Breaking Through the Project Fog: How Smart Organizations Achieve Success by Creating, Selecting and Executing On-Strategy Projects Book

Preface     xi
Acknowledgments     xv
Spotting Project Fog     1
How the Fog Rolls In     3
The Fog Thickens     7
The Research Participants     9
Defining a New Starting Point     12
The Link Between Current Practices and "Better Practices"     16
The Importance of Being Strategic     19
Is Your Organization Aligned for Results?     19
Current Project Selection Methods     20
The Strategic Implications of Limited Resources     22
The Role of the Project Management Professional     26
Selecting the Most Strategic Projects     29
Understanding the Origins of Portfolio Theory     31
On-Strategy Project Management: The Fourth Dimension     33
The Final Word In the Real World of Practitioners     37
Navigating Through Foggy Strategy     39
Balanced Performance Measurement and Management     44
Building a Strategic Project Scoring Model     46
Benefits and Costs of Revising Your Current Methodology     52
Putting the Proposed Changes into Practice     54
Managing Project Risks, Returns and Resources to Maximize Benefits     59
Maximizing Your Project ManagementEfforts     59
Managing Project Risk     61
Internal Project Risk Assessment     62
Resource Management Approaches in PPM     67
Integrating PPM with Other Core Business Processes     69
Creating Small, Smart and Mighty PMOs to Steer the Way     73
Getting Off to a Good Start!     74
Defining or Re-Defining the Purpose of the PMO     77
Strategic PMO Processes     81
Key Success Factors     83
Supporting Strategic Project Selection     85
Improving the Project Submission Process     85
Establishing Standard Methodology (Ours or Yours)     88
Summary of Do's and Don'ts of an Effective PMO     90
The Role of the Board: Integrating Measurement and Accountability for Project Results     93
All Boards Are Not Created Equal     95
For Profit or Non-Profit Board: What's the Difference?     98
Elected or Appointed?     99
Board Committees     101
The Board as Project Sponsor     103
The Board as a Project Resource     104
The Board as Project Manager     105
Final Thoughts     110
Good Leadership in Foggy Conditions     113
Personal Leadership Style     115
Why Should You Care So Much?     115
A New Leadership Model     117
The Three C's for Project Management Professionals     120
The Three A's for Executives     127
The Forecast for Relationships     138
A Parting Reflection     140
Sweeping Away the Fog in the Private Sector     143
Clarifying Strategy and Reducing Non-Strategic Projects     144
Improving Project Selection Methods and Processes     148
Training as a Tool of Strategic Change     153
Integrating Resource Management into PPM     156
Summary of Results     159
Two Case Studies: Clearing up the Fog in the Public Sector     161
Case Study Candidate 1     162
Clarifying the Strategy     164
Consolidating Effort     167
Reinforcing What Works     170
Staying the Course     172
Interesting Data Points from Participants     173
Case Study Candidate 2     174
What Was Done Differently     175
Connecting Individual and Corporate Performance Management     180
Interesting Data Points from Participants     181
Continuous Improvements     183
Why PPM Really Works     186
Where to Go from Here?     189
Next Steps     190
Review of Relevant Research and Annotated Bibliography     193
Strategy References     194
Project Management References     198
Leadership and Change Management References     204
Finance and Portfolio Theory References     207
BSC and Performance Management References     210
Bibliography     214
Index     237