

The AntiPattern template that is used to describe the 18 PM AntiPatterns, consist of every possible aspect one needs to identify and resolve a problem. Like causes, backgrounds, symptoms and solutions.

The appeal for me personally is that the book takes the human aspect as one of the main causes of the problems¦ For those who have read my site, you know that is exactly my point of view.
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In my quest to analyze project stakeholders I came across some very interesting observations by Alistair Cockburn in his book Agile Software Development. In the first chapters he doesnt discuss agile, but he is describing characteristics of individuals and groups that, in his opinion, lead to why agile is a good method for certain projects.

The part that particular interests me is mentioned as Overcoming failure modes. One of the characteristics of humans the project manager should take into account is the mode people are working in. This is more or less a default behavior people have, strategies they tend to do more likely working in projects.

The failure modes are behaviors that probably lead to problems in your project. So recognizing them will bring you already half way a solution.
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