Project and Program Management: A Competency-Based Approach, Fourth Edition

Choosing the right people to carry out a project is essential to its success. When multiple projects are combined into a complex program, the human aspect becomes even more important. This book is the first to truly balance a complete account of the technical aspects of project and program management with a practical approach to understanding and developing the core competencies required to accomplish desired goals. On the technical side, this book is a complete introduction to predicting costs, setting schedules, and assessing risks. On the people side, it sheds new light on how to mold different personality types into a team, how to motivate the team's members, and how to produce extraordinary results. The author details the essential parts of the program management approach, describing the best way to define, organize, and schedule the work to be done, identifying risks and controlling costs during the whole process.

This fourth edition has been significantly revised, with every chapter updated. The volume considers the magnitude of recent social, political, and technological changes, and the impact is represented throughout this book. Included are insights from numerous students who bring to the forefront their current real-world practices from their individual businesses, industries, and disciplines.

Dr. Mitchell L. Springer currently serves as an executive director for Purdue University’s Polytechnic Institute located in West Lafayette, Indiana. He has more than 35 years of theoretical and defense industry-based practical experience from four disciplines: software engineering, systems engineering, program management, and human resources. Dr. Springer possesses a significant strength in pattern recognition, and analyzing and improving organizational systems. He is internationally recognized, and has contributions to scholarship of nearly 300 books, articles, presentations, editorials, and reviews on software development methodologies, management, organizational change, and program management. Dr. Springer sits on many university and community boards and advisory committees. He is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, most recently the Indiana Council for Continuing Education Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award. Dr. Springer is the president of the Indiana Council for Continuing Education as well as the past chair of the Continuing Professional Development Division of the American Society for Engineering Education.

Dr. Springer received his B.S. degree in computer science from Purdue University, and his M.B.A. and doctorate in adult and community education with a cognate in executive development from Ball State University. He is certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP), a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR & SHRM-SCP) in Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR), and in civil and domestic mediation. Dr. Springer is a State of Indiana Registered domestic mediator.