Making It Happen: A Non-Technical Guide To Projectmanagement

Making It Happen: A Non-Technical Guide to Project Management provides a fresh and clear approach to project management. Written in the form of a novel, it covers the basics of project management in a friendly, interesting, and memorable way.

Will Campbell, a reasonably competent middle manager, is suddenly thrust into managing a high-profile project that could make or break his career. With no project management experience, and armed only with the guidance of his eccentric menror, Martha, Will learns the hard way. As Will navigates the rough seas of company politics, treacherous competition, and a project swirling out of control, he narrowly evades many pitfalls, and masters some indispensable project management tools along the way.

Against the backdrop of this personal drama, a simple, rational approach to project management unfolds. Will's ability to grasp these principles is the key to his survival, and could be the key to yours. Making It Happen enables the reader to transform risky, real-life situations into success.

• Provides a simple, non-technical approach, useful to any business person involved in teams or managing projects
• Offers practical tools and principles that will make any project a success: from office moves to product roll-outs, systems implementations to training program delivery, and everything in between
• Boxes, definitions, and charts highlight key points and practical project management tips.

Mackenzie Kyle is the Principle of the Beringer Group and an associate at Manageering, a firm specializing in project management consulting and training. He has spent the last 15 years working on a variety of project management related assignments at organizations in Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia.

Preface

Part One: GENESIS

Chapter 1: Sink or Swim

Chapter 2: Grasping the Scope

Chapter 3: What is a Project?

Chapter 4: The Team Meets

Chapter 5: Sifting Through the Mess

Chapter 6: Asking the Right Questions

Chapter 7: Writing the Objective Statement

Chapter 8: The Project Manager Faces the Board

Part Two: THE PROJECT TEAM

Chapter 9: The Team's Roles

Chapter 10: Company Politics

Part Three: THE DESIGN PHASE

Chapter 11: What is Design, and How Long Does it Take?

Chapter 12: Organizing the Design Process

Chapter 13: The User's Needs

Chapter 14: Charts, Costs, and Other Puzzles

Chapter 15: More Problems with Schedules

Part Four: EXECUTION PLANNING

Chapter 16: Tasks

Chapter 17: A Dependency Chart

Chapter 18: Finding and Fixing Mistakes

Part Five: EXECUTION

Chapter 19: Altering Plans

Chapter 20: On a Crash Course

Chapter 21: A New Assignment

Part Six: THE REVIEW PROCESS

Chapter 22: Assessing Assignments

Part Seven: THE PROJECT MANAGER'S SURVIVAL MANUAL

Chapter 23: Recording the Fundamentals

Part Eight: NEW FRAMEWORKS

Chapter 24: Checking Assumptions

Epilogue