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Project Management Strategies in theNext Wave
A book on project management for project managers
The book contains 120 pages full of advice and recommendations written on the basis of 40 years of experience in project and later program management.
Change becomes an inherent part of our lives. In a changing environment, the ability to adapt is a key skill for success. This dynamic is also reflected in project management, where traditional methodologies are changing to more flexible approaches. To succeed in this environment, a project manager must be able to adapt to change and use it to their advantage.
We offer you a book – a guide to modern project management strategies, which contains knowledge and experience from the real world as well as practical recommendations for orientation in the ever-evolving project management environment. It is intended for professionals who want to effectively adapt to the changing requirements placed on this profession.
Experienced project managers are looking for more than just a set of rules and procedures; they are eager to understand the challenges and opportunities in their field. This book seeks to provide a detailed insight into some of the intricacies associated with project management and, thanks to the chosen form, presents insights and perspectives that cross the boundaries of traditional methodologies. This is not a comprehensive and systematic explanation, but a collection of essays that explore specific topics key to current developments in project management. This book is intended for experienced project managers who want to know how current changes will affect their work and the demands of their profession. It explores the changing field of project management and highlights the skills and knowledge that are essential for today’s professionals, along with the associated challenges and opportunities.
The book is available in various formats.
Insider Reviews
We live in a time of democratization of information access. The invention of the Internet was key when it allowed anyone to share their views on anything – first in text form, then in audio-visual form. No less important is the phenomenon of self-publishing. If we choose a quality resource, we can find useful and stimulating content that complements and surpasses even traditional project management textbooks. And this book belongs to this category.
The author’s 40-year insight from practice is rare, and his book is full of concrete examples that suitably enliven the text. The entire text is easy to understand and read. The author’s goal is to describe changes in project management, where the trend is a shift to a collaborative environment and reflection of remote and virtual teams. The book is comparable to high-quality foreign publications and is also suitable for experienced project managers. It succinctly describes the paradigm shift towards socialization and, thanks to a precise and comprehensible description of trends, infers what the current project manager should specifically focus on.
The author appropriately draws attention to the possible risks of a hybrid approach to project management and presents concrete procedures for strengthening the informal authority of project managers. It emphasizes the necessity of personal integrity and recommends specific methods of self-evaluation as an aid to development. He mentions mentoring as a mutually beneficial relationship and illuminates the difference between a formal and informal steering committee.
The book brings to mind a number of important concepts and terms, such as “respectful dissent”, “organizational memory” and “Bรกlint’s group”. The author clarifies the importance of effective communication of project outputs to all stakeholders, including the need for a shared understanding that maintains adequate information. He describes the diversity of project teams during the project life cycle and gives concrete examples of negotiations for practice, emphasizes the need to use positive statements and recommends tuning in to the personal motivation of the other party.
The book also contains templates for the kick-off meeting, planning meeting, project plan, audit and commissioning plan. The author enumerates the types of contracts and their relationship to project risks, and the emphasis on the importance of social skills permeates the entire book.
This book is a valuable asset to anyone interested in project management, whether they are students, novice project managers, or seasoned professionals. Thanks to its practical focus and understandable style, it will appeal to a wide range of readers and become a useful guide in the dynamic world of project management.
Zdenฤk ล vรฉcar, PgMP, PMP
Vice President for Local Activities
In his book, the author skilfully used his knowledge of program management, which, thanks to the standard built-in change management tools, is much closer to today’s agile project world than classic project procedures. He understood and captured with many illustrative examples that perhaps the biggest challenge facing the project manager today is the unprecedented dynamism and versatility of the environment in which projects are managed. And so he must inevitably adapt to this situation, which automatically raises the question of what the role of the project manager actually is or will be. The book is not only about a general shift towards agility, but also foreshadows a broader mental shift towards a spontaneous but collaborative environment with the need to constantly collectively assess different perspectives and scenarios. This rebirth from mental forces and stale rigidity brings an unprecedented organizational cultural upheaval and transformation of the PM position, while basic project tools such as planning and WBS remain just as important. According to the author, the designer must become an inspiring personality who encourages the organization to multi-level flexibility and experimentation as a basic tool for managing risks and taking advantage of opportunities. It is the value of overall cooperation and the power of a team led by a capable leader that represent a springboard to success in today’s world – the hitherto customary supervision of projects gives way to leadership based on community service. Therefore, the PM must be well-versed in different methodologies and be able to choose the most suitable procedures for the given situation – this is precisely where the magic of management lies. It’s just that the PM solves what others don’t want to or can’t solve, what’s unpleasant or difficultโฆ and he rarely has the corresponding formal position and full consent of the parties concerned. The shift from the simple exchange of plans and documents to proactive involvement of stakeholders and high performance, as well as taking over some of the responsibilities of the project owner, require increasingly wider, stronger and more frequent interactions, which place extraordinary demands on communication. In short, the PM must have really exceptional social skills – due to the home office and distributed teams, communication is often the only tool at his disposal. The work represents a truly concise synthesis of the current challenges of the role of a project manager.
Daniel Podolskรฝ, PMP, PMI-ACP
Vice President for Professional Development
The book that you hold in your hands is special in its own way. It is not primarily about project management, like the vast majority of others, but about the project manager, his role, personality, formal and informal position, in the ever-changing environment of implementing projects of diverse focus.
The project manager profession has been undergoing a major transformation in the last decade. Competence is constantly being expanded, grows his participation in various roles, even non-project ones. A great emphasis is placed on this profession in terms of continuous self-development and education. This book has as its challenging goal to bring a holistic view of the transformation of the project manager profession, from the point of view of techniques, processes and soft competencies.
As the author of this book demonstrates, sudden change and turning to everything new is not always the best way. Less is often “more”. The original principles of project management still apply and will continue to apply, albeit in a new context or in other management schemes or paradigms.
As a guarantor of the Project Management study program at a university and previously a long-term consultant in the field, especially of the application of project management software, I have already encountered many impetuously applied approaches and methodologies, only to find out after a few years that they are definitely not always suitable and everywhere. And it is the book “Project Management Strategies in the Next Wave” in a very elegant way, based on the author’s many years of experience, that brings many theories to the ground and proves how to take the best from each. The author calls this procedure the application of hybrid approaches, and as such, it is the great art of the project manager leading most likely to the desired success.
The profession of a project manager, even though he often sits simultaneously also in another role, e.g. Scrum Master or Product Owner, is and should be a “craft”. A craft based on a code of ethics and a systems perspective, growing out of the principles of techniques and tools of scientific management.
The book is very suitable for beginning project managers, graduates in the field of Project Management, completes and details the nuances of skills and knowledge needed for project management. It will not replace experience, but it will help minimize dead ends in the professional development of key people of modern project management.
doc. Ing. Tomรกลก ล ubrt, Ph. D.
guarantor of the Project Management study program
Faculty dean, Czech University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Economics and Management