Stop IT Project Failures


Book Description

This book is about information systems development failures and how to avoid them. It considers what goes wrong with information systems development projects and what actions may be taken to avoid potential difficulties.The reduction of the impact,or even the elimination of the problems,is discussed in terms of an information systems risk management programme. Stop I.T.Project failure helps to ensure that IS project managers are successful in helping to deliver application systems. However, IS development risk can never be entirely eliminated and consequently the practitioner needs to bear in mind that an IS development project is never without risk, and hence there is a continuing potential for something to go wrong. The book covers the key issues and variables and makes specific practical suggestions about the good management practice that is required to implement IS project risk processes. Dr. Dan Remenyi has spent more than 25 years working in the field of corporate computers and information systems. He has worked with computers as an IS professional, business consultant and user. In all these capacities he has been primarily concerned with benefit realisation and obtaining the maximum value for money from the organisations' information systems investment and effort. He has worked extensively in the field of information systems project management, specialising in the area of project risk identification and management. He has written a number of books and papers in the field of IT management and regularly conducts courses and seminars as well as working as a consultant in this area. Dr.Dan Remenyi holds a B.Soc.Sc., an MBA and a PhD. He is a Visiting Professor at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenberg, Sweden and an associate member of faculty at Henley Management College in the United Kingdom.




Fail-Safe Management


Book Description

There are five critical rules to keep in mind in development projects, to avoid implementation failure: If you do not know where you are going, ask the right questions; Keep your champions close, but your naysayers closer; Know that informal networks matter; Find and remove bottlenecks; Build the ship as it sails.




Why Startups Fail


Book Description

If you want your startup to succeed, you need to understand why startups fail. “Whether you’re a first-time founder or looking to bring innovation into a corporate environment, Why Startups Fail is essential reading.”—Eric Ries, founder and CEO, LTSE, and New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Startup and The Startup Way Why do startups fail? That question caught Harvard Business School professor Tom Eisenmann by surprise when he realized he couldn’t answer it. So he launched a multiyear research project to find out. In Why Startups Fail, Eisenmann reveals his findings: six distinct patterns that account for the vast majority of startup failures. • Bad Bedfellows. Startup success is thought to rest largely on the founder’s talents and instincts. But the wrong team, investors, or partners can sink a venture just as quickly. • False Starts. In following the oft-cited advice to “fail fast” and to “launch before you’re ready,” founders risk wasting time and capital on the wrong solutions. • False Promises. Success with early adopters can be misleading and give founders unwarranted confidence to expand. • Speed Traps. Despite the pressure to “get big fast,” hypergrowth can spell disaster for even the most promising ventures. • Help Wanted. Rapidly scaling startups need lots of capital and talent, but they can make mistakes that leave them suddenly in short supply of both. • Cascading Miracles. Silicon Valley exhorts entrepreneurs to dream big. But the bigger the vision, the more things that can go wrong. Drawing on fascinating stories of ventures that failed to fulfill their early promise—from a home-furnishings retailer to a concierge dog-walking service, from a dating app to the inventor of a sophisticated social robot, from a fashion brand to a startup deploying a vast network of charging stations for electric vehicles—Eisenmann offers frameworks for detecting when a venture is vulnerable to these patterns, along with a wealth of strategies and tactics for avoiding them. A must-read for founders at any stage of their entrepreneurial journey, Why Startups Fail is not merely a guide to preventing failure but also a roadmap charting the path to startup success.




Rescue the Problem Project


Book Description

Rescue the Problem Project provides project managers, executives, and customers with ways to accurately assess issues and fix problems. Many books explain how to run a project, but only this one shows how to bring it back from the brink of disaster.




Project Risk Management


Book Description

The book is about RBPS (Risk Based Problem Solving) and RBDM (Risk Based Decision Making). Every project is subjected to the known risks and the unknown risks. Known risks are the four constraints of a project. The four constraints are; scope; schedule; cost; and quality. Unknown risks are the uncertainties and variances that surround every project. The book discusses in detail, with examples and risk stories to support the points made in the book, PM, RM, EVM, and Subcontract Management (SM). Understanding these four disciplines and how to incorporate them into a project, is essential to effective RBPS and RBDM. Project Management knowledge and skills are necessary to manage the known risks. Risk Management knowledge and skills are essential to identifying, assessing and mitigating unknown risks. Earned Value Management is important to tracking and controlling risk mitigation plans. Many companies outsource most of their work scope to subcontractors, so having Subcontract Management knowledge and skills is key to mitigating subcontract risks. The future of work is also discussed in detail. Future work will be projectized more. Working remotely is a trend that is increasing. Project Managers will have a more difficult problem in the future managing a diverse workforce of on-site, remote, and part-time workers. You need to be aware of future trends.The book is structured in a logical sequence and is easy to read. Step by step processes are presented in a logical way with practical examples to help you understand the process. Most of the methods and techniques discussed in the book are based on my DOD experience. However, these techniques also apply to the IT, and Construction Industries.




How to Save a Failing Project


Book Description

You CAN Turn Around A Failing Project! Poor project results are all too common and result in dissatisfied customers, users, and project staff. With countless people, goals, objectives, expectations, budgets, schedules, deliverables, and deadlines to consider, it can be difficult to keep projects in focus and on track. How to Save a Failing Project: Chaos to Control arms project managers with the tools and techniques needed to address these project challenges. The authors provide guidance to develop a project plan, establish a schedule for execution, identify project tracking mechanisms, and implement turnaround methods to avoid failure and regain control. With this valuable resource you will be able to: • Identify key factors leading to failure • Learn how to recover a failing project and minimize future risk • Better analyze your project by defining proper business objectives and goals • Gain insight on industry best practices for planning




HBR Guide to Managing Strategic Initiatives


Book Description

This big initiative could make or break this fiscal year--or your career. Managing a successful strategic initiative may be the key to transforming your company--and propelling your career forward. Yet running a cross-functional team on a high-profile project can present a multitude of challenges and risks, causing even the most experienced manager to struggle. The HBR Guide to Managing Strategic Initiatives provides practical tips and advice to help you manage all the stages of an initiative's life cycle, from buy-in to launch to scaling up. You'll learn how to: Win--and keep--support for your new initiative Move rapidly from approval to implementation Assemble transformative, high-performing initiative teams Maintain the confidence of sponsors and stakeholders Stay on schedule and within budget Avoid initiative overload by killing projects that aren't meeting business needs Keep multiple initiatives in strategic alignment Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, from a source you trust. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.




Project Recovery


Book Description

Best practices for picking up the pieces when projects fail There are plenty of books available offering best practices that help you keep your projects on track, but offer guidance on what to do when the worst has already happened. Some studies show that more than half of all large-scale project fail either fail completely, or at least miss targeted budget and scheduling goals. These failures cost organizations time, money, and labor. Project Recovery offers wise guidance and real-world best practices for saving failed projects and recovering as much value as possible from the wreckage. Since failing project cannot be managed using the same lifecycle phases employed with succeeding projects, most project management professionals are unprepared to tackle the challenge of project recovery. This book presents valuable case studies and a recovery project lifecycle to help project managers identify and respond effectively to a troubled project. Includes case studies and best practices for saving failing projects or recovering projects that have already failed Written by experience project manager Howard Kerzner, the author of Project Management Best Practices, Third Edition Features proven techniques for performing project health checks and determining the degree of failure and the recovery options available Includes a new recovery lifecycle that includes phases and checklists for turning around failing projects With comprehensive case studies, checklists, worksheets, and cross listings to the appropriate project management body of knowledge, Project Recovery offers a much needed lifeline for managers facing the specter of failure.




Radical Project Management


Book Description

Detailing a project management perspective which stresses the involvement of stakeholders, management, and clients, and which accepts as a premise the fact of constant change, this book describes the necessary tools and offers guidance for fitting the strategy to an existing organization. It offers advice on understanding the project's context, analyzing success and added value, defining its scope and objectives, identifying stakeholders, defining quality, selecting a development strategy, navigating risks, estimating tasks, creating a schedule, tracking and reporting, troubleshooting, and ethics. Thomsett is a consultant. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR




Filling Execution Gaps


Book Description

“I expected good, but this is great.” -Janet Pirus Phelps, Principle, Strategic CFO, Former CFO Papa Murphy's Pizza Gaps are holes in your organization where tasks fall and failure breeds. They inhibit your ability to implement strategic plans, lead people, and run successful projects. Daily, executives, middle managers, and project managers wrestle with “the big six”: Absence of common understanding Disengaged executive sponsors Misalignment with goals Poor change management Ineffective governance Lackluster leadership Ignoring any of these gaps endangers any strategy or project. They regularly destroy hundreds of companies’ ability to turn their corporate vision into business value—taking careers with them. Filling Execution Gaps addresses the sources of these gaps, and how to fill them. Without any one of these important functions, projects fail. Without change management, adoption suffers. Without common understanding, there is confusion. Without goals, business units, and capabilities aligned, execution falters. Without executive sponsorship, decisions languish. Too little governance allows bad things to happen, while too much governance creates overburdening bureaucracy. Without leadership at all levels of the organization, people are directionless. Using decades of experience, years of research, and interviews with hundreds of business leaders, author of the Amazon #1 Best Seller in Business Project Management, Rescue the Problem Project, Todd Williams illustrates how to fill these gaps, meet corporate goals, and increase value. An excellent review of this book appears here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/improving-project-execution-filling-gaps-murray-pmp-ms Click below to read an interview with the author: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/filling-organization-gaps-successful-project-part-1-naomi/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/filling-organization-gaps-successful-project-part-2-naomi/?published=t Facebook users can access an interview on “Project Management Cafe” here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/projectmanagementcafe/permalink/1975750702698459/ Related blogs can be accessed here: https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/project-execution https://www.strategyex.co.uk/blog/pmoperspectives/strategy-from-the-bottom-up/ Check out his August 27, 2018 interview here: https://www.yegor256.com/shift-m/2018/34.html Click here for articles by the author on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/we-all-lead-todd-williams/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/your-inner-leader-task-introspection-todd-williams/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leadership-actions-art-listening-todd-williams https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leadership-actions-getting-people-talk-todd-williams/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/eliminating-blame-todd-williams/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leadership-actions-dialog-discussion-todd-williams/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/projects-fail-when-people-dont-know-where-going-todd-williams