Project Management Case Studies and Lessons Learned


Book Description

Project managers who lead globally dispersed teams face unique challenges in managing project stakeholders, scope, knowledge sharing, schedules, resources, and above all team execution in a global business environment. Finding timely solutions to challenging events becomes more difficult in a global project environment. This book presents more than




Case Studies in Project, Program, and Organizational Project Management


Book Description

The ever expanding market need for information on how to apply project management principles and the PMBOK® contents to day-to-day business situations has been met by our case studies book by Harold Kerzner. That book was a spin-off from and ancillary to his best selling text but has gained a life of its own beyond adopters of that textbook. All indications are that the market is hungry for more cases while our own need to expand the content we control, both in-print and online woudl benefit from such an expansion of project management "case content". The authors propose to produce a book of cases that compliment Kerzner's book. A book that offers cases beyond the general project management areas and into PMI®'s growth areas of program management and organizational project management. The book will be structured to follow the PMBOK in coverage so that it can not only be used to supplement project management courses, but also for self sudy and training courses for the PMP® Exam. (PMI, PMBOK, PMP, and Project Management Professional are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.)




Project Management Case Studies and Lessons Learned


Book Description

Project managers who lead globally dispersed teams face unique challenges in managing project stakeholders, scope, knowledge sharing, schedules, resources, and above all team execution in a global business environment. Finding timely solutions to challenging events becomes more difficult in a global project environment. This book presents more than 80 case studies designed to help project managers craft solutions to the typical problems that can occur in global projects. The author describes surprising, unexpected, and catastrophic cases that he encountered during his 35 years of project management experience in the global arena. The author details the background of each challenging case and then explains how he remedied the issue at hand. Some cases involve a logical step-by-step approach toward a solution, while others require unorthodox steps to get the project on the right track. The book includes lessons learned after every case. This book is designed to help global project managers become more proactive, careful, disciplined, and ready for sudden surprises that can affect their projects. The project cases detailed in this book support and guide the strategizing process that occurs during the execution of global projects. The book emphasizes the importance of documenting lessons learned after each project to prevent making the same mistakes in the future.




Net Zero Energy Buildings


Book Description

This book presents 18 in-depth case studies of net zero energy buildings—low-energy building that generate as much energy as they consume over the course of a year—for a range of project types, sizes, and U.S. climate zones. Each case study describes the owner’s goals, the design and construction process, design strategies, measurement and verification activities and results, and project costs. With a year or more of post-occupancy performance data and other project information, as well as lessons learned by project owners and developers, architects, engineers, energy modelers, constructors, and operators, each case study answers the questions: What were the challenges to achieving net zero energy performance, and how were these challenges overcome? How would stakeholders address these issues on future projects? Are the occupants satisfied with the building? Do they find it comfortable? Is it easy to operate? How can other projects benefit from the lessons learned on each project? What would the owners, designers, and constructors do differently knowing what they know now? A final chapter aggregates processes to engage in and pitfalls to avoid when approaching the challenges peculiar to designing, constructing, and owning a net zero energy building. By providing a wealth of comparable information, this book which will flatten the learning curve for designing, constructing, and owning this emerging building type and improve the effectiveness of architectural design and construction.




Understanding Multiple Environmental Stresses


Book Description

The research of the last decade has demonstrated that ecosystems and human systems are influenced by multiple factors, including climate, land use, and the by-products of resource use. Understanding the net impact of a suite of simultaneously occurring environmental changes is essential for developing effective response strategies. Using case studies on drought and a wide range of atmosphere-ecosystem interactions, a workshop was held in September 2005 to gather different perspectives on multiple stress scenarios. The overarching lesson of the workshop is that society will require new and improved strategies for coping with multiple stresses and their impacts on natural socioeconomic systems. Improved communication among stakeholders; increased observations (especially at regional scales); improved model and information systems; and increased infrastructure to provide better environmental monitoring, vulnerability assessment, and response analysis are all important parts of moving toward better understanding of and response to situations involving multiple stresses. During the workshop, seven near-term opportunities for research and infrastructure that could help advance understanding of multiple stresses were also identified.




The Practice of Reproducible Research


Book Description

The Practice of Reproducible Research presents concrete examples of how researchers in the data-intensive sciences are working to improve the reproducibility of their research projects. In each of the thirty-one case studies in this volume, the author or team describes the workflow that they used to complete a real-world research project. Authors highlight how they utilized particular tools, ideas, and practices to support reproducibility, emphasizing the very practical how, rather than the why or what, of conducting reproducible research. Part 1 provides an accessible introduction to reproducible research, a basic reproducible research project template, and a synthesis of lessons learned from across the thirty-one case studies. Parts 2 and 3 focus on the case studies themselves. The Practice of Reproducible Research is an invaluable resource for students and researchers who wish to better understand the practice of data-intensive sciences and learn how to make their own research more reproducible.




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.




Megaproject Management


Book Description

Project management lessons learned on the Big Dig, America's biggest megaproject, by a core member responsible for its daily operations In Megaproject Management, a central member of the Big Dig team reveals the numerous risks, challenges, and accomplishments of the most complex urban infrastructure project in the history of the United States. Drawing on personal experience and interviews with project engineers, executive oversight commission officials, and core managers, the author, a former deputy counsel and risk manager for the Big Dig, develops new insights as she describes the realities of day-to-day management of the project from a project manager's perspective. The book incorporates both theory and practice and is therefore highly recommended to policymakers, academics, and project management practitioners. Focusing on lessons learned, this insightful coursebook presents the Big Dig as a massive case study in the management of risk, cost, and schedule, particularly the interrelation of technical, legal, political, and social factors. It provides an analysis of the difficulties in managing megaprojects during each phase and over the life span of the project, while delivering useful lessons on why projects go wrong and what can be done to prevent project failure. It also offers new ideas to enhance project management performance and innovation in our global society. This unique guide: Defines megaproject characteristics and frameworks Reviews the Big Dig's history, stakeholders, and governance Examines the project's management scope, scheduling, and cost management including project delays and cost overruns Analyzes the Big Dig's risk management and quality management Reveals how to build a sustainable project through integration and change introduction




Integrated Computational Materials Engineering


Book Description

Integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) is an emerging discipline that can accelerate materials development and unify design and manufacturing. Developing ICME is a grand challenge that could provide significant economic benefit. To help develop a strategy for development of this new technology area, DOE and DoD asked the NRC to explore its benefits and promises, including the benefits of a comprehensive ICME capability; to establish a strategy for development and maintenance of an ICME infrastructure, and to make recommendations about how best to meet these opportunities. This book provides a vision for ICME, a review of case studies and lessons learned, an analysis of technological barriers, and an evaluation of ways to overcome cultural and organizational challenges to develop the discipline.




The Data-Driven Project Manager


Book Description

Discover solutions to common obstacles faced by project managers. Written as a business novel, the book is highly interactive, allowing readers to participate and consider options at each stage of a project. The book is based on years of experience, both through the author's research projects as well as his teaching lectures at business schools. The book tells the story of Emily Reed and her colleagues who are in charge of the management of a new tennis stadium project. The CEO of the company, Jacob Mitchell, is planning to install a new data-driven project management methodology as a decision support tool for all upcoming projects. He challenges Emily and her team to start a journey in exploring project data to fight against unexpected project obstacles. Data-driven project management is known in the academic literature as “dynamic scheduling” or “integrated project management and control.” It is a project management methodology to plan, monitor, and control projects in progress in order to deliver them on time and within budget to the client. Its main focus is on the integration of three crucial aspects, as follows: Baseline Scheduling: Plan the project activities to create a project timetable with time and budget restrictions. Determine start and finish times of each project activity within the activity network and resource constraints. Know the expected timing of the work to be done as well as an expected impact on the project’s time and budget objectives. Schedule Risk Analysis: Analyze the risk of the baseline schedule and its impact on the project’s time and budget. Use Monte Carlo simulations to assess the risk of the baseline schedule and to forecast the impact of time and budget deviations on the project objectives. Project Control: Measure and analyze the project’s performance data and take actions to bring the project on track. Monitor deviations from the expected project progress and control performance in order to facilitate the decision-making process in case corrective actions are needed to bring projects back on track. Both traditional Earned Value Management (EVM) and the novel Earned Schedule (ES) methods are used. What You'll Learn Implement a data-driven project management methodology (also known as "dynamic scheduling") which allows project managers to plan, monitor, and control projects while delivering them on time and within budget Study different project management tools and techniques, such as PERT/CPM, schedule risk analysis (SRA), resource buffering, and earned value management (EVM) Understand the three aspects of dynamic scheduling: baseline scheduling, schedule risk analysis, and project control Who This Book Is For Project managers looking to learn data-driven project management (or "dynamic scheduling") via a novel, demonstrating real-time simulations of how project managers can solve common project obstacles