Table of Contents......Page 6
About This Book......Page 18
How This Book Is Organized......Page 20
Conventions Used in This Book......Page 21
I: Project Management Jumpstart......Page 22
1 Project Management Overview......Page 24
What Is Project Management…Exactly?......Page 25
What Is the Value of Project Management?......Page 29
Why Are Projects Challenging?......Page 30
Growing Demand for Effective Project Managers?......Page 32
Trends in Project Management......Page 33
2 The Project Manager......Page 38
One Title, Many Roles......Page 39
Key Skills of Project Managers......Page 40
Qualities of Successful Project Managers......Page 42
15 Common Mistakes of Project Managers......Page 44
3 Essential Elements for Any Successful Project......Page 46
What Exactly Is a “Successful” Project?......Page 47
Learning from Troubled Projects......Page 48
Learning from Successful Projects......Page 51
Essential Project Manager Toolkit......Page 53
II: Project Planning......Page 58
4 Defining a Project......Page 60
How Does Defining a Project Relate to Project Planning?......Page 61
Project Definition Document......Page 62
Project Definition Checklist......Page 66
5 Planning a Project......Page 72
Key Project Planning Principles......Page 73
Important Questions Project Planning Should Answer......Page 75
Building a Project Plan......Page 76
Summary of Supplemental Project Plan Components......Page 83
Project Plan Checklist......Page 86
6 Developing the Work Breakdown Structure......Page 88
What Is a WBS Exactly?......Page 89
Why Is the WBS Important?......Page 95
The Process of Building a WBS......Page 96
7 Estimating the Work......Page 102
Next Step in the Schedule Development Process......Page 103
Reasons for Estimating Woes......Page 105
Powerful Estimating Techniques and Methods......Page 107
Best Practices......Page 109
8 Developing the Project Schedule......Page 114
The Impact of the Project Schedule......Page 115
The Goal of the Schedule Development Process......Page 117
Key Inputs for Building a Schedule......Page 118
Creating a Schedule......Page 119
9 Determining the Project Budget......Page 130
The Impact of the Project Budget......Page 131
Principles of an Effective Budget......Page 132
Creating a Project Budget......Page 133
Common Budget Challenges......Page 137
III: Project Control......Page 140
10 Controlling a Project......Page 142
What Is Project Control?......Page 143
Management Fundamentals for Project Control......Page 146
Powerful Techniques for Project Control......Page 147
Performance Reporting......Page 150
Variance Responses......Page 152
Leveraging Earned Value Management Concepts......Page 153
Common Project Control Challenges......Page 156
Lessons from Project Recoveries......Page 158
11 Managing Project Changes......Page 162
What Exactly Is a Project Change and What’s the Big Deal Anyway?......Page 163
Fundamentals for Managing Project Change......Page 166
What Causes Unplanned Scope Changes?......Page 167
Essential Elements of a Project Change Control System......Page 168
Powerful Techniques for Minimizing Project Changes......Page 171
Common Project Change Control Challenges......Page 173
12 Managing Project Deliverables......Page 176
“Managing Project Deliverables” Means What Exactly?......Page 177
Why Do This? It’s Too Much Work......Page 178
Identify, Protect, and Track: The Principles of Managing Work Products......Page 179
Best Practices......Page 180
Configuration Management Plan......Page 184
Common Challenges and Pitfalls......Page 186
13 Managing Project Issues......Page 188
The Goals, Objectives, and Principles of Project Issue Management......Page 189
Key Features of Issue Management System......Page 190
Options for Issue Log......Page 192
Best Practices......Page 193
Some Special Situations......Page 195
14 Managing Project Risks......Page 198
Key Risk Management Principles......Page 199
The Essential Process for Managing Project Risks......Page 200
The Common Sources of Project Risk......Page 204
Typical Problems......Page 207
Powerful Risk Control Strategies......Page 209
Are You Sure It’s a Risk?......Page 210
15 Managing Project Quality......Page 214
What Is “Project Quality”?......Page 215
Principles of Managing Project Quality......Page 216
Powerful Tools and Techniques for Project Quality......Page 218
Powerful Quality Strategies......Page 220
Typical Quality-Related Challenges......Page 222
IV: Project Execution......Page 226
16 Leading a Project......Page 228
More Than Managing......Page 229
Where Is Leadership Needed on a Project?......Page 231
Twelve Keys to Better Project Leadership......Page 232
Power of Servant Leadership Approach......Page 235
17 Managing Project Communications......Page 240
What Are Project Communications?......Page 241
The Importance of Project Communications......Page 242
Why Communicating Can Be Tough......Page 243
Seven Powerful Principles......Page 244
Best Practices of Effective Project Communicators......Page 247
18 Managing Expectations......Page 256
Critical Aspects of Expectations......Page 257
Seven Master Principles of Expectation Management......Page 262
Essential Elements of Managing Expectations......Page 263
19 Keys to Better Project Team Performance......Page 272
Ten Key Principles......Page 273
Proven Techniques......Page 276
Special Situations......Page 280
20 Managing Differences......Page 284
Five Key Principles......Page 285
Proven Techniques for Leading Cross-Functional Projects......Page 288
Proven Techniques for Leading Cross-Cultural Projects......Page 290
Proven Techniques for Leading Virtual Projects......Page 291
21 Managing Vendors......Page 296
Ten Proven Principles of Vendor Management......Page 297
Twelve Tips for Buyers......Page 300
Seven Tips for Sellers......Page 302
Stuff You Need to Know About Contracts......Page 303
22 Ending a Project......Page 310
Project End Checklist—13 Important Steps......Page 311
Common Project Closing Challenges......Page 313
Methods for Ending a Contract or a Project......Page 314
V: Accelerating the Learning Curve...Even More......Page 318
23 Making Better Use of Microsoft Project......Page 320
Understand This …and It All Becomes Easier......Page 321
Need-to-Know Features......Page 323
New Project Best Practices......Page 330
Keys to Making Resource Leveling Work......Page 333
Powerful Reporting Secrets......Page 335
More Insights to a Better Project Schedule......Page 340
24 When Reality Happens......Page 344
What If I’m in a Project Management “Lite” Culture?......Page 345
What If I Can’t Develop a Detailed Schedule?......Page 347
What If I Must Manage to a Hard Milestone Date?......Page 348
What If I Have Difficult Resources?......Page 350
What Can I Do About Turnover?......Page 351
Tips for Managing a Selection Process......Page 352
Tips for Managing a Testing Process......Page 357
25 Intriguing Project Management Concepts and Topics......Page 362
Agile Approaches......Page 363
Project Management Offices......Page 365
Portfolio Project Management......Page 368
Critical Chain Project Management......Page 370
Web-Based Project Management Software......Page 373
Mind Mapping Tools......Page 374
Value of Certifications......Page 375
Project Management Training......Page 376
A......Page 380
B......Page 381
C......Page 382
D......Page 389
E......Page 391
F......Page 393
G......Page 394
I......Page 395
L......Page 397
M......Page 398
O......Page 402
P......Page 403
Q......Page 412
R......Page 413
S......Page 416
T......Page 420
V......Page 423
W–Z......Page 424