Succeeding in the Project Management Jungle

Succeeding in the Project Management Jungle

by Doug RUSSELL
Released June 2011
Publisher(s): AMACOM
ISBN: 9780814416167

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Book description

If you want your project to succeed you’ve got to manage your most important resource—your people. It’s a jungle out there and project managers are fighting to survive….With countless man-hours clocked and billions of dollars spent every year on project tools, the success rate for projects remains astonishingly low. So what’s the solution? Introducing TACTILE Management™, a people-centric system that works in conjunction with an organization’s existing processes. Based on the seven characteristics of high-performance project teams—transparency, accountability, communication, trust, integrity, leadership, and execution—the book shows project managers how to: Take project teams out of their functional silos and transform them into a powerful, integrated force • Balance the expectations of customers, management, and project teams with the technical requirements of cost, schedule, and performance • Apply practical phase-by-phase project guidance to real-life situations • Avoid or minimize possible pitfalls • And more Every successful project involves someone in the trenches who has the people skills to match process with the capability of his team and organization. This innovative book shows readers how to make the most of their people…and ensure project success.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Contents
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Introduction
  7. Part I: The Project Management Jungle
    1. Chapter 1: Welcome to the Project Management Jungle
      1. Escape Is Possible from the Project Management Jungle
      2. What Creates the Project Management Jungle?
      3. TACTILE Management™ Defined
      4. Succeeding in the Project Management Jungle
  8. Part II: The Foundation of TACTILE Management
    1. Chapter 2: The Seven Characteristics of Successful Projects
      1. Transparency
      2. Accountability
      3. Communication
      4. Trust
      5. Integrity
      6. Leadership That Drives Needed Change
      7. Execution Results
  9. Part III: Mastering the Expectations of Key Stakeholders
    1. Chapter 3: Expectations Management
      1. High-Level Stakeholder Expectations
      2. Case Study: The R.101 Project
      3. Traditional Project Constraints with Stakeholder Expectations
      4. Triple Expectations Pyramid
      5. Putting It All Together
    2. Chapter 4: The Triple Expectations Pyramid and Your Customer
      1. Customer Expectations: Scope
      2. Customer Expectations: Cost
      3. Customer Expectations: Schedule
    3. Chapter 5: The Triple Expectations Pyramid and Your Management
      1. Two Toxic Management Styles
      2. Your Management’s Expectations: Scope
      3. Your Management’s Expectations: Schedule
      4. Your Management’s Expectations: Cost
    4. Chapter 6: The Triple Expectations Pyramid and Your Team
      1. Your Team’s Expectations: Scope
      2. Your Team’s Expectations: Schedule
      3. Your Team’s Expectations: Cost
      4. Using the Triple Expectations Pyramid
  10. Part IV: Avoiding Pitfalls in the Five Key Areas of a Project
    1. Chapter 7: Initiating
      1. PM Assignment
      2. Project Charter
      3. Project Scope
      4. Preplanning the Plan
      5. Avoiding Toxic Management in Initiation
      6. Case Study: The Path Less Taken
    2. Chapter 8: Planning
      1. Creating the Initial (Baseline) Plan
      2. Historical Planning Approaches
      3. TACTILE Planning Approach
      4. Project Management Plan Basics: Scope, Time, Cost, and Risk Management
      5. Finishing the Plan: Quality Assurance, Human Resources, Communication, Procurement, and Integration Management
      6. Discovering and Addressing Needed Information Until Approval
      7. Flexibly Looking Ahead
      8. Avoiding Toxic Management in Planning
      9. Case Study: The Path Less Taken
    3. Chapter 9: Executing
      1. Executing to the Plan
      2. TACTILE Execution Approach
      3. Meetings
      4. Controlling Change Control
      5. Selling New Baselines
      6. Learning How to Win
      7. Case Study: The Path Less Taken
    4. Chapter 10: Monitoring, Controlling, and Reporting
      1. Monitoring
      2. Controlling (Don’t Even Try)
      3. Reporting
      4. Case Study: The Path Less Taken
    5. Chapter 11: Closing
      1. Properly Close All Project Activities
      2. Capture Data for Organizational Learning
      3. Ensure Personal Growth
      4. Case Study: The Path Less Taken
  11. Part V: Living Well in the Project Management Jungle
    1. Chapter 12: “From Chaos Comes Creativity, from Order Comes Profit”
  12. Bibliography
  13. Index

Product information

  • Title: Succeeding in the Project Management Jungle
  • Author(s): Doug RUSSELL
  • Release date: June 2011
  • Publisher(s): AMACOM
  • ISBN: 9780814416167