Creating an Environment for Successful Projects, 2nd Edition [Hardcover]

Robert Graham (Author), Randall L. Englund (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0787969664 | ISBN-13: 978-0787969660 | Publication Date: December 1, 2003 | Edition: 2

Since it was first published in 1997, Creating an Environment for Successful Projects has become a landmark work that shows how to develop project management as an organizational practice. This second edition offers solid, results-oriented advice on how upper management can create an environment that supports the success of special projects and the development of new products. The book also includes a wealth of examples from the authors' workshop participants and readers of the first edition who have successfully implemented these concepts within their organizations. New in the second edition:

• Ideas and practices about portfolio management to achieve greater overall success from a portfolio of projects
• Advice for helping project teams come together to become more effective
• Information for developing the chief project officer
• Suggestions for implementing project management information systems
• More descriptions about organizations and people who have used these principles to develop vastly improved environments

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Management consultants Robert Graham and Randall Englund believe that the development and launch of successful new products and services hinges on the formation of a thoroughly integrated, "project-based" organization. In Creating an Environment for Successful Projects: The Quest to Manage Project Management, they use the experiences of Hewlett-Packard, AT&T, General Electric, United Airlines, and other notable firms to show what they mean. They also demonstrate how upper managers can cultivate such an atmosphere in their own enterprises and avoid the failures that otherwise threaten their corporate survival. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Review

"The authors discuss some excellent organizational best practices and provide steps to achieve them." (Journal of Product Innovation Management; 1/1/2005)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 2 edition (December 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787969664
• ISBN-13: 978-0787969660
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #535,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended for Managers of PMs and for PM Consultants, May 14, 1998

By 

[e-mail] - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creating an Environment for Successful Projects: The Quest to Manage Project Management (Jossey-Bass Business & Management) (Hardcover)

Most PM books focus on those things the PM is supposed to control: cost, schedule performance, quality. This book posits that there are many factors OUTSIDE of the project manager's control that prevent project success. The PM spends more time dealing with external issues than managing the project team. Managers of PMs must "create an environment for successful projects", by essentially identifying and eliminating environmental barriers to project success, so the PM can focus on managing the project and the project team. Intended for managers of a manager of PMs. Also a good book if you're a PM consultant or a manager of a project-oriented department containing several PMs and project teams. My only real criticism is that there's a fair bit of consultant-speak psychobabble in the book. In spite of that, there's enough solid info in the book to make it a worthwhile read. Recommended.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ample support for putting the book's key concepts to good us, January 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Creating an Environment for Successful Projects: The Quest to Manage Project Management (Jossey-Bass Business & Management) (Hardcover)

This book was reviewed in "The Journal of Product Innovation Management" May 1998, an international publication of the Product Development & Management Association (PDMA):

A book which discusses how companies can effectively create a healthier and more nurturing environment for product development, based on companies like Hewlett-Packard, DuPont, Raychem and others.

"As the title implies, this book is about managing project management, not about managing projects - an important concept... Its purpose is to get upper management to understand how and why to develop project management as an organizational competency... Relevant across industries from high tech to low, from product to service, and from consumer to industrial or business-to-business... Its key strengths are: 1) its comprehensive treatment of key issues from the role of strategic direction across the project portfolio to the need for cultivating project management learning; 2) its practical recommendations for change; and 3) its easy-to-read examples... The book is well organized with an overview chapter that includes a call to action and an overview of the remaining chapters. The next seven chapters go on to describe each of the elements of creating an environment for success projects. Laid out as pieces of a complete puzzle to signal their importance as a system" (Mark Deck, Pittiglio Rabin Todd & McGrath, May 1998)

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique book on an important topic, September 30, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Middletown, New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creating an Environment for Successful Projects: The Quest to Manage Project Management (Jossey-Bass Business & Management) (Hardcover)

This book, by 2 authors who are very knowledgeable and well respected, is unique. It is the only book that I have been able to find on the subject of project management for people who are managers of project managers. It contains enough (but not too much) material to describe what project management is---and what it is not. If upper managers read the book and pay attention to its contents by implementing some of its recommendations the lives of people managing projects in their organizations are likely to become more fulfilling, and project management will be of more value to the parent organization. The book also provides some insight into one of the US's more successful corporations, Hewlett-Packard, from which the authors draw many of their examples. A job well done!