10 Mintue Guide to Project Management

Suppose you are a rising star at work and the boss has given you your first assignment to head up a project. Depending on the nature of the project and what kind of work you do, you might have to engage in a variety of tasks that you haven't tackled before, such as assembling a team to complete the project on time and on budget, mapping out a plan and monitoring your progress at key steps along the way, using appropriate planning tools such as project management software or wall charts, and keeping your team motivated and on target.

Perhaps you have managed projects before, but not recently. Or, you have been given a new kind of project you are not familiar with, and you want to make sure you handle the job right. If so, you've come to the right place. The 10 Minute Guide to Project Management gives you the essence of what you need to know, in terms of successful project management from A to Z.

True to the series, each lesson can be read and absorbed in about 10 minutes. We cover crucial aspects of project management including plotting out your path, drawing upon age-old and cutting-edge supporting tools, expending your resources carefully, assembling a winning team, monitoring your progress, adjusting course (if you have to), and learning from your experience so that you will be even better at managing other projects in the future.

If you are like many professionals today, you are very busy! Your time is precious. When you're handed a challenging assignment and need some direction, you need it in a hurry. And that is precisely what the 10 Minute Guide to Project Management offers you, a quick reference tool-divided into 18 crucial aspects of project management-that offers the basics. You will be able to digest a lesson or two each morning if you choose, before everyone else gets to work. Moreover, with this handy pocket guide, you are never more than a few pages away from homing in on the precise information that you need.

So, let's get started on the path to effective project management.

Contents

• Chapter 1: So You're Going to Manage a Project? ..... 1
  
• Chapter 2: What Makes a Good Project Manager? ..... 13
  
• Chapter 3: What Do You Want to Accomplish? ..... 27
  
• Chapter 4: Laying Out Your Plan ..... 36
  
• Chapter 5: Assembling Your Plan ..... 54
  
• Chapter 6: Keeping Your Eye on the Budget ..... 67
  
• Chapter 7: Gantt Charts ..... 80
  
• Chapter 8: PERT/CPM Charts ..... 89
  
• Chapter 9: Reporting Results ..... 104
  
• Chapter 10: Choosing Project Management Software ..... 115
  
• Chapter 11: A Sampling of Popular Programs ..... 128
  
• Chapter 12: Multiple Bosses, Multiple Projects, Multiple Headaches ..... 139
  
• Chapter 13: A Construction Mini-Case ..... 148
  
• Chapter 14: Learning from Your Experience ..... 158
  
• Index ..... 173