Project Management for Non-Project Managers - Hardcover

Ferraro, Jack

3.52

27 ratings by Goodreads

9780814417362: Project Management for Non-Project Managers

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0814417361 ISBN 13: 9780814417362

Publisher: AMACOM, 2012

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As a seasoned project management consultant and instructor for the American Management Association, author Jack Ferraro has gained years of experience bridging the gap between project managers and functional managers to help countless teams improve their performance. Now, in this practical guide he shares engaging stories and lessons from his experiences and reveals the project management methodology and processes that will give you the advantage to ensure your projects’ success--and advance organizational goals. Project Management for Non-Project Managers demystifies the jargon and processes of project management, encouraging functional managers to jump into the PM arena and arming them with step-by-step guidelines for mastering the most critical PM skills, including business analysis techniques, work breakdown structures, program sequencing techniques, and risk management methods. Great managers are experts at getting bottom-line results, but often do not understand their role in the success or failure of their organization's projects. As projects become more strategic and collaborative in nature, managers with even basic project-management knowledge are most capable of keeping projects business-focused. By switching gears from passive bystander to active owner of project strategies, you’ll keep your team’s projects on track and, as a result, increase their business value.

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Book Description:

Great managers are experts at getting bottom-line results, but often do not understand their role in the success or failure of their organization’s projects. They balk at the arcane terminology and are unaware of how to use valuable project management techniques and tools—a knowledge gap that can be a serious career barrier!

Functional managers with even basic project management (PM) knowledge are the best people for keeping projects business-focused. This new book demystifies the jargon and processes, encouraging managers to jump into the PM arena and arming them with strategies for increasing the business value created by their company’s projects. Readers will discover:

� Advice for switching gears from passive bystander to active owner of projects

� Insights into four critical PM skills, including business analysis techniques, work breakdown structures, program sequencing techniques, and risk management methods

� Step-by-step guidelines, case studies, and illustrations for mastering these skills

Project Management for Non-Project Managers provides easy-to-read, in-a-nutshell explanations of all the PM basics that managers need to achieve project success.

From the Inside Flap:

As a manager, you may feel that “project teams” brought in to accomplish goals and objectives affecting your department may as well have crash-landed from another planet, speaking a jargon-filled language all their own, and referring to complex-looking graphs and charts you don’t recognize. Yet it’s your responsibility to ensure that the results of a project initiative have a positive effect, benefiting your department, your customers, and ultimately, your organization. You may not be a certified project manager – or even have been trained in the basics of project management – but without an understanding of how project management works, you may be doing a disservice to your department, your company and even your career.

As a seasoned project management consultant and instructor with over two decades of experience, Jack Ferraro has witnessed countless functional managers who have been thrust into project teams – or even project leadership positions – desperate to gain an understanding of PM fundamentals. Project Management for Non-Project Managers is a simply written, down-to-earth guide that will help you understand your role in any project, and enable you to use project management techniques to actively participate in and ensure the successful completion of any project initiative.

Featuring step-by-step guidelines and enlightening stories from the project trenches, this easy-to-understand book introduces you to critical project management skills. You’ll learn how to:

� Engage productively with project managers and teams to increase the probability of real business value being created from the project.

� Eliminate the unnecessary work that often slows projects down.

� Play an aggressive role in the initial planning process.

� Understand what a project team should be providing and when, what you need to provide the project team, and how to interpret schedule and cost information.

� Manage risk, and prevent changing require�ments from derailing the completion of important milestones.

Illustrated by case studies, and filled with helpful checklists and exercises, the book clearly explains project management tools including business analysis techniques, work breakdown structures, program sequencing techniques, and risk-management methods. You’ll learn everything you need to know to articulate effectively real business needs to the project team, and use quantifiable action steps to ensure real results.

Whether you’re being asked to work together with a project management team, or are eager to put proven project management techniques to work for you, this book will enable you to use the tools that will help you become a productive spearhead of change in your organization.

JACK FERRARO, PMP, is president of MyProjectAdvisor�, a company that provides project management consulting, coaching, and training. He has 22 years of experience working with project teams and managing complex projects. He lives in Washington, DC.

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