Project Management eBook

This is the eBook version of the printed book. If the print book includes a CD-ROM, this content is not included within the eBook version.

Now, one of the field’s leading experts brings together all the knowledge and resources you need to use APM in your next project. Jim Highsmith shows why APM should be in every manager’s toolkit, thoroughly addressing the questions project managers raise about Agile approaches. He systematically introduces the five-phase APM framework, then presents specific, proven tools for every project participant. Coverage includes:

* Six principles of Agile Project Management
* How to capitalize on emerging new product development technologies
* Putting customers at the center of your project, where they belong
* Creating adaptive teams that respond quickly to changes in your project’s “ecosystem”
* Which projects will benefit from APM—and which won’t
* APM’s five phases: Envision, Speculate, Explore, Adapt, Close
* APM practices, including the Product Vision Box and Project Data Sheet
* Leveraging your PMI skills in Agile environments
* Scaling APM to larger projects and teams
* For every project manager, team leader, and team member

"OK, let's go around the room and everyone tell one interesting fact about yourself." "Bill, just fall backwards off this platform and let your team catch you!" "So how do we become a better team?" Any of you who have attended team offsites may recognize some variation of the above phrases. With the primary purpose of building teamwork, offsites became very popular in the 90's and are a mainstay in many organizational environments. I've seen very mixed success in the offsites I have both attended as a team member and facilitated as a leader. Some of the offsites were great at inspiring the team and driving positive change in the organization, while others had as much impact as trying to bring down an alligator with a pea-shooter. In looking at my successes and failures in managing offsites, I've come to realize that team offsites held for the sole purpose of building teamwork in an organization just don't work well. Sure, there may be some great feel-good things that happen at the offsite and a couple of friendships may develop. That is all fine and good. What really makes a team offsite hum, though, is when team building is coupled with organizational direction setting or problem solving. Not only are the team-building benefits realized, but the team is putting the team-building to work in real-time by addressing real, meaty business issues. After the offsite is done and the team goes back to the office, the team-building can be reinforced through the implementation of the ideas unearthed at the offsite. When this is done well, team-building shifts from being a separate and distinct activity to something that is woven into the fabric of what the team does on a day to day basis. In this Leading on the EdgeT Action Guide I will focus on five fundamental requirements leaders should follow which will result in effective team offsites. These requirements are based on years of conducting successful offsites as well as quite a few that were major duds. I learned some major lessons through both the successes and failures which helped me run more effective team offsites. I hope these lessons learned will be helpful to you as well. Leading on the Edge TAction Guide Focus Topics Topic #1 - Have a clearly stated business purpose for the offsite Topic #2 - Don't forget recess time Topic #3 - Provide plenty of time for unstructured networking Topic #4 - Don't make the team work overtime to make up the time spent at the offsite Topic #5 - Put together a follow-up plan to continue work from the offsite

In Project Management: Achieving the Bottom Line Succe$$ author William J. Pinkerton explains the strategic thinking, planning, development, and testing processes that must take place to ensure a project's success--and necessity--before it's even approved.

Does your organization want to achieve success in prioritizing projects systematically, deliberately, and logically? Project Portfolio Management Tools and Techniques is written to demonstrate how to elevate your organization's project management thinking to the level beyond managing individual projects in a standalone fashion. This book is for those executives and other project professional who strive to have a formalized system of authorizing the right projects and abandoning the wrong projects, who desire to spend resources in the most efficient manner, and who want to have an actionable strategic plan for improving organizational project management sophistication. Project Portfolio Management Tools and Techniques deals with the full spectrum of project portfolio management (PPM) functions, from selecting projects through formalized portfolio management processes to facilitating the successful execution of projects through creating a formalized, project-friendly environment. This book will aid you in the implement of a PPM system, assist in gaining the necessary commitment from executive management, and provide guidelines for the modification of operational practices. Get ahead of the game by seeing a comprehensive project portfolio model that can help you establish yours successfully!

* Completely revised and streamlined for course use including expanded problems and exercises.
* Content has been refocused on the critical aspects of project management.
* Supplemented by instructors packages for both academic use and corporate trainers, includes online PowerPoint(r) presentations, student workbook, instructor's manual, and a new book of case studies.

Project Management JumpStart gives you the solid grounding you need to approach a career in project management with confidence.

* The basic skills of a successful project manager
* Creating project schedules and determining project budgets
* Winning the support of department managers
* Monitoring project progress, resources, and budgets
* Communication and negotiation skills
* Tips for motivating people who don't work for you
* Effective documentation skills for essential project management documents

Many senior managers and management consultants seem to be unaware of the differences between development projects in telecommunications services as opposed to those in equipment design and manufacturing. This book addresses those differences, their interaction with telecommunications deregulation and their consequences on the ability of telecommunications service providers to deliver services on schedule and within budget.

While you might think your project plan is perfect, would you bet your life on it? In World War II, a group of 220 captured airmen did just that -- they staked the lives of everyone in the camp on the success of a project to secretly build a series of tunnels out of a prison camp their captors thought was escape proof. The prisoners formally structured their work as a project, using the project organization techniques of the day. This book analyzes their efforts using modern project management methods and the nine knowledge areas of the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). Learn from the successes and mistakes of a project where people really put their lives on the line.

Running the Successful Hi-Tech Project Office
by Miranda, Eduardo

Project Portfolio Management (PPM) goes beyond the typical project management approach to offer a set of proven business practices that can help executives, program managers, and project managers bring projects into alignment with the strategies, resources, and executive oversight of the overall enterprise. Step by step, this book shows how to take a project from the inception of a vision to the realization of benefits to the organization. Project Portfolio Management draws on project management expert Harvey A. Levine's years of research and distills the knowledge and best practices from dozens of leaders in the field to show how to select and implement the projects that will garner the best results. Throughout this important resource, Levine tackles the many challenges associated with PPM, including Ranking value and benefits Determining the size of the portfolio pipeline Assessing the impact of uncertainty on projects and portfolios Understanding the benefit and risk relationship Establishing a portfolio governance capability Managing the portfolio to maximize benefits Implementing PPM