A Manager's Guide to Project Management


Book Description

There are plenty of books about project management, but this is the first one written for the people who have the most at stake: the senior executives who will ultimately be held accountable for the successes of the projects they approve and supervise. Top enterprise project management expert Michael Bender explains project management from the perspective that matters most to executives: adding value. Most books view project management from the inside, focusing primarily on lower-level issues, such as the creation of Work Breakdown Structures. A Manager's Guide to Project Management views it from above, explaining how project managers can best achieve the strategic goals of the business; the executive's role in successful project management; and the tools available to executives who want to gain greater value from project management. Drawing on his extensive experience, Bender shows how to: make sure project and enterprise goals align; structure organizations to support more effective project communication and decision making; integrate project processes with other organizational processes; oversee projects more effectively. This book contains a full section on understanding and managing projects as capital investments, including detailed coverage of building balanced project portfolios. Bender concludes with a sophisticated discussion of managing projects in global environments and optimizing resources where multiple projects must be managed.




Managing Projects


Book Description

Managing Projects offers a hands-on resource for building practical competencies for anyone who must manage one or more small- to mid-size projects. The book is filled with targeted processes, tools, techniques, and influencing skills that address the more difficult "people" side of project management. The author shows how to: influence stakeholders 360 degrees around you; encourage accountability from others who do not work for you and have plenty of projects to juggle without adding your priority; negotiate time, cost, quality, and scope with executives; and courageously tell the truth and get the help you need early enough. Praise for Managing Projects "No one knows more about project management than Lou Russell. Her easy coaching style paired with specific methods makes this book a real winner. This is one book all leaders, managers, supervisors, and project leads will use as their essential 'go to' resource." Elaine Biech, ebb associates inc.; bestselling author, The Business of Consulting "Lou Russell has done it again! Managing Projects is comprehensive, practical, and easy to understand and apply to your projects, big or small. The book gives helpful tips and definitions that will enable the reader to move through the project management process with ease. Thanks, Lou, for creating such a great resource." Amy L. Dinning, manager of Leadership and Talent Development, Saint-Gobain North America "Managing Projects is more than a book. It is a workshop between the covers, with one of the finest learning facilitators as your guide. If you find yourself dealing with projects in your work (and whether you know it or not, this is you), using the techniques in this book will make you less stressed and more successful." Kevin Eikenberry, bestselling author, Remarkable Leadership "As the leader of an international logistics company, I know how critical project management is to meeting the needs of our customers. To hit their due dates we have to hit our own, with no excuses. Lou's practical approach to project management fits well into our time-constrained, date-focused workplace. It's simple, it's real, and it works." Cathy Langham, CEO, Langham Logistics




Project Management Absolute Beginner's Guide


Book Description

This is the eBook of the printed book and may not include any media, website access codes, or print supplements that may come packaged with the bound book. Succeed as a project manager, even if you’ve never run a project before! This book is the fastest way to master every project management task, from upfront budgeting and scheduling through execution, managing teams through closing projects, and learning from experience. Updated with more insights from the front lines, including agile approaches, dealing with security and privacy priorities, and leading remote/virtual teams, along with the latest on Microsoft Project and PMI standards and certifications and a special bonus chapter on preparing for the PMP certification. This book will show you exactly how to get the job done, one incredibly clear and easy step at a time. Project management has never, ever been this simple! Who knew how simple project management could be? This is today’s best beginner’s guide to modern project management... simple, practical instructions for succeeding with every task you’ll need to perform! Here’s a small sample of what you’ll learn: • Master the key skills and qualities every project manager needs • Lead projects, don’t just “manage” them • Avoid 15 most common mistakes new project managers make • Learn from troubled, successful, and “recovered” projects • Set the stage for success by effectively defining your project • Build a usable project plan and an accurate work breakdown structure (WBS) • Create budgets and schedules that help you manage risk • Use powerful control and reporting techniques, including earned value management • Smoothly manage project changes, issues, risks, deliverables, and quality • Manage project communications and stakeholder expectations • Organize and lead high-performance project teams • Manage cross-functional, cross-cultural, and virtual projects • Work successfully with vendors and Project Management Offices • Make the most of Microsoft Project and new web-based alternatives • Get started with agile and “critical chain” project management • Gain key insights that will accelerate your learning curve • Know how to respond to real-life situations, not just what they teach you in school




A Project Manager's Guide to Passing the Project Management (PMP) Exam


Book Description

Apply your project management skills to the unique challenges of information technology (IT) projects with strategies developed in the field by experienced IT project managers. Discover critical success factors and hidden risks?and get proven, cost-effective solutions.This book addresses all areas of IT project management: hardware, software, systems integration, and human resources. In addition, the book addresses the role of the project manager at each phase of the project life cycle and helps you to gain the foundation, experience, techniques and tools to manage each stage of your project. You will learn techniques to set goals tied directly to stakeholder needs, get the most from your project management team and utilize project management tools to get work done on time and within budget.Designed for both new and veteran project managers, this book extends traditional project management concepts into the IT arena. You?ll gain an understanding of the strategies and skills necessary to manage IT projects of any size.




Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager (Updated and Revised Edition)


Book Description

No project management training? No problem! In today’s workplace, employees are routinely expected to coordinate and manage projects. Yet, chances are, you aren’t formally trained in managing projects—you’re an unofficial project manager. FranklinCovey experts Kory Kogon and Suzette Blakemore understand the importance of leadership in project completion and explain that people are crucial in the formula for success. This updated and revised edition of Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager offers practical, real-world insights for effective project management and guides you through the essentials of the value, people, and project management process: Scope Plan Engage Track and Adapt Close If you’re struggling to ensure multiple projects are finished with high value and on time, this book is for you. If you manage projects without the benefit of a team, this book is also for you. Change the way you think about project management—"project manager" may not be your official title, but with the right strategies, you can excel in this project economy.




A Survival Guide for Project Managers


Book Description

Seeing a project through to completion involves not just technical knowledge--of tools like Work Breakdown Schedule, Gantt Charts, and Network Analysis--but also human skills, such as the ability to communicate, negotiate, listen, and lead. After all, it's people who do most of the work on projects, and "people problems" can derail even the most meticulously planned project. Practical and user-friendly, A Survival Guide for Project Managers covers both the technical side and the human side. Now in an affordable paperback edition, the book has been revised to reflect the latest version of the PMBOK(r) Guide, and includes new material on topics including Project Risk and the Project Management Office. The book shows readers how to: * develop the interpersonal and business skills required of a project manager * resolve conflicts and improve negotiation capabilities * understand and apply the technical tools of project management * establish project teams, and more Packed with forms and other tools, this is the ultimate resource for project managers




The Influential Project Manager


Book Description

If you want to be a successful project manager, you need to become a person of influence. Without influence, there can be no success as a project manager. And, although all key success criteria point to the importance of developing soft skills as a project manager, few books exist about how to develop the power of influence for achieving better project and business results. Filling this need, The Influential Project Manager: Winning Over Team Members and Stakeholders supplies detailed guidance on how to improve your influence skills to achieve better business results. It explains how to set and meet ambitious goals for you, your team, and your stakeholders. The book describes how to listen actively to influence others and details how you can build partnerships that can pay dividends for a lifetime. Each chapter highlights real-world scenarios about a particular subject linked to the influencing skill being covered. Each chapter also includes practical forms, templates, helpful tips, and best practices to help you develop and refine your skills of influence. Details the ten keys to influencing others to support you and your ideas Outlines techniques for improving your listening skills Includes a trust assessment for determining your level of influence and if others see you as trustworthy Demonstrates how to build a network of informal alliances to achieve success Supplying you with the vision of influence from an experienced project manager’s perspective, this book will help you procure the informal power required to become a successful influencer. After reading the text and performing the trust assessment, you will gain the understanding required to lead project members down the path to project success.




Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers


Book Description

You’ve spent years gathering the technical intelligence you need for this challenging career--now separate yourself from the pack by increasing your emotional intelligence! As recent research has indicated that emotional intelligence (EI) now accounts for 70 to 80 percent of management success, there is no doubt that today’s successful project manager needs strong interpersonal skills and the ability to recognize emotional cues to lead their teams to success--the technical expertise the position depended on so greatly in the past simply isn’t enough anymore! Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers introduces you to all facets of EI and shows how emotions can be leveraged to meet project goals. Project managers strong in technical skills but needing help in the EI department will learn how to: Set the tone and direction for the project Communicate effectively Motivate, inspire, and engage their team Encourage flexibility and collaboration Deal productively with stress, criticism, and change Establish the kind of high morale that attracts top performers Now in its second edition, Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers includes several expanded sections on self-awareness and self-management, as well as a new chapter on using EI to lead Agile Teams and a close look at Servant Leadership.




A Comprehensive Guide to Project Management Schedule and Cost Control


Book Description

Master all the modern project scheduling and cost control techniques you need, in one focused tutorial! Randal Wilson's Project Schedule & Cost Control isn't your typical project management guide: it's 100% focused on the specific principles, techniques, and best-practice methodologies of scheduling and cost control. Wilson illuminates key issues through the extensive use of graphs, charts, case studies, and worked examples; and calls your attention to crucial issues that "generic" PM books ignore. Coverage includes: Project structures, including differences between projects and programs, and how those differences affect costing and scheduling Initiation: how projects start, how to develop project charters and stakeholder registers, and how to manage stakeholders Planning, in depth: what costs must be addressed, and what schedule constraints must be considered Project schedule analysis: activity definition, WBS, and work packages; activity sequencing and diagramming; proven methodologies for estimating resources and activity durations; and schedule development Project cost analysis: gathering and estimating all project costs, including labor, materials, vendor bids, subcontractors, contracts, equipment, facilities, and direct/indirect costs. Budgeting via top-down, bottom-up, and activity-based methods Project monitoring and control: earned value, tracking Gantt, S-Curves, performance reviews, milestone analysis, change control systems, estimate at completion, forecasting, and much more For both project management newcomers and working project managers who need to sharpen their skills