The Business Of Projects

The Business of Projects broke ground when it was first published in 2005, by showing how leading businesses create and implement projects to drive strategy and innovation. Projects are used to coordinate activities with customers and suppliers and ensure that organisations become more dynamic and adaptable. The book extends the resource-based view of the firm to focus on the business lessons learned from the design and production of high-value complex products and systems (CoPS), which have always been project-based. As well as frameworks and management tools, it provides case studies of high-technology industries - such as telecommunications, flight simulation and medical devices - to show how projects are used to achieve strategic objectives, perform systems integration, organise productive activities, manage software, achieve organisational learning and deliver solutions for customers. This book is essential reading for project professionals, academics, students, engineers, managers and policy makers seeking a strategic, innovative perspective on projects.

The Right Projects Done Right! reflects the advances that have been made since the concern for managing multiple projects in organizations first emerged more than a decade ago. This book includes findings and solutions that address three vital questions: Has the right portfolio of projects been chosen to ensure that company strategy is implemented successfully? Have the right projects with the right scope been selected as candidates for the portfolio? Are the projects managed well? Dinsmore and Cooke-Davies help managers answer these questions by providing them with the information they need to implement an enterprise-wide project management environment.

No longer restricted to the engineering industry, project management has at long last crossed over to mainstream business. Project Management for Business Professionals is the definitive reference on the essentials of contemporary project management. Featured here are some of the foremost practitioners and researchers from academia, consulting, and private industry, sharing their various areas of project management expertise and providing a wide range of perspectives on everything from risk management to resource planning to ethics management. Focusing on both the technical and human sides of the field, this unique resource follows the main points of the "project management body of knowledge"-the certification standard of the Project Management Institute. The experts address the procedures and processes for planning and managing projects and explore project team/group dynamics, examining the interpersonal relations and the political and organizational considerations that can impact a project.

The one primer you need to launch, lead, and sponsor successful projects. We're now living in the project economy. The number of projects initiated in all sectors has skyrocketed, and project management skills have become essential for every leader and manager. Still, project failure rates remain extremely high. Why? Leaders oversee too many projects and have too little visibility into them. Project managers struggle to translate their hands-on, technical knowledge up to senior management. The result? Worthy projects are starved of time and resources and fail to deliver benefits, while too much investment goes into the wrong projects. To compete in the project economy, you need to close this gap. The HBR Project Management Handbook shows you how. In this comprehensive guide, project management expert Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez presents a new and simple framework that will increase any project's likelihood of success. Packed with case studies from many industries worldwide, it will teach you how to manage your organization's projects, strategic programs, and agile initiatives more effectively and push the best ones ahead to completion. Timeless yet forward-looking, this book will help you win in the project-driven world. In the HBR Project Management Handbook you'll find: Everything you need to know about project management in practical, nontechnical language A definitive taxonomy of project types, from product launches to digital transformations to megaprojects A road map for becoming an effective project leader and executive sponsor A new, simple, and universal project framework, the Project Canvas, that breaks down any project into essential building blocks that can be easily understood by all project stakeholders Original concepts and exclusive case studies from public- and private-sector organizations worldwide You'll learn: A common language for project managers and executives to run successful projects across your organization When to use agile, traditional, or hybrid methods in your projects The twelve principles of successful projects, including purpose, agility, and a focus on outcomes Techniques for selecting and advancing the best projects and managing a strategic and balanced project portfolio How today's projects will help address some of the most pressing global trends, including automation, sustainability, diversity, and crisis management Why project management needed to be reinvented and what the future holds HBR Handbooks provide ambitious professionals with the frameworks, advice, and tools they need to excel in their careers. With step-by-step guidance, time-honed best practices, and real-life stories, each comprehensive volume helps you to stand out from the pack—whatever your role.

Managing Projects Large and Small: The Fundamental Skills for Delivering on Cost and On Time When it comes to project management, success lies in the details. This book walks managers through every step of project oversight from start to finish. Thanks to the book's comprehensive information on everything from planning and budgeting to team building and after-project reviews, managers will master the discipline and skills they need to achieve stellar results without wasting time and money. The Harvard Business Essentials series is for managers at all levels but is especially relevant for new managers. It offers on-the-spot guidance, coaching, and tools on the most relevant topics in business. Each book includes the critical information that managers need on a given topic-from budgeting to hiring to communication to strategy-and offers interactive tools and worksheets that translate advice into action. Providing ready answers to day-to-day issues, these guides make sound, trusted mentoring advice available whenever managers need it. Other Books in the HBE Series: Managing Change and Transition Hiring and Keeping the Best People Finance for Managers Business Communications Innovation Negotiation

Project managers are no longer judged by the technical success oftheir projects alone. They're also held accountable for theircontributions to the company's financial goals. Yet most projectmanagers don't have the business knowledge necessary to makeproject-based decisions that lead to bottom-line success. In thisbook, Dennis Cohen and Robert Graham, both former universityprofessors and experienced project management consultants, providethe skills that, until now, could only be gained through a graduatedegree and years of hands-on experience. Cohen and Graham walk project managers through basic businessconcepts such as value creation, accounting and finance, strategy,and marketing. They connect these concepts to the decisions projectmanagers face every day. And they make it easy to apply theresulting solutions on the job through a unique business systemscalculator. Readers can use the online calculator in conjunctionwith the book to understand how different project variables affectbusiness outcomes, to determine the overall impact of proposedproject changes, and to evaluate the economic results of manydecisions they make. Cohen and Graham's principles apply equally to projects inbusiness, non-profit, and government organizations. And each one isillustrated through case studies drawn from a range of industries,including pharmaceuticals, the technology sector, even thewinemaking business. Whether the mandate is to get new products tomarket, improve the infrastructure, or better serve customers andclients, this book teaches project managers how to make day-to-daydecisions from an upper-management perspective. And it provides ablueprint for planning and pitching potential projects thatdemonstrates a higher level of business savvy.

Due to a lack of appreciation of the true economic identity of projects, techniques and metrics that could hugely improve project selection and performance are not being used. This book provides insights and innovative techniques drawn from more than a quarter century of experience. These techniques have the potential to transform program and project management from the current haphazard application of various techniques and metrics to an incisive and integrated approach where programs and projects are managed for the crucial economic and financial implications that are at the essence of every project investment.

Successful projects are the basis for the business many successful organisations, but many professionals lack the basic skills required to manage projects successfully. This book shows how to maximise the outcomes of projects and to ensure that the benefits arising from projects -- large or small -- are fully realized by the business. This key outcome can be easily overlooked or sidelined by the need to keep projects on track. Visually lead, to the point, with case studies and best practice guidelines throughout, the hard-won real world experience found in this book makes it a powerful PM resource for anyone involved in project management. Links project management to business goals for career project managers and those involved with project intermittently Focuses on the needs of engineering, industrial and process projects