Results Without Authority: Controlling a Project When the Team Doesn't Report to You -- A Project Manager's Guide

by Tom Kendrick

How to take control of teams and projects even when you're not the boss.... Project leaders these days supervise few if any of the people that they rely upon for project success. Getting projects off to a good start and then maintaining control of them is an enormous challenge for a project leader who has little or no formal authority.

But there are many proven, powerful techniques a strong project leader can employ to keep projects and teams on track. Results Without Authority explores a wide range of effective methods and tools for leading a diverse team, and includes clear, insightful examples that demonstrate how they work in a variety of situations.

Packed with invaluable guidance for controlling projects of all scopes and in any field, Results Without Authority will help novice and experienced project leaders get the best from their project teams.

Genres: Business, Leadership, Nonfiction, Management, Buisness, Reference, Self Help

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2006

About the author

TOM KENDRICK has over 35 years of project and program experience, including senior positions with Hewlett-Packard and Visa. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP®) and the author of several highly respected project management books, including Identifying and Managing Project Risk.

Reviews

[Bob Wallner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this book on audio not sure what to expect. Projects are such a part of every leader's day. Generally if I am not leading a project, I'm on a project team, and at the least I have tasks for a project.

I only gave this book 3 stars, because the depth of the topic was much greater than I needed therefore the topic tended to lose my attention. There was as great deal of talking about the math behind projects (NPV, etc) that currently is not applicable to the projects I lead (Continuous Improvement Kaizen).

The author does cover some VERY good points that are relevant no matter how big or small your project is. I specifically liked his discussion later in the book regarding if people aren't pulling their weight and how to approach if the project is not attainable.

This book is for Professional Project Managers - people who have budgets to manage, milestones to report, and who's primary job is to manage 1 or 2 major projects.

If I find myself in a position where I am overseeing a few MAJOR long term projects, I will not only relisten to this audio - I will definitely purchase this book.

[Sulaiman Algharbi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unlike many books that focus on how to manage a project, this book is very special. It explains how the human factor, relations, buy in, other tactics can help you to manage your project. It takes you through out all phases of projects and in every phase explains the impact you could do if you consider the interpersonal prospective. I strongly recommend reading it.

[Sjors · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent presentation of project management topics from the perspective of a project manager working in a larger organization, a team of one, having to beg steal and borrow resources from the "matrix" organization. Wish I had found this book when I started out as a PM. I can definitely recommend this book to all practitioners.

[Pancho Pickett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps a fully-immersed Project Manager would find greater value in the book, but it was not of terribly great help to my non-traditional project management environment. I made it half-way through, but I could not finish this book as it was written. It is full of excessive detail that could be summarized in a short pamphlet. I felt just as enlightened reading the bullet-point summary at the end of each chapter as I did reading the chapters in full. And so, that is how I chose to read the second half.

[Leif Denti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Newly appointed project leader and wish to lead it 'By the Book'? Well this book could easily be THE book. It is a straightforward, comprehensive and clear introduction to waterfall-type project management from inception to wrap-up. A such I would give it four stars at the least. However, the title promises that one will learn how to manage a project where one doesn't have any formal authority (quote: "Controlling a project when the team doesn't report to you"). Regrettably, the book falls short of this promise as the advice is primarily intended towards formal, appointed project leaders. All in all, a good read for someone who needs to brush up their project management skills.

[Erika Hoogesteger · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am in chapter 3 and I have to say I am disappointed. Based on the title, I assumed the author would provide some tips on influencing without authority and what I have read are simple how-tos for project management. As other reviewers noted, there are some good tidbits and gold nuggets of wisdom to garner but not enough for me to score it any higher than two stars. Wish I could give a better review. If you already know project management, this will be a waste of your time. I can't, in good faith, recommend this book so far. Maybe as I progress through I will change my review...

[Dasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really helped me understand what distinguishes good from great in project and program management. The authors focus on the relationship building and psychological levers that enable a program manager to exert influence and create momentum amongst their teams. This is not the book that will teach you the "mechanics" of project management. Instead it will instill in you a set of mindsets that can make you into an affective leader and change agent. I've effectively applied the principles in this book and found that I was able to significantly improve my project outcomes and ultimately propelled me to a career in management. This book is one of the foundations for good management practices.

[Rickaia Browne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, highlighting things I already do that I hadn't considered influence and new ways to influence with limited authority

I found the book really insightful and it helped me to realise I have a lot of tools and techniques to influence at my fingertips and in fact I use many of these daily, I just hadn't realised. Having this new insight will mean I now have the opportunity to use these tools and techniques more effectively. Some repetition throughout but we'll worth reading.

[Marco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leadership and management is not only for managers.
This book brings a lot of information from other relevant sources. The author puts the information a simple way, easy to understand. One of the best books in the subject.

[Blackchin Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good.....

[Naomi Gheorghe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this guy

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Results Without Authority is a project management book that covers project management from inception to conclusion. It focuses on projects where the PM has little authority, of course. Kendrick faces this task by combining traditional PMP-style project management with lessons from influencing such as getting commitments and building relationships.

The book is filled with a lot of good nuggets of advice around team management, but where it really shines (for me, anyway) is in the project inception section. Most Agile methodologies deal with running a project after the project charter has been decided, but Kendrick draws on the PMBOK to discuss strategies for setting up a charter that will lead to success.

The place where the book was a slog was in its advice on maintaining project control. It was filled with heavy-handed metric gathering and change request processes.

Kendrick is definitely a waterfall-style manager, and it shows in the book's middle section. That said, the first three chapters were very useful, as was chapter 5 (on project inception). The rest of it was at least a good introduction to traditional project management for those of us raised on Scrum and XP.

[Kyrsten Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was actually assigned this book for a course I am taking this summer, Contract Management, and I have to say, it is very good. The techniques suggested were explained and illustrated well, and I am currently utilizing them in my current position as a Human Resources Analyst. My whole job is pretty much project management, and I work with hiring managers who are typically in way higher positions than myself. I found the theory in the book to be easily transitioned for practice in the workplace.

[BeyondDL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kendrick's work in "Results Without Authority" would make a great addition to both the new and experienced project managers bookshelf. With a plethora of good ideas almost any project management situation can find a solution here. Kendrick's experience and depth of knowledge will help create a good understanding of the importance of authority and it's allocation in project work.

[Steve Whiting · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a lot of really good advice and information in this book, and it's worth the recommendation for that.

However, it's absolutely relentless in the amount of detail and the number of examples used, which does make the book a bit of a chore to actually read.

Well worth skimming through, and making notes on any bits that strike a chord, but hard work to read cover to cover.

[Michael Richardson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nothing terribly revolutionary, sadly.

[Bellamy · Rating 5 out of 5]

i recommend this book!

[Einar Fredriksen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much of a do this, do this and do that list. ie, the book is very hard to remember and follow

[Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overview of project management - specific, tactical steps backed by case studies.

[Jessica Nguyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple of ideas here and there. I had to skim to the end for the sake of completing it.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wished I read this before I became Project Manager.