University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Managing Project Delivery
Book

Managing Project Delivery

Maintaining Control and Achieving Success

Trish Melton and Peter Iles-Smith
Butterworth-Heinemann, 2009
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Editorial Rating

6

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • Analytical
  • Well Structured

Recommendation

Dr. Trish Melton and Dr. Peter Iles-Smith show you why managing and delivering a project involves much more than merely cranking out the design, and sticking to your charts and timetables. The work of the project has to be aimed at its core purpose, but keeping that at the forefront may well require revising the project in midstream. The information in this book is correct, copious and concise to the point of being terse, but unfortunately its presentation leaves some things unclear. Have you ever received a binder full of material at a seminar or class? Remember how the sheets made a great deal of sense at the time, but seemed a bit cloudier when you referred to them a year later? This book reads a lot like the material in such binders, with tons of bullet-point lists, charts and diagrams, but not enough prose to create a flow of ideas from one piece of information to the other. The accompanying online templates may mitigate this effect. Still, if you are new to project management, you may be a bit overwhelmed. getAbstract recommends this solid book to experienced project managers who will be well-equipped to handle this complex material with little difficulty and to get a great deal of utility from it.

Summary

Project Facts of Life

Delivering a project does not mean simply grinding out the project plan to the letter. It means delivering the project’s promised benefits. If you don’t do that, you’ve failed.

The four stages of project delivery are “business case development, project delivery planning, project delivery and benefits delivery.” The project plan is only fulfilled if the intended benefits materialize. As a project manager, you must handle many variables and uncertainties as you guide a project to meet its purpose. Remain flexible. You can adapt most aspects of the project plan as needed, as long as you still deliver the desired benefits.

Before you embark on managing a project, be sure you can clearly state why and how it will satisfy the business needs it was designed to meet. Clarify what it will deliver, how the delivery plan will meet its goals, what conditions could cause it to fail to meet its purpose, when it has to be accomplished, who is on the project team, what their roles are, and who your sponsors, supervisors and stakeholders are. Of course, you must know what the project has already cost and is going to cost. Chaos in project delivery is a sure...

About the Authors

Dr. Trish Melton, a Chartered Chemical Engineer, is managing director of a management consultancy. She has experience in the chemical, pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. Dr. Peter Iles-Smith is a project management and engineering consultant in the oil, gas, chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

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