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.

Project Management in Practice, 4th Edition focuses on the technical aspects of project management that are directly related to practice.

No matter how perfect a project plan may be on paper, it is worthless if nobody actually uses it. This innovative guide shows you how to ensure that your team has the process capabilities needed to successfully carry out any project plan you put to paper. By using the SEI's Capability Maturity Model, The Project Management Maturity Model, and PMBOK Knowledge areas, you can baseline your team's process level to see how it measures up to those required by a project plan.

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.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Second International Conference on Product Focused Software Process Improvement, PROFES 2000, held in Oulu, Finland, in June 2000. The 30 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 60 submitted full papers. The book is divided into topical sections on process improvement, empirical software engineering, industrial experiences, methods and tools, software process and modeling, software and process measurement, and organizational learning and experience factory.

An in-depth look at how to improve decisions on major projects at the concept stage, when there is scant information available. This book describes how to evaluate judgemental information. It looks at how scant information can actually be a strength, and can help establish a broad overall perspective.

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 includes a selection of papers from the 2018 World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (WorldCIST'18), held in Naples, Italy on March27-29, 2018. WorldCIST is a global forum for researchers and practitioners to present and discuss recent results and innovations, current trends, professional experiences and the challenges of modern information systems and technologies research together with their technological development and applications. The main topics covered are: A) Information and Knowledge Management; B) Organizational Models and Information Systems; C) Software and Systems Modeling; D) Software Systems, Architectures, Applications and Tools; E) Multimedia Systems and Applications; F) Computer Networks, Mobility and Pervasive Systems; G) Intelligent and Decision Support Systems; H) Big Data Analytics and Applications; I) Human–Computer Interaction; J) Ethics, Computers & Security; K) Health Informatics; L) Information Technologies in Education; M) Information Technologies in Radiocommunications; N) Technologies for Biomedical Applications.

In recent times, the number of school building projects in Saudi Arabia has increased to a large extent, particularly projects undertaken by the School Building Agency (SBA). As this number has risen, the inefficiency in projects handled by the SBA has raised concerns. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the reasons behind the inefficiency in terms of time, quality, and cost. Further, to mitigate the inefficiency, the use of project management practices by the SBA has been investigated. The beneficial aspects of project management practices have been adopted in many Western countries, and these can be implemented in developing countries, such as Saudi Arabia, to maximize the potential of these practices. Therefore, the extent of the use of project management practices by the SBA has been monitored using solutions provided by the respondents. To achieve this purpose, a detailed literature review was undertaken, followed by a structured questionnaire that was posted online for targeted respondents in order to clearly understand the present situation at the SBA and find practical solutions. In addition, a number of interviews were conducted with people working with the SBA. The goal of the research was accomplished with the identification of ten significant issues causing inefficiency in the projects undertaken by the SBA, which relate to the SBA itself, as well as contractors, suppliers, consultants, rules and regulations, and other issues. Moreover, the five lowest uses of project management practices on projects undertaken by the SBA were identified. Lastly, the ten most effective methods to enhance the performance of SBA projects were studied. Finally, this study culminated in specific recommendations to SBA top management to enhance the efficiency of its projects and optimize the use of project management practices within the organization.

The functionality of social networking platforms has caused such technologies to become an integral part of modern society. Once limited to only personal purposes, the use of these platforms within organizations has seen significant growth in recent years. Strategic Integration of Social Media into Project Management Practice is an authoritative reference source for the latest research on benefits and challenges presented by the integration of online social networks in the project development process. Highlighting relevant perspectives on team communication, effective collaboration, and stakeholder engagement, this book is an essential resource for project managers, researchers, graduate-level students, and practitioners interested in the innovative uses of social media in professional settings.