Featured Book
A Practical Guide to Project Planning
A Step-by-step ApproachRod Sowden
Paperback: £28.00
About the book
This title provides a step-by-step guide to creating and implementing a successful project plan, it describes the various roles, techniques and responsibilities of planning a project.
No matter which project management framework you are using, effective planning is crucial for success. This publication leads you through each stage of the planning process: defining, designing, developing and delivery, highlighting the practical steps for each. Role responsibilities, requirements and objectives are discussed in detail with case studies included to highlight the practical applications.
This title has been written by authors who have been involved with numerous global consultations in project management. Using a step-by-step approach, the authors share the knowledge, experience and expertise for developing and delivering successful plans for project management.
Key Features
- A practical guide on planning for project managers who want to deliver success
- Relates to any framework of project management
- Each chapter includes techniques, examples and highlighted tips
- Readers are led through simple and complex case examples bringing project planning to life
- The appendices include a list of project plans and a project plan summary
- Written by a highly experienced author
- Available as print and PDF
Interview with the author
Rod Sowden founded Aspire Europe in 2004, it is an organization dedicated to improving organization's programme management performance. In the last 10 years he has travelled the world working on assignments and lecturing on a variety of topics. Rod was the lead author on the 2011 edition of Managing Successful Programmes (MSP®), a role he also held for the 2007 edition. The MSP Survival Guide series of publications, which supports individuals in key programme areas, have also been written by Rod.
He pioneered the development of maturity models to measure organizational performance, and was the lead author in 2008 for the Portfolio, Programme and Project Maturity Model (P3M3®) (co-lead author for the 2015 version). Overall, Rod has helped more than 150 different organizations to improve their portfolio, programme, project and change management performance. read more >>
Publication reviews
Poor planning is consistently quoted as the top reason why projects fail entirely or fail to be executed on time. This book provides a valuable insight and guidance into how to recognize planning deficiencies and to plan properly. The best aspect of this book is that it is a practical step-by-step guide for all project managers. I would recommend it as a text, which if followed, would mean that most project managers would avoid many of the common planning mistakes. It is essential reading for project managers starting out in their career in project management and equally for experienced project managers to remind them of the critical success factors when it comes to project planning.
This publication takes on a very daunting task, how to do you simply, succinctly and comprehensively describe and teach planning. However, through a methodical and planned approach, this publication goes a long way to achieving that. This publication could become the go-to reference guide to those who are either new to the planning concept, have a particularly challenging plan to build, or, like me, have been in the game for a while, but have used this as a brilliant refresh and refocus.
Paula Bartram, Boeing Defence UK
The publication provides a thorough overview of the vital aspects and core principles of project planning. It is a timely reminder of the importance, of what is a very rare and difficult skill to master - from scoping through to delivery. This book is full of useful techniques and handy hints for project managers, new and experienced, with useful templates to draw upon in planning a project. The sections on designing and delivering the plan are particularly useful with information about project products, developing estimates and identifying milestones. The book is easy to read and to digest with tips to remember and templates to use when planning your project. It is a book to read as theory but more importantly one to come back to as a reference guide and a source of help when sailing in the turbulent waters of project planning!
This publication is an in depth "how to" guide to project planning. From scoping the plan to designing, developing and delivering, it fills in the gaps left behind by methodologies. It demonstrates the need for planning at the earliest stage of projects, and its methods of estimating and scheduling will be of the greatest use for those with less experience. A must have for those new to project management and will easily sit alongside PRINCE2 to guide you through the process. I have already used its methods since reading the book and it will be my "go to" book when planning my next project.
Lee Pundsack, Plymouth City Council
