Project management skills are hugely desirable for managers at all levels within an organizations, and special skills are required to produce the right results. The Handbook of Project Management is written specifically to help project managers improve their performance using tried and tested techniques.
Written by an experienced practitioner, it will be particularly useful if you are: looking to develop project management skills; starting a new project; wishing to acquire new skills; or training others in project management skills. Online resources include checklists, score cards and guide notes for optimizing your project management. Packed with concepts and processes, and tools, this comprehensive handbook will assist anyone responsible for converting strategy into reality.
Review
"This excellent handbook provides you with all you need to make your project a success. [It] is easy to read and has many diagrams, and flow charts that support the text very well." - Paul Duffy, APM Group, formerly the trading arm of the Association for Project Management, in a review of an earlier edition.
About the Author
Trevor L Young was, for many years, a senior consultant for the Industrial Society where he designed and conducted two public training courses in project management techniques and project leadership.
Trevor Young was an independent consultant specialising in the introduction of programme management. He was a member of the Institute of Personnel and Development and the author of The Handbook of Project Management, also published by Kogan Page.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Part 1 The programme and project environment
1 Introduction
What is special about programmes and projects?
Who is this book for?
2 Change: programmes and projects
Change and the programme and project manager
What is a project?
Projects and sub-projects
What is a programme?
An example programme
Why programme management?
What is programme management?
What is project management?
Why is programme management different from project
management?
What is different about programme and project management?
How are programmes and projects derived?
The dynamic life cycle
The dynamic action cycle
The programme and project process phase gates
Is the phase gate a constraint?
Is this control necessary?
Summary
3 Organizing for programme management
Organizing for ownership
Establishing the programme steering team
Continuous improvement and problem solving: are they projects?
The programme register
Operating a programme register
The key responsibilities of the programme steering team
Meetings of the programme steering team
Managing the portfolio: selection of programmes and projects
The inputs to effective selection
The secondary screening
The result of effective selection
Summary
4 The key roles
The project steering team administrator
The sponsor
The programme manager
The project manager
The functional manager
The stakeholders
Frequently used terms
The programme and project manager as a leader
The dimensions of leadership in the programme and
project environment
Dimension 1: Managing stakeholders
Dimension 2: Managing the dynamic life cycle
Dimension 3: Managing performance
Programmes, projects and teamwork
Building your team
Customer satisfaction
Part 2 The programme and project processes and techniques
5 Starting up: ideas and opportunities for projects
The fundamental data needs
What are the constraints?
What data do the programme steering team require?
Preparing the initial business case
Through Gate Zero to Gate One
Presenting the business case to the programme steering team
The kick-off meeting
Project documentation
The project brief and specification
Summary
6 Defining the project
What is necessary to define a project?
The stakeholder list
The project brief
The scope of work statement
Risk management
Risk assessment
Quantifying identified risks
Risk monitoring
Getting your project definition approved
Summary
7 Planning your project
What is not going to be done?
Who needs to be involved?
Where does planning start?
Identifying the key stages
The project work breakdown structure
Allocating responsibility
What is an estimate?
Avoid some classic pitfalls
The golden rules
Effort and duration
Estimating the durations
Contingencies
Time-limited scheduling and estimates
Practical estimating
The programme evaluation and review technique
Analysing the logic diagram
Using the PERT analysis data
Analysing your resource requirements
Optimizing your schedule
Reviewing your project risk log
Reviewing your project budget
Intermediate phase gates
Seeking approval to launch your project
Summary
8 Launching your project
Establishing key stage work plans
Deriving a milestone schedule
Critical success factors
Ensuring effective communication
Project status reports
Deriving a meetings schedule for your project
Managing project changes
Holding a launch meeting
Summary
9 Executing the project work
The project control system
Monitoring progress
Managing issues
Reviewing project issues
Tracking your project
Taking corrective action
Problem solving
Progress meetings
Progress reporting
Encouraging good time management
Controlling the project costs
Balancing the project
Approaching the closure phase
Summary
10 Closing your project
Why have a closure phase?
Establishing completion criteria
The acceptance process
The close-out meeting
Evaluating your project
Closing down the project
Post-project evaluation
Post-project appraisals
What next?
Summary
11 Using a computer
What can software do?
Using a software program
What software does not do
Selecting project software
The programme management office
12 Common Project Problems
Problem analysis
How projects succeed
