The Enterprize Organization: Organizing Software Projects for Accountability and Success [Paperback]

Neal Whitten (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2000

Every day, project leaders are approached with haunting questions such as: What is the primary reason why projects fail? How technical should managers be? What are the duties of a project management office? These haunting questions, along with many more, are just a few of the questions and answers Whitten discusses in his latest book, The EnterPrize Organization.

Throughout his book, Whitten shares many of the lessons learned that can have a profound impact on drawing out and realizing the potential of the member of a project, as well as helping you realize your own potential. He describes the roles and responsibilities of the major project leadership positions of product manager, project manager, business architect, product architect, process architect, resource managers, and team leaders, as well as the team members.

Whitten proposes the "EnterPrize Organization" as a model that takes advantage of the strengths of functional, projectized, and matrix organizations, while reducing or eliminating their weaknesses.

This book is for seasoned employees, as well as for those just entering the workforce. From beginning to end, you will recognize familiar ways to define the key project roles and responsibilities, and discover some new ideas in organizing a software project.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It offers a firm foundation for assembling an effective and eventually successful project team of any size in any organization." -- Project Management Journal®

About the Author

Neal Whitten, President of The Neal Whitten Group, is a speaker, trainer, consultant, mentor, and author in project management and employee development. He is the author of several books and numerous articles and is a contributing editor for PM Network®.

Product Details

• Paperback: 251 pages
• Publisher: Project Management Institute (January 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880410796
• ISBN-13: 978-1880410790
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,983,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Neal Whitten is a popular speaker, trainer, consultant, mentor, and author with over
35 years of front-line experience in human resource development, leadership and soft
skills, and project management. After earning an electrical engineering degree from the
University of Florida, he worked for IBM as a software engineer for 23 years, holding technical, project leader, and management positions. Shortly after leaving IBM in 1993, Neal founded The Neal Whitten Group, which offers a wide range of services, including speaking engagements; training and consulting services in leadership, project management, and personal development; and mentoring services for project managers and other leaders.

Neal is the author of several books, including Neal Whitten's Let's Talk! More No-Nonsense Advice for Project Success (Management Concepts); Neal Whitten's No-Nonsense Advice for Successful Projects (Management Concepts); The EnterPrize Organization: Organizing Software Projects for Accountability and Success (Project Management Institute); Managing Software Development Projects: Formula for Success (John Wiley & Sons); and Becoming an Indispensable Employee in a Disposable World (Prentice Hall).

Neal is a frequent presenter and keynote speaker at conferences, seminars, workshops, and special events. He has developed and instructed dozens of unique courses in personal development, leadership, and project management and presented to many thousands of people from hundreds of companies, institutions, and public organizations. He has written over 100 articles for professional magazines and has been a contributing editor of the Project Management Institute's PM Network® magazine for over ten years.
Neal is a member of the Project Management Institute and has been a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) since 1992.

Most of Neal's career has been in the technical and business areas of the professional world, so The Gift of Wisdom is something of a departure for him. With this book, Neal wants to expand his reach across America by capturing and sharing the often-overlooked wisdom of the elderly, so that we may all benefit from everything our
elders have to offer. He believes in unleashing the great personal potential of each individual and connecting with those who make up the backbone of America.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Organizational Blueprint for Software Project Success, April 24, 2000

By 

D. D. Gallup "dgnorwich" (SE Connecticut) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Enterprize Organization: Organizing Software Projects for Accountability and Success (Paperback)

This is a book written by a software project manager for software project managers, et. al., actually good for anyone involved in software development. Whitten gives an honest look at some of the reasons for project failure and provides a practical and workable blueprint for ensuring software project success.

He provides a good functional description of the key project players in a software development organization that can easily be adapted to any size organization. He defines the key roles in a project (Project Manager, Business Architect, Product Architect, Process Architect, Team Leader, etc.) in a way that makes the need for these roles seem intuitively obvious -- after you've read it, of course.

Much of the secret to project success, according to Whitten, lies in the clear delineation of project responsibilities, in the individual acceptance of these responsibilities, and the willingness to be accountable for one's activites. Whitten provides several sample scenarios for establishing project management organizations and process control for large, medium, and small projects, as well as managing multiple projects with a single organization.

Whitten speaks as one who has managed, coached, and consulted through decades of software development projects and acquired a rather large laundry list of "what-not-to-do" in a software project. His writing style is one of frankness and honesty in appraising the right and wrong ways to manage software development projects.