Incomplete or missed requirements, omissions, ambiguous product features, lack of user involvement, unrealistic customer expectations, and the proverbial scope creep can result in cost overruns, missed deadlines, poor product quality, and can very well ruin a project. Project Scope Management: A Practical Guide to Requirements for Engineering, Product, Construction, IT and Enterprise Projects describes how to elicit, document, and manage requirements to control project scope creep. It also explains how to manage project stakeholders to minimize the risk of an ever-growing list of user requirements. The book begins by discussing how to collect project requirements and define the project scope. Next, it considers the creation of work breakdown structures and examines the verification and control of the scope. Most of the book is dedicated to explaining how to collect requirements and how to define product and project scope inasmuch as they represent the bulk of the project scope management work undertaken on any project regardless of the industry or the nature of the work involved. The book maintains a focus on practical and sensible tools and techniques rather than academic theories. It examines five different projects and traces their development from a project scope management perspective-from project initiation to the end of the execution and control phases. The types of projects considered include CRM system implementation, mobile number portability, port upgrade, energy-efficient house design, and airport check-in kiosk software. After reading this book, you will learn how to create project charters, high-level scope, detailed requirements specifications, requirements management plans, traceability matrices, and a work breakdown structure for the projects covered.

This book provides the much-needed, no-nonsense guidance crucial for project managers - that is, the type of guidance that is missing from every major body of knowledge and educational offering for working project managers. This very practical book identifies the activities that influence project success and focuses the limited time and energy available towards just those activities. The Project Management Institute (PMI) and most literature on project management discusses all aspects of project management under the assumption that project managers will narrow down focus because they cannot be expected to use every process outlined by PMI to manage every project. This book uses the concept of "hacking" our standard conventions of project management and outlines a standard path identified by conventional wisdom, an evil path that project managers frequently resort to under time/quality pressures, and a hacker path that provides a better way to look at the challenge. This book equips project managers with streamlined approaches to refocus their efforts on factors that matter while spending less time doing it. Project management is a demanding discipline with a growing body of knowledge with few instructions on how to do it all. The author provides humorous anecdotes and examples while teaching readers how to save time, improve quality, and advance their career. The primary sections of the book cover how to approach the most common certifications in project management; continuing education; leading project teams; initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, and controlling projects; general life skills; and taking on additional responsibilities. Hacking project management is about focusing the limited bandwidth a project manager can give a project towards the activities that drive success.

Projects are the engines that drive innovation from idea to commercialization. In fact, the number of projects in most organizations today is expanding while operations is shrinking. Yet, since many companies still focus on operational excellence and efficiency, most projects fail--largely because conventional project management concepts cannot adapt to a dynamic business environment. Moreover, top managers neglect their company's project activity, and line managers treat all their projects alike--as part of operations. Based on an unprecedented study of more than 600 projects in a variety of businesses and organizations around the globe, "Reinventing Project Management" provides a new and highly adaptive model for planning and managing projects to achieve superior business results.

If you want to be a successful project manager, you need to become a person of influence. Without influence, there can be no success as a project manager. And, although all key success criteria point to the importance of developing soft skills as a project manager, few books exist about how to develop the power of influence for achieving better project and business results. Filling this need, The Influential Project Manager: Winning Over Team Members and Stakeholders supplies detailed guidance on how to improve your influence skills to achieve better business results. It explains how to set and meet ambitious goals for you, your team, and your stakeholders. The book describes how to listen actively to influence others and details how you can build partnerships that can pay dividends for a lifetime. Each chapter highlights real-world scenarios about a particular subject linked to the influencing skill being covered. Each chapter also includes practical forms, templates, helpful tips, and best practices to help you develop and refine your skills of influence. Details the ten keys to influencing others to support you and your ideas Outlines techniques for improving your listening skills Includes a trust assessment for determining your level of influence and if others see you as trustworthy Demonstrates how to build a network of informal alliances to achieve success Supplying you with the vision of influence from an experienced project manager's perspective, this book will help you procure the informal power required to become a successful influencer. After reading the text and performing the trust assessment, you will gain the understanding required to lead project members down the path to project success.

Bikash Chatterjee emphasizes the criticality of applying the principles of Lean and Six Sigma within the paradigm of the drug development process. His guide to operational excellence in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries is a focused summary of the application of Lean Six Sigma theory to the regulated life sciences. From molecule discovery to the application of PAT Applying Lean Six Sigma in the Pharmaceutical Industry will highlight the importance of framing these initiatives within the key deliverables of drug development manufacturing and quality. Challenging conventional wisdom the author offers a quality and efficiency perspective as a foundation for the principles of Quality by Design, PAT and the new philosophies underlying Process Validation. Each chapter includes discussion around the considerations for applying Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma principles and their tools, culminating in a case study to illustrate the application. The book is organized to reflect the major work centers involved in the drug development lifecycle. Each chapter is stand-alone but together they illustrate the necessary synergy between Lean, Six Sigma and compliance sensibilities required to be successful in the pharmaceutical industry. These design, manufacturing and management techniques are not without their challenges. Bikash Chatterjee's book offers the roadmap for an industry that is struggling to reinvent many of its development and business processes.

Learn how architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms work to improve sustainability objectives and advance new ideas about creating more livable cities, workplaces, and campuses as they create greater operational efficiency. Location intelligence is changing how land development and large infrastructure projects take shape. From new residential construction to planning a modern urban experience to building a high-speed rail system, a geographic approach helps pave the way to better, more sustainable designs. In Designing Our Future: GIS for Architecture, Engineering & Construction, see how the AEC industry is implementing geographic information systems (GIS) to improve workflows, bring context to large undertakings, and increase collaboration between governments, contractors, partners, and the public. With GIS, architects, engineers, and construction professionals are discovering new efficiencies, gaining deeper insights about complex projects, and transforming the way they plan, design, build, and operate in the built and natural environments. In this collection of case studies and "how to" guidance, gain an overview of how GIS was used to: Reduce the carbon footprint and mitigate future climate-related damage from a cross-country, high-speed rail project in the US Document all above and below ground assets such as utility services, electric, gas, surface water and sewer drainage for a local transportation agency Plan maintenance for and respond to hazards from aging structures and vulnerable hillsides using drones in Japan Designing Our Future: GIS for Architecture, Engineering & Construction also includes a "next steps" section that provides ideas, strategies, tools, and actions to help jump-start your own use of GIS. A collection of online resources, including additional stories, videos, new ideas and concepts, and downloadable tools and content, complements this book. -- Keith Mann

Many science, engineering, technology, and math (STEM) faculty wish to make an academic change at the course, department, college, or university level, but they lack the specific tools and training that can help them achieve the changes they desire. Making Changes in STEM Education: The Change Maker’s Toolkit is a practical guide based on academic change research and designed to equip STEM faculty and administrators with the skills necessary to accomplish their academic change goals. Each tool is categorized by a dominant theme in change work, such as opportunities for change, strategic vision, communication, teamwork, stakeholders, and partnerships, and is presented in context by the author, herself a change leader in STEM. In addition, the author provides interviews with STEM faculty and leaders who are engaged in their own change projects, offering additional insight into how the tools can be applied to a variety of educational contexts. The book is ideal for STEM faculty who are working to change their courses, curricula, departments, and campuses and STEM administrators who lead such change work to support their faculties, as well as graduate students in STEM who plan to enter an academic position upon graduation and expect to work on academic change projects.

Although project team members play crucial roles in projects, they often do not possess the required mastery of project management methodologies. As a result, dialog between project managers and team members is not as effective as it can be and can quickly become a source of stress and tension. Empowering Project Teams: Using Project Followership to Improve Performance improves on this situation by presenting the project environment from the perspective of project team members. Re-interpreting project management methodologies and behaviors using a bottom-up approach, it explores the application of project followership in the key stages of project management. It details the methods and techniques that all project team members need to know and outlines the behaviors they should adopt to be successful in each stage of the project. The book is divided into five sections: Introduces and explores the basic concepts of project management and project followership Examines project start-up-the all too often underestimated set of activities that make it possible to make future activities less problematic Highlights the importance of project planning Focuses on execution and control of the project Considers project closure and transfer and explains why this is an ideal time to determine if efforts invested have been rewarded Despite an understanding that project success is directly proportional to the entire team's ability to act as a managerial center of excellence, there has long been a need for a book dedicated to the individuals that participate in projects. Filling this need, this book is an ideal resource for anyone who regularly works as a member of a project team. Complete with case studies in each chapter, the book also includes exercises on the topics covered to facilitate understanding.

Traditional costing models for new systems and new buildings in industry, defence or government, have tended to focus on the costs of acquisition and implementation, with scant regard for the costs of running the system or decommissioning after use. The pressure to minimize expenditure and provide value for money from reduced resources means that complex projects have to encompass a wide range of often conflicting issues and interests. Systems Lifecycle Cost-Effectiveness shows how to manage the difficulties that can arise. Optimizing the system lifecycle cost-effectiveness is complex and influenced by many factors. Massimo Pica presents a variety of models for calculating cost, benefits and risk in projects, and explains how the human factors associated with a system's design and consequent value are as important as the technical costs associated with its construction or creation. This comprehensive text can be used by students, experienced system engineers, cost analysts and managers to improve their understanding of the wide range of issues involved in the evaluation of system life cycle cost-effectiveness.

In Project Risk Governance, Dieter Fink breaks new ground in two ways. Firstly, he places project risk management in the context of today's organisations in which objectives are increasingly implemented through projects to better respond to fast-changing markets. Secondly, he applies a governance perspective to examine project risk at the project and corporate levels, an approach which is significantly under-researched and for which theoretical knowledge and professional practice are at an early stage of maturity. Project risk governance falls between corporate governance and project governance and is attracting increasing attention. The author argues that there are two reasons for this. The first is the 'projectisation' of organisations, in particular within organisations conforming to the Project-Based Organisation (PBO) model. The second is the prevalence of a strategic approach to managing risk for the purposes of protecting organisational values and creating competitive advantage. The book addresses governance, strategy, value management and building enterprise-wide Project Risk Governance (PRG) capabilities. Chapters examine the role of projects in organisations and the need to integrate project and business strategy within the framework of the Project-Based Organisation. PRG is introduced via its links with corporate and project governance and its scope is covered in chapters that identify relevant processes, structures and relationship mechanisms. Contextual influences such as the professionalisation of project management are recognised and insights provided to increase readers' understanding of uncertainty, risk events, and probabilities and of the essential requirements of managing risks at project level. The final chapter provides a roadmap to the stages and dimensions of a PRG maturity model.

Communication is a vital part of project management, and reports are one of the preferred vehicles for transmitting information to an intended internal or external audience. Reports are also part of the system of control and governance on projects, used to bring attention to issues and prompt action to improve project outcomes. There are countless ways of combining project information for consumption by stakeholders. This book discusses the purpose of project reports, and provides examples of the format, content, timing, and audience for various types. Using principles of stakeholders and risk management, it presents a rationale for communication plans, enabling appropriate reporting at the project, program, and portfolio level. The author also: Presents tangible experience and suggestions for developing project reports. Discusses project reports in context, as applicable to types of stakeholders and the project lifecycle. Identifies sources and types of data required for adequate reporting. Offers examples of report formats, graphics, and content. Reflects on typical challenges encountered with project reporting. It is essential reading for practitioners and students of project management, cost control, and accountancy.

Complexity theory is a great, untapped resource in the field of management. Experts agree that it can be a powerful tool for managing complex and virtual programs, but there is little material available to guide program managers on how to use complexity theory to communicate and lead effectively. Filling this void, Successful Program Management: Complexity Theory, Communication, and Leadership identifies the best leadership types for complex program environments. It goes beyond what is currently available in program management standards to outline powerful solutions to the macro and micro program issues facing program managers. Using language that is easy to understand, the book describes practical complexity theory techniques for establishing clear and effective communications in a virtual environment. It explains what it takes to communicate strategically to all parties involved and addresses the communication issues common to most programs, including stakeholder communication, project team communication, and shareholder communication. The information presented in this book is supported by peer review research. Each section includes a case study, section quiz, and discussion questions to reinforce learning. The book includes numerous tools, templates, and techniques that can be helpful to the seasoned program manager as well as program managers who are leading for the first time. Clarifying the nuances of complexity theory, the text will help you focus your strategic energies on the right things and arm you and your team with the skills, tools, and techniques needed to succeed in today's program environment.

This book seeks to critically engage with emerging issues and debates within the construction industry, but from the perspective of developing economies. Themes such as the 4th industrial revolution, management of pandemics, sustainability, diversity and inclusion, collaboration, skills development, and behavioural studies are at the cutting edge of research and development in developed countries, however, they remain problematic for industries and environments which are yet to understand the emerging growth patterns of their economies. The successful integration and diffusion of these themes into developing nations' environments and cultures must be synchronized with their current developmental agenda. By acknowledging and understanding the difficulty and diversity of construction administrations that exist in different countries, this book can help construction professionals in developing countries to adopt technologies, policies and products which are proving successful in developed nations. Useful reading for researchers and practitioners in both developed and developing countries alike, this book gives an insight and understanding of emerging areas in developing countries.

Transformation programs are an common feature of global companies carrying out major strategic change projects. These programs combine business and technical expertise to bring together management and information systems. Managers rate firms' transformation competencies relatively poorly, and the success rate of such endeavours is correspondingly low. Using a variety of case studies including: Allianz SE, Shell, SAP, Vodafone, and Mercedes-Benz, this book provides unprecedented insights into characteristics of current transformation programs and the potential that can be leveraged by applying a holistic transformation management approach.

The track record of IT projects is poor. Less than a third of IT projects deliver what they said they would, on schedule and on budget. The major cause of IT project failure is not, as you might expect, poor IT leadership or difficult technology but poor business leadership. One of the reasons for this is that, unlike their IT peers, business managers often get little training or education in project delivery, let alone the special case represented by an IT project. Business Leadership for IT Projects addresses the gap by providing tools and ideas that are applicable to all sizes of IT projects, from those in large multinational corporations, down to small growing businesses. It sets out the key project touchpoints where business leadership can have a major impact on project success. The book combines psychological research and project best practice to create a practical toolbox that can be dipped into, as needs arise, or followed as an overall approach to IT project leadership. The toolbox weaves together three key strands of thought. First, that the concept of value should be at the forefront of project design and delivery. Second, that business managers need to take active leadership of IT projects to secure value. Third, that project teams need tools to slow down their thinking and ensure that actions and decisions are well thought through.

Success in program management requires discipline, complete plans, well-run meetings, accurate record keeping, and adherence to global best practices. Implementing Program Management: Templates and Forms Aligned with the Standard for Program Management, Third Edition (2013) and Other Best Practices provides the templates and guidelines for the plans, forms, agendas, registers, and procedures you will need. Ginger Levin and Allen Green wrote Implementing Program Management Templates and Forms Aligned with the Standard for Program Management - Second Edition (2008) in 2010. Since then it has become the go-to reference for program practitioners, colleges, universities, and those studying for the Program Management Professional (PgMP (R)) credential from the Project Management Institute (PMI (R)). Based on PMI's Standard for Program Management-Third Edition (2013) and other best practices, the updated edition of this bestselling reference provides a program management methodology consisting of reports, forms, templates, and documents. It includes identifiable documents referenced in the latest Standard for Program Management as well as other helpful ones omitted from prior editions. The book deals with the full program management life cycle-program definition, program benefits delivery, and program closure-to support the documentation requirements for your programs. The authors have updated the templates and forms in this book to complement what is included in the Third Edition and to include what they feel are best practices for managing programs. All the templates included in the book can be accessed online and can be easily customized to meet the unique requirements of your organization.

In 2009 three consultants, green to the consulting industry were tasked with a new challenge, the activation and licensing of a new, 100 bed hospital, in only 90 days. Pulling from concept of "Day in the Life" simulations used in the military, the Hospital Incident Command System (HICS), and adult learning theories the consultants developed a method that healthcare facilities could use to ensure readiness. Thus, was born the concept of Dress Rehearsal. A Guide to Healthcare Facility Dress Rehearsal Simulation Planning: Simplifying the Complex provides a step-by-step scalable framework to coordinate an Interdisciplinary Dress Rehearsal event for a project or facility of any size. Developed for use as a resource throughout your Dress Rehearsal journey, each chapter of this guide builds upon the last and should be read in succession. We hope you leverage our lessons learned and experience and apply them to your facility to support a safe Day 1 activation.

Although projects always carry risk, too many projects run late or exceed their original budgets by eye-watering amounts. This book is a comprehensive guide to the procedures needed to ensure that projects will be delivered on time, to specification and within budget. Eight expert contributors have combined their considerable talents to explain all aspects of project control from project conception to completion in an informative text, liberally supported where necessary by clear illustrations. This handbook will benefit all project practitioners, including project managers and those working in project management offices. It will also provide an invaluable guide for students studying for higher degrees in project management and its associated disciplines.

As projects become more complex and the project teams are more geographically and culturally dispersed, so strong, trusting relationships come to the fore. Trust provides the security that enables project teams to work together effectively, even when they face project-threatening problems and challenges. Because today's team members work virtually as much by choice as by geographic necessity, business leaders must understand how team relationships such as trust, cross-divisional projects, and how offshore team participation are all positively motivated by a solid quality assurance program. Offering real world solutions, Trust in Virtual Teams provides a clear view of how virtual projects can succeed, and how quality assurance compliments and promotes effective organizational design and project management to build solid trust relationships. Dr Wise combines the latest research in virtual team trust with simple and proven quality methods. He builds upon more than 20 years of experience in quality and project work to guide team managers in creating high performing project teams. Our understanding of the role human factors play in project performance and project resilience continues to grow. As it does, so does our need to address the behaviors and culture that enable good performance. Tom Wise's book is a thoughtful and pragmatic guide to help project teams and managers do just that.

Poor requirements management is one of the top five contributors to poor project performance. In extreme, safety critical or emergency-relief situations, failure to satisfy the real needs of the project stakeholders may well lead directly to loss of life or human suffering; other, more mundane, projects can also be severely compromised. Dr Mario Kossmann's Requirements Management looks at the process from the perspectives of both Program and Project Management and Systems Engineering, showing the crucial role of RM in both contexts. The author puts great emphasis on the human aspects of any project, which is also significant given that over-emphasis on technical or technological aspects at the expense of the human side is another major source of project shortfalls. The book offers illustrated examples of systems of different levels of complexity (one simple system, one complex, and one highly complex system) to help you categorize your own system and enable you to select the right level of formality, a suitable organization and a set of techniques and tools to carry out your requirements work. It includes a series of comprehensive checklists which can be used immediately to improve urgent requirements aspects. This is a practical and realistic guide to requirements management that provides a flexible, hands-on and innovative approach to developing and managing program, project and system requirements at different levels of complexity; read it and use the advice offered to ensure your projects can actually deliver, first time, without the need for costly and time-consuming rework.

The big challenge for a successful AI project isn't deciding which problems you can solve. It's deciding which problems you should solve. In Managing Successful AI Projects, author and AI consultant Veljko Krunic reveals secrets for succeeding in AI that he developed with Fortune 500 companies, early-stage start-ups, and other business across multiple industries. Key Features * Selecting the right AI project to meet specific business goals * Economizing resources to deliver the best value for money * How to measure the success of your AI efforts in the business terms * Predict if you are you on the right track to deliver your intended business results For executives, managers, team leaders, and business-focused data scientists. No specific technical knowledge or programming skills required. About the technology Companies small and large are initiating AI projects, investing vast sums of money on software, developers, and data scientists. Too often, these AI projects focus on technology at the expense of actionable or tangible business results, resulting in scattershot results and wasted investment. Managing Successful AI Projects sets out a blueprint for AI projects to ensure they are predictable, successful, and profitable. It's filled with practical techniques for running data science programs that ensure they're cost effective and focused on the right business goals. Veljko Krunic is an independent data science consultant who has worked with companies that range from start-ups to Fortune 10 enterprises. He holds a PhD in Computer Science and an MS in Engineering Management, both from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is also a Six Sigma Master Black Belt.

The second edition of Agile Change Management provides essential tools to build change manager capabilities and ensure change initiatives are embedded effectively throughout the organization. This book is a comprehensive resource for creating a roadmap that is flexible and unique to each organization to manage any type of change initiative. Detailing all the processes, activities and information needed, from creating the right environment for change to completing iterative tasks, it shows how to respond to different needs as they arise, reducing the potential for wasted time and resources. The updated second edition features chapters on behavioural change and decomposition in planning iterations, and new material on prototyping for business needs and virtual leadership. Whether implementing a large-scale transformation or working through projects at micro-level, Agile Change Management provides tools, frameworks and examples necessary to adapt to and manage change effectively.

Lean and Six Sigma initiatives are designed to enable sustained improvements in your company or organization's efficiency and competitiveness. As with other improvement strategies they are dependent on two things, effective management and your ability to automate or digitize elements of your business process. Lean and Digitize provides you with a convincing picture of each of these elements (process improvement, digitization and the management of both) to help you eliminate waste, improve process and service, and better align your information and communications technology with your strategic objectives. Bernardo Nicoletti analyses and reviews the development of automation and telecommunications systems in the context of quality management and process improvement. He uses case examples to illustrate organizational and management approaches to implementation. These, along with his practical guidance, will help you make sense of the complexity, benefits and interrelations between these different elements. The text shows you on the one hand, how to integrate information and communication systems into your process improvement projects and, on the other, how to align information and communication projects with your quality strategy. Without a holistic approach to technology and quality improvement, your initiatives run the risk of being misdirected or simply running out of steam. Changes of this kind will never be easy but at least if you follow the advice in Lean and Digitize you will significantly increase your chances of success.

This book provides an extensive overview of utility scale solar project development and the various tasks required to bring large solar power plants from plans to realities. The various topics have been organized and presented in a way to clearly define important development fundamentals including basic business and legal considerations. The reader is also guided through the more complex aspects of renewable energy development such as how to choose the ideal project site. Further, while the book is appropriate for a cover to cover read-through it is also designed to be an excellent go-to reference, a HANDBOOK FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT. Edited by: Albie Fong and Jesse Tippett with contributions from: Arturo Alvarez, Jeffery Atkin, William DuFour III, Perry Fontana, William Hugron, Jason Keller, Tyler M. Kropf, Michael Mendelsohn, Brett Prior, Scott Reynolds, Pilar Rodriguez-Ibanez, Katherine Ryzhaya Poster and Alfonso Tovar ELECTRONIC ENHANCEMENTSThe book's companion website http://www.solarbookteam.com provides contact information for all authors to the book and access to the key resources highlighted in the text. This tailored media platform provides supplemental and exclusive information that is up-to-date with the present state of the solar industry.