Improving Your Project Management Skills

"Each year, thousands of project managers, certified Project Management Professionals (PMPs®), and other project-focused professionals enroll in the American Management Association's project management seminars. Individuals and companies recognize the value of these courses: up-to-date, repeatable project initiatives they can implement throughout their departments and organizations to improve processes, streamline productivity, and drastically reduce costs.

Based on one of the most popular of these renowned seminars, Improving Your Project Management Skills is both a practical reference for beginners and a handy refresher for seasoned professionals. The book covers all the major areas taught in the AMA seminar of the same name: defining project scope, planning and budgeting, scheduling, implementation, project closure, and more.

A powerful learning tool and workplace reference based on a bestselling course, Improving Your Project Management Skills lets project professionals bring the power of the seminar back to their own project environments."

Larry Richman is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP®) with more than 25 years of experience. He has developed and implementedcomputer-assisted project management systems and has taught project management for over a decade. He is also the author of Project Management Step-by-Step. Mr. Richman lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.

"Part I: Foundations for Success

Chapter 1: The Core Concepts

— Project Management Vocabulary

— Why Project Management?

— Classic Functions of Management

— Processes in the Life of a Project

— Knowledge Areas

— Other Definitions

Chapter 2: Leading and Directing Project Teams

— Leadership Aspects of Project Management

— Leadership Skills

— Leadership Theories

— Leadership Functions

— Conducting Meetings

— Conducting Information Interviews

Part II: Project Planning

Chapter 3: Defining Project Scope and Requirements

— Establish Goals and Objectives

— Establish Time, Cost, and Performance Objectives

— Goal Breakdown Structure

— Project-Scope Document

— Time, Cost, and Performance Trade-Offs

— Tools to Use in Preparing a Scope Document

— Alignment with Business Goals and Strategies

— Example Scope Document

Chapter 4: Developing the Project Work Plan: The Work Breakdown Structure

— The Work Breakdown Structure is an Outline

— The Work Breakdown Structure is a Validation Tool

— Work Breakdown Structures are Flexible

— Techniques to Create Work Breakdown Structures

Chapter 5: Defining Activity Dependencies and Creating Network Diagrams

— Network Diagrams Show Activity Sequence

— Types of Network Diagrams

— Activity Dependencies

— Overlap or Separation of Activities

— Sample Network Diagram

— Critical Path

Chapter 6: Estimating Work

— Work Breakdown Structure

— Estimate Parameters

— Estimating Methods

— Guidelines for Estimating

— Estimates Should Consider Risks

— Effort-Driven vs. Duration-Driven Estimates

— Estimates are Predictions

— Quality of the Estimate

Part III: Putting It Together

Chapter 7: Producing a Project Plan

— Components of a Project Plan

— Schedule Plan

— Resource and Budget Plans

— Resource Imbalance

— Project Cost Plan

— Control Processes

— Organization Plan

— Risk Management

— Communication Plan

— Documentation and Commitments

Part IV: Project Control

Chapter 8: Monitoring and Controlling Projects

— Project Kickoff Meeting

— Project Control

— Project Meetings

— Project Control Process

— Monitoring Project Work

— Schedule Importance

— Labor Hours

— Data Analysis

— Change Control

— Sources of Change

Chapter 9: Closing a Project

— Benefits of Project Closure

— Project Closure Ensures Project Requirements Are Met

— Projects May End in a Variety of Ways

— Closure Begins with Customer Acceptance

— Lessons Learned

— Finance and Administration Records

— Performance Reporting

— Staff Release

Appendixes

Appendix A: Recommended Reading

Appendix B: Templates for the Project Plan

Index"