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Books > Business & Economics > Business & management > Management & management techniques > Project management
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.
This book is quite simply about contract administration using the JCT contracts. The key features of the new and updated edition continue to be its brevity, readability and relevance to everyday practice. It provides a succinct guide written from the point of view of a construction practitioner, rather than a lawyer, to the traditional form of contract with bills of quantities SBC/Q2016, the design and build form DB2016 and the minor works form MWD2016. The book broadly follows the sequence of producing a building from the initial decision to build through to completion. Chapters cover: Procurement and tendering Payments, scheduling, progress and claims Contract termination and insolvency Indemnity and insurance Supply chain problems, defects and subcontracting issues Quality, dealing with disputes and adjudication How to administer contracts for BIM-compliant projects JCT contracts are administered by a variety of professionals including project managers, architects, engineers, quantity surveyors and construction managers. It is individuals in these groups, whether experienced practitioner or student, who will benefit most from this clear, concise and highly relevant book.
The concept of sustainability has grown in recognition and importance. The pressure on companies to broaden their reporting and accountability from economic performance for shareholders, to sustainability performance for all stakeholders is leading to a change of mindset in consumer behaviour and corporate policies. How can we develop prosperity without compromising the life and needs of future generations? Sustainability in Project Management explores and identifies the questions surrounding the integration of the concepts of sustainability in projects and project management and provides valuable guidance and insights. Sustainability relates to multiple perspectives, economical, environmental and social, but also to responsibility and accountability and values in terms of ethics, fairness and equality. The authors will inspire project managers to be aware of these considerations, and to apply them to the role they play in projects, not just 'doing things right' but 'doing the right things right'.
Project Management for Performance Improvement Teams (or, PM4PITs, for short) provides practical guidance based on innovative concepts for project teams -- especially Performance Improvement Teams (PITs)-and their Project Managers on how to successfully complete individual projects and programs using an ingenious and scalable framework based on an innovative foundation fusing together elements of Project Management, Innovation Management, and Continual Improvement. This book lays out how Project and Program Managers and their teams can "do those right projects the right way," one project at a time. It details what continual improvement, change, and innovation are, why they are so important, and how they apply to performance improvement-both incremental and transformative. The authors examine the four types of work and workforce management in organizations, Strategic, Operations, Projects, and Crises, using four common comparative variables: Proactive/Preventive versus Reactive/Corrective, Temporary/Unique versus Ongoing/Repetitive, Innovative versus Maintaining the Status Quo, and Schedule Focus: Fiscal Year versus Short Term versus Long Term. These comparisons set the stage for the uniqueness of the third type: Projects (and Programs) that are fundamentally change-driven.
The field of project management has developed over the past 40 years; however, the recent increase in computer power has greatly accelerated its theoretical and computational developments. Advanced Models for Project Management is an expository treatment of the recent developments in project modeling. These advances and their treatment in the book are as follows: Chapters 2 and 3 broaden the concept of precedence and the description of activities to produce a wide range of realistic representation of projects. Chapters 4 and 5 explore the stochastic study of project features through several analytical and numerical models - using simulation and risk analysis - which provide experimental and forecasting analyses. Chapter 6 examines the allocation of resources in complex situations and restrictions, and also studies the financial aspects of projects and optimization of financial elements. Chapter 7 assesses and evaluates projects within the framework of multi-criteria decision theory. Chapter 8 concludes with an analysis of new models based on synthetic indicators, helping the operations manager select the most convenient solutions. Hence, the book provides a number of original advances, including: an assessment of the complexity and hardness of a project network; a description of the network's morphology; a new approach to simulate project networks; development of models based on continuous variables to optimize project schedules; and the development of a three-dimension model (MACMODEL) to assess and to evaluate projects and a new synthetic indicator to support the process of scheduling. Finally, several software products are presented that help the project manager to use new tools suchas RISKNET and MACMODEL.
In all but the smallest of projects the project sponsor inevitably has to buy in the goods and services of other suppliers. This requires people to make contracts so that they know the basis on which they are working with each other and to deal with any disagreements that subsequently arise. So a knowledge of contracting specifically for project management is essential if a project is to avoid difficulties and reach a successful conclusion. This book concentrates specifically on the contracting issues that surround projects of any size.
The literature on family business has developed significantly over the last years. However, efforts remain to summarize and systematize the main aspects that affect the behavior of this type of company. In this regard, the topic of strategic management has been developed. In this sense, it is especially important to recognize how the family decisively influences the behavior of the company and also to identify how the existence of the company affects family dynamics. Those who manage family businesses, whether family or not, must reconcile both perspectives (business and family) in the definition of strategic objectives, allowing sustainability and continuity in this type of organization. Challenges and Opportunities for the Strategic Management of Family Businesses provides emerging research that covers how strategic management in the family business has been developed and identifies the objectives that sustain this strategic behavior, the main areas of analysis (family and business), the definition of strategies, and their implementation. Also, the authors of this book review the different scenarios for family firms and propose strategies to tackle the challenges and seize the possibilities to grow in a competitive and dynamic environment. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as human capital, organizational leadership, and knowledge creation, this book is ideally designed for family firms, managers, advisors, consultants, policymakers, business professionals, executives, entrepreneurs, researchers, academicians, and students.
In Using Hoshin Kanri to Improve the Value Stream, leading lean and quality expert Elizabeth Cudney constructs a complete how-to guide that any organization can employ to start a Lean effort correctly and keep it on track. Rooted in practical examples garnered over years of hand-on practice, she illustrates the key principles of lean and value, and then shows you how to put them to work. Cudney points out that organizations often fail at improvement because they go after symptomatic problems rather than the faulty system-wide processes at the root of those problems. She shows you how to avoid this common misstep by using value stream mapping to create a current-state map. Done properly, this map will help everyone in your organization come to understand just how they deliver value to customers and where flawed processes cause them to fall short. The next step is to create a future-state map that defines best processes. While that may seem easy, reaching the goals of future-state maps requires a highly disciplined effort. At this point, Hoshin Kanri -- the art of policy deployment can make a crucial impact. Hoshin Kanri encourages a systems approach that focuses on the long-term strategy of an organization. As much as defining a methodology, it inspires a positive mindset within your organization by starting with improvements that affect flow across the entire organization. In addition to improving the delivery of value, changes with broad impact will catch people s attention, encourage their involvement and increase the momentum of improvement. Chapter by chapter, this book defines the key tools, such as Six Sigma, 5S, and mistake proofing, that your organization can employ to initiate needed process improvements.
For some organizations, Lessons Learned (LL) is an informal process of discussing and recording project experiences during the closure phase. For others, LL is a formal process that occurs at the end of each phase of a project. Regardless of when they are performed, if you are a project team member, chances are you will soon be required to present an evaluation of your project using Lessons Learned. Presenting new information that updates the award-winning first edition, The Basics of Project Evaluation and Lessons Learned, Second Edition supplies practical guidance on conducting project Lessons Learned. The first edition won the Project Management Institute's (PMI (R)) David I. Cleland Project Management Literature Award. Following in the footsteps of its popular predecessor, this second edition provides an easy-to-follow, systematic approach to conducting Lessons Learned on a project. Updated to align with the PMBOK (R) Guide, Fifth Edition Includes three new chapters-PRINCE2 (R), Agile Retrospectives, and Knowledge Transfer- in response to information requests from readers of the first edition from around the world Enhanced with valuable new resources in the Project Evaluation Resource Kit (PERK) found on the downloadable resources, including a fully functional MS Access Lessons Learned Database The research in this book is based on four years of doctoral dissertation research and is supported by renowned experts in the field of evaluation. The concepts covered are applicable to all types of organizations that implement projects and need to conduct Lessons Learned. Providing tools and techniques for active engagement, the text is founded on the principles of conducting project evaluations as recommended by the Project Management Institute (PMI), the world's leading not-for-profit membership association for the project management profession, and PRINCE2 (R) (Project in Controlled Environments version 2), a major governing body of project management. Simplifying and formalizing the methodology of conducting LL in projects, the contents of this book will help organizations, large and small, more effectively implement processes and systems to support effective LL. The text is supported by a Project Evaluation Resource Kit (PERK), which is found in the downloadable resources.
"This well-organized reference presents complete and explicit instructions on exactly what to do to manage multiple small projects -- using limited resources -- in any industry. The hands-on methods -- derived from proven successes in every type of business -- specifically address the needs of the nonspecialist project manager, and are highly effective for professionals who coordinate multiple projects of any kind. "
Providing a first tentative understanding of novelty and a set of implications for organizations to manage it, this book focuses on the potential offered by emergent novelty, namely novelty which is neither designed nor pursued. The author asks how organizations might increase their abilities and strategies to benefit from its early recognition. Such potential is broken down into positive terms and demonstrates how early recognition is beneficial both to organizations which aim to seize emergent innovations as well as those which aim to avoid emergent disasters. Understanding Novelty in Organizations aims to rethink the structure and strategies of organizations to gain a new balance between design and randomness in the generation of novelty. The varied perspectives presented in this work will engage scholars interested in novelty, innovation and creativity, and emergency management.
Completely revised throughout for this second edition, Managing Quality in Architecture addresses the new ISO 9001 standards after the significant 2015 revision. ISO 9001 is the global standard for quality, and firms certified under the 2008 edition have three years to upgrade their quality systems to the new Standard. This book helps architects, engineers and other designers working in the built environment to develop appropriate quality systems that meet the requirements of the international Standard. Importantly, the 2015 Standard integrates risk management with quality, something that earlier versions did not. Risk is an extremely important factor in professional design practice, and this important element is fully explored in the new edition. Similarly, the role of BIM in quality management is addressed as an integral part of practice. International contributions from the USA and Australia provide expertise in each topic, and case studies from the USA, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the United Nations Office of Project Services provide easy-to-follow illustrations of the important areas to understand. The focus is completely practical, rather than theoretical, affording readers a concise picture of how the issues of excellence and quality performance flow across every aspect of design practice.
Grounded in practicality, this book explains the procedures for running a successful project and highlights the finer points of managing and controlling the project. Written specifically for those responsible for the hands-on managing of projects, the book is also useful to overall program managers and senior executives. Project managers will gain the confidence that comes from following a good recipe for success. Program managers will gain a perspective on the myriad of activities their project managers must perform to achieve a well-disciplined project. Senior managers will gain a perspective of the approach necessary at the beginning of a project to reduce the number of ill-advised projects and the effort required to achieve successful projects.
Preparing for and passing the PMP(R) exam is no small feat. Although the number of certified PMP(R)s continues at a phenomenal rate, the exam failure rate remains uncommonly high. PMP(R) Exam Challenge! is designed to help you pass the exam by giving you an easy-to-use, highly portable publication, containing key relevant topics you are certain to encounter on your exam. Featuring 660 practice questions, this sixth edition completely reflects the PMBOK(R) Guide, Fifth Edition and covers the guide's ten knowledge areas.
Up to date with the third edition of PMI's Program Management Standard, The PgMP(R) Exam Challenge! contains more than 300 practice questions to help readers hone their knowledge and test their skills. It covers all five of the program management domains: Strategic Program Management, Program Management Life Cycle, Benefits Management, Stakeholder Management, and Governance. It also examines all of the sub domains of the lifecycle domain. With an easy-to-use format, this is an ideal resource for those preparing to take the PgMP exam.
Through a series of detailed case studies from East Asia, Arup, one of the global leaders in tall building design, presents the latest developments in the field to inspire more innovative and sustainable ideas in tall building design and engineering. This book exhibits the key design aspects of tall buildings in 20 case studies, from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Japan. Chapters cover design and construction, safety concerns, sustainability strategies, BIM and optimisation solutions, and include contributions from the actual project engineers. The projects chosen are not the tallest buildings, but all of them have been selected for their significant engineering insights and values. Arup's engineers explain the design principles, and how they overcame various design constraints and challenges, while exceeding their clients' expectations. Unique examples include: the design and application of a hybrid outrigger system in the Raffles City Chongqing project the challenges encountered in the construction of the CCTV Headquarters, Beijing as well as Tianjin's Goldin Finance 117 Tower, Ho Chi Minh City's Vincom Landmark 81, the China Resources Headquarters, Ping An IFC, Tokyo's Nicolas G Hayek Center and the Shanghai World Financial Centre. These varied and complex cases studies draw on multi-disciplinary design and engineering challenges which make this book essential reading for architects, structural engineers, project managers and researchers of high-rise buildings. The book also provides a usual reference and link between practitioners in the industry, academia and engineering students.
The main goal of this book is to help organizations improve their effort estimates and effort estimation processes by providing a step-by-step methodology that takes them through the creation and validation of models that are based on their own knowledge and experience. Such models, once validated, can then be used to obtain predictions, carry out risk analyses, enhance their estimation processes for new projects and generally advance them as learning organizations. Emilia Mendes presents the Expert-Based Knowledge Engineering of Bayesian Networks (EKEBNs) methodology, which she has used and adapted during the course of several industry collaborations with different companies world-wide over more than 6 years. The book itself consists of two major parts: first, the methodology's foundations in knowledge management, effort estimation (with special emphasis on the intricacies of software and Web development) and Bayesian networks are detailed; then six industry case studies are presented which illustrate the practical use of EKEBNs. Domain experts from each company participated in the elicitation of the bespoke models for effort estimation and all models were built employing the widely-used Netica tool. This part is rounded off with a chapter summarizing the experiences with the methodology and the derived models. Practitioners working on software project management, software process qualityor effort estimation and risk analysis in general will find a thorough introduction into an industry-proven methodology as well as numerous experiences, tips and possible pitfalls invaluable for their daily work."
This book shines a spotlight on two missing foci of authentic leadership research: international and follower perspectives. The concept of 'authenticity' has been in vogue since the times of Greek philosophy, but it wasn't until the 1990s that leadership scholars seriously began to study the topic of authentic leadership. This new collection brings together empirical research and theoretical contributions to provide insights into the follower perspectives of authentic leadership around the world. Covering topics such as leader self-awareness, gender, psychological capital, embodied leadership and followership, and unethical conduct, the book features a Foreword written by William L. Gardner, one of the original scholars on authentic leadership.
It is all too easy to discuss organizational change in abstraction, particularly when you are dealing with large corporations with wide product ranges across global markets. But somewhere within these structures there are people, and it is often the human aspects of change that are the most difficult to manage. Martin Orridge's guide explores these aspects and explains how we, as leaders, can help everyone cope with change and in turn ensure our organization's long-term survival. The main parts of Change Leadership are based on the author's research and include models, advice and exercises for understanding and enabling personal and organizational change. To further assist you, Chapter 3 contains 75 actions and activities to sustain transformation in your organization. Successful organizational change also requires discipline and the application of good management techniques. Good planning, checking on progress and capturing the learning are key to introducing successful change and developing an organization's capabilities, therefore Chapter 4 will assist the change leader to appreciate the main aspects of managing successful change projects. This concise guide is an engaging but rigorous read for change leaders. Whether this is your primary role or whether you need to reflect on and manage the human factors of a business project for which you are responsible, Change Leadership will help you better understand the nature of change and, in doing so, develop a Change-Adept 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.
The general perception amongst most project and risk managers that we can somehow control the future is, says David Hancock, one of the most ill-conceived in risk management. The biggest problem is how to measure risks in terms of their potential likelihood, their possible consequences, their correlation and the public's perception of them. The situation is further complicated by identifying different categories of problem types; Tame problems (straight-forward simple linear causal relationships and can be solved by analytical methods), and 'messes' which have high levels of system complexity and have interrelated or interdependent problems needing to be considered holistically. However, when an overriding social theory or social ethic is not shared the project or risk manager also faces 'wickedness'. Wicked problems are characterised by high levels of behavioural complexity, but what confuses real decision-making is that behavioural and dynamic complexities co-exist and interact in what is known as wicked messes. Tame, Messy and Wicked Risk Leadership will help professionals understand the limitations of the present project and risk management techniques. It introduces the concepts of societal benefit and behavioural risk, and illustrates why project risk has followed a particular path, developing from the basis of engineering, science and mathematics. David Hancock argues for, and offers, complimentary models from the worlds of sociology, philosophy and politics to be added to the risk toolbox, and provides a framework to understand which particular type of problem (tame, messy, wicked or messy and wicked) may confront you and which tools will provide the greatest potential for successful outcomes. Finally he introduces the concept of 'risk leadership' to aid the professional in delivering projects in a world of uncertainty and ambiguity. Anyone who has experienced the pain and blame of projects faced with overruns of time or money, dissatisfied stakeholders or
Leadership success depends on clarifying and simplifying complex problems while maintaining a positive outlook. Change or Die - The Business Process Improvement Manual provides you with the tools to do so. Packed with more than 70 pages of workshop tools, agendas, and activities that detail each of the six stages of the business process improvement (BPI) method, it presents a BPI method that promotes the use of facilitator-led workshops to help you and your team make better decisions. Developed from empirical research and bolstered by the results of client experience from hundreds of hours of facilitated workshops and BPI activity, Change or Die employs the authors' ENGAGE methodology. To ensure your team achieves its deliverables, the authors walk you through each BPI method. In each chapter you will find: Objectives and deliverables clearly identified Real-world examples from companies the authors have worked with-presented using a global manufacturer as an example Activities, questionnaires, and examples A self-assessment tool to help you measure progress, identify gaps in team performance, and determine team readiness for the next stage This resource-rich book includes downloadable resources with supplemental activities, challenges, facilitated workshops, templates, tables, and questionnaires-tools designed to ease each participant's path to project success.
Project Management covers the full range of issues of vital concern to IT managers working in today's hurry-up, budget-conscious business environment. The handbook provides valuable advice and guidance on how to get projects finished on-time, within budget, and to the complete satisfaction of users, whether a high-tech, low-tech, financial, manufacturing, or service organization. Project Management Handbook brings together contributions from an all-star team of more than 40 of experts working at leading enterprise organizations and consulting firms across America, and around the world. With the help of dozens of fascinating and instructive case studies and vignettes, reporting experiences in a wide range of business sectors, those experts share their insights and experience and extrapolate practicable guidelines and actions steps that project managers can put to work on their current projects.
Are projects a problem for you? Do your projects cost too much, take too long, or are just not quite right? If so, Project Management Simplified: A Step-by-Step Process is the book for you. It applies well-defined processes for managing projects to managing change in our lives. It describes an approach modeled on a process used successfully in businesses, not-for-profit organizations, schools, and other organizations. The skills and techniques are not unique to businesses and organizations; they are life skills available to everyone. There are a number of structured approaches that guide the successful completion of projects in business environments. This book translates these processes and techniques such that nonproject managers can easily use these proven approaches in a nonbusiness context for their own projects. It removes technical jargon, the need for computer software and hardware, and complicated organizational environments, describing the essential project management processes in a simple, straightforward manner. As you progress through the book, you connect the dots necessary to complete your personal projects. A sample project in the text and a case study in the appendices further illustrate the concepts explained in the text. The author challenges you to select a project and, working along with the book, be the project manager and develop a project plan. By working with customers and funders of the project, defining the project, identifying how long it will take, and determining its cost, you will develop the expertise to define project goals and create a plan to reach them.
Innovation Project Management Handbook provides organizational leaders and decision-makers with a cadre of agile, disciplined, and transformational tools and processes for improving innovation opportunity outcomes and achieving sustained innovation project success. The authors introduce new tools and processes developed over their decades of work in the field of innovation that assist organizations in aligning innovation opportunity decisions with their core competencies, business objectives, and strategic vision. In concert with accepted tools already in use today, you are provided a detailed description of each tool and process in an "easy to follow" format with actual application scenarios and exercises. The handbook begins with an innovation primer and introductory discussion on how the authors evolved the original ENOVALE model into the N2OVATE methodology. An overview of how to select a project for each type of innovation opportunity is provided, followed by an in-depth, step-by-step discussion on how to implement each innovation process type. Based on innovative outcomes, the authors identify seven unique processes, each having its own unique circumstances. This allows you to tailor the processes and associated tool-sets to the needs of your organization and situation. After selecting one of the seven processes that fit your desired innovation outcome, you simply follow the detailed process maps provided in the applicable chapter to achieve a desired outcome. In doing so, you will learn how to use, adapt, and improve the tools and techniques offered in the handbook to achieve a positive innovation outcome and add value to your organization, customers, stakeholders, and shareholders. |
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