The Single-Minded Project

The behaviour of people and their organisation are the primary drivers of a project’s pace of progress. Methodology, tools and techniques are vital but subordinate to human endeavour; if only because their selection, deployment and application entirely depend on the abilities of the project players and their organisation. Performance ultimately rests on human and organisational behaviour: expressed by the players’ experience, professional ability, resolve, dialogue and collaboration. Fresh approaches and methods help practitioners to address this reality productively. This book is written under nine headings: collaboration; able people; strength; connections; rigour; pace; persistence; adaptation; and maturity. The Single-Minded Project offers a new and convincing appreciation of project management that will harness players and their organisation. It recognises that at its heart, the management and leadership of a project regime relies on the choices, behaviours and decisions of its players and the organisation’s freedom of action. It addresses the urgency of the project (the need for swiftness), coupled with the kind and degree of diligence (the need for rigour in the choice and management of method): referring to its Pace of Progress. The success of a project very much depends on the pace at which it is conducted to then deliver value. Projects find themselves in territory where methodology, tools and techniques are of little help. The Single-Minded Project fills that gap and more.

Martin Price is widely known as a speaker and writer and for his fresh ideas on human and organisational behaviour; so crucial to the success of project management. He was Director of Professional Development for PMI’s UK Chapter and for six years hosted PMI’s monthly UK Chapter meetings in London. Martin worked as an electrical engineer before spending 15 years as a personnel manager and change management consultant with PA Consulting Group. There he enabled and supported the transformation of large and small businesses. He is MD of EngagementWorks, a consultancy supporting organisations in their quest for developing high performing project organisations.