A pragmatic approach to project management Many projects fail to deliver on time or on budget, or even to deliver a workable product that satisfies the customer. While good project management goes a long way towards ensuring success, managers often fail to follow the plans they implement. This unique guide helps you understand and successfully handle project management, once and for all. Covering practical ways to solve problems you'll typically face when managing actual projects, this pragmatic book takes you through a full project management lifecycle. You'll find ample tips, tricks, and best practices--all richly illustrated with real case studies. Find out how to plan for risk, get wayward projects back on track, manage a whole portfolio of projects, and much more. Each topic in the book is mapped to the exam topics of the PMP® Certification Exam, so PMP certification candidates can also use this book for test prep. The book's companion web site offers downloadable forms, templates, and checklists. Explains project management for the real world using a pragmatic approach that includes field-tested techniques, case studies to illustrate concepts, helpful tips and tricks, and downloadable content Guides you to project management success by providing friendly advice, as if you had a friend or project management consultant at your side, discussing issues Explores how to run successful meetings, how to get wayward projects back on track, planning for risk, and how to manage multiple projects Manage your next project with a personal consultant: your own copy of Your Project Management Coach: Best Practices for Managing Projects in the Real World. (PMP is a registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.)

“Whether you are managing your first project or your hundredth, you are likely to face new challenges. Project Pain Reliever offers guidance you'll cherish and want to keep close by.” —Kevin Murphy, Managing Partner, Conner Partners “This book is like a therapy session for project managers. I'm prescribing this to my team. No more guesswork for new PMs. Project Pain Reliever lays it all out, with a 360 degree view on all the possible scenarios a PM will face, and prescribes a strategy to deal with them. As a project manager, I'm often trying to help my team members understand why we cannot do certain things — like scope-creep. This book will serve as a great tool to educate and re-enforce!” —Laureen Heinz, PMP, CSM, Six Sigma Blackbelt, Managing Consultant, Practice Services, CA Technologies “This is a wonderful and thorough overview of a number of very common, yet complex, problems and solutions that project and functional managers of all levels can benefit from. The honest writing style and poignant anecdotes also make this an enjoyable read. I've added Project Pain Reliever to my team's professional reading list... it is equally applicable to everyone on my team — from the greenest summer intern to my most seasoned business leader.” —Aaron Hall, PMP, Vice President, Program Management and Product Development, K12 Inc. Much of the work performed in organizations around the world today is project oriented. Those responsible for leading the majority of these projects to successful results have varied educational backgrounds, knowledge, skill sets, and experiences gained over the course of their lives and careers that do not include the professional discipline known as project management. Most are managing projects as part of their role, not their profession. However, these accidental project managers frequently run into the same sort of issues and problems faced by those whose profession is project management, but they lack the education or training to properly address them. As a result, more projects run by accidental project managers fail than succeed.This handbook was developed specifically for those accidental project managers and for the relatively new project managers within the profession. It is uniquely organized in a manner designed to help these project managers quickly find specific solutions to the problems they are desperate to fix right now! The text is divided into two broad categories: the Art of Project Management and the Science of Project Management. Each part is divided into chapters to narrow the user's search by type of issue that project managers encounter, such as Planning and Managing Risks. These are then further divided by specific problems labeled as sub-chapters, such as 'The company's project management process doesn't work for me' and 'My project is too dependent on a few key people'. Project Pain Reliever: A Just-In-Time Handbook for Anyone Managing Projects is essentially a plug-and-play answer to the accidental project manager's problems, and a valuable desk reference for all project managers. Key Features: Presents insights and specific guidance from more than 30 leading project management experts that were sourced from around the world for their specialized knowledge and experience Provides quick references to problems often encountered by anyone managing projects and specific solutions to these problems using language that is easy to understand and techniques that can be applied immediately Each of the 93 sub-chapters brings clarity to the perceived problem, describes warning signs, includes a sidebar example, explains what will happen if you do nothing, and outlines a best practice solution and specific steps for solving the problem WAV offers handy "What you have learned" summaries for addressing problems contained within the book, additional problems with solutions, and other useful resources — available from the Web Added Value Download Resource Center at www.jrosspub.com

When Fortune Magazine estimated that 70% of all strategies fail, it also noted that most of these strategies were basically sound, but could not be executed. The central premise of Strategic Project Management Made Simple is that most projects and strategies never get off the ground because of adhoc, haphazard, and obsolete methods used to turn their ideas into coherent and actionable plans. Strategic Project Management Made Simple is the first book to couple a step-by-step process with an interactive thinking tool that takes a strategic approach to designing projects and action initiatives. Strategic Project Management Made Simple builds a solid platform upon four critical questions that are vital for teams to intelligently answer in order to create their own strong, strategic foundation. These questions are: 1. What are we trying to accomplish and why? 2. How will we measure success? 3. What other conditions must exist? 4. How do we get there? This fresh approach begins with clearly understanding the what and why of a project - comprehending the bigger picture goals that are often given only lip service or cursory reviews. The second and third questions clarify success measures and identify the risky assumptions that can later cause pain if not spotted early. The how questions - what are the activities, budgets, and schedules - comes last in our four-question system. By contrast, most project approaches prematurely concentrate on the how without first adequately addressing the three other questions. These four questions guide readers into fleshing out a simple, yet sophisticated, mental workbench called "the Logical Framework" - a Systems Thinking paradigm that lays out one's own project strategy in an easily accessible, interactive 4x4 matrix. The inclusion of memorable features and concepts (four critical questions, LogFrame matrix, If-then thinking, and Implementation Equation) make this book unique.

Learn best practices and proven methods from project management professionals—and apply these skills as you work with Microsoft Project. In this practical guide, project management expert Bonnie Biafore shows you how to manage projects efficiently and effectively, sharing the real-world experiences of project managers in several industries. You'll learn how to put the best practices and hard-won lessons of experts to work on your critical projects. Sharpen the skills you need to manage projects expertly—from start to finish Communicate effectively with project stakeholders, management, and team members Apply methods to break down the project into small, manageable pieces Define work assignments, choose resources, and build project schedules Accurately estimate project costs and work with a budget Identify project changes and manage risks Track progress and balance priorities without sacrificing quality Document project history and lessons learned to help improve future projects Project files available on the companion website.

Organisations increasingly look to project management to deal with short timeframes, tight budgets, changing requirements and risk management in everyday operations, as well as for major strategic projects. Project management knowledge and skills are now essential for professionals just about everywhere, from teachers, social workers and lawyers, to engineers, builders and accountants. Stephen Hartley's Project Management is based on the recognised global standard for project management, the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), and it incorporates aspects of Agile, PRINCE2, Lean and other popular methodologies. It offers a thorough overview of the principles of project management, combined with tools and guidelines to manage projects of all sizes, from inception to evaluation. Written in an accessible and engaging style, Stephen Hartley's widely used text has been fully revised and updated. It focuses on shared responsibility, transparent documentation, reporting achievement over activity, and continuous improvement. It is illustrated with examples and case studies, and accompanied by a suite of downloadable templates and tools. 'Stephen Hartley is without doubt Australia's leading authority on project management. This book is the bible for any current or future project manager.' - Dr Tim Baker, author of The End of the Performance Review

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.

Project management—it’s not just about following a template or using a tool, but rather developing personal skills and intuition to find a method that works for everyone. Whether you’re a designer or a manager, Project Management for Humans will help you estimate and plan tasks, scout and address issues before they become problems, and communicate with and hold people accountable.