What do you think?
Rate this book
Personal Effectiveness in Project Management: Tools, Tips & Strategies to Improve Your Decision-making, Motivation, Confidence, Risk-taking, Achievement and Sustainability
In Personal Effectiveness in Project Management, project manager and professor Zachary A. Wong, PhD provides readers with the tools and techniques that not only help them improve their own personal performance, but that of their project teams as well. Personal Effectiveness begins within. Dr. Wong's decades of Personal Effectiveness experience taught him that learning soft skills requires the same rigor as hard skills. In fact, one of the book's most valuable achievements is putting “soft” skills into a “hard” framework that readers can use for themselves and their team members. The book is divided into four modules, each addressing a different aspect of Personal Effectiveness: Decision-Making, Motivation, Achievement and Sustainability. The book's unique approach takes the reader through the modules, seeking to clarify and optimize the reader's performance in each area.
200 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2013
4 people are currently reading
9 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 4, 2017
This book has been developed by the author based on his experience working in Chevron, a fairly traditional company, and by developing the activities and guidelines as an instructor in the UC Berkeley Extension project management program.
There's not a lot of new-to-me content in the book or the course and earns comparisons to other books or courses on the topic of personal growth. This book focuses on the first-person -- understanding one's own values, passions, goals and motivations -- as a way of being more effective professionally (and personally) and avoiding getting to that point in your life when you say "Hey! I should have gone to the zoo with my daughter instead of working all weekend!" (example borrowed from the instructor's presentation in class).
Some of the exercises can be very valuable, particularly for folks who are not very introspective or goal-oriented, or maybe even a bit risk-verse. For example -- one of the exercises is to create a "life map" of all the most meaningful positive and negative experiences. This exercise is followed by rating a list of qualities or characteristics of your professional life under "Currently Have" and "Want to Have." These responses are grouped into categories and then compared against the life map -- offering a different way of looking at personal values and an opportunity to clarify and revise earlier stated goals.
Some of the author's observations on human behavior are perceptive, such as "Impatience is an external conflict of process and efficiency and an internal need for certainty and control."
Some of the anecdotes and observations are general and clearly viewed through a particular lens -- such as the story of a group of professionals who went looking for dinner in downtown SF. They found that the really good places required reservations or had a very long wait - and they ended up at one of the tourist trap diner places where nobody was really excited about the menu but they all stayed. He attributes that to the participants having a certain amount of "fear" (ie, not wanting to rock the boat, etc) -- but having spent a fair amount of time around Union Square, I have been in that situation. Sometimes you just want to eat and don't want to keep wandering around -- competing with tourists, theater goers, AAU students and people just getting off work -- so you agree to a crappy meal with good company. That's just what people do sometimes - I don't think it has to be attributed to fear (seems a stretch).
He does it again with a discussion around mid-life crises, "people do crazy things, such as buying a motorcycle, quitting work, getting cosmetic surgery or doing other drastic things. It's a desperate attempt to feel renewed and excited again through impulsive actions." Or - what if - people just decide to do things they have been putting off for years?
Why is it "desperate" or needy? or "crazy" just because it isn't what you would choose? Part of the exciting benefits package of being an adult is giving yourself permission to DO things. Unfortunately some of use realize this late and then people say "Oh, mid life crisis! You can tell s/he is desperate!" Maybe that (insert whatever judgement value adjectives you want here) old guy in the sports car with the cute young thing in the passenger seat is just finally HAPPY?
Some of the other examples are fantastic -- there is an example about a women's baseball team championship game where one player strikes a homerun and tears her ACL or hamstring running the bases; it's her last game (she's a senior) and rather than risk disqualification her own teammates just stand and watch -- while the other team decides to carry her around the bases so she can complete her home run. This is a great example of "collab-etition" and "high set-point" - everyone wins in every possible way.
Wong also reinforces the concept of making "good" decisions rather than "right" decisions -- something that has been popping up in all the project management books I've been reading this year. Establish criteria for making your decisions -- and then figure out how the options line up. Do your research (information, feedback, buy-in) and then also give yourself time to quiet your mind and listen to your instincts or "gut." Once you make a decision, be confident that you made a good decision, regardless of outcome -- you'll either have the desired outcome or a good learning situation.
Finally - Wong spends some time on goals and the importance of setting professional and personal goals to help motivate and challenge oneself. I'm not sure I would have ended up in project management if I didn't already have a natural propensity toward writing lists of activities and defining goals, performing annual retrospectives on what I accomplished and learned. I'd be surprised to find anyone in project management who doesn't already do this (heck - I have travel goals and create spreadsheets for camping trips).
The author describes creating SMART goals (without using that acronym) and describes the value of having realistic goals that are just challenging enough to provide motivation and excitement.
As with many of these kinds of books - the underlying assumption is that personal fulfillment is the key to happiness. The key to personal fulfillment is constantly growing, expanding your skills and knowledge and pursuing new experiences. This is a fairly modern and Western concept - it may or may not have the same value in other times or places.
It's all fairly familiar advice -- in multiple senses of the word, things we have heard before as well as the kind of advice you might be getting from a wiser, more experienced family member. This is a good book for anyone who has spent time in their professional career and has not yet gone through team-building exercises, personal development workshops or maybe professional/career coaching exercises. Time to "do your work" and figure out who you are and what will make you most happy -- now (it may change later, so you'll have to keep doing the work!).
There's not a lot of new-to-me content in the book or the course and earns comparisons to other books or courses on the topic of personal growth. This book focuses on the first-person -- understanding one's own values, passions, goals and motivations -- as a way of being more effective professionally (and personally) and avoiding getting to that point in your life when you say "Hey! I should have gone to the zoo with my daughter instead of working all weekend!" (example borrowed from the instructor's presentation in class).
Some of the exercises can be very valuable, particularly for folks who are not very introspective or goal-oriented, or maybe even a bit risk-verse. For example -- one of the exercises is to create a "life map" of all the most meaningful positive and negative experiences. This exercise is followed by rating a list of qualities or characteristics of your professional life under "Currently Have" and "Want to Have." These responses are grouped into categories and then compared against the life map -- offering a different way of looking at personal values and an opportunity to clarify and revise earlier stated goals.
Some of the author's observations on human behavior are perceptive, such as "Impatience is an external conflict of process and efficiency and an internal need for certainty and control."
Some of the anecdotes and observations are general and clearly viewed through a particular lens -- such as the story of a group of professionals who went looking for dinner in downtown SF. They found that the really good places required reservations or had a very long wait - and they ended up at one of the tourist trap diner places where nobody was really excited about the menu but they all stayed. He attributes that to the participants having a certain amount of "fear" (ie, not wanting to rock the boat, etc) -- but having spent a fair amount of time around Union Square, I have been in that situation. Sometimes you just want to eat and don't want to keep wandering around -- competing with tourists, theater goers, AAU students and people just getting off work -- so you agree to a crappy meal with good company. That's just what people do sometimes - I don't think it has to be attributed to fear (seems a stretch).
He does it again with a discussion around mid-life crises, "people do crazy things, such as buying a motorcycle, quitting work, getting cosmetic surgery or doing other drastic things. It's a desperate attempt to feel renewed and excited again through impulsive actions." Or - what if - people just decide to do things they have been putting off for years?
Why is it "desperate" or needy? or "crazy" just because it isn't what you would choose? Part of the exciting benefits package of being an adult is giving yourself permission to DO things. Unfortunately some of use realize this late and then people say "Oh, mid life crisis! You can tell s/he is desperate!" Maybe that (insert whatever judgement value adjectives you want here) old guy in the sports car with the cute young thing in the passenger seat is just finally HAPPY?
Some of the other examples are fantastic -- there is an example about a women's baseball team championship game where one player strikes a homerun and tears her ACL or hamstring running the bases; it's her last game (she's a senior) and rather than risk disqualification her own teammates just stand and watch -- while the other team decides to carry her around the bases so she can complete her home run. This is a great example of "collab-etition" and "high set-point" - everyone wins in every possible way.
Wong also reinforces the concept of making "good" decisions rather than "right" decisions -- something that has been popping up in all the project management books I've been reading this year. Establish criteria for making your decisions -- and then figure out how the options line up. Do your research (information, feedback, buy-in) and then also give yourself time to quiet your mind and listen to your instincts or "gut." Once you make a decision, be confident that you made a good decision, regardless of outcome -- you'll either have the desired outcome or a good learning situation.
Finally - Wong spends some time on goals and the importance of setting professional and personal goals to help motivate and challenge oneself. I'm not sure I would have ended up in project management if I didn't already have a natural propensity toward writing lists of activities and defining goals, performing annual retrospectives on what I accomplished and learned. I'd be surprised to find anyone in project management who doesn't already do this (heck - I have travel goals and create spreadsheets for camping trips).
The author describes creating SMART goals (without using that acronym) and describes the value of having realistic goals that are just challenging enough to provide motivation and excitement.
As with many of these kinds of books - the underlying assumption is that personal fulfillment is the key to happiness. The key to personal fulfillment is constantly growing, expanding your skills and knowledge and pursuing new experiences. This is a fairly modern and Western concept - it may or may not have the same value in other times or places.
It's all fairly familiar advice -- in multiple senses of the word, things we have heard before as well as the kind of advice you might be getting from a wiser, more experienced family member. This is a good book for anyone who has spent time in their professional career and has not yet gone through team-building exercises, personal development workshops or maybe professional/career coaching exercises. Time to "do your work" and figure out who you are and what will make you most happy -- now (it may change later, so you'll have to keep doing the work!).
December 16, 2016
Required reading for a course (taught by Dr. Wong himself), but full of nuggets to mull over even if Project Management isn't your path. I feel like I have a better idea of who I am and what I want now.
October 18, 2023
purchased for class I really enjoyed this if you are looking for insight on understanding what motivates you and people.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews