Project Management for Dummies, UK Edition E-Book

Nick Graham

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 707

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Get projects done on time, on budget, and with maximum efficiency - fully updated UK edition!

In today's time-pressured and cost-conscious global business environment, reliable project management and competent delivery are more important than ever. Increasingly, project management is being seen as an essential management skill for all, as well as a career choice for many. This new UK edition of Project Management For Dummies, 2nd UK Edition quickly introduces you to the principles of successful project management with a clear and logical approach to help you deliver your projects, not only successfully, but also more easily. Unique to the UK edition, you'll find clear guidance on using the highly logical product-based approach to project planning, along with advice on how to release the great power of the technique, not only for effective planning, but also for project control.

Updated with fresh content, tips, and tactics that cover everything you need to know from a project's start to finish, this accessible guide takes you through every stage of project management. You'll discover how to make project planning easier and more effective, manage resources and stay on track within a budget. Then you'll find help and advice to help you motivate and manage your teams to help them perform at their best. To help you stay at the leading edge, you'll also find two new chapters in this edition explaining project governance and the increasingly important international standard ISO 21500. In short, this book will help you master a highly valuable skill for advancing your career.

• Provides clear descriptions of who should do what in a project to prevent communication and control problems
• Presents the latest concepts in project management techniques
• Discusses how to keep risks under control during the project
• Includes access to online project management templates and checklists to aid in learning

If you're a manager taking on a project for the first time or a more experienced project professional looking to get up to speed on the latest thinking and techniques, Project Management For Dummies, 2nd UK Edition equips you for project management success.

Leseprobe

Project Management For Dummies®, Second Edition

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, www.wiley.com

This edition first published 2015

© 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex.

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ISBN 978-1-119-02573-3 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-119-02575-7 (ebk) ISBN 978-1-119-02574-0 (ebk)

Printed in Great Britain by TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Project Management For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/projectmanagementuk to view this book's cheat sheet.

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Icons Used in This Book

Beyond the Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Understanding Projects and What You Want to Achieve

Chapter 1: Success in Project Management

Taking on a Project

Avoiding the Pitfalls

Deciding Whether the Job is a Project

Understanding the four control areas

Recognising the diversity of projects

Understanding the four stages of a project

Defining the Project Manager’s Role

Looking at the Project Manager’s tasks

Opposing opposition

Avoiding ‘shortcuts’

Chapter 2: Thinking Through the Life of Your Project

Being Methodical

Breaking the Project Down into Stages

Appreciating the advantages of stages

Deciding on the number of delivery stages

Understanding the Four Main Stages

Starting the Project

Organising and Preparing

Carrying Out the Work – delivery stages

Closing the Project

Chapter 3: Defining the Scope and Producing a Business Case

Defining the Scope

Managing expectations and avoiding disappointment

Challenging the scope

Understanding the dimensions of scope

Being clear

Requirements

Producing a Business Case

Getting to grips with the basic contents

Keeping the Business Case up to date

Figuring out why you’re doing the project

Understanding project justification

Understanding benefits

Writing the Business Case

Complying with organisational standards

Going Back to the Scope

Getting to Grips with Techniques

Calculating return on investment

Understanding cost–benefit analysis

Chapter 4: Knowing Your Project’s Stakeholders

Managing Stakeholders

Identifying stakeholders – the ‘who’

Analysing the stakeholders – the ‘where’

Understanding positions – the ‘why’

Deciding action – the ‘what’

Working with stakeholders – the ‘how’

Planning the work – the ‘when’

Handling Opposition

Solving the problems

Focusing on the common areas

Understanding that you’re a threat

Spotting facts and emotions

Overriding the opposition

Handling Multiple-Stakeholder Projects

Getting multiple approvals

Developing management strategies

Part II: Planning Time: Determining What, When and How Much

Chapter 5: Planning with Deliverables First

Seeing the Logic of Product Planning

Thinking ‘product’ before thinking ‘task’

Understanding the problems of an activity focus

Knowing What a Product Is – and Isn’t

Finding Good Product Names

Using a Business Project Example

Identifying the products

Developing a sequence

Defining the products

Using a Structured Product List

Unleashing the Power of the Work Flow Diagram

Using the Work Flow Diagram for risk

Using the Work Flow Diagram for control

Using the Work Flow Diagram to show stages

Using the Work Flow for progress reporting

Getting a picture of the project

Chapter 6: Planning the Activities

Moving From Products to Activities

Having multiple tasks to build a product

Listing the activities or tasks

Drawing Up a First Activity Network

Seeing how you build up an Activity Network

Using the Work Flow Diagram

Putting in the time durations

Calculating the length of the project

Understanding Float and Its Impact

Identifying the Critical Path

Watching the critical path

Finding a split critical path

Being More Precise with Dependencies

Understanding dependency types

Staying in touch with reality

Thinking a bit more about sequences

Working with the Activity Network

Working back to meet end dates

Avoiding backing into your schedule

Going for Gantt

Estimating Activity Durations

Getting the best information

Using estimating techniques

Putting a health warning on estimates

Chapter 7: Looking At Staff Resources

Seeing Why You Need to Plan Staff Use

Dealing with resource conflicts

Making sure that people are available

Monitoring use of staff on the project

Matching People to Tasks

Working out the skill sets and knowledge that you need on the teams

Growing your people

Developing a Skills Matrix

Honing Your Task Duration Estimates

Documenting your estimates

Factors in activity timing and estimates

Estimating required work effort

Factoring in productivity

Taking care with historical data

Accounting for availability in estimates

Smoothing the Resource

Checking for resource conflict

Resolving resource conflicts – the steps

Co-ordinating assignments across multiple projects

Chapter 8: Planning for Other Resources and Developing the Budget

Determining Physical Resource Needs

Identifying resource needs

Understanding physical resources

Thinking a bit more about timing

Making Sense of Costs and Budgets

Looking at different types of project costs

Developing a project budget at three levels

Refining your budget through the stages

Creating a detailed budget estimate

Avoiding drowning people in detail

Chapter 9: Planning at Different Times and Levels

Putting the Main Structure in Place

Deciding on the stages

Holding a Stage Gate

Working with Planning Levels

Drawing up new plans

Keeping higher level plans up to date

Planning at more than one level at once

Chapter 10: Venturing into the Unknown: Dealing with Risk and Uncertainty

Understanding Risks and Risk Management

Seeing why you need risk management

Managing, not necessarily avoiding, risk

Keeping people informed

Keeping risk in focus throughout the project

Working Through the Risk Cycle

Identifying a risk and its trigger event(s)

(Re)analyse the risk and check existing actions

Deciding risk management action(s)

Add/modify risk management in the plans

Take planned action(s) and monitor the risk

Documenting Risk

Risk Plan

Risk Log

Getting Some Help from Techniques

Ishikawa (fishbone) diagram

Work Flow Diagram

Risk Checklist

Decision Tree

Part III: Putting Your Management Team Together

Chapter 11: Organising the Project

Designing the Project Organisation

Understanding it’s about roles, not jobs

Getting to grips with project roles

Looking at the roles

Influencing the selection of PSG roles

Defining Organisational Structures

The functional structure

The projectised structure

The matrix structure

Taking note of the structure

Chapter 12: Working With Teams and Specialists

Looking At the Team In Context

Working with Team Leaders

Accepting That People Are Different

Using the Controller–Analyst Matrix

Building in or avoiding team conflict

Using the model on the fly

Thinking About Suitable Team Members

Considering Performance

Identifying the performance progression

Monitoring performance

Maximising performance

Working with Senior Staff

Being secure in your role

Calling in the heavy guns

Working with Technical Specialists

Finding a translator

Admitting your ignorance

Being on-side

Working with Supplier Teams

Supporting supplier staff

Choosing suppliers carefully

Thinking ‘time’, not just ‘initial cost’

Dealing With Discipline

Maintaining some distance

Owning the problem

Avoiding jumping to conclusions

Resolving problems – or trying to

Treading the disciplinary trail

Changing Staff

Chapter 13: Being an Effective Leader

Practising Management and Leadership

Understanding what makes a good leader

Developing personal power and influence

Knowing What Motivates, and also What Demotivates

Taking a lesson from Fred Herzberg

Understanding points of demotivation

Ensuring that others are on board

Developing Your Teams

Defining your project operating processes

Helping your teams to function well

Stoking the Boilers

Letting people know how they’re doing

Motivating people when they leave

Keeping your finger on the pulse

Part IV: Steering the Project to Success

Chapter 14: Tracking Progress and Staying in Control

Understanding What Underpins Effective Progress Control

Having a reliable plan

Having clear and frequent milestones

Having an effective reporting mechanism

Harnessing Product Power for Progress Control

Compiling a Work Checklist

Getting visual with the Work Flow Diagram

Monitoring at project, stage and Work Package levels

Taking Action When Things Go Off Track

Finding out why the project is off track

Thinking about what you can do to get back on track

Deciding what you’ll do

Taking action

Monitoring the effectiveness of the action

Monitoring Work Effort and Costs

Keeping an eye on work effort

Follow the money: Monitoring expenditure

Dealing with Change and Avoiding Scope Creep

Understanding different types of change

Looking at impacts – the four dogs

Responding to change requests

Eliminating scope creep – well, almost

Chapter 15: Keeping Everyone Informed

Looking Underneath Communications Failure

Communications breakdown – the big project killer

Communicating Effectively

Distinguishing between one-way and two-way communication

Can you hear me? Listening actively

Choosing the Appropriate Medium

Writing reports

Meeting up

Setting up a project website

Making a business presentation

Preparing a Communications Plan

Identifying the communications

Writing a Communications Plan

Chapter 16: Bringing Your Project to Closure

Staying the Course to Completion

Thinking ahead about project closure

Dealing with a crash stop

Planning Closure

Outlining closure activities

Motivating teams to the finish line

Providing a Good Transition for Team Members

Reviewing the Project

Beginning with the end in mind

Recording project information

Learning lessons – and passing them on

Measuring benefits

Planning for Things After the Project

Part V: Taking Your Project Management to the Next Level

Chapter 17: Managing Multiple Projects

Talking the Talk

Defining a programme

Defining a portfolio

Deciding on a Programme

Understanding programme roles

Fitting in with Programme Plans

Mapping interdependencies by product

Controlling a programme

Managing a Portfolio

Understanding the project implications

Maintaining the portfolio

Chapter 18: Using Technology to Up Your Game

Using Computer Software Effectively

Seeing what software you need

Understanding where to use software

Having Your Head in the Clouds

Getting Really Good Stuff for Free

Supporting Virtual Teams with Communication Technology

Saving Time With Software

Chapter 19: Monitoring Project Performance with Earned Value Management

Understanding EVM Terms and Formulas

Looking at a project example (1)

Looking at a project example (2)

Looking at a project example (3)

Getting the three key figures

Working with Ratios and Formulas

Investigating Variances

Deciding What to Measure for EVM

Chapter 20: Project Governance and Why It’s Really Important

Seeing Why It’s a No-brainer

Looking At Other Guidance

Understanding What’s Involved

Understanding the Organisational Level

Standards and approaches

Reviewing governance and standards

Checking an Individual Project

Checking the project’s Outline Charter

Checking the Charter and PMP

Checking the project while it’s running

Evaluating the project at the end

Maintaining the ‘Big Divide’

Coordinating Your Project Training

Chapter 21: ISO 21500:2012

Seeing the Place of ISO Standards

Knowing What ISO 21500 Covers

Understanding the Structure of 21500

Getting into the subject areas

Drilling deeper into the processes

Minding the Gap

Boggling Your Mind . . . Just a Bit

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Chapter 22: Ten Questions to Ask Yourself as You Plan Your Project

What Are the Objectives of Your Project?

Who Do You Need to Involve?

What Results Will You Produce?

What Constraints Must You Satisfy?

What Assumptions Are You Making?

What Work Has to Be Done?

When Does Each Activity Start and End?

Who Will Perform the Project Work?

What Other Resources Do You Need?

What Can Go Wrong?

Chapter 23: Ten Tips for Writing a Convincing Business Case

Starting with a Bang

Spelling out the Benefits Clearly

Pointing Out the Non-quantifiables

Being Prudent

Considering Three-point Estimating

Making Sure Benefits Aren’t Features

Avoiding Benefits Contamination

Making Sure You Can Deliver Benefits

Supplying Evidence or Referencing It

Using Appendices

Chapter 24: Ten Tips for Being a Better Project Manager

Being a ‘Why’ Person

Being a ‘Can Do’ Person

Thinking about the Big Picture

Thinking in Detail

Assuming Cautiously

Viewing People as Allies Not Adversaries

Saying What You Mean, and Meaning What You Say

Respecting Other People

Acknowledging Good Performance

Being a Manager and a Leader

About the Authors

Cheat Sheet

More Dummies Products

Guide

Table of Contents

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Introduction

Projects have been around since ancient times. Noah building the ark, Leonardo da Vinci painting the Mona Lisa, Edward Gibbon writing The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Jonas Salk developing the polio vaccine – all projects. And, as you know, these projects were all masterful successes. (Well, the products were a spectacular success, even if schedules and resource budgets were sometimes overrun!)

Why, then, is the topic of project management of such great interest today? The answer is simple: the audience has changed and the stakes are higher.