Customer Reviews

Creating the Project Office: A Manager's Guide to Leading Organizational Change (Jossey-Bass Business & Management)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book takes the leading thinking in implementing organizational change and applies it directly to the challenge of implementing project management. The authors then advance the art through the application of their extensive experience and original thought that leaves the reader-practitioner with a step-by-step guide to implementing a project management office.

The major strength of this manuscript is its revelation of the organizational challenges in creating a project office, their causes, and straightforward advice on navigating the pitfalls. The knowledge and experience of the authors comes through with `been there, done that' credibility. The reader leaves with a deeper understanding of their organization and the means for achieving their goal of implementing a project office.

I thought Part One was one of the best discussions I have seen of the organizational change factors involved in implementing a project office. It provided thorough overall coverage on the existing body of work in organizational change and provided an application to project management. The author's contribution of speaking truth to power is valuable.

I found the manuscript replete with illustrative material. I particularly liked the anecdotes from Greek mythology and literature. This book is unusually rich in supporting the principles advocated with clear `how-to' instructions. As a practitioner reading the book, I found myself saying: "Yes, that works," "I wish I had thought of that sooner," and "I am going to use that tomorrow." - a manuscript reviewer

I purchased this book on recommendation from a previous reviewer and was amazed by the breadth, depth, and more importantly pace of the book. The book moves quickly and does not spend a lot of time on theory, more time on examples (drawn mainly from Englund's work at HP).

The high level process applies as a general change management agenda, but applied through the lense of a PMO or project office. The annecdotes and lessons learnt provide an excellent framework for either internal "change agents" or external consultants to structure a successful organizational change and increase in proejct delivery quality.

The examples and frameworks in the book are easily understood and presented in a way that they can be reused or applied to many different project management challenges. I highly recommend this book to program managers or IT consultants who are intereste in affecting change in any organization.

Hello,

I have read about 50% of the book and it's helping me a lot with the building of the PMO in my site.

It helps you on how to face this process focusing on the intagibles, not on the process.

You can feel the great experience the three authors have on this topic! They focus on the how (change management within the organization) rather than the what (scope of PMO functions).
I found the following particularly interesting: the Project Environment Assessment Tool and the LēMē model for change management.
Unfortunately, I could not implement any of the ideas in the book.

I belive, if the book would have metrics and templates for the process start, it is very usefull.

Excellent service