Project practice has undergone significant changes requiring new ways of thinking about and managing projects. The single focus on the staged delivery of artefacts is gradually being replaced by a wider interest in stakeholders, value, benefits, and complexity. As a result there is a growing interest in the development of practitioner capabilities, grounded in the recognition that dealing with permeable boundaries and unstructured situations transcends normative processes. Modern practitioners increasingly utilise deliberative and reflective approaches, often challenging received wisdom and traditional interpretations. This volume provides a sampling of some of the best writing in the project domain, enabling readers to access a wider group of authors, ideas, and perspectives. Key topics covered include agility and programme management, planning, people, business cases, contracts, teams, sponsorship, collaboration, strategy, patterns, context, change, and benefits. The main aims of the collection are to reflect on the state of practice within the discipline; to propose new extensions and additions to good practice; to offer new insights and perspectives; to distil new knowledge; and, to provide a way of sampling a range of the most promising ideas, perspectives and styles of writing from some of the leading thinkers and practitioners in the discipline.

The comprehensive guide to project management implementation, updated with the latest in the field Project management has spread beyond the IT world to become a critical part of business in every sphere; built on efficiency, analysis, and codified practice, professional project management leads to the sort of reproducible results and reliable processes that make a business successful. Project Management Best Practices provides implementation guidance for every phase of a project, based on the real-world methodologies from leading companies around the globe. Updated to align with the industry’s latest best practices, this new Fourth Edition includes new discussion on Agile and Scrum, tradeoffs and constraints, Portfolio PMO tools, and much more. Get up-to-date information on the latest best practices that add value at every level of an organization Gain insight from more than 50 project managers at world-class organizations including Airbus, Heineken, RTA, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Sony, Cisco, Nokia, and more Delve deeper into implementation guidance for Agile, Scrum, and Six Sigma Explore more efficient methodologies, training, measurement, and metrics that boost organization-wide performance Adopt new approaches to culture and behavioral excellence, including conflict resolution, situational leadership, proactive management, staffing, and more Ideal for both college and corporate training, this book is accompanied by an Instructor’s Manual and PowerPoint lecture slides that bring project management concepts right into the classroom. As the field continues to grow and evolve, it becomes increasingly important to stay current with new and established practices; this book provides comprehensive guidance on every aspect of project management, with invaluable real-world insight from leaders in the field.

This guidebook provides guidance to state departments of transportation for using specific, practical, and risk-related management practices and analysis tools for managing and controlling transportation project costs. Containing a toolbox for agencies to use in selecting the appropriate strategies, methods and tools to apply in meeting their cost-estimation and cost-control objectives, this guidebook should be of immediate use to practitioners that are accountable for the accuracy and reliability of cost estimates during planning, priority programming and preconstruction.

The workplace is the ideal environment for tying together management theory and practice and yet, classes in many regular management development programs are conducted away from the work site, and class sizes are so large that individual instruction is difficult to achieve. In this book, the authors seek effective ways to merge theory with workplace practice, and advocate the modular preceptor method whereby participants work together in dyads and triads with a preceptor acting as advisor and instructor. Unlike traditional management development programs which do not usually lead to behavior changes, the modular preceptor model has behavior change as the basic aim. Participants can remain at work while experiencing individualized learning, developing problem solving skills, and acquiring new knowledge which can be immediately applied to work situations. Various ways of learning, such as passive (lecture, case study, discussion) and experiential (role playing, games, sensitivity training) are examined. No single mode of learning can be comprehensive and adequate for all situations. The authors contend, however, that experiential learning is most effective for increasing the will and competence to learn and for using what is learned to change manager behavior. The purpose of the modular preceptor approach is not to present answers to specific managerial or organizational problems, but to help the participant acquire new problem definition and problem solving skills, and the confidence to apply them on the job. This book also analyzes the contribution of the behavioral sciences to the philosophies and techniques behind management instruction, and examines the role of the university in management development and the future direction of MBA programs. For anyone concerned with meaningful and effective management development, this book is an invaluable resource.

Projects are important to industry, but project performance continually disappoints stakeholder expectations. Organizations react to this performance problem in many ways, and purchase consultancy, training, methods and tools as possible solutions. There is no published evidence that any of these solutions are consistently successful in improving project performance. This thesis answers the question, "What can be done to improve project management practices, and thus project performance?" by demonstrating that a novel form of continuous action research can contribute such evidence.

Given the pace at which projects must be completed in an era of global hypercompetition and turbulence, examining the project management profession within the contexts of international trade and globalization is essential to encourage the highest level of efficiency and agility. Agile project management provides a flexible approach to managing projects as it allows a team to break large projects down into more manageable tasks that can be tackled in short iterations or sprints, thus enabling a team to adapt to change quickly and deliver work fast. Contemporary Challenges for Agile Project Management highlights the modern struggles that face businesses and leaders as they work to implement agile project management within their processes and try to gain a competitive edge through cross-functional team collaboration. Covering many underrepresented topics related to areas such as critical success factors, data science, and project leadership, this book is an essential resource for project leaders, managers, supervisors, business leaders, consultants, researchers, academicians, and students and educators of higher education.

Contextualization of Project Management Practice and Best Practice contributes to a better understanding of project management practice by investigating the use and usefulness of project management practices, tools, and techniques. The study examines practice variations among organizational, project management, and project contexts and performance. The use of project management practices, tools, and techniques is seen here as an indicator of the realities of practice. A clear understanding of the state of professional practice is particularly important to future development in the field of project management. Directly observing what project practitioners do and how they put into action their knowledge and competencies is a means to understand their practice.

This book describes the principles and techniques in Project Management as applied to Engineering & Construction Contracts (ECC), conforming with relevant international standards (PMI - IPMA - ISO 21500), and pursuing a fully company-wide, process-based, multi-project approach. Uniquely, the book combines Project Management fundamentals with international contracting practices, which shape the planning, design and construction of large and complex works (such as plants, machinery, infrastructures and buildings) worldwide. The rigorous academic approach is mixed with the managerial contributions of Danieli, one of the world’s top three suppliers of plants and equipment to the metals industry. The book has been updated to reflect the PMBOK 6th edition (September 2017), presents best practices in PM from around the globe, and addresses new trends in PM such as Agile, SCRUM, etc. Lastly, a dedicated section covers the professional use of the reference software Microsoft Project.

Project management methodologies, practices, and guidelines are the only explicit information that project managers have and, when properly maintained, should reflect the most current knowledge and guidance to achieve repeatable successful project outcomes. Despite more than 50 years of research in the field of project management, project success r

This updated and completely revised edition of a bestseller extends the concepts and considerations of modern project management into the realm of project management oversight, control, and support. Illustrating the implications of project management in today’s organizations, The Complete Project Management Office Handbook, Third Edition explains how to use the project management office (PMO) as a business integrator to influence project outcomes in a manner that serves both project and business management interests. Helping you determine if a PMO is right for your organization, this edition presents a five-stage PMO competency continuum to help you understand how to develop PMOs at different competency levels and associated functionalities. It also identifies five progressive PMO development levels to help you identify which level is best for your organization. Updates to this edition include: A refinement of the 20 PMO functions that guide PMO setup and operations A new section that provides an effective evaluation of PMO maturity indicators based on the prescribed 20 PMO functions presented in the handbook A new section on Establishing a Project Management Office that details a comprehensive process for determining the needs, purpose, and functionality for a new PMO Best practices that have cross-industry value and applicability The book includes checklists, detailed process steps, and descriptive guidance for developing PMO functional capability. The up-to-date PMO model defined will not only help you better understand business practices in project management, but will also help you to adapt and integrate those practices into the project management environment in your organization. For anyone associated with start-up and smaller PMOs, the book explains what can be done to create less rigorous PMO functional capabilities. It also includes helpful insights for those who need to specify and demonstrate "quick-wins" and early PMO-based accomplishments in their organization.