Optimizing Project Work Management And Delivery

Thousands of project management–related books have been written. Why is Optimizing Project Work, Management, and Delivery different? This book represents the authors’ experiences gained from looking at the problem of project management for 50 years and wondering why projects cannot be more successful. Experience from various management models and techniques has helped but still does not fit reality or provide accurate forecasts. Industry surveys have compiled the root causes of project failure, and yet they persist. Is there no answer to this problem? As the book explains, the management solution is not in the models or the theory but is found in how they are mapped against the actual target project characteristics. This is the book’s unique strength. There are major coverage gaps in current project management models that also need to be recognized. All of the existing models are correct in some ways, and yet each is also wrong. The book starts by reviewing popular models and related topics that help construct the building blocks of an integrated model structure, which is at the core of this book. The integrated model described here is meant to be a decision-oriented view related to the project life cycle rather than a cookbook of success steps. Project management is too complex for a cookbook approach. This text helps managers find that right path.

"This well-organized reference presents complete and explicit instructions on exactly what to do to manage multiple small projects -- using limited resources -- in any industry. The hands-on methods -- derived from proven successes in every type of business -- specifically address the needs of the nonspecialist project manager, and are highly effective for professionals who coordinate multiple projects of any kind. "

SHELVING GUIDE: Project Management This hands-on guide is written for project professionals seeking to find an optimized way of performing project management. It provides answers to such critical questions as: Why should an organization apply project management? What is the value of project management in the broader context of an organization? Is project management as successful as some advocates suggested or is it a waste of time and resources because of the many extensive and bureaucratic processes? Which project management approach should our project team adopt: predictive or adaptive, waterfall or rolling water, extreme programming or Scrum? This book aims to provide an optimized view of project management by balancing and blending competing methodologies (e.g., traditional versus Agile), lengthy methodologies and broad principles, processes and practices, and the need to understand versus the need to apply. It includes project management templates, an integrated case study illustrating how to apply tools and concepts, and a glossary of key terms. Optimizing Project Management is for both aspiring and practicing project management professionals. It covers the core concepts, practices, and skills that are useful for developing new ideas, planning activities, implementing projects, and conducting planning and controlling of schedule, budget, and scope. The text is particularly useful for students, project professionals wanting to refresh their knowledge, and those pursuing project management certifications. This book is aligned with common project management standards such as the Project Management Body of Knowledge and the ISO 21502: Project, Programme and Portfolio Management — Guidance on Project Management.

SHELVING GUIDE: Project Management This hands-on guide is written for project professionals seeking to find an optimized way of performing project management. It provides answers to such critical questions as: Why should an organization apply project management? What is the value of project management in the broader context of an organization? Is project management as successful as some advocates suggested or is it a waste of time and resources because of the many extensive and bureaucratic processes? Which project management approach should our project team adopt: predictive or adaptive, waterfall or rolling water, extreme programming or Scrum? This book aims to provide an optimized view of project management by balancing and blending competing methodologies (e.g., traditional versus Agile), lengthy methodologies and broad principles, processes and practices, and the need to understand versus the need to apply. It includes project management templates, an integrated case study illustrating how to apply tools and concepts, and a glossary of key terms. Optimizing Project Management is for both aspiring and practicing project management professionals. It covers the core concepts, practices, and skills that are useful for developing new ideas, planning activities, implementing projects, and conducting planning and controlling of schedule, budget, and scope. The text is particularly useful for students, project professionals wanting to refresh their knowledge, and those pursuing project management certifications. This book is aligned with common project management standards such as the Project Management Body of Knowledge and the ISO 21502: Project, Programme and Portfolio Management — Guidance on Project Management.

Managing projects, a prominent feature of working life, inevitably involves change at some level. Even though successful project management depends on organisational change, textbooks often fail to recognise this symbiotic nature. This book offers students a practical understanding of the strategic and organisational role of projects.

This book provides a broad overview of project and project management principles, processes, and success/failure factors. It also provides a state of the art of applications of the project management concepts, especially in the field of construction projects, based on the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). The slate of geographically and professionally diverse authors illustrates project management as a multidisciplinary undertaking that integrates renewable and non-renewable resources in a systematic process to achieve project goals. The book describes assessment based on technical and operational goals and meeting schedules and budgets.

"Hundreds of organizations around the world have already benefited from Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD). Disciplined Agile (DA) is the only comprehensive tool kit available for guidance on building high-performance agile teams and optimizing your way of working (WoW). As a hybrid of all the leading agile and lean approaches, it provides hundreds of strategies to help you make better decisions within your agile teams, balancing self-organization with the realities and constraints of your unique enterprise context. The highlights of this handbook include: #1. As the official source of knowledge on DAD, it includes greatly improved and enhanced strategies with a revised set of goal diagrams based upon learnings from applying DAD in the field. #2 It is an essential handbook to help coaches and teams make better decisions in their daily work, providing a wealth of ideas for experimenting with agile and lean techniques while providing specific guidance and trade-offs for those "it depends" questions. #3 It makes a perfect study guide for Disciplined Agile certification. Why "fail fast" (as our industry likes to recommend) when you can learn quickly on your journey to high performance? With this handbook, you can make better decisions based upon proven, context-based strategies, leading to earlier success and better outcomes"--

In recent years there has been a steep rise in demand for good project managers. Both textbooks and books aimed at the practitioner, continually cover the same ground - the ABCs of project management, you might call it. But anyone who has ever managed a project or overseen the management of a project in the real world knows that there is a significant difference between mastering the ABCs and mastering the practice of project management itself. It's not that the formal methodologies don't work, but rather that it's only half of the picture. To go from good to great in project management, you need to shift your focus back to the real basics of management. In this illuminating book, Richard Newton, a successful project manager with twenty years' experience, shows you several ways you can elevate your game.