The Rationality Project

This comprehensive exploration of the project management process presents the tools, steps, and processes of project management and uncovers the critical thinking -- the why -- vital to project management excellence. Incorporating Kepner-Tregoe?s renowned and effective problem-solving and decision-making processes, the book guides you through the core activities of project management?planning, solving problems, making decisions, and assessing risk. It positions projects within an organization?s "performance environment," an understanding of which is essential for effective team performance and alignment. Offering a combination of overarching insights into organizational dynamics, as well as specific processes and practices for effective management, this is a resource no project leader -- and no project team member -- should be without.

· Master win–win techniques for managing outsourced and offshore projects, from procurement and risk mitigation to maintenance · Use RUP to implement best-practice project management throughout the software development lifecycle · Overcome key management challenges, from changing requirements to managing user expectations The Hands-On, Start-to-Finish Guide to Managing Software Projects with the IBM® Rational Unified Process® This is the definitive guide to managing software development projects with the IBM Rational Unified Process (RUP®). Drawing on his extensive experience managing projects with the RUP, R. Dennis Gibbs covers the entire development lifecycle, from planning and requirements to post-mortems and system maintenance. Gibbs offers especially valuable insights into using the RUP to manage outsourced projects and any project relying on distributed development teams—outsourced, insourced, or both. This “from the trenches” guidebook is invaluable for anyone interested in best practices for managing software development: project managers, team leaders, procurement and contracting specialists, quality assurance and software process professionals, consultants, and developers. If you’re already using the RUP, Gibbs will help you more effectively use it. Whatever your role or the RUP experience, you’ll learn ways to · Simplify and streamline the management of any large-scale or outsourced project · Overcome the challenges of using the RUP in software project management · Optimize software procurement and supplier relationships, from Request for Proposals (RFPs) and contracts to delivery · Staff high-performance project teams and project management offices · Establish productive, consistent development environments · Run effective project kickoffs · Systematically identify and mitigate project risks · Manage the technical and business challenges of changing requirements · Organize iterations and testing in incremental development processes · Transition new systems into service: from managing expectations to migrating data · Plan system maintenance and implement effective change control · Learn all you can from project post-mortems—and put those lessons into practice

In the Enlightenment tradition, rationality is considered well-defined. However, the author of this study argues that rationality is context-dependent, and that the crucial context is determined by decision-makers' political power. He uses a real-world Danish project to illustrate this theory.

This is the only comprehensive political history of national ID card proposals and identity policing developments in the United States.

bull; Reflects all of the changes that were integrated into RUP v2003-the latest version of the very popular produc t bull; Learn the key concepts, fundamentals of structure, integral content, and motivation behind the RUP bull; Covers all phases of the software development lifecycle -from concept, to delivery, to revision

The authors explain the underlying software development principles behind theRUP, and guide readers in its application in their organization.

This book challenges the generally accepted theories of classical economics, explaining why the expected utility theory, even if it were true, fails to be of much help in solving economic controversies.