Key Project Management Based on Effective Project Thinking (eBook)

Prof. Ronggui Ding is the director of Project Management Institute in Shandong University, China. He received his PhD degree on Systems Engineering in Okayama University (Japan) and Tianjin University (China) in 1997, and got IPMA C-level certificate in 2001. He is now the vice president of Beijing Project Management Association and a well-known professor of Shandong University. He has been teaching project management, especially project governance and project human resource management for EMBA (Executive Master of Business Administration) and EDP (Executive Developing Program) and MPM (Master of Project Management) students in more than 10 universities in China, UK, South Africa and Italy for more than 10 years. He has trained more than 10 thousand senior managers in different countries, industries and government sectors. His books on project management are also well accepted by project managers and corporate managers. Because of his outstanding research outputs, he was honoured as an excellent talent by China Ministry of Education in 2007. Since 2006, he has been an IPMA (International Project Management Association) Award Assessor/Team Lead Assessor/Assessor Trainer and assessed projects in Germany, Russia, Italy, Iran, etc. He was a member of the IPMA Award Management Board from 2007 to 2012, and a member of PMI (Project Management Institute, USA) Global Accreditation Committee for Project Management Education Programs (GAC) in China, and a visiting professor for MSPME (Master in Strategic Project Management European) students in Italy and UK.

Foreword to the First Edition 5
Preface to the First Edition 7
Preface 10
Contents 14
1 Recognize the True Value of Management 18
1.1 Company Profit Comes from the Profit Model Rather Than Management 18
1.2 The Value of Management Lies in Improving Efficiency and Reducing Risks 23
1.3 The Understanding of Personality Is the Foundation of Effective Management 27
1.4 Fundamentals of Effective Management 30
2 Enterprise Cannot Survive Without Projects 34
2.1 Issues Associated with Successful Experiences 34
2.2 Effective Measures to Deal with Changes 37
2.3 Project Paves Way for Enterprise Success 45
3 Fundamental Principles of Project Management 54
3.1 Project Management is Based on Principles 55
3.2 Awareness of Project Stakeholders 59
3.3 Manage the Project Life Cycle 64
3.4 Steps to Achieve Project Management Solutions 68
4 The Development of Project Governance Platforms 73
4.1 The Responsibilities Assumed by Project Managers Are Very Limited 73
4.2 Enterprises Need to Improve Their Project Governance Capabilities 76
4.3 The Composition of Enterprise Project Governance Platforms 82
5 Successful Project Decision-Making 90
5.1 Clarifying Aims and Objectives 91
5.2 Identifying Project Stakeholders 94
5.3 Exploring Stakeholders’ Requirements and Expectations 99
5.4 Seeking Ways to Meet Stakeholders’ Requirements 103
5.5 Evaluate if a Project Can Achieve Its Aims 108
6 Defect-Free Project Initiation 110
6.1 Initiated with Fanaticism and Ended with Failure 110
6.2 Project Management Is an Iterative Process 111
6.3 Project Initiation Is the Responsibility of the Top Managers in an Enterprise 116
6.4 The Responsibilities of the Typical Project Stakeholders 118
6.5 The Roles of the Stakeholders in “General Projects” 124
6.6 The Challenge of Defining Project Requirements 127
6.7 Project Charter that Is Distributed to All Stakeholders 129
6.8 Don’t Forget to Hold a Project Initiation Meeting 133
7 Effective Project Organization Management 135
7.1 The Characteristics of Project Organization 135
7.2 General Ways of Project Organization Structures 138
7.3 The Assignment of Project Tasks 145
7.4 Clarify Stakeholders’ Responsibilities Using Responsibility Matrix 149
7.5 Functions and Authority-Based Organizations Are Hard to Fulfill the Needs of Project Management 151
7.6 The Development of Effective Project Organization Management Systems 154
8 Establish “Win-Win” Partnership Relationships in the Project 161
8.1 “Competitors” Is a Narrow Concept 161
8.2 You Can Hire the Person You Doubt 164
8.3 Understand Partners’ States and Status 166
8.4 Risks Should Be Emphasized in Contract Management 169
8.5 Develop a Unified Process of Effective Collaboration Relationships 172
8.6 Prevent Unhealthy Competitions Among Internal Business Units of an Enterprise 174
9 Control the Project Scope 181
9.1 Determine What Are Beyond the Project Scope 181
9.2 Devil Is Hidden in Details 185
9.3 The WBS Is the Intangible Assets of Companies 189
9.4 WBS-Based Project Knowledge Management and the Role Management 191
9.5 WBS-Based Approach to Determine the Project Budget and Contract Value 196
9.6 The Change of Management Scope 200
10 Grasp the Pulse of Project Schedule Management 202
10.1 Make Good Use of Project Milestones 203
10.2 Risky Time Is Often Ineffective 209
10.3 The Impacts of Local Deviations on the Entire Project 213
10.4 A Block Period of Time for Key Personnel 215
10.5 Set Buffer Time 216
10.6 The Criteria of an Effective Project Plan 221
11 Develop Real Project Teams 226
11.1 Barriers in Project Team Building 226
11.2 Select Appropriate Team Members 230
11.3 Quickly Identify the Characteristics of the Project Team Members 233
11.4 Project Team’s Capability Comes from Team Cohesion 238
11.5 Make a Project Team Go Through a Complete Life Cycle 241
11.6 Improve the Project Teams’ Execution Ability 245
12 Resolve Project Conflicts 250
12.1 Comprehending Conflicts 250
12.2 The Sources of Project Conflicts 254
12.3 General Ways to Handle Interpersonal Conflicts in Projects 256
12.4 Trade-off Strategies in Projects 260
13 Control Project Risks 265
13.1 Risks Should Be Managed Properly 265
13.2 Initiate a Risk Management Plan 267
13.3 Identify Risks 268
13.4 Develop the Risk Matrix 272
13.5 Plan Risk Responses 276
13.6 Evaluate a Risk Response Plan 277
13.7 Social Network Risks Between Stakeholders 278
14 Communication Is the Key 286
14.1 Beware of “Information Funnel” 286
14.2 Project Communication Plan Must Be Standardized 290
14.3 Grasp the Key Project Metrics 294
14.4 Ensuring the Effectiveness of Project Meetings 300
14.5 Try to Use a Standardized Form of Communication 302
14.6 The Communication and Coordination in Government-Related Projects 305
15 Performance Management Has Become the Driving Force to Promote the Project Success 310
15.1 The Way of Thinking for the Performance Management 310
15.2 The Connotation of Project Performance 315
15.3 Evaluation Methods of Project Performance 317
15.4 Effective Incentives to the Project Team 331
16 Project Closure Aiming for Maximum Value 335
16.1 Be Persistent 335
16.2 Keep All Project Data 336
16.3 Contractual Closure 337
16.4 Project Acceptance 339
16.5 Financial Closure 340
16.6 Lessons Learned 343
16.7 Celebrate Project Success 344
16.8 Dismiss Project Team 345
16.9 Terminate Project When Necessary 347
17 Being a Highly Effective Project Manager 349
17.1 Mentality Adjustment 349
17.2 Be Influential 357
18 Becoming a Successful Enterprise that Is Adapted to Changes 361
18.1 Be Aware of the Misunderstanding of “Project-Based Enterprises” 361
18.2 The Transformation of Enterprise Management Thoughts and Methods 363
18.3 Improve the Maturity of Enterprise Project Management 373
18.4 Improving the Project Management of Enterprise Reform 377
Learning by Doing: Becoming an Impeller of Spreading the Project Management (Postscript) 383
Each Enterprise’s Management Theory Needs to be Tailored 383
Become a Valuable Researcher in the Field of Management Research 385