In this book, project management expert Dr. Alexander Laufer leads an all-star team of practitioners and thought leaders in presenting a powerful project leadership framework. Laufer’s framework addresses the toughest challenges of new product development: large, complex projects composed of many diverse, geographically distributed, and highly interdependent components; organizational change; and repeated and risky tasks. Laufer reveals core leadership principles that are crucial to successful project leadership in dynamic and complex environments, regardless of industry, project goals, or stakeholders. Then, together with his contributors, he presents eight chapter-length case studies covering exceptionally challenging projects in a wide spectrum of industries and products – from developing missiles to reorganizing companies, building spacecraft and dairy plants to flying solar-powered airplanes. Readers will discover new ways to unleash the power of autonomy and learning; adapt to change on a timely basis; “give up” control without “losing” control; use face-to-face interaction to maximize alignment; manage “no fun” missions in hostile environments; deliver on bold ideas through sheer preparation; learn from practice – and unlearn lessons that need to be unlearned. Mastering the Leadership Role in Project Management will be invaluable to executives, project leaders, and aspiring project leaders in all organizations – regardless of their project goals, backgrounds, or experience.

Offers a collection of essays on philosophies and strategies for defining, leading, and managing projects. This book explains to technical and non-technical readers alike what it takes to get through a large software or web development project. It does not cite specific methods, but focuses on philosophy and strategy.

Tens of thousands of readers rely on James Lewis's classic Project Planning, Scheduling & Control for hands-on help in bringing projects in on time and on budget. Now, this higher-level guide takes project managers beyond basic skills. Using the flexible and down-to-earth approach for which Lewis is famed, it covers advanced topics such as identifying customer requirements using QFD (quality function deployment); allocating resources for improved scheduling applying systems thinking; and using decision-support tools in project management.

As executives build and nurture their organization’s strategic agility in today’s turbulent, uncertain business environment, the ability to lead strategic change has become more critical than ever. The Strategic Project Leader: Mastering Service-Based Project Leadership, Second Edition will help project managers lead with confidence in temporary, ambiguous team structures that execute risk-laden work in an increasingly agile project environment. Like the first edition, this edition encourages readers to take ownership of their leadership agenda and become disciplined in the processes of building a framework of leadership skills. Readers are introduced to a new role: the service-based project leader. This role serves the entire project organization by creating a meaningful experience for team members, customers, and critical stakeholders. The book provides practical guidance to help you move from project manager to service-based project leader. Detailing a framework for developing and refining leadership skills, it explains how to build a leadership competency pyramid and then execute a self-directed plan for building leadership competencies. The leadership competency pyramid includes an intuitive model that will be helpful to project managers at any level. The book elaborates on the components of each layer of the pyramid and how each layer relates to the others. A chapter is dedicated to each layer of the pyramid, with supporting evidence for the necessity of each of these layers, as well as practical advice on how to build and practice these component layers.

The Harvard Business Review Project Management Collection is for anyone serious about project management. Project Management for Profit shows every company owner and project manager—at businesses large and small—how to run projects differently. Reinventing Project Management, based on an unprecedented study of more than 600 projects in a variety of businesses and organizations around the globe, provides a new and highly adaptive model for planning and managing projects to achieve superior business results. Also included in this collection are Managing Projects Large and Small, which will walk you through every step of project oversight from start to finish, and the HBR Guide to Project Management, which will help you: build a strong, focused team, break major objectives into manageable tasks, create a schedule that keeps all the moving parts under control, monitor progress toward your goals, manage stakeholders' expectations, and wrap up your project and gauge its success.

This unique text provides a holistic systems approach to project portfolio management which includes people, processes, tools, and techniques that work synergistically to produce portfolio decisions with the best chance of success. Accompanied by decision support software and advanced decision making techniques, it guides readers step-by-step through the entire project portfolio management process. This professional guide is also ideal for executive continuing education programs, and as a primary text for graduate level academic courses.

No More Headaches, Hypertension, or Heartburn If your work involves projects, then this book is for you. It will show every company owner and project manager—at businesses large and small—how to run projects differently. You’ll benefit if you’ve ever: • been over budget on a project • exceeded a timeline on a project • worked on a project that completely stalled as you neared the finish line • lost money on a sure-thing project and had no idea why • noticed that scope and feature creep held you back • watched a project take three times as long as planned • felt too embarrassed to perform a review of your successes and failures • wondered whether your project actually made any money By the time you finish the book, you’ll be ready to implement Project Management for Profit in your own company—and be prepared to keep your projects on track and on budget.

This is a collection of essays from key researchers in the field of project management who describe what they feel are the most impactful findings from research. In the challenging and competitive world of project management, project managers need all the insight they can get. Leading researchers share what they believe are the most important findings from the research being done today. These cover pressing topics confronting project managers, including hybrid methodologies, schedule overruns, schedule estimation, project efficiency, and managing local stakeholders. Highlights include the following: Jeff Pinto and Kate Davis explore the “Normalization of Deviance” (NoD) phenomenon within various organizational settings, focusing on projects. NoD involves the gradual acceptance of deviant practices, diverging from established norms, and often leading to detrimental outcomes. Francesco Di Maddaloni investigates how local communities’ stakeholders are perceived, identified, and categorized by project managers in major public infrastructure and construction projects (MPIC). His chapter helps project managers to have a better understanding of a more inclusive and holistic approach to engage with a broader range of stakeholders. Lavagnon Ika, Peter Love, and Jeff Pinto suggest that error and bias combine to exact a toll on major projects, offer theoretical insights, and outline practical recommendations for project managers. Jonas Söderlund offers managerial guidelines for leveraging deadlines as powerful tools for generating project success. Pedro M. Serrado looks at empirical studies that link planning quality to project success, emphasizing its importance. He also discusses the downsides of excessive planning, particularly in dynamic environments and research and development projects.

Quantitative analysis of outcomes vs PMs at the individual level Leading Complex Projects takes a unique approach to post-mortem analysis to provide project managers with invaluable insight. For the first time, individual PM characteristics are quantitatively linked to project outcomes through a major study investigating the role of project leadership in the success and failure of complex industrial projects; hard data on the backgrounds, education, and personality characteristics of over 100 directors of complex projects is analyzed against the backdrop of project performance to provide insight into controllable determinants of outcomes. By placing these analyses alongside their own data, PMs will gain greater insight into areas of weakness and strength, locate recurring obstacles, and identify project components in need of greater planning, oversight, or control. The role of leadership is to deliver results; in project management, this means taking responsibility for project outcomes. PMs are driven by continuous improvement, and this book provides a wealth of insight to help you achieve the next step forward. Understand why small, simple projects consistently outperform larger, more complex projects Delve into the project manager's role in generating successful outcomes Examine the data from over 100 PMs of complex industrial projects Link PM characteristics to project outcome to find areas for improvement Complex industrial projects from around the world provide a solid basis for quantitative analysis of outcomes—and the PMs who drive them. Although the majority of the data is taken from projects in the petroleum industry, the insights gleaned from analysis are widely applicable across industry lines for PMs who lead complex projects of any stripe. Leading Complex Projects provides clear, data-backed improvement guidance for anyone in a project management role.

MEET YOUR GOALS—ON TIME AND ON BUDGET. How do you rein in the scope of your project when you’ve got a group of demanding stakeholders breathing down your neck? And map out a schedule everyone can stick to? And motivate team members who have competing demands on their time and attention? Whether you’re managing your first project or just tired of improvising, this guide will give you the tools and confidence you need to define smart goals, meet them, and capture lessons learned so future projects go even more smoothly. The HBR Guide to Project Management will help you: Build a strong, focused team Break major objectives into manageable tasks Create a schedule that keeps all the moving parts under control Monitor progress toward your goals Manage stakeholders’ expectations Wrap up your project and gauge its success