Project Management: A Practical Approach

✍ Scribed by Roel Grit

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 226
• Series: Routledge-Noordhoff International Editions
• Edition: 5
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Project Management introduces students in a unique and accessible way to projectbased working as a means to tackle projects successfully.

Not only in business circles, but also in the field of education, increasingly more activities are performed using a projectbased approach. Consider for example comprehensive study assignments, internal projects and projects during work placement and the fi nal stages of a degree.

The line of approach of this book is practiceoriented. Based on assignments, groups of two to three students work on a project plan and an executive summary. Students can also opt for a ‘real’ assignment for a company or for one of the cases of the accompanying website.

Added to this fifth edition are examples and illustrations, new sections about various subjects and a chapter about the flexible project approach Scrum.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Preface
Table of Contents
Introduction
Part 1: Practical Theory
Chapter 1: The project
1.1: Types of activities, types of work
1.2: Examples of projects
1.3: What is a project?
1.4: Moving from improvised to project based to routine activities
1.5: Types of projects
1.6: Things to remember
1.7: Doing things in phases
1.8: Why do things in phases?
1.9: The phases of a project: an illustration
1.10: When to do it as a project
1.11: Lifecycle of a project
1.12: Projects should be SMART
1.13: Carrying out the projects in this book
Assignments
Chapter 2: People working on projects
2.1: Line organisation
2.2: The project organisation
2.3: The project sponsor
2.4: Future users
2.5: The project manager
2.6: The project members
2.7: Relationship sponsor and project manager
2.8: Task-oriented and people-oriented leadership
2.9: Working on a project
2.10: Team roles according to Belbin
2.11: Digital tools for collaboration
2.12: Team agreements
2.13: Creativity and brainstorming
2.14: Negotiating
2.15: Making decisions in a project
2.16: Related projects
2.17: Outsourcing a project
2.18: Projects and cultural differences
Assignments
Chapter 3: The project from start to finish
3.1: Organising and carrying out the project
3.2: Reasons for starting the project
3.3: From reasons to do a project to actually doing the project itself
3.4: Project proposal
3.5: Initial meeting with the sponsor
3.6: Setting up the project
3.7: Project start-up meeting
3.8: Design and preparation
3.9: Realisation of the project result
3.10: Completion of the project
3.11: Project in time
3.12: Monitoring aspects of a project
3.13: Monitoring projects in practice
3.14: Why projects fail
3.15: Project risks
3.16: Terminating a project prematurely
3.17: Project management: methods
Assignments
Chapter 4: Planning
4.1: Why plan?
4.2: Concepts and terms
4.3: Gantt charts
4.4: Network diagrams
4.5: Deriving a Gantt chart from a network diagram
4.6: Adjustments to a planning
4.7: Which activities are required?
4.8: Planning software
4.9: Using planning software
4.10: Planning a large project in phases
4.11: Time management
4.12: Mini-course on MS Project on the website
Assignments
Part 2: How to do a project: methods and tools
Chapter 5: How to do a project – the P6-Method
5.1: The P6-Method
5.2: Overview of the six steps
5.3: Step 1: Initiating the project
5.4: Step 2: Organising the project
5.5: Step 3: Writing a project plan
5.6: Step 4: Executing the project
5.7: Step 5: Delivering the project’s results
5.8: Step 6: Finalizing the project
Assignments
Chapter 6: Writing a project plan
6.1: The project plan
6.2: Dividing the project plan into sections
6.3: Background information
6.4: The project’s results
6.5: Project activities
6.6: Project scope and conditions
6.7: Intermediate results
6.8: Quality control
6.9: The project organisation
6.10: Planning
6.11: Costs and benefits
6.12: Risk analysis
6.13: Writing the project plan
6.14: The project’s files
Assignments
Chapter 7: Using Scrum
7.1: Scrum
7.2: Scrum applications
7.3: The benefits and drawbacks of Scrum
7.4: Scrum components
7.5: Roles within Scrum
7.6: Information during the Scrum process
7.7: Meetings during the Scrum process
Assignments
Chapter 8: Organising meetings
8.1: Project meeting
8.2: Preparing for the meeting
8.3: The meeting’s agenda
8.4: The meeting itself
8.5: After the meeting
Assignments
Chapter 9: Conducting interviews
9.1: Types of interviews
9.2: The three stages of an interview
Assignments
Chapter 10: Writing a report
10.1: Preparing to write the report
10.2: Putting the report together
10.3: The structure of the report
10.4: The main contents and finishing touches to the report
Assignments
Chapter 11: Holding a presentation
11.1: Organisation and contents of a presentation
11.2: Using an overhead projector or screen
11.3: The structure of a presentation
11.4: The presentation itself
Assignments
Chapter 12: Making an executive summary
12.1: The purpose of an executive summary
12.2: The components of an executive summary
Assignments
Final Assignments
Appendix 1: Risk Analysis
Appendix 2: Website www.projectmanagement-english.noordhoff.nl
Bibliography
About the author
Index