Practical Project EVM: The Application of Earned Value Management to Project Monitoring and Controlling - Softcover

Tyler PMP, M. Jeffery

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1508872775 ISBN 13: 9781508872771

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015

Synopsis

The purpose of this book is to provide a simple basic understanding of the use of EVM for the average PM that allows for the monitoring and control of a project’s schedule and costs without deterring his or her focus from the daily management and leadership that is essential for project success. There are two thoughts on the management of projects. And, these philosophies paint the poles of the spectrum of project management. The first is management through attention to detail. “The devil is in the details.” If you manage the detail, the rest will follow.” “Pay attention to details. “ These quotes are often ballyhooed around industry as a prescription for project success as if the more detail paid to the accounting of the numbers the greater the chance of success. Any PM worth their salt knows this usually substitutes for the lack of good management and leadership. On the other hand, getting out there and leading your project without paying attention to the project controls is like flying, or for that matter driving, without watching your gauges. Moving in the right direction but overlooking the health-checks of your project will cause catastrophic failure in getting to your successful completion. What is needed is the ability for the PM to guide the project to completion with a useable “cross-check” of the project’s health while still allowing for the focus to be on “flying” the project. As a young pilot I was continually reminded, “Fly the plane first, then cross-check your gauges. Fly the plane, and then communicate. Fly the plane, and then fly the mission.” In many instances, where I’ve been asked to assess the reasons behind unsuccessful projects, I’ve found that the project manager lost his o focus on guiding the project towards successful completion because he took his eyes off the goal. He attended to either too much control over the numbers while losing sight of what was causing the numbers to say what they were saying. Or, he tended to have too much “hands-on” direction and did not understand what the warnings the instruments (numbers) were saying. If you can’t tell by now, I’m telling you that “flying” your project is like flying a plane. Fly the plane, but keep a good cross-check of your instruments and what they are telling you so you can correctly understand deviations from the norm and make adjustments before the situation gets out of hand and you crash your project into the ground.

About this title

About the Author

Jeff Tyler is a semi-retired Project Management Professional (PMP) with over 30 years of extensive experience in systems management and managing projects, programs, and products in the IT, Telecom, DoD, Transportation, and Space industries. Jeff has taught graduate and undergraduate classes in project management, systems management and bioastronautics since 1993 for Webster University, Colorado Technical University and Kaplan University and has developed curriculum for these universities as well as Jones International University and University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. He is one of the contributing authors to the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) from the Project Management Institute (PMI). Jeff is called on to develop training, curriculum and test material for PMI’s Project Management Professional (PMP) certification and he’s been a PMP since the late 1990’s. Jeff has extensive PM experience with virtual and international projects as well as in-house programs and has referred publications, numerous books and presentations on project management. Jeff is working with Kaplan to posture as a leading institution for developing future project managers on a global scale. Jeff’s background in project and program management is a result of his years as a military project and program manager for major systems acquisition in both aviation and space systems. This was further refined as an IT project and program manager in both the telecommunications industry and in the transportation industry. The author of two books on project management, Jeff is writing his third book on Earned Value Management. Jeff lives in Colorado where he enjoys photographing the great outdoors and consulting with different organizations on developing good project management tools, techniques, and processes.

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1508872775
• ISBN 13: 9781508872771
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 420