Project Management Essentials, Second Edition

Project management is a critical skill across a broad range of disciplines. Yet most people, regardless of educational background, have never received training in how to plan, manage, and execute projects. Project Management Essentials, Second Edition , is the go-to book for tried and true project management skills combined with the most current ideas from Agile in a concise, up-to-date, user-friendly format. It follows the project life cycle and provides several ready-to-use templates. Readers can use this book to plan and manage a project from start to finish or as a reference for help with one particular component of project management. Alongside each template is a brief description of what each template is and why it is useful, with an example to illustrate it. Business Expert Press Portfolio and Project Management Collection Cover 1 Project Management Essentials 4 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 CHAPTER 1: Introduction to Project Management 12 What Is Project Management? 13 What Is Project Success? 14 What Is a Project Life Cycle? 15 Key Roles in Project Management 20 Overview of Remaining Chapters 24 Summary 27 CHAPTER 2: Selecting and Initiating a Project 30 Portfolio Management 30 Project Management Office 33 Initiating Projects with a Charter 34 Summary 46 CHAPTER 3: Engaging Your Team and Other Stakeholders 48 Your Team 48 Identify and Prioritize Stakeholders 54 Summary 61 CHAPTER 4: Determining What Your Project Will Deliver 64 Collect Requirements 64 Define Scope 68 Work Breakdown Structure 70 Managing Risks 73 Establishing Change Control 76 Summary 78 CHAPTER 5: Project Scheduling 80 Defining Work Activities 81 Sequencing Work Activities 81 Estimating Activity Duration 83 Developing the Project Schedule 84 Showing Your Schedule on a Gantt Chart 89 Assigning Workers 90 Identifying Resource Overloads 91 Using Software 93 Summary 94 CHAPTER 6: Budgeting and Baselining Your Project 96 Estimate Cost 97 Determine Budget 100 Consolidate Schedule, Budget, Scope, and Resources into Integrated Plan 103 Kickoff Project 103 Baseline Consolidated Project Plan 104 Summary 104 CHAPTER 7: Directing Project Performance 106 Continued Planning and Directing 106 Maintaining Momentum 109 Manage Communications 115 Close Project 121 Summary 122 APPENDIX 1: Templates 124 APPENDIX 2: Selecting, Prioritizing, and Resourcing Projects 134 About the Authors 140 Index 142 Ad Page 146 Back Cover 147 Agile,leadership,project communication,project control,project management,project risk,project schedule,project teams,project success,templates.