I could set up a mortar and get on target quicker than anybody. Instantly I saw a flash on the far hillside. Mud spattered at my feet and I felt something whack my trouser legs. I jumped for cover and grabbed the phone to call in the coordinates. The content of the video is utterly unremarkable-a minute of the camera approaching the woman, who looks up from her book, smiles, tries to ignore the camera for several seconds and then puts her book down and stares up at the camera.
What could be the Santa Monica Pier, or some iteration of it, hovers not too distantly in the frame. Later we pushed them across the frontier, but they returned to give us more trouble. Maclaren, I must impress on you that they are very dangerous men, and it would be exceedingly foolish for you to become involved with them.
They may have other names and false passports, but they will be just as dangerous. Possibly Kusitch was used to hiding things under carpets. I enjoy the exploits of your many justly famous private investigators, but you, as a man of science, should realise the weakness of intuitive reasoning. The work was so easy, everything was so quiet.
It felt playful Bates spun upside down and slammed against the left forward corner of the cargo bay. Some invisible hand held him pinned against the bulkhead. The only sound he heard was a hiss over his headset.
He tried to blink away the stars that squeezed across his vision. One of them was over inspecting the now still fallen beast. The other had crossed the stream and had its nose up, sniffing the air. Cooper felt his mouth part but kept his gasp hidden. They were a hundred feet away, how could they smell him.
No opposable thumb, but claws and strength that would turn him to shreds in no time. Many of these women are very depressed. They drink too much or use drugs and life can sometimes be too much for them. The shop began to swim before her eyes and she was aware that someone had given her a seat.
She took her package and walked back toward the apartment. Marilyn and Monique were not at the corner. If Marie had stayed away from her, Marie might still be alive. I am not letting you walk into that death trap on your own, to face that murder machine on your own.
You re too used to having your armour, to being untouchable. You need me with you to protect you. To keep you alive long enough to negotiate with the bloody thing. One Drood on his own shouldn t seem any kind of threat. My dad braked and the truck tailed out, then the wheels bit and the truck tipped like it was going to roll over.
Dad corrected the steering wheel and we waggled back to our side of the road. He glanced at me and smiled like it was nothing.
The tarp clung to the washing machine. I remember the first year the Potting Shed was open, and you ordered too many tulips. He had a crazed look in his eyes as he waited in the drive and almost knocked her down when he saw her. Summer struggled to be rid of spring. What he wanted was some good, solid evidence. Something to kick this thing in the butt and help get someone behind bars. Before the press descended like locusts. She shook her head at her own naivety and walked back in to the shower.
She slapped her hand on the button to set the display to occupied, then went to her locker. She slipped into comfortable clothes for the cold sleep but instead of heading to the hibernation chambers she called up the whereabouts of Eric Sackman on the computer. He was in the engine room, how fitting. He checked his direction with occasional glances at the sun and tried to fight the sensation of time passing quicker than it should.
The thought of being pushed out of the gates with a handful of coins and nowhere to go was both terrifying and incomprehensible. He forced the image away and kept running. He wondered how his companions were fairing, were they running like him or stumbling lost amongst the trees. The others are not to be helped. Certainly there were dangers in the forest but nothing to pose a serious threat to the boys of the Order, toughened by months of training.
See if it has been hacked, get the call history, and enlarge those two photographs, as clear as you can get them. The tourists were not as thick in August, with schools around the nation getting ready to start and vacation time drawing to a close. Hunt had been with the Bureau for almost twenty-five years, and somewhere along the way, the burly special agent had become a bureaucrat.
He thought more and more about life after the Bureau, retirement, slowing down and rebuilding the family time that had suffered for his job for so long. Fishing was worse than playing golf.
Then follow my instructions, and do not vary at all, because there will be no second chance for mommy dearest. For now, proceed to your reserved room at the Hacienda Hotel in Old Town.
Curtis, you should be careful of what you wish for, because you might get it. Lay a finger on my mother and your worst dream will come true. Little by little he let go of the other life, as the voices faded and the faces dimmed. The hill was forested with elms and pine-not the oak, and ash, and hickory trees of home.
He had no adverse reaction to the elms, only a mild resentment that they were not the familiar trees of home. At first he had welcomed the change of scenery, and he had stared at the hill on the curve of the river like a starving man, trying to will the ridge to transform itself into one of the mist-shrouded mountains back home.
No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribution, information networks, or information storage and retrieval systems, except as permitted under Section or of the United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the author.
All screenshots from Microsoft products are used with permission from Microsoft. Some of the product names and company names used in this book have been used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective manufacturers and sellers. They might suggest certain guidelines for the minimum value of the homes for providing adequate property taxes.
The city may also have regulations to ensure the safety of the public in the area of the construction site. In this example, there might be a concerned with ensuring that everything meets specific codes and regulations.
She might interrupt the workers to voice her complaints or even file a formal complaint. Alternatively, the neighborhood might have association rules concerning new home design and construction. If the homeowners did not follow these rules, they might have to halt construction due to legal issues. As you can see from this example, there are many different stakeholders on projects, and they all have different interests.
Successful project managers develop good relationships with project stakeholders to understand and meet their needs and expectations. Copyright Schwalbe Publishing Chapter 1 — Introduction 10 Project Management Process Groups and Knowledge Areas The five project management process groups include initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing activities. Chapter 3 provides more information on the process groups and how they relate to the ten project management knowledge areas.
Project management knowledge areas describe the key competencies that project managers must develop. The center of Figure shows the ten knowledge areas of project management. Without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all. Project management tools and techniques assist project managers and their teams in carrying out work in all ten knowledge areas.
For example, some popular time-management tools and techniques include Gantt charts, project network diagrams, and critical path analysis. Figure on page 12 lists some commonly used tools and techniques by knowledge area. Copyright Schwalbe Publishing Chapter 1 — Introduction 11 You will learn more about these and other tools and techniques throughout this text.
A survey of project and program managers was conducted to rate several project management tools. Respondents were asked to rate tools on a scale of 1—5 low to high based on the extent of their use and the potential of the tools to help improve project success. These super tools included software for task scheduling such as project management software , scope statements, requirements analyses, and lessons-learned reports. Tools that were already extensively used and have been found to improve project performance included progress reports, kick-off meetings, Gantt charts, and change requests.
These super tools are bolded in Figure It is crucial for project managers and their team members to determine which tools will be most useful for their particular projects. It is easier to manage smaller projects, and researchers suggest that organizations strive to break large projects into a sequence of smaller ones in a process they call optimization.
The increase in success is a result of several factors, including looking at the entire project environment of processes, methods, skills, costs, tools, decisions, optimization, internal and external influences, and team chemistry. Advances in the understanding of the skills needed to be a good executive sponsor have proved to be very valuable for increasing success rates.
Increases in project management as a profession and trained project management professionals can be tied directly to increases in success rates. Some projects, such as those involving new technologies, have a higher degree of uncertainty, so it is more difficult to meet their scope, time, and cost goals. Project management is a very broad, often complex discipline. What works on one project may not work on another, so it is essential for project managers to continue to develop their knowledge and skills in managing projects.
It is also important to learn from the mistakes and successes of others. There are several ways to define project success. Even if the project met initial scope, used this definition of success. Perhaps the project manager never returned their calls and was rude to them or made important decisions without their approval. Perhaps the quality of some of the construction or materials was not acceptable. If the customers were not happy about important aspects of the project, it would be deemed a failure based on this criterion.
If the couple liked their new home and neighborhood after they lived there for a while, even if it cost more or took longer to build or the project manager was rude to them, it would be a successful project based on this criterion.
As another example, suppose the owners really wanted to keep the house for just a few years and then sell it for a good return. If that happened, the couple would deem the project a success, regardless of other factors involved.
Note that for many projects done to meet ROI objectives, financial success cannot be determined until some time after the project is completed. Project managers play a vital role in helping projects succeed. Project managers work with the project sponsors, the project team, and the other stakeholders involved in a project to meet project goals.
They also work with the sponsor to define success for that particular project. The success criteria should help you to develop key performance indicators KPIs needed to track project progress.
It is important to document this information in enough detail to eliminate ambiguity. Projects make up a significant portion of work in most business organizations or enterprises, and successfully managing those projects is crucial to enterprise success. Two important concepts that help projects meet enterprise goals are the use of programs and project portfolio management. Each home, apartment building, and office building is a separate project for a specific sponsor, but each type of building is part of a program.
There would be several benefits to managing these projects under one program. Projects under discounts. Example programs A program manager provides leadership and direction for the project managers heading the projects within the program. Program managers also coordinate the efforts of project teams, functional groups, suppliers, and operations staff supporting the projects to ensure that project products and processes are implemented to maximize benefits.
Program managers are responsible for more than the delivery of project results; they are change agents responsible for the success of products and processes produced by those projects.
Program managers often have review meetings with all their project managers to share important information and coordinate important aspects of each project. Effective program managers recognize that managing a program is much more complex than managing a single project. In addition to skills required for project managers, program managers must also possess strong business knowledge, leadership capability, and communication skills.
Project Portfolio Management A portfolio is a collection of projects and programs that are grouped together to facilitate effective management to meet strategic business objectives. Project managers support an emerging business strategy of project portfolio management also called just portfolio management , in which organizations group and manage projects and programs as a portfolio of investments.
They create portfolios based on meeting specific organizational goals, such as maximizing the value of the portfolio or making effective use of limited resources. Portfolio managers help their organizations make wise investment decisions by helping to select and analyze projects from a strategic perspective. Portfolio managers may or may not have previous experience as project or program managers.
It is most important that they have strong financial and analytical skills and understand how projects and programs can contribute to meeting strategic goals. The main distinction between project or program management and portfolio management is a focus on meeting tactical versus strategic goals. Tactical goals are generally more specific and short-term than strategic goals, which emphasize long-term goals for an organization.
Individual projects and programs often address tactical goals, whereas portfolio management addresses strategic goals. For example: large projects, decreasing costs on supplies, and improving skill levels of key workers. These might be the main categories for their portfolio of projects. Organizations group projects into portfolios to help them make better investment decisions, such as increasing, decreasing, discontinuing, or changing specific projects or programs based on their financial performance, risks, resource utilization, and similar factors that affect business value.
If a construction firm has much higher profit margins on apartment buildings than single-family homes, for example, it might choose to pursue more apartment building projects. The firm might also create a new project to investigate ways to increase profits for single-family home projects. On the other hand, if the company has too many projects focused on financial performance and not enough focused on improving its work force, the portfolio manager might suggest initiating more projects to support that strategic goal.
By grouping projects into portfolios, organizations can better tie their projects to meeting strategic goals. For example, if the construction firm needs more people with experience in building apartment buildings, they can make necessary adjustments by hiring or training current workers in the necessary skills. Good program and portfolio managers often need additional skills and experience in managing projects and understanding organizational strategies. This section describes some of the skills that help you manage projects, and you will learn many more throughout this text.
If you are serious about considering a career in project management, you should consider becoming a certified Project Management Professional. You should also be familiar with some of the project management software products available on the market today.
An earlier section of this chapter introduced the ten project management knowledge areas, as well as some tools and techniques that project managers use. The application area refers to the application to which project management is applied. For example, a project manager responsible for building houses or apartment buildings should understand the construction industry, including standards and regulations important to that industry and those types of construction projects.
A project manager leading a large software development project must know a lot about that application area. A project manager in education, entertainment, the government, and other fields must understand those application areas. The project environment differs from organization to organization and project to project, but there are some skills that will help in most project environments.
These skills include understanding change, and understanding how organizations work within their social, political, and physical environments. Project managers must be comfortable leading and handling change, since most projects introduce changes in organizations and involve changes within the projects themselves. Project managers need to understand the organizations they work in and how products are developed and services are provided. For example, it takes different skills and behavior to manage a project for a Fortune company in the United States than it does to manage a government project for a new business in Poland or India.
It also takes different skills and behaviors to manage a project in the construction industry from one in the entertainment or pharmaceutical industry. Project managers should also possess general business knowledge and skills.
They should understand important topics related to financial management, accounting, procurement, sales, marketing, contracts, manufacturing, distribution, logistics, the supply chain, strategic planning, tactical planning, operations management, organizational structures and behavior, personnel administration, compensation, benefits, career paths, and health and safety practices.
On some projects, it will be critical for project managers to have substantial experience in one or several of these general business areas. On other projects, project managers can delegate detailed responsibility for some of these areas to a team member, support staff, or even a supplier.
Even so, the project managers must be intelligent and experienced enough to know which of these areas are most important and who is qualified to do the work. Achieving high performance on projects requires human relations skills, also known as soft skills. Some of these soft skills include effective communication, influencing the organization to get things done, leadership, motivation, negotiation, conflict management, and problem solving.
Project managers must lead their project teams by providing vision, delegating work, creating an energetic and positive environment, and setting an example of appropriate and effective behavior. They need to be able to motivate different types of people and develop esprit de corps within the project team and with other project stakeholders. Each week, Trump fired one contestant and told everyone bluntly why they were fired. No matter how smart you are the first insight into improving project management skills, as follows: candidate fired had degrees in medicine and business , you must be professional in how you deal with people and display some leadership potential.
The second person and first project manager fired, Jason, decided not to take the time to meet with project sponsors, causing his team to fail. Restaurants often have the highest profit margins on certain items, like but his lack of trust in and respect for and from his teammates led to his downfall. When Trump fired Kristi over two other candidates, he explained his easily won the competition that week. Erika had a difficult time leading her team in in the boardroom when her team lost. Troy led his team in trying to make the most money selling rickshaw rides using traditional methods.
The other team brainstormed ideas and decided to sell advertising space on the rickshaws, which was a huge success. Nick and Amy were teamed against Bill, Troy, and Kwame to rent out a party room for the highest price.
They got lucky when one potential client came back at the last minute and agreed to a much higher than normal price. Copyright Schwalbe Publishing Chapter 1 — Introduction 19 The Apprentice show continues to run in with celebrities as contestants and money donated to charity. An important lesson from that season was that the key stakeholder, Donald Trump, believed it was more important to focus on how much money the winner raised than what his teammates thought of him. Trump modified the criteria for winning the following year, when comedian Joan Rivers beat poker player Annie Duke.
Project managers must also earn respect from their teams and sponsors, as Joan did. Importance of Leadership Skills In a popular study, one hundred project managers listed the characteristics they believed were critical for effective project management and the characteristics that made project managers ineffective. Figure lists the results. The study found that effective project managers provide leadership by example, are visionary, technically competent, decisive, good communicators, and good motivators.
They also stand up to top management when necessary, support team members, and encourage new ideas. The study also found that respondents believed positive leadership contributes the most to project success. The most important characteristics and behaviors of positive leaders include being a team builder and communicator, having high self- esteem, focusing on results, demonstrating trust and respect, and setting goals. Most significant characteristics of effective and ineffective project managers Leadership and management are terms often used interchangeably, although there are differences.
Generally, a leader focuses on long-term goals and big-picture objectives, while inspiring people to reach those goals. A manager often deals with the day-to-day details of meeting specific goals. Good project managers know that people make or break projects, so they must set a good example to lead their team to success. They are aware of the greater needs of their stakeholders and organizations, so they are visionary in guiding their current projects and in suggesting future ones.
In another study, experts were asked to identify the ten most important skills and competencies for effective project managers. Figure shows the results. People skills 6. Verbal communication 2. Leadership 7. Strong at building teams 3. Listening 8. Integrity, ethical behavior, consistent 9.
Strong at building trust To be the most effective, project managers require a changing mix of skills and competencies depending on the project being delivered. As mentioned earlier, program managers need the same skills as project managers. They often rely on their past experience as project managers, strong business knowledge, leadership capability, and communication skills to handle the responsibility of overseeing the multiple projects that make up their programs. It is most important that portfolio managers have strong financial and analytical skills and understand how projects and programs can contribute to meeting strategic goals.
Companies that excel in project, program, and portfolio management grow project leaders, emphasizing development of business and communication skills. Instead of thinking of leaders and managers as specific people, it is better to think of people as having leadership skills, such as being visionary and inspiring, and management skills, such as being organized and effective.
Therefore, the best project, program, and portfolio managers have leadership and management characteristics; they are visionary yet focused on the bottom line. Above all else, they focus on achieving positive results!
Be able to demonstrate how each project you undertake fits your business strategy, and screen out unwanted projects as soon as possible. Ignoring stakeholders often leads to project failure. Be sure to engage stakeholders at all stages of a project, and encourage teamwork and commitment at all times. Use leadership and open communications to make things happen.
PMI provides certification as a Project Management Professional PMP —someone who has documented sufficient project experience, agreed to follow the PMI code of professional conduct, and demonstrated knowledge of the field of project management by passing a comprehensive examination. The number of people earning PMP certification continues to increase. In , there were about 1, certified project management professionals.
By the end of December, there were , active certified project management professionals. Figure shows the rapid growth in the number of people earning project management professional certification from through Although most PMPs are in the U. Project management certification is also enabling professionals throughout the world to share a common base of knowledge. Sharing a common base of knowledge is important because it helps advance the theory and practice of project management.
Many colleges, universities, and companies around the world now offer courses related to various aspects of project management. You can even earn bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in project management.
PMI reported in that of the institutions it has identified that offer degrees in project management, are in mainland China. In our salary survey, the salary differences in IT, for example, was dramatic. A person with certification could make five to six times as much salary, so there is a terrific incentive to get certified and work for these Western companies.
In , a gradschools. You can network with other students studying project management by joining a local chapter. Many welcome students to attend free events, including job networking. You can volunteer to help develop your skills and serve your community. However, if you have enough work experience, the PMP is more marketable. Project managers often face ethical dilemmas.
For example, several projects involve different payment methods. If a project manager can make more money by doing a job poorly, should he or she do the job poorly? If a project manager is personally opposed to the development of nuclear weapons, should he or she refuse to manage a project that helps produce them?
Ethics guide us in making these types of decisions. It is vital for project management practitioners to conduct their work in an ethical manner. Even if you are not affiliated with PMI, these guidelines can help you conduct your work in an ethical manner, which helps the profession earn the confidence of the public, employers, employees, and all project stakeholders. The PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct includes short chapters addressing vision and applicability, responsibility, respect, fairness, and honesty.
We fulfill the commitments that we undertake—we do what we say we will do. Copyright Schwalbe Publishing Chapter 1 — Introduction 24 4. Project Management Careers How does one become a project manager? In the past, many people became project managers by accident. They had never really heard of the job title, and their organizations did not have a real career path for project managers. They may have led a small project part-time and then been thrown into the role of project manager on a larger project.
Today, individuals and organizations often take a more proactive approach. Some people study project management in college and enter the field upon graduation, often as a project coordinator. Over 53, of those jobs were listed in California; over 27, in Texas, and over 26, in New York. The March issues of PM Network includes an article with advice for young people on breaking into and succeeding in project management. Suggestions include earning a certification such as the PMP or CAPM , volunteering for leadership roles, speaking up for a position, and learning to delegate and empower team members.
Being a project manager is a demanding yet rewarding profession, for the right person. Many people start off leading a small project related to their current job, part-time, to make sure they are cut out for and enjoy the work. Some organizations require their people to have a few years of experience before they let them lead any projects. Others hire entry-level people with the title of project coordinator or project manager. Copyright Schwalbe Publishing Chapter 1 — Introduction 25 Many organizations realize that they need to provide a structured career path to develop and maintain their talent pipeline for project managers.
After leading a small project, many people go on to lead multiple small projects, larger projects, or become program managers. Some organizations have different levels of project managers, often based on knowledge and experience. Bob Morin, deputy PMO manager for National Security Technologies in Las Vegas, Nevada, strongly believes in establishing defined positions, where each level requires certain knowledge, skills, and experience. You can often go back to your former, more technical position, and move along that career path.
Or, many ex-project managers move into higher level management positions, such as department manager, director, vice president, or even CEO. Some become consultants, educators, or entrepreneurs.
Their experience leading projects makes them marketable in several different careers. Project Management Software The project management and software development communities have definitely responded to the need to provide more software to assist in managing projects. There are hundreds of tools available, ranging from free online or smart phone apps to enterprise tools costing thousands of dollars to implement and high monthly fees per user.
Deciding which project management software to use has become a project in itself. Microsoft Project continues to lead the market with over , customer and 22 million users.
See Appendix A for details on the various configurations available for Microsoft Project and detailed instructions for using Project Professional , the product available for a free trial. This section provides a summary of the basic types of project management software available and references for finding more information.
Note that both of these tools require downloads and Windows software as of early Basecamp is a totally online project management tool that does not require Windows. Educators can request a free Basecamp account without a time restriction from www. Many people still use basic productivity software such as Microsoft Word and Excel to perform many project management functions, including determining project scope, time, and cost, assigning resources, and preparing project documentation.
People often use productivity software instead of specialized project management software because they already have it and know how to use it. However, there are hundreds of project management software tools that provide specific functionality for managing projects.
They are often recommended for small projects and single users. Most of these tools allow users to create Gantt charts, which cannot be done easily using current productivity software. Some of these tools are available online while others are stand-alone desktop applications. There are also several smart phone applications, and many online tools include smart phone integration.
All of these tools can produce Gantt charts and network diagrams, and can assist in critical path analysis, resource allocation, project tracking, status reporting, and other tasks. Microsoft Project is still the most widely used project management software today in this category and in general.
Figure provides a screen shot from Microsoft Project showing a Gantt chart for a project that you can create by following the steps in Appendix A. These tools provide robust capabilities to handle very large projects, dispersed workgroups, and enterprise and portfolio management functions that summarize and combine individual project information to provide an enterprise view of all projects.
These products are generally licensed on a per-user basis, integrate with enterprise database management software, and are accessible via the Internet and smart phones. In mid, Microsoft introduced the first version of their Enterprise Project Management software, and in , they introduced the Microsoft Enterprise Project Management solution, which was updated several times since then.
In , Oracle acquired Primavera Software, Inc. Several totally Web-based products that provide basic as well as enterprise and portfolio management capabilities are now on the market. Several free or open-source tools are also available. Remember, however, that these tools are developed, managed, and maintained by volunteers and may not be well supported.
Other popular tools are available free, but often have limited capability unless you purchase them.
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