The Project Manager's Desk Reference: Project Planning - Scheduling Evaluation - Control - Systems

The quality revolution that began in the 1980s is now bringing about a management revolution. In the realm of project management, the methodology and tools introduced in the 1950s and 1960s, and used faithfully since, we now find have their shortcomings. While old tools have their place, they must now be augmented with modern methods to ensure projects are managed with the same customer focus as a business. The new face and future of project management is driven by a systematic approach to producing a product or service that considers and involves all elements of the product life cycle and is focused on customer requirements and priorities. Essentially, every project consults the end user and cuts across the functions of the organization. Total organization performance is now optimized, not just individual units within the parent. The Project Manager's Desk Reference: A Comprehensive Guide to Project Planning, Scheduling, Evaluation, Control & Systems is the guide for those individuals and organizations who take project management seriously. Designed to lead managers into the twenty-first century, author James P. Lewis effectively integrates management theory with practice for projects of all scales. Whether you need to evaluate or locate scheduling software, develop the project schedule or use progress payments, you will find this reference answers nearly all your project management needs. A holistic, applications-oriented guide, The Project Manager's Desk Reference answers project managers' diverse needs by incorporating every resource available to guarantee success, including project management models, planning and strategic planning, and work breakdown structures; scheduling, CPM, resource constraints, and PERT; progress payments and earned-value analysis, managing quality-improvement projects, and sources and methods to evaluate software; and construction management resources, solving close-ended and open-ended problems, and teamwork elements.

The definitive guide to keeping your project on time, under budget, and problem-free

In this Third Edition of "The Project Manager's Desk Reference," top project management consultant James Lewis arms you with today's most comprehensive and understandable project management resources, showing you how to conduct a project of any size or nature-from the office move to building new facilities.

Using results-oriented language and easy-to-understand examples, this comprehensive, quick-reference guide presents specific situations taken from today's fast-moving business environment, walking you through proven solutions designed to keep the project moving forward.

This ready-access toolbox shows you how to: Plan, execute, and control a project from beginning to end Choose project managers, leaders, and teams Develop project plans using Work Breakdown Structures, PERT, CPM, and Gantt schedules Conduct risk analysis Design a project control system Use earned value analysis to track projects Communicate effectively with all levels of your team Conduct the essential post-project "lessons learned" review

Serving as the perfect supplement to Lewis's bestselling PM bible, "Project Planning, Scheduling, and Control," "The Project Manager's Desk Reference" provides you with the foundation you need to manage any project to its successful completion.