Book: Reinventing Project Managment, by Aaron J. Shenhar (Author), Dov Dvir (Author)
Projects are the engines that drive innovation from idea to commercialization. In fact, the number of projects in most organizations today is expanding while operations is shrinking. Yet, since many companies still focus on operational excellence and efficiency, most projects fail--largely because conventional project management concepts cannot adapt to a dynamic business environment. Moreover, top managers neglect their company's project activity, and line managers treat all their projects alike--as part of operations. Based on an unprecedented study of more than 600 projects in a variety of businesses and organizations around the globe, "Reinventing Project Management" provides a new and highly adaptive model for planning and managing projects to achieve superior business results.
"it's December, and "best of" lists are appearing everywhere. Here, too. So, if you are still searching for great gifts for the business-book reader in your family, you can't go wrong with any of these titles: "Reinventing Project Management," Aaron Shenhar and Dov Dvir. A look at project management that goes way deeper, and is far more useful, than "on time, on budget, to requirements."
John Caddell
"I could spend some time discussing the diamond approach but wouldn’t do it justice and I don’t think that it is the most important take-away from this book. The major take-away for me is that this book says what I’ve been saying for years: Project Management requires a more flexible approach than current methodologies allow."
Eric D. Brown
"My initial reaction to Reinventing Project Management by Shenhar and Dvir was mixed. I was initially super-thrilled to see a publisher as prestigious as Harvard Business School Press publishing a book that openly talked about the need for a new model of project management. Thankfully a quick skim through the book - I haven't read it cover to cover - proved that my fears were ill-founded.
The authors actually espouse much of what we captured in the PM Declaration of Interdependence that formed the basic principles and foundation for the Agile Project Leadership Network (APLN). Particularly the concept that project management solutions need to be situationally specific. While this isn't a full review of the book, I do want to bring it to our collective attention and ask you to consider it as your next project management book purchase.
We now have an advantage over local online job boards."
David J. Anderson, http://www.agilemanagement.net/
"This month’s Professional Reading List contains three books that I believe you’ll find quite interesting. The first book focuses on reinventing project management and the requisite project planning and managing processes. The authors offer some unique solutions and advice for capturing lessons learned and making traditional project management more adaptive for today’s competitive business environment."
LTG N. Ross Thompson III, USAASC, Online Monthly
"If you've worked on more than a handful of projects in your business career, you are familiar with failure. Lots of projects simply don't work right: some are abandoned before they're complete, others don't meet expectations, others finish but are so agonizing that they burn out teams and managers both. A new book, "Reinventing Project Management," by Aaron J. Shenhar and Dov Dvir, dissects the topic in great detail. It's a refreshing look at project management, not least because they focus less on the discipline of work breakdown structures and task dependencies and more on what different projects try to achieve and how methodologies and management approach must adapt to the needs of the project."
LTG N. Ross Thompson III, USAASC, Online Monthly