Results Without Authority: Controlling a Project When the Team Doesn't Report to You -- A Project Manager's Guide [Paperback]

Tom Kendrick PMP (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 3, 2006

"When you're a project manager with a team of people who don't technically report to you, your challenge is to get Results Without Authority. This book delivers proven techniques for controlling projects and managing diverse teams in a wide variety of situations, and bringing those projects to successful closure. The concepts in this book are essential for all project managers, with and without authority, because they offer a productive alternative to "command and control" management techniques that can easily backfire. Tom Kendrick's system will help you get successful project results from diverse, cross-functional, virtual, outsourced, and other types of project teams by showing how to establish and build: Control Through Process. Key project management processes, infrastructure, and the role of the project office. Control Through Influence. Productive leadership styles, reciprocity, and maintaining relationships. Control Through Project Metrics. Quantitative, predictive, diagnostic, and retrospective metrics for project control, motivating desired behaviors, and avoiding potential problems. Control Through Project Initiation. The role of the sponsor in project control, the importance of project vision, project launch documentation, and the project start-up workshop. Control Through Project Planning. Collaborative planning as the foundation of project control; planning as a key factor in setting baselines and establishing metrics. Control During Project Execution. Measurement and interpretation of project status, informal communication, and maintaining relationships as keys to maintaining control. Control Through Tracking and Monitoring. Controlling scope and other project parameters; formal project communication and reporting, rewards and recognition, and project reviews. Enhancing Overall Control Through Project Closure. Sign-off, evaluating retrospective project metrics, celebrating, and rewarding the team; improving long-term project control through lessons learned. Packed with invaluable guidance for controlling projects of all scopes and in any field, Results Without Authority will help novice and experienced project leaders get the best from their project teams."

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Results without Authority stands out by methodically and thoroughly exploring the issue of control throughout the project life cycle….this practical project management reference brings together a lot of ideas and concepts worth considering for readers who are confronted with projects over which they have little to no formal authority."-Journal of Product Innovation Management

“...stands out by methodically and thoroughly exploring the issue of control throughout the project life cycle."

-Journal of Product Innovation Management

“…full of sound, practical, project management advice for carrying out IT and similar type projects…laced with the practical wisdom." -- Max’s Project Management Wisdom

"This book is full of sound, practical, project management advice for carrying out IT and similar type projects. It is also laced with the practical wisdom that only comes from years of "Been there, done that.'" -- Max’s Project Management Wisdom

“…important for all project managers, with and without authority… Packed with valuable guidance for controlling projects of all scopes and in any field.” – PM Network

Book Description

"When you’re a project manager with a team of people who don’t technically report to you, your challenge is to get Results Without Authority. This book delivers proven techniques for controlling projects and managing diverse teams in a wide variety of situations, and bringing those projects to successful closure. The concepts in this book are essential for all project managers, with and without authority, because they offer a productive alternative to ""command and control"" management techniques that can easily backfire.

Tom Kendrick’s system will help you get successful project results from diverse, cross-functional, virtual, outsourced, and other types of project teams by showing how to establish and build:

Control Through Process. Key project management processes, infrastructure, and the role of the project office.

Control Through Influence. Productive leadership styles, reciprocity, and maintaining relationships.

Control Through Project Metrics. Quantitative, predictive, diagnostic, and retrospective metrics for project control, motivating desired behaviors, and avoiding potential problems.

Control Through Project Initiation. The role of the sponsor in project control, the importance of project vision, project launch documentation, and the project start-up workshop.

Control Through Project Planning. Collaborative planning as the foundation of project control; planning as a key factor in setting baselines and establishing metrics.

Control During Project Execution. Measurement and interpretation of project status, informal communication, and maintaining relationships as keys to maintaining control.

Control Through Tracking and Monitoring. Controlling scope and other project parameters; formal project communication and reporting, rewards and recognition, and project reviews.

Enhancing Overall Control Through Project Closure. Sign-off, evaluating retrospective project metrics, celebrating, and rewarding the team; improving long-term project control through lessons learned.

Packed with invaluable guidance for controlling projects of all scopes and in any field, Results Without Authority will help novice and experienced project leaders get the best from their project teams."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 17 and up
  
• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM; 1 edition (August 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814473431
• ISBN-13: 978-0814473436
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #296,322 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tom Kendrick is currently an independent consultant living near San Francisco, California. He was recently awarded the 2010 Project Management Institute (PMI) David I. Cleland Project Management Literature Award in October 2010 for "Identifying and Managing Project Risk: Essential Tools for Failure-Proofing Your Project."

Tom regularly conducts classes and presentations on program, project, and risk management for conferences, associations, and universities. Tom recently retired from Visa Inc. Previously, he spent 20 years with Hewlett Packard in its Project Management Initiative and in a variety of other project management roles. He has over 35 years of worldwide PM experience, including work for DuPont, General Electric, and as an independent consultant.

Tom has a BSEE from Princeton University, an MSEE from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also a certified PMP and serves as an officer for both the PMI Silicon Valley Chapter and the Risk Management SIG.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a readable project management book?, July 11, 2006

By 

Jennifer Tharp "management consultant" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Results Without Authority: Controlling a Project When the Team Doesn't Report to You -- A Project Manager's Guide (Paperback)

While I have a few project management reference books, it's rare to find a book on the topic that you can actually enjoy reading from cover to cover.

Results Without Authority covers a lot of ground, and there's something for every level of project manager. The book would serve well as a guideline for someone leading a new project management organization, or for someone who's been in the profession a while, but would like to refine their skills beyond what's done in their own organization.

I particularly enjoyed a section about how to build currency with your team -- how to start, and how to enhance it over time. The author has really done an astounding job of putting into words something I'd have a hard time describing, and he gives lots of great ideas that are much more rational and sustainable than the usual team-building exercises you still see at organizations.

One other interesting part was his detailed analysis of choosing the right metrics for the project -- a gap for many project managers. It's easiest to measure what we always measure than to make sure our measures are counterbalanced and take individual project issues into consideration.

Throughout the book, he keeps your attention with clear, concise writing and the occasional unexpected laugh. A great read.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This stuff works!, July 19, 2006

By 

Patrick Neal "Veteran Project Manager and Con... (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Results Without Authority: Controlling a Project When the Team Doesn't Report to You -- A Project Manager's Guide (Paperback)

This stuff works! "Results without Authority" is a powerful source of tools and common sense advice for people managing projects without formal authority. And most of the projects I have managed and most of the projects I am aware of are managed by people without authority. Tom Kendrick brings a depth of wisdom that can only be learned in the trenches.

Kendrick weaves theory and practice to build a comprehensive set of tools, templates, and checklists that can be used by everyone from the newly appointed project manager to the steely veteran. This volume is the most practical, down-to-earth, treatment of managing without authority that I have ever read. And, it is a good read and an enjoyable read. "Results Without Authority" must be required reading for all project managers, whether they have authority or not. Read it today and start using it tomorrow.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of insight, July 25, 2006

By 

D. R. Fullerton (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Results Without Authority: Controlling a Project When the Team Doesn't Report to You -- A Project Manager's Guide (Paperback)

If Tom Sawyer had used this book, his friends would have done a far more than just whitewash a fence.

"Results without Authority" is just what most project people need to be successful. Projects where you control everyone are almost nonexistent. I have done project work for over a decade and this book was very helpful. The book contained so many insights that I used it as the basis for a 2 hour training session with my consulting group.