Bøger i Best Practices in Portfolio, Program, and Project Management serien

The book presents a framework for managing competence in a knowledge-intensive, project-intensive context. It provides tools and templates that could support managers, project managers, HR representatives, and other people in leading positions in a more efficient management of people and competence.

Entrepreneurs must stay cutting-edge to make their businesses thrive. This book features a cutting-edge approach to project management that enables you to take your technical skills as a project manager, add the elements of an entrepreneur, and create a high-powered team around you as well as become the best project manager you can be.

This book provides techniques for offshore center managers and head office managers to motivate and manage globally distributed teams, and thereby achieve higher productivity. Readers learn how to integrate the offshore center with the head office to make the offshore team an extension of the head office.

Every CEO in the world, if questioned, will always complain that there are a lot of ideas to implement, but, unfortunately, insufficient resources to accomplish them. This book provides a solution to this dilemma by supplying techniques to assess the value of projects, prioritize projects, and decide which projects to implement and which to postpone. In addition, it describes various methods of balancing project portfolios and different strategic alignment models. The book provides thirty real-life project portfolio management case studies from pharmaceutical, product development, financial, energy, telecommunications, not-for-profit and professional services industries.

No organization is impervious to change. Rather, the survival and growth of an organization is dependent on how well it copes with change. Successful change initiatives consist of the integrated eco-system of its portfolio, programs, and projects. These change initiatives become the delivery mechanisms for implementing the strategy of an organization.Improving Business Performance: A Project Portfolio Management Approach clarifies how the proper application of portfolio, program, and project management concepts can help commercial and non-profit organizations achieve their strategic objectives. Most organizations have been good at devising strategy, but falter during its implementation. Executing strategy well to deliver superior business performance remains a key challenge, which is addressed as the core theme of this book. The book portrays a top-down orientation as well as a bottom-up integration of change initiatives to facilitate alignment to strategy and accommodate mid-course changes. It takes into account existing global best management practices to bring forth an approach that is customizable and useful to organizations in any industry. Describing why portfolio management lies at the apex of change initiative management, the book explains how to design and fine-tune portfolios so they are in alignment with your organization's overall strategy and business needs. After reading this book, you will understand: How to design the project portfolio structure for your organization How to integrate programs and projects within the portfolio more effectively How to better manage interactions across diverse change initiatives How to maintain focus while managing change to realize benefits The book presents a case study that illustrates the application of project portfolio concepts in practical scenarios. It includes chapters dedicated to transition management, change management, benefits management, and the Enterprise Project Management Office. It also includes templates you can immediately put to use in your own portfolios, programs, and projects.

Executives in all business, industrial, governmental, and nongovernmental organizations need to fully understand the differences between operational and project management principles and practices to best take advantage of the power of good project management and thereby lead and manage the innovation within their enterprise. This book seeks to satisfy this need by presenting concise descriptions of 1) the key concepts underlying project and program management, 2) the important characteristics of projects and programs, 3) how they are best governed and managed, and 4) how to determine if the desired benefits have actually been achieved.

This book's author, Byron Love, admits proudly to being an IT geek. However, he had found that being an IT geek was limiting his career path and his effectiveness. During a career of more than 31 years, he has made the transition from geek to geek leader. He hopes this book helps other geeks do the same. This book addresses leadership issues in the IT industry to help IT practitioners lead from the lowest level. Unlike other leadership books that provide a one-size-fits-all approach to leadership, this book focuses on the unique challenges that IT practitioners face. IT project managers may manage processes and technologies, but people must be led. The IT industry attracts people who think in logical ways-analytical types who have a propensity to place more emphasis on tasks and technology than on people. This has led to leadership challenges such as poor communication, poor relationship management, and poor stakeholder engagement. Critical IT projects and programs have failed because IT leaders neglect the people component of "people, process, and technology." Communications skills are key to leadership. This book features an in-depth discussion of the communications cycle and emotional intelligence, providing geek leaders with tools to improve their understanding of others and to help others understand them. To transform a geek into a geek leader, this book also discusses: Self-leadership skills so geek leaders know how to lead others by leading themselves first Followership and how to cultivate it among team members How a geek leader's ability to navigate disparate social styles leads to greater credibility and influence Integrating leadership into project management processes The book concludes with a case study to show how to put leadership principles and practices into action and how an IT geek can transform into an effective IT geek leader.

"Preface Based on experience in helping people to prepare for the PMP."

Identifying critical success factors specific to program management, this book examines various leadership styles and traits¿providing helpful insights on the tough choices leaders are often forced to make. Next, it examines teams and explains how to bring disparate people together to work towards common goals and visions. It describes how to build and maintain a High Performing Team as well as how to instill a competitive spirit and culture of cooperation and mutual respect in your team to make sure your team remains focused on the right things.

The need to understand and master ever-changing requirements and environmental conditions is a difficult challenge for project management professionals. The same practices that led to success yesterday may cause failure today. Selecting favorable responses to a given situation is often the most critical factor of the dynamics of success and failure. This book is designed to enable project managers to assess a situation, predict the appropriate approach, methodology and achieving styles, and then apply them in a situational fashion.

Program management is an emerging offshoot of project management. A recent sign of its growing acceptance is AT&T's and IBM's push to certify program managers. There are few references to guide program managers in this field that requires a broad and deep level of professional experience. This handbook is the definitive reference on program management, providing managers this much-needed guidance. Edited by Ginger Levin, the second person to become a PMI certified program manager (PgMP®), the handbook is a cohesive compilation of program management knowledge written by more than 20 certified PgMPs.

The role of the project manager with agile differs significantly from traditional project management in that there is minimal up-front planning. This book will help project managers from any industry transition to agile project management. The book focuses on the project management component of agility, concentrating on industry standards, certifications, and being agile. The book's focus is in alignment with the Project Management Institute (PMI®) Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP®) credential-making it ideal for anyone preparing for the PMI-ACP® exam.

Strong stakeholder engagement is perhaps the most critical factor for achieving successful program execution in our fast-paced world. Many program managers get stuck in the "science" of program management, spending vast amounts of effort on tasks, charts, and metrics. Program managers who emphasize activities around relationship building and stakeholder engagement usually have the best chance for program success. This book focuses on how to engage your stakeholders in the right way, and keep them engaged throughout the course of your program.

This book provides a framework for understanding and managing factors required for achieving successful project and program outcomes. It presents guidelines to help readers develop an understanding of governance and its connection to strategy as the starting point for decisions on what work needs to be done. The book describes how to craft appropriate communication strategies to develop and maintain successful relationships with stakeholders. It highlights the strengths and weaknesses of existing project controls and outlines effective communication techniques for managing expectations and acquiring the support required for successful delivery.

Organizations need to constantly innovate and improve products and services to maintain a strong competitive position in the market place. The vehicle used by organizations for such constant reinvention is a business transformation program. This book illustrates a tested program management roadmap along with the supporting comprehensive frameworks to successfully execute business transformation programs, formulated strategies, and strategic initiatives. It outlines the steps to successfully transform any business and deliver tangible business outcomes.

One of the most difficult, yet important, questions regarding projects is "What advantages will this project create for the investors and key stakeholders?" Projects and programs should be treated as investments. This means that the focus of projects shifts from delivering within the triple constraints (time-cost-quality) towards some of the more fundamental questions: What is the purpose of this investment? What are the specific advantages expected? Are these benefits worth the investment? Implementing Project and Program Benefit Management is written for executives and practitioners within the portfolio, program, and project environment. It guides them through the important work that must be addressed as the investment progresses towards the realization of benefits. The processes discussed cover the strategic elements of benefits realization as well as the more detailed requirements, which are the domain of the program delivery teams and the operational users. Using real cases to explain complex situations, operational teams and wider groups of stakeholders, including communities affected by infrastructure projects, will be able to engage in the conversation with the sponsors and delivery teams. Covering an area of program and project management that is rapidly becoming more widely valued, this book blends theory with practical experience to present a clear process flow to managing the benefits life cycle. Best practices are defined, and pitfalls and traps are identified to enable practitioners to apply rigor and structure to this crucial discipline.

Managing technical programs successfully is as much art as it is science. This book illuminates the entire life cycle of the program¿from customer¿s original concept to successful completion. It offers an overview of the entire process and includes helpful ideas and insights into why programs and program managers can fail. Much more importantly, it provides insights as to how program managers can succeed. The book also deals directly with identifying scope creep¿both internal and external.

To many program, project, or construction managers, a complex project seems to be a labyrinth with many hidden dangers. This book is a guide through that labyrinth. It explains best practices and provides insight so they cannot only identify hidden dangers but also effectively manage the construction process to either mitigate or eliminate these risks. The book presents a systems-based approach to construction project management that can facilitate a greater understanding of the complexity inherent in large construction projects and how that complexity can be effectively managed. The systems approach permits the onsite construction project manager to take a complex construction project, break it down into manageable pieces, and ensure that all systems are in alignment with the original goal of the project. This approach combines industrial engineering, project management, and finance into a unified approach for effective management of complex construction projects, ranging from a power plant to a highway project. The book explains how to manage construction projects successfully through an approach based on the three following systems: Project Management System Work Management System Quality Management System The problem with complex programs and projects is that many managers are only equipped with a knowledge of project management. A system for construction is a collection of many processes effectively working together to produce a specific deliverable, which is usually defined in the program or project's contract. This system has a series of specific inputs and outputs, which are what the customer expects from the company or companies performing the work. This book develops checklists based on these inputs and outputs, which managers can use when first arriving onsite, and provides a "nuts and bolts" approach for managing a complex construction project onsite. The author shares valuable lessons learned during a career of more than thirty years of working on various construction sites around the world. These lessons learned are filled with valuable information to aid readers become more effective as a program, project, or construction manager of complex construction projects.

This book shows executive, project, program, and portfolio managers how ethical behavior can ensure that an organization has proper governance. Improper governance and unethical behavior have led to such well-known financial disasters as Enron and Madoff Investments. The book arms managers with two important tools: Small Sins Allowed (SSA) and Line of Impunity (LoI), which together can be the foundation for renewed and vigorous corporate governance. SSA is a powerful tool that helps managers establish a level above which adherence to ethical standards is expected. LoI aids managers in identifying ethical fault lines that may exist in a company and helps to keep unethical behavior in check.

In addition to test questions in each of the five domains and two practice tests in print and online, this all-in-one study guide also contains flashcards for learning terms. This book is current with The Standard for Program Management, Fourth Edition, and its author is the second person in the world to have earned the PgMP (R) certification.