Alexander Laufer

This book blends academic rigor and real world experience on the agile and planning schools of project management and the process of becoming a project leader.To some, project management is all about logically and rationally planning out dependencies and mapping them out into a flawless plan; a plan that must be rigorously and undeviatingly followed in all its geometric perfection. To others it is about agility – 15 minute scrum meetings and responding on the fly to the unpredictable exigencies that the randomness of the living, breathing world throws up. In reality, smart project leaders do both. They understand that you can’t deliver a project if you make an “either/or” choice between these approaches – you must do “both/and”. These managers strive for stability and flexibility, they use formal and informal processes, and they function as managers and leaders. In Becoming A Project Leader the authors have applied their blend ofintellectual rigor and hard-nosed practical experience to identify four concrete roles employed by successful project managers. The first three roles—planning, agility, and resilience—focus on coping with changes, with each role relating to a different kind of change. These three roles, which complement each other, can be implemented effectively only when they are supported by the fourth role, collaboration. Becoming an expert at understanding and delivering that blend requires constant reflection and interaction with peers – all part of the process of becoming a project leader. Based on years of experience, research and thinking and refined through 20 in-depth interviews with practicing project managers and senior executives, Becoming A Project Leader delivers the solution to all those blown budgets, shot schedules and disappointing deliverables.

This book blends academic rigor and real world experience on the agile and planning schools of project management and the process of becoming a project leader. To some, project management is all about logically and rationally planning out dependencies and mapping them out into a flawless plan; a plan that must be rigorously and undeviatingly followed in all its geometric perfection. To others it is about agility – 15 minute scrum meetings and responding on the fly to the unpredictable exigencies that the randomness of the living, breathing world throws up. In reality, smart project leaders do both. They understand that you can’t deliver a project if you make an “either/or” choice between these approaches – you must do “both/and”. These managers strive for stability and flexibility, they use formal and informal processes, and they function as managers and leaders. In Becoming A Project Leader the authors have applied their blend ofintellectual rigor and hard-nosed practical experience to identify four concrete roles employed by successful project managers. The first three roles—planning, agility, and resilience—focus on coping with changes, with each role relating to a different kind of change. These three roles, which complement each other, can be implemented effectively only when they are supported by the fourth role, collaboration. Becoming an expert at understanding and delivering that blend requires constant reflection and interaction with peers – all part of the process of becoming a project leader. Based on years of experience, research and thinking and refined through 20 in-depth interviews with practicing project managers and senior executives, Becoming A Project Leader delivers the solution to all those blown budgets, shot schedules and disappointing deliverables.

"This is the project management book I've been waiting a decade for! . . . The new world is the Project World, and this book gloriously shows the way."-Tom Peters How to get beyond the formulas and succeed in real-world project management Project Management Success Stories begins where most books on project management leave off-with the real-world experiences of professional project managers working without a net. From these stories and the lessons they teach, project managers emerge not as bureaucrats or technicians clinging to rules and formulas but as champions who challenge the status quo, set goals that extend the limits of their teams' capabilities, rely more on judgment and intuition than calculation, and are not afraid to take risks when necessary. Based on a comprehensive, NASA-sponsored research project, this practical guide takes readers beyond textbook management systems and articulates the field-proven tacit knowledge that these veteran leaders have accumulated through years of experience under fire. These stories contain lessons that extend far beyond the field of engineering; they apply in any environment, from the government task force to the corporate boardroom to the shop floor. This remarkably unconventional how-to book: * Features 70 firsthand project management success stories * Presents actionable lessons demonstrated by these success stories * Inspires and energizes readers to reach new heights in their own performance * Conveys leadership principles and intangibles in a simple, nontechnical format * Provides resources for creating success stories within any organization * Includes profiles of five "star" project managers Project management is not just for engineers anymore, and Project Management Success Stories is for anyone-engineer or generalist, project manager or team member-who wants to turn the tacit knowledge of proven professionals into hands-on solutions to the recurring challenges of a dynamic and constantly changing business and technological environment.