2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book with a fresh perspective., July 23, 2009
This review is from: Stand Back and Deliver: Accelerating Business Agility (Paperback)
This recently released book on Leadership and Strategic Approach is, basically, excellent!
I am an advocate of taking the ego out of management and believe that managers acting as facilitators and stepping in when necessary rather than taking an ever-present command and control attitude, gain far more productivity from their teams.
The authors of this book have provided me with additional tools in their arguments and instruction in 150 pages than most Project Management book three times the size. They keep things simple and are concise without the patronizing tone that can be felt when reading other books of this nature.
They explain 4 simple models that can be used today in many different industries and write in a way that motivates the reader to try these out as soon as they get back to the office. They focus on:
Purpose Alignment Model - which allows for a clearer vision of what categories projects fall into. I have seen more generic and complex 'Business Alignment Models' where many projects are incorrectly categorized as 'differentiating' but do not add this type of value to the organization. By focussing on the purpose and using their 'Billboard' technique, insight is given into which projects truly are differentiating to the organization.
Context Leadership Model - giving visibility into the complexity and uncertainty values of a project to help leaders manage projects, with the right people, more effectively.
A Four Step Collaboration Process - designed to assess the right people for the job, allowing transparency in environments and then trusting people to get on with what they do best to produce high quality work.
Value Based Decision Making - Determining which projects to start, continue and stop based on making decisions at the last responsible moment. This model is taken from Lean Product Management and has worked well in the past.
These are simple models, easily implemented, directed at resolving common root causes that are systemic in many activities. The concise, real, case studies accompanying the ideals show what is not only possible, but achievable. Using the 'Purpose Alignment Model' I found myself not only looking at current projects but completed ones to determine, in retrospect, whether we overspent resources into what we thought was a differentiating project when really it was one that actually retained business parity.
I know this will quickly be one of the dog-eared, bent out of shape, probably missing its cover type books that I often return too.
If you are a business leader and want a fresh perspective of the projects currently underway in your organization or group this is a valuable resource that will provide, in my opinion, huge ROI.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
see the Context Leadership Model, July 15, 2009
This review is from: Stand Back and Deliver: Accelerating Business Agility (Paperback)
The Context Leadership Model seems the best part of this book. It suggests that projects be plotted in a two dimensional graph, where the axes are complexity and uncertainty. The graph is divided into 4 quadrants, and each is labelled by a fanciful descriptor. To be sure, there is no absolute scale on either axis. But the point is that if you have several projects, {A, B, C...}, then you should try to ascertain if complexity(A) > complexity(B) etc. Then this gives the ordering of the projects along the complexity axis. Ditto for uncertainty. So you can now plot these projects relative to each other.
The book spends much time talking about the different actions you should take, as a project leader, for each quadrant. Useful, as the authors suggest that there are qualitative differences between the quadrants in terms of project management as well as personnel best suited.
But there is a problem that is elided over. It has to do with the boundary between the quadrants. Yes, you can probably do a reasonable job assessing the relative ordering of projects and thus get a graph. But where do the quadrants overlay these points?
This may be unsolvable. Instead, suppose some projects have already been done, while at least one project is ahead of you. (If none, then there's little point to this book except purely as a retrospective analysis.) Perhaps from how you've handled the prior projects, you can try to see which of the quadrants they should have been in, after a careful study of the book. Then use this to fix the quadrant overlay and apply it to the new project.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Expert guide to project management tools and processes, November 3, 2010
This review is from: Stand Back and Deliver: Accelerating Business Agility (Paperback)
Managing projects and solving difficult situations within organizations can be devilishly difficult. Complexity and uncertainty can provoke inappropriate, even counterproductive, judgments and actions. In such circumstances, you need special tools and processes to help you sort out your strategy and make better choices. Co-authors Pollyanna Pixton, Niel Nickolaisen, Todd Little and Kent McDonald provide effective mechanisms for managing projects and solving problems. They approach business decision making with careful deliberation, analytical precision and sound reasoning. Their book provides the support systems you need to weigh your options and address your business dilemmas. getAbstract finds that leaders at all levels will benefit from knowing this book's hands-on tools.
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