The Project Manager's Desk Reference

James P. Lewis, Ph.D. (Vinton, VA) is the founder of The Lewis Institute, Inc., a association providing project management and behaviorial consulting and training. Dr. Lewis has more than 20 years of project management experience and has trained more than 20,000 supervisors and managers around the world.

Section I: Introduction and Overview. Overview of Project Management. A Model for Managing Projects. Section II: Project Planning. General Aspects of Project Planning. Planning: Developing the Project Mission, Vision, Goals, and Objectives. Planning Project Strategy. Implementation Planning. Section III: Project Scheduling. Developing a Project Schedule. Schedule Computations. Scheduling with Resource Constraints. Scheduling with PERT. Section IV: Project Control and Evaluation. Principles of Project Control and Evaluation. Project Control Using Earned Value Analysis. Progress Payments and Earned Value Analysis. Project Change Control. Section V: Causes of Project Success and Failure. Defining Project Success and Failure. Causes of Project Failure. Managing Project Risks. Section VI: Other Issues in Project Management. Sociotechnical Systems and Project Organization. Profiling the World-Class Project Management Organization. Improving Your Communication Skills. Managing Business-to-Business Marketing and Communication Projects Successfully. The Need for Systems Thinking in Project Management. Understanding Systems Thinking. How to Apply Systems Thinking in Managing Projects. Problem Solving in Projects. Solving Close-Ended Problems. Managing Decision Making in Project Teams. Section VII: Resources and References. Developing Project Managers. Checklists for Managing Projects.