What do you think?
Rate this book
Smart Project Management: The Skills and Capabilities You Will Need for Successful Project Delivery
Drawing on a ground-breaking new study taking in practitioners and academics from around the world, Smart Project Management takes an in-depth look at the challenges that we face in the growing complex and global environment. By examining issues such as the complexity of projects, the virtual nature of projects, executive sponsoring, benefits management and international dilemmas inherent in completing any project or program on time and within budget, Peter Taylor provides the strategies you need to ensure that you can tackle these challenges head on and boost your skills portfolio.
Supported by case studies of real global organzsations including Seimens, IBM, Thomson-Reuters and Microsoft on the strategies they are deploying to future-proof their projects, it also includes insight from leading thinkers from the world of academia. Smart Project Management takes a unique look into modern global projects and provides the strategies need to succeed in any project or program.
Supported by case studies of real global organzsations including Seimens, IBM, Thomson-Reuters and Microsoft on the strategies they are deploying to future-proof their projects, it also includes insight from leading thinkers from the world of academia. Smart Project Management takes a unique look into modern global projects and provides the strategies need to succeed in any project or program.
248 pages, Paperback
First published August 28, 2014
2 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 of 1 review
February 24, 2015
Taking project management out of a purely theoretical realm and placing it into a form that can be used in today’s global, fast-paced business environment is the goal of this book, which draws upon a mix of feedback from industry practitioners and academics alike.
The author has managed to find a fresh approach to what is otherwise a fairly well trodden pathway, providing quite an interesting look at the problems and challenges that project management can face within the enterprise. It certainly joined up quite a few dots in the mind of this reviewer. It is also quite possible that those who are not directly involved with project management could gain a fair bit from this book, especially those involved with corporate development, leadership and management.
The author notes that we are operating at an ever-increasing rate of change, possibly the fastest-ever that this world has known, and not everybody is necessarily keeping up. This can lead to schisms between the generations in the workplace. A collision between “old” and “new” employees might be inevitable, so a wise manager might want to try and head this off at the pass or at least mitigate the trauma. “We now live in a connected society where the modern norms of collaboration, connectivity and horizontal organizational structures are ingrained in the working styles of the young generation. One can say that in the 21st century young people are the masters of our technological revolution. Ironically, the apprentice has now become the master. This reality is derailing the status quo of the older generations and even leading to mistrust, jealousy and fear – so how do we work together? For the first time in history, organizations are seeing five generations working amongst each other. Managing cooperation between these generations in any organization may be an especially challenging task as the millennials clash with Generations X and Y and the baby boomers,” notes the author.
Project management is changing, argues cogently the author, with it now entering its fourth phrase, which will be based around complexity and criticality. The first phase was the organic growth of project capability from the early dawn of humankind, followed by a period focussed on tools and process (mid-20th century) and a period focussed on attitude and behaviour (late-20th century). The days of the “accidental” project manager are also numbered too, with it being no longer good enough that the subject is learned by hook or by crook along the way. The era of the professional project manager is here but this is not without problems. Those with an “older mindset” and less-current ways of project management thinking have taught most of these new-generation project managers. A book like this, the author modestly suggests, will help bridge this gap.
Overall this book was a good read even if it understandably goes into a fair bit of specialist detail. It is a difficult act to balance since, on one hand, the book needs to focus on those who will do this work every day, yet on the other hand the author notes we all need to learn the basics of project management in order to succeed in our careers.
This certainly has the potential to be one of those books you should consider purchasing!
Real Project Management: The Skills and Capabilities You WILL Need for Successful Project Delivery, written by Peter Taylor and published by Kogan Page. ISBN 9780749471217, 246 pages. YYYY
The author has managed to find a fresh approach to what is otherwise a fairly well trodden pathway, providing quite an interesting look at the problems and challenges that project management can face within the enterprise. It certainly joined up quite a few dots in the mind of this reviewer. It is also quite possible that those who are not directly involved with project management could gain a fair bit from this book, especially those involved with corporate development, leadership and management.
The author notes that we are operating at an ever-increasing rate of change, possibly the fastest-ever that this world has known, and not everybody is necessarily keeping up. This can lead to schisms between the generations in the workplace. A collision between “old” and “new” employees might be inevitable, so a wise manager might want to try and head this off at the pass or at least mitigate the trauma. “We now live in a connected society where the modern norms of collaboration, connectivity and horizontal organizational structures are ingrained in the working styles of the young generation. One can say that in the 21st century young people are the masters of our technological revolution. Ironically, the apprentice has now become the master. This reality is derailing the status quo of the older generations and even leading to mistrust, jealousy and fear – so how do we work together? For the first time in history, organizations are seeing five generations working amongst each other. Managing cooperation between these generations in any organization may be an especially challenging task as the millennials clash with Generations X and Y and the baby boomers,” notes the author.
Project management is changing, argues cogently the author, with it now entering its fourth phrase, which will be based around complexity and criticality. The first phase was the organic growth of project capability from the early dawn of humankind, followed by a period focussed on tools and process (mid-20th century) and a period focussed on attitude and behaviour (late-20th century). The days of the “accidental” project manager are also numbered too, with it being no longer good enough that the subject is learned by hook or by crook along the way. The era of the professional project manager is here but this is not without problems. Those with an “older mindset” and less-current ways of project management thinking have taught most of these new-generation project managers. A book like this, the author modestly suggests, will help bridge this gap.
Overall this book was a good read even if it understandably goes into a fair bit of specialist detail. It is a difficult act to balance since, on one hand, the book needs to focus on those who will do this work every day, yet on the other hand the author notes we all need to learn the basics of project management in order to succeed in our careers.
This certainly has the potential to be one of those books you should consider purchasing!
Real Project Management: The Skills and Capabilities You WILL Need for Successful Project Delivery, written by Peter Taylor and published by Kogan Page. ISBN 9780749471217, 246 pages. YYYY
Displaying 1 of 1 review