Project Management for a Functional World

No book can ever address every possibility. To have value, a book must address a specific need of the reader. With this in mind, I have written this book, not with the aim of making anyone a Project Management Professional (PMP(r)), but to help apply some common Project Management concepts. Hopefully, this book will enable other emerging project managers to 'side-step' some of the common pitfalls and political 'landmines' that await them. The intent of this book is not to be a rehashed version of The Project Management Institute's (PMI(r)) Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK(r)). Many excellent books already address these topics very well. The aim of this book is to provide some assistance and insights for Project Managers who might find themselves overwhelmed by the PMBOK(r), or a new Project Manager who wants some help getting started and getting organized. The goal of this book is to provide some insights and guidance for those Project Managers who find themselves managing projects in a functional or weak matrix organizational structure; organizational structures in which the Project Manager has little if any official authority or power. Typically, these will be organizations that have gained a nebulous realization of the benefits of Project Management; but have not fully committed to converting to a strong matrix or project-based organizational structure. This book takes the readers beyond the theoretical aspects of Project Management and introduces them to some practical applications of the trade. While much of the focus of this book will be on the Information Technology industry; the tips, tools, and techniques introduced here can apply to any project in any industry and will support revenue projects as well as development projects.