In practice we see that projects often fail. People disagree, they change their minds, they learn as work progresses. The project develops into an important and influential organization with its own opinions. Researchers have for a long time pointed out the need for new approaches to project management. This book looks at project management from an organizational perspective. A project is a temporary organization, established by its base organization to carry out an assignment on its behalf. From this perspective, project management concerns basically the relationship between the permanent and the temporary organization. Inherent in the perspective is an understanding of the project's most important purpose, to facilitate another organization's progress. The assignment is about change and within a certain time limit. The book discusses how the foundation of the project, planning, organizing, controlling, leadership in an organizational perspective.

Projects are hard. By definition, projects are about non-routine activities. Many of them are large and complex; they may involve many people, often from different backgrounds and increasingly with different languages and cultures. Amongst all of this, it is easy to get lost, to overlook important trends or to misunderstand each other. So projects fail. Graham Oakes' Project Reviews, Assurance and Governance is about learning from your mistakes and understanding what's really going on with your projects. In order for reviews and assurance to provide you with this information and learning, you need to perform them effectively and that is the purpose of this book. The core of the book is built around a number of models of project review processes and governance, all derived from practice and interspersed with case studies drawn from practitioners, project management literature and from practices in other industry. The result is the blend of the conceptual and the practical needed to make your project assurance process sympathetic, relevant and rigorous for your organization and the range of projects and programmes which you undertake.

There are many books on project management and many on embedded systems, but few address the project management of embedded products from concept to production. Project Management of Complex and Embedded Systems: Ensuring Product Integrity and Program Quality uses proven Project Management methods and elements of IEEE embedded software development techniques, to explain how to deliver a reliable complex system to market. This volume begins with a general discussion of project management, followed by an examination of the various tools used before a project is underway. The book then delves into the specific project stages: concept, product development, process development, validation of the product and process, and release to production. Finally, post-project stages are explored, including failure reporting, analysis, corrective actions, and product support. The book draws heavily on information from Department of Defense sources as well as systems developed by the Automotive Industry Action Group, General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford to standardize the approach to designing and developing new products. These automotive development and production ideas have universal value, particularly the concept of process and design controls. The authors use these systems to explain project management techniques that can assist developers of any embedded system. The methods explored can be adapted toward mechanical development projects as well. The text includes numerous war stories offering concrete solutions to problems that might occur in production. Tables and illustrative figures are provided to further clarify the material. Organized sequentially to follow the normal life cycle of a project, this book helps project managers identify challenges before they become problems and resolve those issues that cannot be avoided.

Business Agility is an approach that gives the right business flexibility and fast decision-making in a volatile environment, providing a great capacity for innovation, adaptation and change. Businesses everywhere are trying to 'get business agile' - but it's not easy to adapt to becoming this adaptive. How can conventional organisations succeed in this transformation? In this book, project and change management expert Peter Taylor walks you through the change process step by step, providing a tried and tested transformation roadmap: benefits are outlined, solutions to common challenges offered, and tried and tested methods and tools provided. He guides you towards a decentralised management style that offers more successful decision making through collaboration. By reducing processes, adjusting the governance and believing in 'the power of the people' to deliver simple success in a time of complex demand, the guidance in this book will help any manager get Business Agile.

Are you overwhelmed by project management jargon? Interested in developing a project management career, but bewildered by the plethora of costly courses and qualifications? Then this is the book for you. How to Manage Projects explains the fundamentals of this essential skill in a clear, practical and accessible way, making it the perfect introduction to managing better projects in your current role, or even that first step to developing a professional career as a project manager. This new 2nd edition features practical exercises and top tips, and takes you through successfully and confidently managing a project from conception to completion. Essential reading for anyone who wants to manage their own projects well without all the unnecessary jargon, How to Manage Projects makes this vital skill easily accessible with one handy, easy-to-use book. The Creating Success series of books... Unlock vital skills, power up your performance and get ahead with the bestselling Creating Success series. Written by experts for new and aspiring managers and leaders, this million-selling collection of accessible and empowering guides will get you up to speed in no time. Packed with clever thinking, smart advice and the kind of winning techniques that really get results, you'll make fast progress, quickly reach your goals and create lasting success in your career.

Connie Kelly Tang and Lei Zhang have provided a holistic coverage of the entire surface transportation project and program development process from the beginning of planning though environmental approval, design, right-of way acquisition, construction to operations and maintenance.- Neil Pedersen, Executive Director, Transportation Research Board, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Washington, DC Transportation program and project development is complex. The process spans over planning, programming, environment, design, right of way, construction, operations, and maintenance. Professionals from civil engineering, planning, social and environmental sciences, business and project management, and data science, work together in a relay team to transform an idea into a highway, a transit hub, an airport or a water facility. It is challenging for any one person to master all the knowledge and skills needed to perform every relevant task. However, it is critical for all involved to understand how this relay works and how the societal, environmental, governmental, and regulatory contexts influence the process and the technical solution. Professionals who understand the process and see the big picture are those who rise to the top as leaders. Transportation Project and Program Development provides holistic coverage on the technical subject matter, processes and procedures, and policy and guidance associated with transportation project and program development, which can help professionals become program leaders. For each phase of the process, key products delivered, processes used, governing principles, foundations of applicable science and engineering, technologies deployed, and knowledge required are discussed. While all coverages reflect the practices of the United States, the logic, principles, science, and engineering are applicable to all countries of the world. The book can also serve as an introductory textbook for undergraduate students and as a textbook or reference for a graduate-level course in civil engineering, transportation engineering, planning, and project management.

The aim of this book is to provide a single source of information to support continuing professional development (CPD) in the built environment sector. The book offers a comprehensive introduction to the concept of CPD and provides robust guidance on the methods and benefits of identifying, planning, monitoring, actioning, and recording CPD activities. It brings together theories, standards, professional and industry requirements, and contemporary arguments around individual personal and professional development. Practical techniques and real-life best practice examples outlined from within and outside of the industry empower the reader to take control of their own built environment-related development, whilst also providing information on how to develop fellow staff members. The contents covered in this book align with the requirements of numerous professional bodies, such as the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), and the Chartered Institute of Builders (CIOB). The chapters are supported by case studies, templates, practical advice, and guidance. The book is designed to help all current and future built environment professionals manage their own CPD as well as managing the CPD of others. This includes helping undergraduate and postgraduate students complete CPD requirements for modules as part of a wide range of built environment university degree courses and current built environment professionals of all levels and disciplines who wish to enhance their careers through personal and professional development, whether due to professional body requirements or by taking control of identifying and achieving their own educational needs.

Traditional project management approaches assume that project contexts are unchanging and key factors, though complicated, are reducible to unambiguous elements for management and control. Whilst this assumption has simplified the task for writers and educators, it is increasingly being recognised that these techniques do not work in projects which may be described as complex (due to their size, technical difficulties, conflicting environmental and political constraints or poorly understood or shared goals). Tools for Complex Projects draws on research in the areas of project management, complexity theory and systems thinking to provide a ready reference for understanding and managing the increasing complexity of projects and programmes. The main part of the book provides a series of fourteen project tools. Some of these tools may be used at the level of the whole project life-cycle. Others may be applied ad hoc at any time. In each case, the authors provide: detailed guidelines for using the tool, information on its purpose and the types of complexity for which it is most appropriate, the theoretical background to the tool, a practical example of its use, and any necessary words of caution. This is an example of advanced project management at work; sophisticated tools that require a level of project and management expertise and offer rigorous and highly practical methods for understanding, structuring and managing the most complex of projects.

For me and other tech people, leaders, and members of remote teams, we will be awakened by all the fantastic hands-on hints, best practices, and guiding principles based on solid ground that Hubbert provides in Inspiring Remote Tech Teams. We will be better prepared and better equipped to both contribute and lead efficiently in the digital economies that shape the future of our world. - Thomas DiGiacomo, President of Engineering and Innovation at SUSE Inspiring Remote Tech Teams is a trail map to building effective teams and organizations-now, as world health dictates remote work, and in the future, as global talent pools contribute to our digital economy. Humans are wired to be social, and world events require social distancing from our office community. The absence of "community" triggers primitive brain responses. These instinctual responses of survival, social belonging, and the power of story all profoundly surface during our reaction as we adjust to remote work. This trail map for team leaders improves team execution despite physical separation. The book covers simple neuroscience as it applies to our "separation." It is a hands-on guide to maintaining and improving teamwork while working remotely. It is also a hands-on guide at the intersection of teams + remote + laymen's neuroscience to create a positive sense of enthusiasm, engagement, and contribution, even when working apart. Remote teams, now and for the future, are the pathway to using global talent effectively. This book examines the combination of the "hard skills" of tech team project management and the "soft skills" of healthy distributed teams: remote offices, sales offices, partners, suppliers, customers, and teams engaging global talent pools. Practical examples and best practices offer hands-on methods to use neuroscience to help teams be their best, to improve collaboration, and to deliver consistent team results.

This book presents a new framework for leadership in the construction industry which draws from the authentic leadership construct. The framework has three major themes: self-leadership, self-transcendent leadership, and sustainable leadership. Despite its significance, leadership has not been given due importance in the construction industry as focus is placed on managerial functionalism. At the project level, even with the technological advances in the industry in recent years, construction is realized in the form of people undertaking distinct interdependent activities which require effective leadership. The industry faces many challenges including: demanding client requirements and project parameters; more stringent regulations, codes and systems; intense competition in the industry; and threats from disruptive enterprise. In such a complex environment, technology-driven and tool-based project and corporate management is insufficient. It must be complemented by a strategic, genuine, stakeholder-focused and ethical leadership. Leadership in the Construction Industry is based on a study on authentic leadership and its development in Singapore. Leadership theories and concepts are reviewed; the importance of leadership in the construction industry is discussed; and the grounded theory approach which was applied in the study is explained. Many eminent construction professionals in Singapore were interviewed in the field study. Emerging from the experiences of the leaders documented in this book are three major themes: (1) self-leadership: how leaders engage in various self-related processes such as self-awareness, self-regulation, and role modeling. (2) self-transcendent leadership: how leaders go beyond leading themselves to leading others through servant leadership, shared leadership, spiritual leadership, and socially-responsible leadership; and, finally, (3) sustainable leadership or the strategies leaders employ to make the impact of their leadership lasting. A synthesis of these themes and their implications for leadership development is presented before the book concludes with some recommendations for current and aspiring leaders about how they can engage with them. This book is essential reading for all construction practitioners from all backgrounds; and researchers on leadership and management in construction.

Businesses spend billions on innovation with very little to show for their investment or effort. This book challenges some of the 'ingrained truths' of innovation and suggests a different approach. Innovation is not the creation of a novel idea. It is the successful commercialisation of that novel idea. Rather than starting with a costly, time-consuming problem assessment that seeks to push potential solutions through an innovation funnel, an 'impeller approach' starts with possible solutions and gets the market to pull the best ones forward so they can fail fast or flourish fast. This approach is made possible by the addition of a 'bee' - a new type of integrative thinker who can harvest the existing knowledge from the 'meadow of experts'. Completely reversing the innovation process means organisations are much better placed to win in the market rather than focusing on finding theoretical solutions or clearing innovation stage gates. In addition, this approach also recognises that the people who shepherd the solution through the ideation and testing stage are not the same people who must then take that solution to market for successful commercialisation. Given the current innovation failure rate, coupled with the fact that society is beset with multiple wicked problems, it's time to think differently and innovate innovation itself. This book is essential reading for Heads of Innovation and Commercialisation, Directors of Marketing, Heads of New Product Development and New Service Development, Strategy Directors, Chief Technology Officers, Government advisers and policy makers.

Project Managing E-learning provides an essential framework, based on the globally accepted IPECC model, for planning, designing, delivering, managing and evaluating e-learning projects successfully. It focuses on practical, easy-to-understand methods and offers applications of project management principles in the real world. Illustrated by case studies of projects undertaken in business and academia it provides a step-by-step guide and highlights where projects typically fail.

Each chapter begins with a definition and conceptualisation of the process, provides examples of how the process steps may vary dependent on organization or project size and discusses the typical problems organisations face when performing steps in the project management process.

Covering all of the essentials as well as cutting-edge technology, it guides designers and managers through all stages of implementing and managing a project. Selected themes include:

• using focus groups
• gaining sponsors
• risk management
• pedagogical considerations
• testing
• quality control
• how to know when trouble is imminent
• PM software systems
• podcasting.

The practical framework and sound advice offered in Project Managing E-learning is essential reading for all those who want to successfully implement and manage high quality e-learning in both academic and corporate training settings on time and to budget.

This book explores critical perspectives on ageing in organisations and offers both managerial and workplace practices for dealing with this prominent issue. The collection provides cross-disciplinary research on the discursive and mythological aspects of ageing at work as well as recent studies of the relationship between age and innovation, talent, careers, and workplace transitions. The book brings together authors from Europe, North America and Australia. By addressing current societal challenges and offering insights on ageing at work, this book will be of interest to those involved in human resource management, workplace organisation and the sociology of work.

People play a vital part in the success of projects, initiatives and organisations, yet traditional project management sources offer limited guidance and insights that extend beyond technical roles and prescriptions. Leading the Project Revolution delves into the dynamics of people, teams and organisations exploring their impact on leadership, strategy, success and achievement. The book offers a progressive agenda for improving project practice, enabling the dialogue to advance from the typical coverage of static toolsets towards an understanding of flexible mindsets. Flexibility, agility and resilience are addressed as the social, cultural and complexity dimensions of leadership, strategy, organisations and project execution are examined and practical insights are synthesised into pragmatic models and frameworks. The volume brings together some of the best writing by leading authorities on teams, leadership, corporate culture, human behaviour, organisational dynamics, psychology, complexity, strategy, execution, innovation, social media and decision sourcing.

Project success requires a solid understanding and proper implementation of the tools, techniques, and principles of project management. A reference for both the novice and expert project manager, The Project Manager's Emergency Kit provides you with everything you will need to get your project off to a solid start and overcome any emergencies that may arise during the project life cycle. It supplies you with over 200 project management tools, techniques, and principles arranged in alphabetical order. The text provides guidance on how to complete projects on time and within budget while meeting the needs of your customers. It presents easy-to-follow project planning steps covering the responsibilities, work breakdown structures, time and cost estimating, scheduling, resource allocation, and budgeting. The Project Manager's Emergency Kit provides you with straightforward guidelines that will help you overcome any challenges that may arise and deliver a product or service that will satisfy everyone who has a stake in the outcome of your project.

Managing a software development project is a complex process. There are lots of deliverables to produce, standards and procedures to observe, plans and budgets to meet, and different people to manage. Project management doesn't just start and end with designing and building the system. Once you've specified, designed and built (or bought) the system it still needs to be properly tested, documented and settled into the live environment. This can seem like a maze to the inexperienced project manager, or even to the experienced project manager unused to a particular environment.A Hacker's Guide to Project Management acts as a guide through this maze. It's aimed specifically at those managing a project or leading a team for the first time, but it will also help more experienced managers who are either new to software development, or dealing with a new part of the software life-cycle. This book:describes the process of software development, how projects can fail and how to avoid those failuresoutlines the key skills of a good project manager, and provides practical advice on how to gain and deploy those skillstakes the reader step-by-step through the main stages of the project, explaining what must be done, and what must be avoided at each stagesuggests what to do if things start to go wrong!The book will also be useful to designers and architects, describing important design techniques, and discussing the important discipline of Software Architecture.This new edition:has been fully revised and updated to reflect current best practices in software developmentincludes a range of different life-cycle models and new design techniquesnow uses the Unified Modelling Language throughout

It is essential for a corporation to not only survive but thrive in today's global outsourcing environment. The Insider's Guide to Outsourcing Risks and Rewards is a comprehensive and accessible resource that assists an organization in deciding whether it will benefit from pursuing-or not pursuing-such an endeavor. The author, an 18-year veteran of the IT industry, is an experienced consultant, software developer, manager, and entrepreneur. Providing an authoritative and unbiased view, he helps the reader navigate through a number of offshore outsourcing issues related to software management and international business. He examines the potential benefits derived from offshore outsourcing, as well as the possible pitfalls and how to avoid them as they apply to an organization's particular situation. Offering a unique combination of technical and political insight, The Insider's Guide to Outsourcing Risks and Rewards is the one resource to have when trying to figure out your organization's next step.

Commissioned by the Cabinet Office and using hitherto untapped British Government records, this book presents an in-depth analysis of the successful project of 1986-94.
This is a vivid portrayal of the complexities of quadripartite decision-making (two countries, plus the public and private sectors), revealing new insights into the role of the British and French Governments in the process. This important book, written by Britain's leading transport historian, will be essential reading for all those interested in PPPs, British and European economic history and international relations.
The building of the Channel Tunnel has been one of Europe's major projects and a testimony to British-French and public-private sector collaboration. However, Eurotunnels current financial crisis provides a sobering backcloth for an examination of British Governments long-term flirtation with the project, and, in particular, the earlier Tunnel project in the 1960s and early 1970s, which was abandoned by the British Government in 1975.

Program Evaluation 3rd edition has the hallmarks of thoroughness, insight and fluency of other editions but brings us up to date with a map of the evaluation territory new travelers will find invaluable.'Professor Murray Saunders, UK and European Evaluation Societies John Owen's Program Evaluation helps practitioners clarify distinctions between what we evaluate, the various motivations for conducting evaluation, and the approaches attendant to each. Timely evaluation examples liberally sprinkled throughout this book make it exceptionally useful and helpful to practitioners. I highly recommend Program Evaluation.'Professor Marvin Alkin, UCLA Graduate School of Education + Information StudiesEveryone involved with policy and program development and delivery is being asked to plan more carefully, reflect more critically and justify their decisions. The key to this is evaluation. Program Evaluation offers a conceptual yet straightforward and practical overview of the evaluation process for both beginners and experienced practitioners. It shows evaluators how to identify appropriate forms, approaches and methods, using an original framework. John Owen examines the contributions of evaluation to program provision, and offers proven techniques for involving stakeholders in the planning process and for disseminating the evaluation findings.This third edition has been thoroughly revised to incorporate recent research on evaluation and new examples of good practice. It includes sections of management of evaluation, negotiating evaluation plans, program logic and ex ante evaluation, evidence based practice, performance management and accountability.With international examples from a range of health, education, welfare, community and other settings, Program Evaluation is an essential reference for anyone involved in evaluation in both the public and private sectors.

Project management is widely used in the construction industry and is central to planning and controlling time, costs and resources. This book enables readers to perform more effectively, to understand project planning and control procedures and to gain an insight into the associated skills. Numerous case examples from diverse industries and exercises support and illustrate important concepts. The result is a new perspective for project managers: planning can be shown to be a systems synthesis or an inverse problem, which provides a way to reach a satisfactory solution, avoiding the time-consuming or impractical search for the optimal solution.

Sometimes unanticipated threats or opportunities create a situation in which work is required unexpectedly. On these occasions, such urgent and unexpected work demands an instant start, in contrast to the often lengthy processes of investigation, evaluation, development, selection and planning normal in businesses and public services before the start of a project. Managing the Urgent and Unexpected explores what is different managerially if work is unexpected, its implementation is urgent and an immediate start it is required. The authors draw on twelve cases ranging from the launch of the Freeview television system in the United Kingdom to the sifting and removal of the New York World Trade Center pile of debris following the 9/11 terrorist attack. They summarise how the response to each of these events was managed, demonstrate that opportunities may sometimes be created in the face of adversity and suggest how normal organizations can prepare to manage abnormal demands. Urgent and unexpected projects have to be rare in business or government to be economically and socially tolerable. And yet organizations can and should be prepared for the unexpected. The lessons offered here will help private and public organizations plan how to authorize and support future urgent work to take advantage of immediate new business opportunities or to protect or restore systems and services.

Despite two decades of investment in project management as many as 80 per cent of business change and IT projects continue to rack up cost overruns and fail to deliver their expected benefits. Business people who must have more certainty in their project investments will find this book refreshing. It contains commonsense but groundbreaking techniques that deal with just this challenge. The authors, far from rejecting current methods, take an imaginative approach to encapsulating established best practices such as PRINCE2 (TM) within a framework of new thinking, innovative techniques and hard-nosed portfolio management. This book shows how project sponsors can radically improve the certainty of getting the benefits that they want and accelerate their projects to get them sooner rather than later (or never). Finance and portfolio managers will find techniques that provide them with the means for drilling down and tracking not only the costs, but also the cash values of project benefits, both tangible and intangible. Business people and project managers will find ideas here that enable them to create and control change in communities of stakeholders; which is the ultimate aim of the organizations that are investing time, resources and money in projects of this kind. Accelerating Business and IT Change is essential reading for anyone seeking to define the nature and value of what they expect from their projects, set realistic implementation schedules and then ensure that all the intended benefits are realized. Important: The CD version of this product requires a Java Run Time environment. If you are planning to use the CD in your office please check with your IT Department to make sure you will be able to use it.

Developing and Leading Emergence Teams describes a future business landscape that seems to be complicated, complex and chaotic, in almost equal measures. The variety and diversity of the environments within which large organizations will be seeking to operate, require a similar variety of systems, process and structures if they are to respond successfully to emerging opportunities. The established models of teamworking (matrix, cross-functional or transdisciplinary) can all adapt to this new environment but will only do so if the culture, leadership and management style of the business enables this. The authors describe a model of emergence teams; high-trust teams that exhibit exceptional affinity for knowledge sharing, sense making, and consensus building. They then explore the specifics of leading such a team, how the team leader should: design the team; interact and facilitate the team's development; understand the personal nature of each of the team members and the overall emotional regime that will affect trust, commitment and motivation. Peter Smith and Tom Cockburn draw on research and detailed case examples to provide techniques your organization can adopt in order to build and support the various teams capable of addressing complexity.

Filled with practical advice for all aspects of the construction manager's role, this invaluable book fills a need for training in this essential subject, to ensure greater efficiency on site and smoother client-contractor relations.

Developed as a handy-reference guide for practitioners and also useful for students, it covers the broad range of responsibilities associated with the role, providing clear guidance and in-depth coverage of the essentials. Topics include financial responsibilities and how to handle them, tender preparation, people management, health and safety, contracts, subcontracting, measurement and quantities, insurance and risk and many more simple and effective methods for turning construction projects into reality.

Capital investments consume approximately 20% of the annual GNP of developed countries. It is therefore important to allocate capital funds to such projects in the most effective and efficient way. This text presents the techniques needed by engineers of all disciplines and by managers at every organizational level to participate in the process through which capital projects, both in the public and private sectors, are selected (or should be) for implementation. The techniques are grounded in a management science known as engineering economics. They have been refined and further developed by the application of probability theory. There are problems at the end of each chapter for self-study and for teacher-assisted skills development. The arrangement of the text makes it easy for use in both one- and two-semester courses. We believe you will find the text both readable and instructive. It will enable you not only to participate in the capital selection process when you have the opportunity to do so but also to critique the capital spending plans of the private and public organizations in which you share an interest.