The Evolution of Project Management Practice: From Programmes and Contracts to Benefits and Change(Routledge Frontiers in Project Management)

Project practice has undergone significant changes requiring new ways of thinking about and managing projects. The single focus on the staged delivery of artefacts is gradually being replaced by a wider interest in stakeholders, value, benefits, and complexity. As a result there is a growing interest in the development of practitioner capabilities, grounded in the recognition that dealing with permeable boundaries and unstructured situations transcends normative processes. Modern practitioners increasingly utilise deliberative and reflective approaches, often challenging received wisdom and traditional interpretations. This volume provides a sampling of some of the best writing in the project domain, enabling readers to access a wider group of authors, ideas, and perspectives. Key topics covered include agility and programme management, planning, people, business cases, contracts, teams, sponsorship, collaboration, strategy, patterns, context, change, and benefits. The main aims of the collection are to reflect on the state of practice within the discipline; to propose new extensions and additions to good practice; to offer new insights and perspectives; to distil new knowledge; and, to provide a way of sampling a range of the most promising ideas, perspectives and styles of writing from some of the leading thinkers and practitioners in the discipline.

Table of Contents:
List of figures List of tables About the editor Notes on contributors Introduction: the evolution of project practice Darren Dalcher 1. Programme management The temporal boundaries of projects and programmes Darren Dalcher New developments in programme management Michel Thiry 2. Planning Why planning is more important than plans Darren Dalcher Foresight saga: pursuing insight through chaos and disaster Mike Lauder 3. People Rethinking the social element of projects Darren Dalcher The social project manager: balancing collaboration with centralised control in a project-driven world Peter Taylor 4. Business case Business cases, benefits, and potential value Darren Dalcher The case for project net present value (NPV) and NPV risk models Martin Hopkinson 5. Contracts Thinking in contracts: the role of intelligent procurement Darren Dalcher Planning for contract management Louise Hart 6. Teams Thinking teams, performing teams, and sustaining teams Darren Dalcher VUCA and the power of emergence teams Tom Cockburn and Peter A. C. Smith 7. Sponsorship The unspoken role of sponsors, champions, shapers, and influencers Darren Dalcher Exercising agency: making a difference in how projects are initiated Mark Mullaly 8. Collaboration The essence of collaboration Darren Dalcher Leading extreme projects: strategy, risk, and resilience in practice Alejandro Arroyo and Thomas Grisham 9. Strategy Thinking in patterns: problems, solutions, and strategies Darren Dalcher Bridging the gap: effective transition from strategy development to strategy execution Lucy Loh and Patrick Hoverstadt 10. Context Why situational awareness remains essential Darren Dalcher An introduction to a typology of projects Oliver F. Lehmann 11. Change Living with the inherent paradox of change Darren Dalcher Enterprise-wide transformation programmes do not succeed without change management! Sankaran Ramani 12. Benefits So where do benefits come from? Darren Dalcher Managing programme benefits Andrew Hudson Conclusion Darren Dalcher Index

About the Author :
Darren Dalcher is Professor of Project Management at the University of Hertfordshire. He has written over 200 papers and book chapters and published over 30 books. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Software: Evolution and Process and of two established book series published by Routledge.

Review :
Reviews of the previous volumes: 'This volume is a collection of concise and informative articles on topics highly relevant to both new and seasoned practitioners of modern project management. The book works well as both a weekend read, and as a reference compendium with 26 contributors including notable authors such as Harris, Hillson, Mueller & Turner, Remington, and Cavanagh. The range of subjects covered in this book is impressive. Above all, this book fills a current gap in the canon of PM literature by offering a practical a how-to bridge between the Books of Knowledge (e.g. PMI, APM certification) level, and the demands of more complex programmes and projects. I commend this book to any practitioner wanting to understand the added dimensions of the new and highly challenging world of advanced project management.' ICCPM – International Centre for Complex Project Management 'What sets this book far apart from others is the breadth and open-mindedness of the reflections. Dalcher is not afraid of including nontraditional project management topics such as the psychology of project management and spirituality in project management. Each one of the 20-plus topics is introduced by Dalcher with his point of view and followed by a paper by the primary author. For example, the topic of ethics is introduced with cogitation on project ethics and professionalism, followed up by the paper Project Ethics: The Critical Path to Development. The book is a delight to read and can serve as an easy reference for project managers willing to look beyond the standards and guidelines of traditional project management.' Project Management Journal, vol. 45, no. 6 'The book begins with an overview from Dalcher and some context-setting. It then offers a diversity of astute opinion from a range of experienced individuals, all with their own specific focus within project management. I was delighted that there were a number of chapters addressing what I would refer to as tough skills (more commonly, erroneously labelled soft skills) including stakeholder management, the psychology of project management, decision making, communication and benefits realisation.' Project magazine, December 2014 'This book has something to offer the novice as well as the experienced professional, and gives insights to how and why project management is evolving as the global environment changes and challenges organizations and project success.' Anne Manning, PMI Portland Chapter