1st Edition
The Everyday Project Manager A Primer for Learning the Principles of Successful Project Management
The best organizations, and even the best departments within organizations, have a roadmap: a clear vision of where they would like to be and the means by which they will get there. This roadmap drives the everyday activity of the company as well as any change it makes both internally and externally. And it is what drives projects.
In fact, it is arguable that success in business is almost wholly reliant on an ability to implement change effectively – whether it is a computer system that gives you the edge on your competitor, bringing a new product to market, adopting new ways of working, or completely redefining the approach your company takes. Success and survival in business relies on change and the way that business implements change is through projects. Therefore, if you work in the world of business, sooner or later the chances are that you will be involved in a project, as a stakeholder, advisor, sponsor or possibly running it - as the project manager.
In The Everyday Project Manager, author and project management expert Jeremy Nicholls shares the key attributes and skills of successful project management and describes the practical skills that will enhance project delivery regardless of your level of experience.
The skills and concepts detailed in this book can be easily understood and implemented. They are "everyday" (that is, commonplace) skills, but they are skills and the concepts that the best project managers use every day.
Each chapter details the concepts, practices, and tools that readers will use to build their proficiency in every phase of delivering a project efficiently and effectively.
Introduction Part One: What Is The Everyday Project Manager?
Introduction Part Two: Some Project Management Definitions
Phase 1: Project Start-up
Chapter 1: What are we doing here?: The Vision, Benefits and Objectives
Chapter 2: The trade-off: We offer three kinds of service
Chapter 3: Project scope: Defining the requirements
Chapter 4: Roles and Responsibilities: I’m putting the team back together for one last job
Phase 2: Design
Chapter 5: The best laid plans: Planning & estimating your project
Chapter 6: How much?!: Budgeting and Cost Management
Chapter 7: Control mechanisms: Setting up your Project Governance
Phase 3: Build & Execute
Chapter 8: Hell is other people: Managing the team
Phase 4: Project Closure & Lessons Learned
Chapter 9: Managing uncertainty: a brief introduction to risk management
Chapter 10: In extremis: how to manage difficult projects
Appendices
In summary: delivering a project in three pages
Key information for Every (Everyday) Project
Biography
Jeremy Nicholls has been an independent project management consultant for over ten years. In that time, he has delivered hundreds of projects across disciplines including IT, construction and business transformation. His exposure to multiple sectors left him convinced that it is the project management mindset, rather than sector-specific knowledge, that leads to successful project delivery. Nicholls has worked for a number of Blue Chip clients over the course of his career – each of them industry leaders – and has led projects within professions as diverse as legal, aviation and financial services. Despite working for prestigious clients, he has seen the whole spectrum of good and bad project delivery and learned many lessons the hard way as his career has progressed. He is currently working at Gatwick Airport – the world’s busiest single-runway airport – where he consults primarily on project governance and the best way to structure large-scale infrastructure delivery programs. He lives in South London with his wife and two children.
