Rescue the Problem Project: A Complete Guide to Identifying, Preventing, and Recovering from Project Failure - Tapa dura

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Todd C. Williams, PMP (Camas, WA) is a senior project audit and recovery specialist with over 25 years of international experience.

De la contraportada

Back from the brink: presenting the first fail-safe recovery plan for turning around your most troubled projects!

When budgets are evaporating, deadlines passing unmet, and tempers flaring, the project team must to do more than point fingers of blame. With up to 65% of projects failing to meet goals and of those 25% canceled outright, what is needed is an objective process for accurately assessing what’s wrong—and a clear plan of action for fixing the problem.

Rescue the Problem Project provides executives, project managers, and customers with the answers they require. Turnaround specialist Todd Williams has worked with dozens of companies in multiple industries resuscitating failing projects. In this new book, he reveals an in-depth, start-to-finish process that includes:

Techniques for identifying the root cause of the problems • Steps for putting projects back on track—audit the project, analyze the data, negotiate the solution, and execute the new plan • Nearly 70 real-world examples of what works, what doesn’t, and why • Guidelines for avoiding problems in subsequent projects.

Many books explain how to run a project, but only this one shows how to bring any project—and just maybe your entire organization—back from the brink of disaster!

Advance Praise for Rescue the Problem Project:

“Whether you are trying to prevent, identify, or recover a failing project, this book shows you how to analyze the interaction between people, process, and technology.” —Jackie Barretta, Senior Vice President and CIO, Conway, Inc.

“Rescue the Problem Project addresses what everyone on the team, from the CEO to the individual contributor, needs to know about recovering projects. Furthermore, it suggests actions to guide corporate change and create an agile and aggressive company.” —Dick Albani, Vice President (retired), TRW, Inc.

De la solapa interior

WARNING: Your latest project could be headed into the red.

Think it can’t happen? Think again. Some two-thirds of all projects—even well-designed initiatives that get off to a flying start—are bound to go over budget, blow their schedules, or otherwise fail to live up to expectations. A whopping 25% will get canceled outright, and you know who will be on the hot seat. Your reputation, your job, your career, and your entire organization could be at risk if a major project fails.

Don’t let it happen.

At last you’ve got a real defensive weapon against failure. With nearly 70 real-life examples of project rescue methods in action on the job, Rescue the Problem Project is the book to use before—or while—you’re in full-blown emergency mode. Project recovery expert Todd Williams presents a proven approach to identifying problems and creating and executing a targeted, effective recovery plan. The book breaks the recovery process into four distinct and practical steps:

Audit. Determine the human and technological factors, scope, time frame, and other roles and issues in the project’s failure.

Analyze. Is the project worth saving at this point? If so, determine the root causes of the problems; create an action plan; apply the appropriate methodology; define the recovered project; and more.

Negotiate. What project elements are on or off the table going forward? Provide multiple recovery options to the stakeholders; do proper planning and presentation of proposed solutions; and address concerns.

Execute. Implement corrective actions that keep problems from recurring on the rescued project and prevent new ones from cropping up in their place; manage perceptions and reactions to failures large and small.

The book’s final section deals with applying lessons learned so that your future projects avoid problems and pitfalls from the beginning. You’ll learn how to apply better risk assessment and management strategies and quantify the probability of success on almost any project.

Crucial chapter takeaways provide the right-now starting points for each stage and step in the recovery process, so that you can start making progress today. Whether you are involved in the daily processes of the project or are responsible to senior management for its success, Rescue the Problem Project gives you powerful, repeatable processes to rein in schedules and budgets, improve products and processes, and make yourself and your team heroes to your clients, your bosses, your colleagues—and anyone counting on your success!

Todd C. Williams is an experienced Senior Project Audit and Recovery Specialist, and a certified PMP®, with over 25 years of international experience in project recovery. His project experience includes managing the development of large-scale business systems integration initiatives throughout the world. Mr. Williams is an active member and frequent contributor to the Society for Information Management (SIM), the Project Management Institute (PMI®), the Association for Operations Management: Advancing Productivity, Innovation and Competitive Success (APICS), and the Financial Executives Networking Group (FENG).