> Project Management in Practice

Risk and Decision Analysis in Project, 2/e
By John Schulyer

Description:

What are the characteristics of successful managers? Surveys consistently show decision-making ability at or near the top of the lists. Perhaps no management activity is more important. Surprisingly, little training investment attends to developing this important skill. In Risk and Decision Analysis in Projects, Schuyler presents the approach and principal techniques of decision analysis to help the reader realize faster, more confident, and better decisions.

Risk and Decision Analysis in Projects is based on the author's popular project management tutorial series published in the Project Management Institute's PM Network. The techniques described in the book are straightforward once you know about them. The methodology is proven and accessible. And the techniques are applicable to all types of project decisions and valuations. With practice, decision analysis is easily integrated into the professional's problem-solving approach.

Making good decisions over the long term increases the probability of meeting your objectives. Those using decision analysis can sleep well at night knowing that they have made the best possible choices under the circumstances. Reading Decision Analysis in Projects is your first best choice.

This text mentions Crystal Ball in the Monte Carlo simulation, modeling, and optimization chapters, as well as in the Decision Analysis Software Appendix (B).

Details:

Published June 2001, Project Management Institute, Softcover, 259 pages; ISBN: 1880410281. Does not include a version of Crystal Ball.

Project Management: A Managerial Approach, 5/e
By Jack R. Meredith and Samuel J. Mantel

Description:

Project Management: A Managerial Approach addresses project management from a management perspective rather than a cookbook, special area treatise, or collection of loosely associated articles. The book is primarily intended for use as a college textbook for teaching project management at the advanced undergraduate or master's level. The text is appropriate for classes on the management of service, product, engineering projects, as well as information systems (IS).

In this latest edition, the authors have included some coverage of material concerning information systems and how IS projects differ from and are similar to regular business projects. The authors draw upon their personal experiences working with project managers and on the experience of friends and colleagues who have spent much of their working lives serving as project managers in the "real world."

Project Management: A Managerial Approach addresses the basic nature of managing all types of projects - public, business, engineering, information systems, and so on - as well as specific techniques and insights required to carry out this unique way of getting things done. The book deals with the problems of selecting projects, initiating them, and operating and controlling them, and it discusses the demands made on the project manager and the nature of the manager's interaction with the rest of the parent organization. The textbook also covers the difficult problems associated with conducting a project using people and organizations that represent different cultures and may be separated by considerable distances. It even covers the issues arising when the decision is made to terminate a project.

This edition features a greatly expanded coverage of risk management. This is also the first edition that includes Crystal Ball software (a 140-day Student Edition), which is used in sections discussing uncertainty and risk management, critical chain analysis, and project scheduling. The text includes some example models and step-by-step instruction.

Details:

Published December 2002, John Wiley & Sons; Hardcover, 704 pages; ISBN: 0471073237. Includes a Student Edition (140-day version) of Crystal Ball 2000 Professional on CD.

Project Management in Practice
By Samuel J. Mantel (Editor), Jack R. Meredith, Scott M. Shafer, Sutton, Margaret Sutton, Jr., Samuel J. Mantel

Description:

This brief, hands-on, and applied book focuses on the basic fundamentals of project management. The text offers a sturdy foundation of fundamental concepts, case studies, and real-world project management skills. The authors work through the entire process of management, from planning to budgeting to scheduling to controlling to terminating a project.

This textbook is computer and spreadsheet oriented and is packaged with Microsoft Project and a 140-day trial version Crystal Ball. Appendix C is entirely dedicated to risk analysis using Crystal Ball, with graphics, step-by-step instructions, and example applications.

Details:

Published December 2000, John Wiley & Sons; Hardcover, 336 pages;ISBN: 0471371629. Includes a version of Crystal Ball 2000 Professional on CD.