Center for Business Practices

Learn the best practices that make the difference between troubled projects and consistently successful projects. "Neal Whitten's No-Nonsense Advice for Successful Projects" is like having a mentor to guide you at every turn in the road. Neal distills his 30 years of experience into tips and strategies that are easy to learn and apply to your projects. These strategies will give you a decisive competitive edge in leading projects and working with stakeholders, clients, and team members.

• Run your project like you'd run your own business
• Become a "benevolent dictator" for the most effective leadership
• Run your project like you'd run your own business
• Become a "benevolent dictator" for the most effective leadership
• Deal with difficult people
• Master behaviors that will make your team leaders' jobs easier and benefit your own career
• Assess if you're too soft - and learn to make unpopular decisions if they're necessary to project success
• Avoid making long-term project commitments
• Manage to your top three problems
• And much more!

• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part One: Leadership, Soft Skills, and You
• Mind Your Own Business
• Are You a Benevolent Dictator? You Should Be!
• Ask for Help—or Become Part of the Problem
• What Good is a PM Mentor?
• Is Your Professional Behavior Respected?
• Recognizing and Dealing with Professional Immaturity
• Behaviors to Master when Dealing with Your Leaders
• Are You Too Soft?
• Foster Interpersonal Communications
• Turn Criticism into an Asset
• Dealing with Difficult People
• Don't Fear Falure
• A Silver Bullet?
• Part Two: Roles and Responsibilities
• Duties of the Effective Project Manager
• Duties of the Effective Resource Manager
• Duties of the Effective Project sponsor
• How Technical Must a Project Manager Be?
• Part Three: Project Initiation
• Are You Learning from Project to Project?
• Create the Desired Culture for Your Project
• Part Four: Project Planning
• Should You Be Given a Project End Date?
• Meet Minimum Requirements—Anything More Is Too Much
• Do Not Make Long-Term Project Commitments
• The Effect of Multitasking on Productivity
• Contingency Buffer: Expect the Unexpected
• Scope Creep: Runaway Train or Good Business?
• Part Five: Project Execution and Control
• The Project Tracking Meeting
• The Day After
• Manage to Your Top Three Problems
• Treat All Project Members Equally
• Inspect What You Expect
• Excalate Is Not a Dirty Word
• Declare Your Project's Risk Value
• How to Run an Effective Meeting
• The S-Shape Curve 50/70 Rule
• Part Six: Project Closeout
• Conducting a Post-Project Review
• Part Seven: Promoting the Advancement of Project Management Beyond Your Projects
• Project Review Mentoring Workshops
• The Project Manager/Resource Manager Leadership Workshop
• How to Institutionalize Improvements in Your Organization
• Part Eight: Some Final Thoughts
• Glossary
• Index