Project Planning, Scheduling and Control: A Hands-On Guide to Bringing Projects in on Time.

The classic project manager's handbook, with new chapters and insights that demystify the new PM tools and the PMP® exam

Project Planning, Scheduling, and Control has been the standard guidebook for project managers for more than 15 years. Addressing the key issues you face every day, Jim Lewis's benchmark book brings the subject alive with accessible, nontechnical questions, step-by-step guidelines, and real-world examples and applications. This revised, updated, and expanded fourth edition provides an applications-oriented understanding of the issues you must confront and important tips for passing the Project Management Professional (PMP®) exam.

Practical strategies for managing each phase of a professional project

The bestselling Project Planning, Scheduling, and Control has helped thousands of professionals understand project management issues, implement viable solutions, and effectively guide each project from conception to close. Now updated and expanded, this vital reference will help you learn more about project management, improve your on-the-job management performance, and ensure that you pass the PMP(r) exam on your first try.

Written and updated by globally renowned project management authority James P. Lewis, founder of The Lewis Institute, this applications-oriented blueprint describes the knowledge and processes you need to know to:

• Successfully take a team through each project stage--Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring and Control, and Close-Out
• Minimize time and resource waste by quickly addressing internal political issues, motivating team members, and more
• Identify and improve processes, both during and after the project, to enhance future project success

The competitive success of a business is determined by the leadership skill of its project managers. Project Planning, Scheduling, and Control shows you how to excel in this challenging role by providing you with the tools and techniques you need to monitor and manage each project, regardless of its size, to a profitable conclusion.

Project success is the lifeblood of every organization. Yet experts estimate that one-third of the cost of the average project goes to correcting errors that could have been prevented through more capable project design and management.

Project Planning, Scheduling, and Control demonstrates how you can manage projects of every size and content to maximize each team's productivity, eliminate financial and operational waste, and deliver outcomes that match and even surpass management objectives. Detailing principles and techniques for improving your ability to oversee each phase of a project, from initial definition, strategic planning, implementation, scheduling, risk control, and post-project review and analysis, this essential guide walks you through everything you need to know to:

• Develop a standardized management methodology that is easily adapted to any project, yet flexible enough to be customized for specific projects
• Simplify project management by understanding and implementing common tools and techniques, including PERT, CPM, earned value analysis, Gantt schedules, and more
• Eliminate sources of miscommunication, ensuring that both decision makers and team members understand overall goals and what is required to achieve those goals
• Apply the three-step risk management process to identify risks, quantify and prioritize them, and develop workable contingency plans for overcoming them
• Conduct lessons-learned reviews, documenting and reporting conclusions to assist teams throughout your organization in foreseeing and avoiding errors in the future
• Manage multiple projects to reduce setup time and cost while enhancing efficiency and resource utilization

Project Planning, Scheduling, and Control features Key Points boxes, quotes from industry leaders, examples of project management inaction, and more to succinctly illustrate the methodologies for becoming a proven project manager. Up-to-date and authoritative, it remains the most complete and easy-to-follow overview of the core methods, principles, and practices of results-based, cost-effective project management.