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Books > Business & Economics > Business & management > Management & management techniques > Project management
Anything from an office move to the Olympic Games can be termed a project, and 97 per cent of successful projects are led by an experienced project manager. Presenting over 250 years of professional project management experience in a highly accessible format, this entertaining yet practical book will help project managers get up to speed quickly with good practice, avoid pitfalls and deliver business value. This fully updated edition reflects changes to working practices such as the use of social media and collaboration tools. "Lives up to the 'real world' promise in its title, providing concise, practical advice for leaders of large projects, small projects, and everything between. The interwoven examples from actual projects illustrate clearly why the guidance provided here matters." Tom Kendrick, MBA, PMP, Project Management Director, UC Berkeley Extension, California.
This updated and completely revised edition of a bestseller extends the concepts and considerations of modern project management into the realm of project management oversight, control, and support. Illustrating the implications of project management in today's organizations, The Complete Project Management Office Handbook, Third Edition explains how to use the project management office (PMO) as a business integrator to influence project outcomes in a manner that serves both project and business management interests. Helping you determine if a PMO is right for your organization, this edition presents a five-stage PMO competency continuum to help you understand how to develop PMOs at different competency levels and associated functionalities. It also identifies five progressive PMO development levels to help you identify which level is best for your organization. Updates to this edition include: A refinement of the 20 PMO functions that guide PMO setup and operations A new section that provides an effective evaluation of PMO maturity indicators based on the prescribed 20 PMO functions presented in the handbook A new section on Establishing a Project Management Office that details a comprehensive process for determining the needs, purpose, and functionality for a new PMO Best practices that have cross-industry value and applicability The book includes checklists, detailed process steps, and descriptive guidance for developing PMO functional capability. The up-to-date PMO model defined will not only help you better understand business practices in project management, but will also help you to adapt and integrate those practices into the project management environment in your organization. For anyone associated with start-up and smaller PMOs, the book explains what can be done to create less rigorous PMO functional capabilities. It also includes helpful insights for those who need to specify and demonstrate "quick-wins" and early PMO-based accomplishments in their organization.
Program management in a technical environment is as much art as it is science. Effective program managers are able to combine management and leadership skills for the good of the program and the people entrusted to them. This book illuminates the entire life cycle of the program-from the customer's original concept to successful completion. It includes many helpful ideas and insights into why programs and program managers can fail. Much more importantly, it provides insights about how program managers can succeed. Program Management in Defense and High Tech Environments is organized as a chronological "tale" of a program life cycle, with "side trips" that cover the important concepts of leadership, claims and claims avoidance, earned value measurement (EVM), communication basics, negotiations, and coaching. The book begins with an overview of program management, discussing the role of program managers, their required skills and experience, and the types of programs and contracts. The remainder of the book provides more detail on the program manager's role and the environment in which he or she works. Understanding that academic explanations of program management activities can be dry, the author uses true-to-life stories to present the nuts and bolts of the work. These stories illustrate the science of program management and the art that is necessary for success. The book discusses many of the common program pitfalls. It explains how to detect and avoid scope creep-the unintended expansion of program scope. It details both internal and external scope creep and stresses the importance of constant vigilance to prevent cost overruns and schedule delays. Program Management in Defense and High Tech Environments is a comprehensive guide for early- and mid-career program managers to understand what they need to do to be successful. It is also a valuable resource for later-career program managers who want to learn through other program managers' successes and failures.
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.
How relevant is ethics to project management? The book - which aims to demystify the field of ethics for project managers and managers in general - takes both a critical and a practical look at project management in terms of success criteria, and ethical opportunities and risks. The goal is to help the reader to use ethical theory to further identify opportunities and risks within their projects and thereby to advance more directly along the path of mature and sustainable managerial practice. Project Ethics opens with an investigation of the critical success factors in project management. It then illustrates how situations can arise within projects where values can compete, and looks at how ethical theories on virtue, utility, duty and rights can be used as competence eye-openers to evaluate projects. The reader is challenged to think of their project management experiences where questions of competing values surfaced, and mirror them in short vignettes taken from real practice from all round the globe. Finally, a new method is introduced, based on classical ethical theory, which can help project owners, project managers, project teams and stakeholders, to identify, estimate and evaluate ethical opportunities and risks in projects.
Business Process Management has helped thousands of leaders and BPM practitioners successfully implement BPM projects, enabling them to add impactful and measurable value to their organizations. The book covers all major frameworks, including LEAN and Six Sigma, and offers a unique emphasis on BPM's interrelationship with organizational management, culture, and leadership. Its common-sense approach teaches how BPM must be well-integrated across an entire business if it is to be successful, augmented and aligned with other management disciplines. This thoroughly revised and updated fifth edition includes: Discussion of the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on business operations, business transformation, remote working, and new processes. New and revised content on sustainable processes in BPM. Expanded material on process automation and new technologies, including AI. New and revised international case studies and practical examples. A streamlined layout, as well as new questions and thought-provoking comments to promote discussion and thinking. Business Process Management is an accessible core text for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students studying Business Process Management, Operations, Production, and Strategic Management, as well as an indispensable guide to any senior business executive or chief financial officer. The work is complemented by online resources to support instructors and learning, including PowerPoint slides for each chapter.
There has been a sea-change in the focus of organizations - whether private or public - away from a traditional product- or service-centricity towards customer-centricity and projects are just as much a part of that change. Projects must deliver value; projects must involve stakeholders, and Elizabeth Harrin and Phil Peplow demonstrate convincingly that stakeholders are the ones who get to decide what 'value' actually means. Customer-Centric Project Management is a short guide explaining what customer-centricity means in terms of how you work and its importance for project performance; using tools and processes to guide customer-centric thinking will help you see the results of engagement and demonstrate how things can improve, even on difficult projects. The text provides a straightforward implementation guide to moving your own business to a customer-centric way of working, using a model called Exceed and provides some guidance for ensuring that customer-centricity is sustainable and supported in the organization. This is a practical, rigorous and well-researched text. It draws on established models and uses the example of project implementation in a healthcare environment to demonstrate the impact of this significant way of thinking about value. The authors can't guarantee that the Exceed process will radically improve project success rates, and no process can. Adopting a customer-centric mindset and using the Exceed process to measure and monitor customer satisfaction will, however, help you move towards working with happier, more engaged stakeholders.
The Principles of Project Finance reviews the technique of project finance. It explores, step-by-step, the key ingredients of the concept. The book is aimed at a business savvy audience, but one which is not necessarily up to speed on the concept, and has a global reach by covering both OECD countries and the emerging markets. Project finance is positioned at a key point between the global capital markets and the energy and infrastructure industries. To explain and illustrate the ideas behind project finance, the book is made of chapters written by a range of leading players in the market from around the world and is split into four sections: c The first reviews various themes and issues key to the project finance market - views from bankers, lawyers and advisers plus chapters on bank, bond and multilateral finance and a look at environmental, insurance and construction market issues. c The second section looks at how project finance is used in various sectors of the energy and infrastructure market - renewable energy, oil and gas, mining, PPPs and roads and transportation. cThe third then takes an in-depth look at various projects finance markets from around the world - Australia, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Turkey, Russia, Africa, France, USA and Brazil. c Finally, the fourth section presents a series of Top 10 deal cases studies from the pages of Thomson Reuters Project Finance International (PFI), the leading source of global project finance information.
Projects have always been essentially human endeavours. Large modern projects are generally highly complex, fraught with technical difficulties and supported by diverse, often apparently conflicted stakeholders. The spirituality that originally defined some of the great construction projects of the classical era surely has a role in project management today. The Spirit of Project Management explains the context for spirituality in projects and explores how it can be used to create a larger sense of purpose and achievement; to help encourage an esprit de corps amongst all those involved; to act as a touchstone for ethical and sustainable decision-making. This is a very pragmatic book. The first part includes an explanation and a variety of useful models for understanding the significance and value of spirituality in projects. Judi Neal and Alan Harpham devote the second part of the book to help you integrate these ideas into your day-to-day management of projects. Thus there are chapters on spirituality from the perspective of the individual, the project team, the project organization and even project management within a sustainable world framework. Read this book, use the ideas to help you articulate your projects; engage and sustain your project team and your stakeholders; and frame how you work in terms of your organisation, society and the environment.
In The Focused Organization Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez shows you how fewer, more effectively elected and managed projects are the key to strategic and long-term success. Using his own research and work experience he explains how and why those organizations that focus on just a few key initiatives can perform significantly better than unfocused organizations, not only financially but also in achieving their strategic objectives and motivating their staff. The author introduces a new way of looking at a company through two very different and often conflicting dimensions: running-the-business and changing-the-business. What you add to one dimension you have to subtract from the other one. Finding the right balance between these two dimensions represents one of the major challenges to successful strategy execution. Becoming a focused organization involves a radical change in the way companies are organized and the way they select and manage projects - the creation of a new culture. The Focused Organization discusses the characteristics that comprise a focused organization. It describes key areas where a focused organization builds its levels of maturity; provides examples of focused organizations that outperform the rest; and explains in practical steps how all enterprises can become focused. The book finishes with a unique and inspiring case study that transports us to the early days of the current business world. Through the main character, Benny White, we learn how a business was conducted and how management evolved over decades with the introduction of business theories, including project management.
This book gathers the best papers presented at the International Congress on Project Management and Engineering, in its 2017 and 2018 editions, which were held in Cadiz and Madrid, Spain. It covers a range of topic areas, including civil engineering and urban planning, product and process engineering, environmental engineering, energy efficiency and renewable energies, rural development, information and communication technologies, and risk management and safety.
When it comes to project management, success lies in the details. This book walks managers through every step of project oversight from start to finish. Thanks to the book's comprehensive information on everything from planning and budgeting to team building and after-project reviews, managers will master the discipline and skills they need to achieve stellar results without wasting time and money.
For boards and executives, high-quality and transparent information is critical to allow effective decision-making. Emerging risks are increasingly challenging issues, both in terms of threats and growth opportunities; not least since the science pertaining to these risks tends to be contested. Emerging Risks: A Strategic Management Guide restores the constructive dialogue between the business professional and the expert/scientist community, essential if companies are to anticipate, plan ahead and exploit leading-edge ideas. It provides insights into some of the major emerging risks of the 21st century and then guides organizations on how to approach and manage those risks proactively in the wake of new regulation, governance and enterprise-wide risk management. The topics covered include: nanotechnologies, covering the industrial revolution of the 21st Century; new information and communication technologies (NICT), discussing the infrastructure of the future; electromagnetic fields (EMF) and their debated health impact; chemical substances/REACH, a regulation with major economic and environmental stakes and an example of emerging risk management; biological risk and its on-going need for international surveillance; supply chain, a top management priority; and country risk, for which security and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are growing issues. The authors assess and propose a process for managing emerging risks and the strategies that need to be put in place, drawing on examples of best practice.
The world is dealing with a historical turning point. The old ways of doing things do not seem to suffice anymore. Solutions aiming at permanent and limitless growth appear less and less probable. Individuals, companies, and countries are faced with the existing business models that no longer fit the needs of the contemporary individual and society. New, innovative models are needed. How can this be achieved? There are many novelties: technological solutions and most of all computers which are no longer only instruments. They are setting trends for how things are done in various fields ranging from science and art to the business world. Technological innovations as such are however occurring on the outside. Innovations of the business models on the other hand, need to be internalized by individuals, companies, institution, countries, etc. In this study collected contributions are dealing with the field of learning, human resource management, business processes and information systems. They are to be understood as authors' research contributions to finding new solutions in the sense of the human and sustainable organization.
The success of any project relies on the punctual, accurate and cost-effective delivery of materials, systems and facilities. Typically, a major project involves several stakeholders working together with controlled resources to deliver a completed project. It has many suppliers, contractors and customers; it has procurement and supply, demand planning and scheduling; it often lasts several years and has long lead times. Managing Project Supply Chains demonstrates how customised supply chain management can be applied to project management, ensuring project resources are delivered as required, reducing delays and costs and promoting a successful outcome.
Winner of the IIE Book of the Month for June 2012 A project can be simple or complex. In each case, proven project management processes must be followed. In all cases of project management implementation, control must be exercised in order to assure that project objectives are achieved. Statistical Techniques for Project Control seamlessly integrates qualitative and quantitative tools and techniques for project control. It fills the void that exists in the application of statistical techniques to project control. The book begins by defining the fundamentals of project management then explores how to temper quantitative analysis with qualitative human judgment that makes project control nebulous but also offers opportunities to innovate and be creative in achieving control. The authors then discuss the three factors (time, budget, and performance) that form the basis of the operating characteristics of a project that also help determine the basis for project control. They then focus on computational network techniques for project schedule (time) control. Although designed as a practical guide for project management professionals, the book also appeals to students, researchers, and instructors.
Change programmes in both private and public sectors have a poor record of delivering their intended value. The reasons given most often for their failure include lack of executive support or buy-in from key users, loose requirements definition, weak programme management, and plain wishful thinking. They rarely include technical limitations. Value Management puts forward the view that the true problem lies in failing to understand the causal links between the intended stakeholder outcomes and the actual programme outputs. Repeating the pattern of failure can be avoided by asking two questions: - Before implementation, what capabilities must a change programme deliver, when and in what order so as to cause intended value against a defined purpose with speed and certainty? - During and after implementation, what minor adjustments and/or major shifts are needed to be certain that the programme remains on purpose and on value? and two answers to be given: - Target, time and align change programmes to deliver maximum intended value to stakeholders - the baseline business case - track and respond to changes during and beyond implementation to ensure that the programme actually delivers or exceeds intended value - value realisation. The authors show how, by asking and answering these questions, direction and delivery of any programme can be clarified and greater economic value achieved.
With the majority of IT projects being delivered late, over budget, or cancelled altogether, it is clear that traditional project management methodologies do not provide an effective framework for today's IT projects. It is evident that a new Return-on-Investment (ROI) oriented approach is required that focuses on the ROI of a project from its inception. Maximizing Benefits from IT Project Management: From Requirements to Value Delivery provides comprehensive guidelines for determining an accurate ROI before the project has progressed to the point where it's over budget and over-run. It applies an iterative approach to the entire project management life cycle that re-visits the ROI, re-assesses the value delivered, defines the project scope, and allows the project to be planned as successive iterations based on the value delivered. This book details a systematic and simplified approach for effectively and efficiently selecting and evaluating IT projects for your organization. Filled with equations, tables, and figures that facilitate understanding, it explains how to evaluate subsequent success of a project so that it is simpler to manage, more efficient, and yields the ROI estimated at the outset. Using the novel approach outlined in the book, you will be able to deliver value throughout the project life cycle and make sure your projects are delivered on time, on budget, and within the constraints of the resources available.
Organizations today, are increasingly using projects in their daily activities. Projects and project-management principles frame goal attainment in academia and many business sectors, and they even serve as theoretical footing for organizational-change endeavors. However, the ubiquity of project management does not mean that project work, project teams, and the ways organizations use projects are well understood. Moreover, while project-management theory and practice aim at providing structure and control to enable successful project completion, an alarmingly high percentage of projects struggle or fail. As the authors of The Psychology and Management of Project Teams explain, this is in part because projects are still mostly managed as technical systems rather than behavioral systems. Even though project-management researchers have become increasingly interested in factors that may have an impact on project-management effectiveness, their efforts fall short of addressing the "human factor." And, unfortunately, many project-management scholars are largely unaware of the I/O psychology literature-relying, for example, on outdated models of motivation and team development. On the other side, I/O psychologists who research groups and teams often ignore the contextual influences-such as business sector, project type, placement in the organizational hierarchy, and project phase and maturity-that have a crucial impact on how a project will unfold. In this volume, a cross-disciplinary set of editors will bring together perspectives from leading I/O psychology and project-management scholars. The volume will include comprehensive coverage of team selection, development, learning, motivation, and communication; conflict management and well-being; leadership; diversity; performance from a multi-level perspective; and career development. In the concluding chapter, a research agenda will provide a roadmap for an integrated approach to the study of project teams.
Leadership in projects has been under-represented in many of the most influential project methodologies, where the focus has been on management and process. The importance to project success of key roles such as project board member, executive sponsor, project manager, client representative or team leader, increases exponentially with the scale and complexity of the project. Kaye Remington's Leading Complex Projects draws on original, empirical research into successful leadership of complex projects, including 70 in-depth interviews with people, across a broad range of industries, selected for their roles in guiding complex projects towards successful outcomes. The book, structured around the major themes from the interviews, explains and applies emerging best-practice in a coherent and focused way. A potent combination of wisdom from leaders in practice and the latest knowledge from many fields of research will engage experienced practitioners, as well as those who are teaching and researching projects, complexity and leadership.
Ethics plays a critical role in project management, but all too often, its importance is overlooked. This benign neglect can result in serious consequences to individuals and organizations, ranging from tarnished reputations to civil and criminal liability. Ethics and Project Management demonstrates the importance of making ethics a key consideration in managing projects and describes the impacts that occur when ethical transgressions arise. Providing the tools necessary for project managers to avoid an ethical lapse that can put themselves and their organization at risk, this volume:
Each chapter ends with a Getting Started Checklist, facilitating immediate application of the concepts discussed and making it easy for project managers to determine whether they are in compliance with ethical standards. Providing a solid roadmap for the ethical health of a project, this volume is essential reading for all those concerned with avoiding the disastrous consequences of a cavalier approach to ethics. Praise for the book: ... a great desktop reference for any project manager. It is a
must-have title to complete any project management library and I
recommend it to both new and highly experienced project
managers.
Much has been written about leadership and team building, but there are still major gaps in thinking and research about how to engage senior stakeholders in support of an organisation's projects. The central role of stakeholders in the successful delivery of organisational strategy is becoming increasingly recognised, as is the importance of developing a sponsor culture to support more collaborative practices within the organisation. Building, and managing, relationships with senior (upwards) stakeholders is essential for success. Advising Upwards brings together the ideas of experts in fields related to engaging senior stakeholders, such as risk management, decision-making, understanding cultural considerations, effective communication and other disciplines that may enhance the sustainable engagement of senior stakeholders. The starting point is an examination of the difficulties that senior managers face as they move through the ranks of an organisation from middle management to executive levels. Senior managers usually move up through the organisation on the basis of command and control management. Once in the executive ranks they must develop a more collaborative approach and adopt the principles of emotional intelligence (EQ) to succeed. Awareness of difficulties that senior stakeholders may face drives effective approaches for communication between the team and sponsors. Case studies and stories from experts illustrate practical, structured approaches that enable the teams to develop robust relationships with senior stakeholders will result in teams 'being heard', and support their 'being extraordinary' through innovative approaches to advising upwards.
Asking tough questions about the current state of project
management, The 12 Pillars of Project Excellence: A Lean Approach
to Improving Project Results provides groundbreaking techniques to
achieve excellence in project leadership that can result in six
sigma type results or failure-free projects. It unveils novel
solutions and breakthrough concepts including project culture
analysis, the five powers of project leadership, the power of
visualization, the science of simplicity, dynamic risk leadership,
and dynamic project failures analysis to help you chart the most
efficient path to the pinnacle of project leadership. The author provides the cutting-edge methods based on decades of personal practical experience, valuable lessons learned, and authoritative insights gained from leading over 300 projects to successful conclusions. Complete with powerful tools for organizational- and self-assessment on the accompanying CD, this book will not only transform your approach to project management, but will also provide you with the tools to develop effective leaders and consistently achieve exceptional business results. Some Praise for the Book: a highly pragmatic guide to project management. lays out the way
of thinking that underpins success a book that everyone could
benefit from. provides the most significant contribution for leaders to
mitigate project risks, assure sustainable growth, and guarantee
survival . one of the BEST books I have ever read on project
leadership. a comprehensive guide that will assist any business leader
within an organization to consistently achieve excellent business
results A must buy get it now
Plenty of software testing books tell you how to test well; this one tells you how to do it while decreasing your testing budget. A series of essays written by some of the leading minds in software testing, How to Reduce the Cost of Software Testing provides tips, tactics, and techniques to help readers accelerate the testing process, improve the performance of the test teams, and lower costs. The distinguished team of contributors-that includes corporate test leaders, best paper authors, and keynote speakers from leading software testing conferences-supply concrete suggestions on how to find cost savings without sacrificing outcome. Detailing strategies that testers can immediately put to use to reduce costs, the book explains how to make testing nimble, how to remove bottlenecks in the testing process, and how to locate and track defects efficiently and effectively. Written in language accessible to non-technical executives, as well as those doing the testing, the book considers the latest advances in test automation, ideology, and technology. Rather than present the perspective of one or two experts in software testing, it supplies the wide-ranging perspectives of a team of experts to help ensure your team can deliver a completed test cycle in less time, with more confidence, and reduced costs.
Method and process are important in project management, but knowing how to use them is even more so. As a project manager you can increase your effectiveness most by developing your soft skills, recognising that finesse can be more effective than force. Once developed, you will find that these skills are transferable across project types and whole industry sectors. This book illustrates the application of NLP to develop competencies, hence better equipping you to communicate across cultures, reframe problems, manage stakeholder groups, resolve conflicts, motivate teams and become an even better leader. |
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