Neal Whitten's No-Nonsense Advice for Successful Projects

Book description

Learn the Best Practices That Make the Difference Between Troubled Projects and Consistently Successful Projects

There's no better way to learn the nuts and bolts of a profession than by having a mentor at your side. But most project managers and leaders don't have that advantage — and that's why Neal Whitten wrote this book.
Having Neal Whitten's No-Nonsense Advice for Successful Projects on hand is like having a mentor to guide you at every turn in the road. Neal shows you how to avoid a painful learning curve with a set of best practices for leading consistently successful projects.
In this book, Neal distills his 30 years of experience into tips and strategies that are easy to learn and apply to your projects. These strategies will give you a decisive competitive edge in leading projects and working with stakeholders, clients, and team members.
Learn How to:
• Run your project like you'd run your own business
• Become a “benevolent dictator” for the most effective leadership
• Recognize and deal with professional immaturity
• Deal with difficult people
• Master behaviors that will make your team leaders' jobs easier and
benefit your own career
• Assess if you're too soft — and learn to make unpopular decisions
if they're necessary to project success
• Create a culture that fosters the success of your project
• Gain the respect of your team members
• Avoid making long-term project commitments
• Manage to your top three problems

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. About the Author
  5. Dedication
  6. Table of Content
  7. Preface
  8. Acknowledgments
  9. Introduction
  10. Part One: Leadership, Soft Skills, and You
    1. Chapter 1: Mind Your Own Business
    2. Chapter 2: Are You a Benevolent Dictator? You Should Be!
    3. Chapter 3: Ask for Help—or Become Part of the Problem
    4. Chapter 4: What Good Is a PM Mentor?
    5. Chapter 5: Is Your Professional Behavior Respected?
    6. Chapter 6: Recognizing and Dealing with Professional Immaturity
    7. Chapter 7: Behaviors to Master When Dealing with Your Leaders
    8. Chapter 8: Are You Too Soft?
    9. Chapter 9: Foster Interpersonal Communications
    10. Chapter 10: Turn Criticism into an Asset
    11. Chapter 11: Dealing with Difficult People
    12. Chapter 12: Don’t Fear Failure
    13. Chapter 13: A Silver Bullet?
  11. Part Two: Roles and Responsibilities
    1. Chapter 14: Duties of the Effective Project Manager
    2. Chapter 15: Duties of the Effective Resource Manager
    3. Chapter 16: Duties of the Effective Project Sponsor
    4. Chapter 17: How Technical Must a Project Manager Be?
  12. Part Three: Project Initiation
    1. Chapter 18: Are You Learning from Project to Project?
    2. Chapter 19: Create the Desired Culture for Your Project
  13. Part Four: Project Planning
    1. Chapter 20: Should You Be Given a Project End Date?
    2. Chapter 21: Meet Minimum Requirements—Anything More Is Too Much
    3. Chapter 22: Do Not Make Long-Term Project Commitments
    4. Chapter 23: The Effect of Multitasking on Productivity
    5. Chapter 24: Contingency Buffer: Expect the Unexpected
    6. Chapter 25: Scope Creep: Runaway Train or Good Business?
  14. Part Five: Project Execution and Control
    1. Chapter 26: The Project Tracking Meeting
    2. Chapter 27: The Day After
    3. Chapter 28: Manage to Your Top Three Problems
    4. Chapter 29: Treat All Project Members Equally
    5. Chapter 30: Inspect What You Expect
    6. Chapter 31: Escalate Is Not a Dirty Word
    7. Chapter 32: Declare Your Project’s Risk Value
    8. Chapter 33: How to Run an Effective Meeting
    9. Chapter 34: The S-Shape Curve 50/70 Rule
  15. Part Six: Project Closeout
    1. Chapter 35: Conducting a Post-Project Review
  16. Part Seven: Promoting the Advancement of Project Management beyond Your Projects
    1. Chapter 36: Project Review Mentoring Workshops
    2. Chapter 37: The Project Manager/Resource Manager Leadership Workshop
    3. Chapter 38: How to Institutionalize Improvements in Your Organization
  17. Part Eight: Some Final Thoughts
  18. Glossary
  19. Index

Product information

  • Title: Neal Whitten's No-Nonsense Advice for Successful Projects
  • Author(s): Neal Whitten
  • Release date: March 2007
  • Publisher(s): Berrett-Koehler Publishers
  • ISBN: 9781567263022