2011 Books of the Month
Bid Writing for Project Managers
Author: David Cleden
Publisher: Gower
This is Cleden’s second book after Managing Project Uncertainty, and he clearly draws upon his 25 years of working in public sector IT to provide this must read guide to conducting successful commercial bids. The book begins with an excellent preface, which helps to set the tone and the style of writing, as well as the author’s own recommendations on how to get the most from the text.
BOOK AVAILABLE VIA GOWER-ARRAS PARTNER PAGE AT DISCOUNT
The Eight Constants of Change
Authors: Stacy Aaron & Kate Nelson
Publisher: CornerStone Leadership Institute
From Change Guides Website: "If organizations want to make effective change, they need to recognize and deal with the eight constants, the eight undeniable truths about change. In achieving any type of change, these eight constants can't be avoided, but we can work with them, mitigate their impact and use them to our advantage."
KINDLE EDITION AVAILABLE THROUGH ARRAS PEOPLE
The Change Management Pocket Guide
Authors: Stacy Aaron & Kate Nelson
Publisher: CornerStone Leadership Institute
This tactical, hands-on guide will lead you through the process from planning for a change through sustaining new ways in your organization. The Change Management Pocket Guide provides 27 valuable change management tools that can be easily customized for any organization. These tools are detailed, flexible, and scalable. Many can be used throughout the project or with different audiences.
AVAILABLE THROUGH ARRAS PEOPLE
Human Resource Skills for the Project Manager
Author: Vijay K. Verma
Publisher: PMI
Human Resource Skills for the Project Manager tackles important subjects within project management by bite-size chunks of overview – ensuring the reader understands the context and interpretation before leading into (again) bite size but very poignant subject matter.
Integrated Cost-Schedule Risk Analysis
Author: David Hulett
Publisher: Gower
In 'Integrated Cost-Schedule Risk Analysis', Hulett has provided much more than a mere repetition of the ideas from his previous book, re-directed at cost; he has provided an approach that considers the interactions and coupling between cost uncertainty and schedule uncertainty in a complex project environment.
BOOK AVAILABLE VIA GOWER-ARRAS PARTNER PAGE AT DISCOUNT
The Power of Interpersonal Skills in Project Management
Author: Deborah H. Herting
Publisher: Infinity Pub
The Power of Interpersonal Skills in Project Management is a well-researched book that attempts to cover what is a very important and relevant topic for the project leader.
The Contract Scorecard
Author: Sara Cullen
Publisher: Gower
It is not often that I can sum a book up in five words – this book makes business sense! How often have contracts for outsourced services been created, because they ‘had to be’, and then just left on the shelf to gather dust?
BOOK AVAILABLE VIA GOWER-ARRAS PARTNER PAGE AT DISCOUNT
NLP For Project Managers
Author: Dr Peter Parkes
Publisher: BCS
NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) for Project Managers in its purest sense is a book for any project practitioner who wants to improve on their behavioural competencies in project management. In other words it is that area of development that often gets neglected or overlooked in favour of more technical aspects of project management like process and methods.
Rescue the Problem Project
Author: Todd Williams
Publisher: AMACOM
It is not often that I can sum a book up in five words – this book makes business sense! How often have contracts for outsourced services been created, because they ‘had to be’, and then just left on the shelf to gather dust?
Now You've Been Shortlisted
Author: Denise Taylor
Publisher: Harriman House
If you’re a project management professional and looking for a book to help prepare you for the testing elements of the recruitment process this might well be the book for you. Contrary to the by-line for the book –"Your step-by-step guide to being successful at interviews and assessment centres"– the vast majority of this book features the various tests that can be conducted during the process.
Bullying in the Workplace
Author: Elaine Douglas
Publisher: Gower
This manual is an easy and thought provoking read that includes many useful examples of good and poor practice. While the manual was published in 2001, Elaine Douglas’s advice still seems relevant to me as a manager of a wide range of professional staff but who is not an HR specialist.
BOOK AVAILABLE VIA GOWER-ARRAS PARTNER PAGE AT DISCOUNT
Project Management for Healthcare
Author: David Shirley
Publisher: CRC Press
On first impressions this book looks like something which was published in the '70s with its orange, brown and yellow ochre cover; not to mention the photograph of an old fashioned PC keyboard. Despite the less than enticing start I entered the realms of a book claiming to explore the discipline of Project Management in the healthcare environment. The intrigue began
A Short Guide to Facilitating Risk Management
Author: Penny Pullen & Ruth Murray-Webster
Publisher: Gower
If you need to make sound decisions in important but risky situations; work with groups to identify, prioritise and respond to risks, deliver value and, along the way, ensure the credibility of the process and the resilience of your organisation, "A Short Guide to Facilitating Risk Management" is for you.
BOOK AVAILABLE VIA GOWER-ARRAS PARTNER PAGE AT DISCOUNT
The Project Risk Maturity Model
Author: Martin Hopkinson
Publisher: Gower
My initial expectation was that the model would focus on the maturity of the project risk approach, but it quickly became clear that it addresses the more fundamental issue of the risk to an organisation arising from the way in which projects are executed and embedded in the broader management processes.
BOOK AVAILABLE VIA GOWER-ARRAS PARTNER PAGE AT DISCOUNT
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
Author: Patrick Lencioni
Publisher: Jossey Bass
Succinct yet sympathetic, this guide will be a boon for those struggling with the inherent difficulties of leading a group. Overall, Five Dysfunctions is an entertaining read and from a management perspective there should definitely be a few nuggets that can be taken away and applied to specific work environments.
Green Project Management
Author: Rich Maltzman, David Shirley
Publisher: CRC Press
But they even start to think beyond the challenges provided within your own enterprise. They question the greenality of suppliers and implement this into the decision making pro or con for each project.
The Strategic Project Office
Author: J. Kent Crawford
Publisher: CRC Press
Looking at what the differences are and the reasons the author gives to republish this as a second edition may be a good place to start to try and understand what changes have taken place in the arena over this period. In the preface the author suggests, I would say rightly that sound project management of individual projects is no longer enough.
Project Success: Critical Factors and Behaviours
Author: Emmanuel Camillieri
Publisher: Gower
What makes a project successful? Emanuel Camilleri in the book Project Success: Critical Factors and Behaviours has tried to answer that question. This book from Gower is the bible on getting it right, covering everything from the history of project management to managing information flow and organisational diagnostics.
BOOK AVAILABLE VIA GOWER-ARRAS PARTNER PAGE AT DISCOUNT
Managing the Multi-Generational Workforce
Author: Robert G. DelCampo, Lauren A. Haggerty, Meredith Jane Haney and Lauren Ashley Knippel
Publisher: Gower
The book is very US focused and aims to address the different generations and how these work together in business today.
BOOK AVAILABLE VIA GOWER-ARRAS PARTNER PAGE AT DISCOUNT
Social Media for Project Managers
Author: Elizabeth Harrin
Publisher: PMI
A book aimed at Project Managers who want to explore social media as a project management communication and collaboration tool for their own projects.
Leadership Principles for Project Success
Author: Thomas Juli
Publisher: CRC Press
"It's misleading to define project success in static terms, focusing only on the final delivery," writes Thomas Juli in his book, Leadership Principles for Project Success. In this book, he sets out a broader definition of success, although you have to wait until page 84 to get to it.
101 PM Problems and How to Solve Them
Author: Tom Kendrick
Publisher: AMACOM
"...Kendrick's latest offering, ’101 Project Management Problems and How to Solve Them’ takes a holistic view of Project Management as a discipline, and acts as an effective reference guide to Project Managers from all industries."
Project Sponsorship
Author: David West
Publisher: Gower Publishing
"...a mix of advice, management theory, methodology and checklists that summarize what you’ve read. Although there are 58 checklists in total (I counted), there’s a lot more in the book besides checklists."
BOOK AVAILABLE VIA GOWER-ARRAS PARTNER PAGE AT DISCOUNT
Relationships Made Easy
Author: Dr David Fraser
Publisher: HotHive Books
Fraser's approach in this book is based on sincerity and a real passion for helping others unlock their potential. Throughout the book there are references to David’s own life – where new approaches or new ways of thinking about relationships have made a real difference to his life.
The Lifelong Project
Author: Joseph Phillips
Publisher: Instructingcom, LLC
What could happen if you treated the next year of your life like a Project? That question is where The Lifelong Project starts. However, this is not a book about setting goals – but about achieving them.
An Executive Guide to Portfolio Management (MoP)
Author: OGC
Publisher: Stationery Office
This new guidance from OGC (published in Feb 2011) looks at portfolio management. This smaller version of the Management of Portfolios guidance is aimed at senior executives and is a small pocketbook. The book is designed to "help you better understand how portfolio management can assist in addressing the challenges you and your organisation are facing".
See more from the co-author Craig Kilford;
Portfolio Management Launch newsletter
The Success Healthcheck for IT Projects
Author: J.A. Flinn
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Aimed at those who manage, sponsor, own or deliver IT projects, "The Success Healthcheck for IT Projects" should help managers identify and address those projects which consume resources and yet don't produce results for the business.
PMOSIG Program Management Office Handbook
Author: Craig Letavec, Dennis Bolles
Publisher: PMI
This new handbook has been developed by the PMI's specialist interest group - the PMOSIG. Topic areas include Project Portfolio Governance, the role of the PMO, stakeholder relationship management, getting your PMO on the right track, branding your PMO and the PMO Maturity Cube.