Many things in the world are changing more rapidly than ever and levels of global competition have increased dramatically. Clients do not always know what they want in a new system or product and younger workers chafe at old command and control restrictions. These pressures and many others have challenges traditional project management methods. What has emerged is an understanding that for some projects, a new approach is needed. Many people have worked hard and imaginatively developing new approaches. Many of these fall under a broad umbrella called Agile. One difficulty with Agile is that various approaches have been developed and are in use today, both in "pure" form as suggested by their approach and in hybrid form attempting to gain advantages of more than a single approach. Not only that, but the very language of some of the approaches describe the same things differently and sometimes describe not so similar things in a similar manner. Add to that, many successful, experienced project practitioners do not fully understand nor value Agile. We recognize that to capitalize fully on the benefits of Agile, one must first understand the concepts that underpin it. Only then will using the mechanics of Agile yield the sweeping benefits some organizations enjoy. In this book, we first identify the many concepts that various approaches advocate for Agile and group them into a simple, but not dumbed-down system. Then we identify the most common and most useful Agile methods regardless of the approach that promotes them, grouping them logically, and showing how to use them. The result is we have an agnostic Agile model that can be useful to anyone who is either using or considering Agile. Further, the concepts and tools of this book can also be useful to anyone who is in an organization that is using a hybrid project management approach (part Agile and part traditional). Many, if not most, of the mindset concepts can also be of great value for people performing projects in a traditional manner as they attempt to unleash the energy and creativity of their project team members. Both concepts for being Agile and tools for doing Agile are summarized into an easy to follow system.

Project management is seen as a critical skill across a broad range of disciplines. Yet most people, regardless of educational background, have never received training in how to plan, manage, and execute projects. Project Management Essentials, Second Edition, will be the go-to book for tried-and-true project management skills combined with the most current ideas from Agile in a concise, up-to-date, user-friendly format. It follows the project life cycle and provides several ready-to-use templates. A person can use this book to plan and manage a project from start to finish or as a reference for help with one particular component of project management. Alongside each template is a brief description of what each template is, why it is useful, and an example to illustrate it.

There is a need for current, research-based content focused on helping leaders of nonprofit and faith-based organizations to be successful. When compared to the market for new books and publications which discuss success strategies that apply to for-profit organizations, this market is underserved.This book focuses on topics and skills that leaders of non-profit and faith-based organizations, in recent research conducted by the authors, have indicated are needed to achieve success as defined by their organization. Each chapter is written by an expert on the subject dealt with in the chapter and focuses on the core concepts, skills, and techniques that, if mastered, can produce significant positive results.Sixteen topics critical to managers of non-profit or faith-based organizations are covered in the book and grouped into four sections: living the mission, making good decisions, getting things done, and developing the team. This book will be especially valuable to leaders of non-profit and faith-based organizations who have little spare time and want to focus their professional development on areas defined by their peers as critical for success.

Archaeology, the science in charge of studying ancient cultures, is without a doubt one of the most alluring professions in to- day's academic world. It is a versatile and complex discipline requiring a lot of skill expertise from both students and specialists, including the efficient management of team of coworkers, logistics, resources, etc. Project Management for Archaeology is a first approach to students and inexperienced archaeologists striving to better organize, lead, and execute an archaeological project. It also offers great insight and strategies to experienced and "old-school" researchers in order to improve efficiency, leadership, and organizational skills, following the most effective management techniques in the market. Presented with a flexible approach that accommodates all types of archaeological research (from academic to rescue and salvage projects), Project Management for Archaeology is meant to be a practical handbook to be used all along the lifetime of any archaeological project.

This book is intended for executive MBA students, other graduate students, and middle managers through executives in any type of organization. In many organizations executives determine strategy and managers implement it. Unfortunately a gap can exist between the two. This book is aimed to help bridge that gap by including concepts and tools of implementing strategy through carefully identified, aligned, selected, prioritized, resourced, and controlled projects. As such, it can accompany a strategic management text or case. It can also accompany a project management text or approach and be useful to executives and managers in an organization where much of the work is accomplished by projects. Many of the best run organizations have effective methods of identifying, aligning, selecting, prioritizing, resourcing, and controlling the portfolio of projects that collectively best helps them achieve their strategic goals. Furthermore, regular reporting and quarterly updates in planning help to ensure results. Proper application of quality, information technology, and decision-making further help executives prioritize and evaluate projects and their efforts in executing them. Quality management as currently described in the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program lays a foundation for leaders to connect their actions with the needs of customers, using the customer desires to improve their productive systems, information technology, and workforce. Multiple information technology forces are fundamentally changing the way work is accomplished. Information technology coverage includes understanding how an executive might utilize the potential of various information technologies to fundamentally change the way his organization delivers service and how to develop a master plan to implement new technology. Many decisions are best made by considering both quantitative and qualitative data. Therefore, we introduce proven, simple methods of collecting both idea data (qualitative) and quantitative data. We then work through effective methods of making decisions. Executives serving as sponsors can informally ensure project managers understand fully how their projects contribute to strategy. We cover 22 executive sponsor behaviors from our research that correlate to project success if they are performed at the correct time in the project life cycle. Modern project managers work effectively with many stakeholders in a facilitating manner leading the project initiating, planning, implementing, and closing. Collectively these project manager responsibilities require knowledge, skill and judgment. It is important for leaders to understand project manager responsibilities at a high level in order to better oversee the project manager.