The AMA Handbook of Project Management, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER 27The Project Office: Rationale and Implementation

J. KENT CRAWFORD, PMP, CEO, PROJECT MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS, INC.

JEANNETTE CABANIS-BREWIN, PROJECT MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS, INC.

The value of sound project management has never been more in the public consciousness, thanks to studies by the Standish Group, the Gartner Group, and other IT research firms.¹

But sound project management of individual projects is no longer enough. While there still are some instances in which a company is almost entirely focused on one or two major projects at a time—small software development firms or capital construction firms, for example—in most businesses dozens of projects exist throughout the company in various stages of completion (or, more commonly, of ...