Managing Projects (HBR 20-Minute Manager Series)

Harvard Business Review

• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781625270832
• eBook ISBN:
  9781625270887
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Skills
• Index: Business

You've been asked to manage a key project--or perhaps you've volunteered for an assignment that could advance your career. So how do you make sure the project succeeds? Managing Projects walks you quickly through the basics, including:

• Drawing up a realistic schedule and project plan
• Monitoring key tasks and benchmarks
• Communicating with stakeholders
• Bringing the project to a close

Don't have much time? Get up to speed fast on the most essential business skills with HBR's 20-Minute Manager series. Whether you need a crash course or a brief refresher, each book in the series is a concise, practical primer that will help you brush up on a key management topic. Advice you can quickly read and apply, for ambitious professionals and aspiring executives--from the most trusted source in business. Also available as an ebook.

Index

accountability, 5, 23, 39, 65, 69

—activities. See tasks

—attitude, 63

—authority, 5

bar charts, 51, 54–55, 57. See also Gantt charts

bottlenecks, 63, 68. See also troubleshooting

—anticipating, 48

—correcting, 81, 86–87

—schedule adjustment for, 79

budgets, 5, 6, 7, 57

—ballpark, 9

—contingencies in, 39, 70–71

—cost categories in, 58–59

—developing, 37, 56, 58–60

—expenditure tracking and, 60

—flexibility in, 58

—overruns in, 26, 79–82

—progress monitoring against, 66, 69–71, 79, 80

—trade-offs in, 24–26

—Work Breakdown Structure in estimating, 26

build-up phase, 3, 6, 37–60

—activities, skills, and tools for, 8

—budget development in, 56, 58–60

—schedules in, 37, 44–56

—steps in, 37

—team, assembling in, 37, 38–43

buy-in

—stakeholder, 18–20

—team member, 43

capital expenditures, budget for, 59

charts, 51, 52–55, 57. See also bar charts; flow charts; Gantt charts; PERT charts

closeout phase, 3, 7, 91–101

—final report in, 94–99

—handoff preparation in, 92–93

—post-project evaluation in, 93–94

—self-assessment in, 100–101

—thanking team in, 100

communication

—final report, 94–99

—people issues and, 82

—of purpose of project, 44

—with stakeholders, 22–23, 26, 48, 73–74

—within teams, 42, 43, 44

completion dates, 9, 46. See also schedules

contingency planning, 57, 70–71

costing methods, 70

Critical Path Method, 48–51

delays, 78–79, 80. See also bottlenecks; schedules

delegation, 40–41

—kinds of tasks for, 65

—reverse, deflecting, 41, 45

—for skill development, 45

—tracking results and, 64–66

deliverables, ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• The Basics
• Planning Your Project
• Building Up Your Project
• Managing Your Project
• Dealing with Your Project’s Problems
• Bringing Your Project to a Successful Conclusion
• Test Yourself
• Learn More
• Sources
• Index
• Back Cover