The Project Book
The Complete Guide to Consistently Delivering Great Projects
1. Edition July 2019
352 Pages, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Further versions
** Winner AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS - BEST GENERAL BUSINESS BOOK 2020
** Finalist AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS - BEST BOOK 2020
Deliver great projects every time
Projects are the lifeblood of organisations, but many projects fall short of expectations because of poor project management and/or poor project sponsorship. In The Project Book, author and 20-year project management and sponsorship veteran Colin D Ellis teaches you the skills and behaviours required to make your projects succeed, every time.
The best projects, whether they are delivered in an agile or waterfall way, are a result of the people that lead them and the environment they create. This fail-safe and comprehensive handbook shows you how to develop the mindset and communication skills to create projects that leave a legacy for you, your team and your organisation.
Project leaders and senior managers in all business and technical disciplines will benefit from the insightful guidance this book offers and better project outcomes will result. Split into two parts, individually addressing Project Leaders and Project Sponsors, this book guides large project facilitators to understand the importance of people over processes.
* become a project leader that people trust
* build a team culture of collaboration, agility and creativity
* upskill executives so that they're catalysts for transformation
* develop the organisational discipline needed for successful projects
* create a mature environment for your projects to thrive
Engaging, informative and humorous, The Project Book will help project managers, project sponsors, scrum masters and product owners across all organisations to deliver successful projects in a way that customers will talk about for years.
Preface xi
How to use this book xvii
Project Management 1
Part I: Leadership 9
1 Know yourself 13
2 Practise empathy 16
3 Be yourself 18
4 Stand for something 21
5 Determine your values 25
6 Safeguard the future 28
7 Behave in the right way 31
8 Give your mind a break 34
9 Adapt your style to fit the project 38
10 Embrace the next generation 44
11 Be prepared 48
12 Bring the humour 50
13 Make gratitude your attitude 54
14 Bounceback ability 57
15 Lead a remote team 60
16 Be an intrepreneur 64
17 Switch on your ears 68
18 Create more leaders 71
19 Be generous 74
20 Say sorry 76
21 Set and manage expectations 79
22 Manage difficult conversations 82
23 Get help 87
24 Negotiate effectively 91
25 Tell stories 94
26 Manage upwards 98
Part II: Culture 103
27 Build and care for the team 107
28 Develop a vision 111
29 Get your communication right 114
30 Collaborate for success 117
31 Make time for innovation 121
32 Find the right space for work 125
33 Hire for cultural fit 129
34 Start as you mean to go on 132
35 Soundtrack to your success 135
36 Keep stakeholders satisfied 138
37 Gossip: the culture killer 141
38 Keep it simple 144
39 Have some fun 147
40 Run meetings that don't suck 151
41 Celebrate success 156
Part III: Methods 159
42 Waterfall 161
43 Agile 164
44 No plan, no project 166
45 Why this? Why now? 170
46 Scale for success 173
47 Estimating 176
48 Manage risk 179
49 Deal with issues 183
50 Report honestly 186
51 Successes are the best lessons 188
52 Measure your success 190
Project Management: Summary 193
Project Sponsorship 197
Part IV: Stewardship 209
53 The buck stops with you 215
54 Verify priorities 219
55 Share the burden 224
56 Say thank you 228
57 Build trust 232
58 Simple is better 235
59 Be present 240
60 Role model what you expect of others 244
Part V: Decisions 249
61 What's the problem and the outcome? 253
62 Negate the negativity 260
63 Hire and pick your project manager 264
64 Be ethical 269
65 Make quick (not hasty) decisions 275
66 Deal with poor performance 280
67 Fail quickly 285
Part VI: Results 291
68 Culture is key, but so is strategy 297
69 Get off to a flyer 300
70 Every project needs a plan 305
71 Innovation needs mindset and time 309
72 Methods need to be understood 314
73 Celebrate good (and bad) times 317
74 Outcomes don't achieve themselves 322
75 Spot when it's going wrong 328
Project Sponsorship: Summary 335
Frequently asked questions 337
References 345
Reading list 355
Soundtracks 359
Contact details 363
Index 365
www.colindellis.com
