Ellis Project Management in Product Development

Leadership Skills and Management Techniques to Deliver Great Products
1. Auflage 2015
ISBN: 978-0-12-802559-8
Verlag: Academic Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 400 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Project Management in Product Development: Leadership Skills and Management Techniques to Deliver Great Products is written for new and aspiring project managers in product development. Although texts on project management are common, the material presented here is unique, instead focusing on product development, a challenging segment of project management because of the high level of uncertainty, the need for a robust set of problem-solving techniques, and a demand for broad cross-functional teams.

The book also focuses on more than just project management techniques, including a thorough treatment of transformational and transactional leadership. Other topics covered include problem-solving techniques, development, and continuous improvement of processes required in product development, risk recognition and management, and proper communication with mangers and other stakeholders.

Finally, project management techniques used in product development are presented, including the critical path method, scrum and XP, and Kanban/lean project development, along with the strengths and weaknesses of each.



- Provides ways to successfully manage product development projects by teaching traditional and advanced project management techniques like Gantt, CPM, Agile, Lean, and others
- Covers transformational and transactional leadership, how to create a vision and engage the team, as well as tactics on how to manage a complex set of tasks
- Uses a practical, common sense approach to the day-to-day activities of a project manager, including project planning, project process development, problem-solving, project portfolio management, reporting, and more
- Presents a thorough comparison of popular project management tools
- Includes many examples, cases, and side-bars that are included throughout the book

Autoren/Hrsg.

Ellis, George

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Management Forschung & Entwicklung (F&E), Innovation
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Management Projektmanagement

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1.An Introduction to Project Management and Product Development
2.Planning a Project
3.Executing a Project
4.Total Leadership for Project Managers
5.Stage-Gate Project Management
6.Critical Chain Project Management
7.Lean Product Development
8.Agile Project Management: Scrum, Extreme Programming, and Scrumban
9.Risks and Issues: Preparing for and Responding to the Unexpected
10.Patents for Project Managers
11.Reporting
Appendices

Leseproben

Preface
Project management has undergone a revolution over the last two decades, especially for product development. Effective new methods and powerful tools abound. The results are in: they work. But in the face of so many advances, schedule and quality problems still dog product development projects in every industry. Project managers have better tools and are working as hard as ever, but too often the results are disappointing. What’s happening? For one thing, the role of leadership in project management is widely misunderstood. Many companies treat a project manager (PM) almost as administrator: “If projects are not going well, we need the PM to follow process better.” There’s no doubt that managing to process is essential for success: stay organized, follow up, work the issues, report regularly. This is transactional leadership and every PM must master these skills. This book has ample material to help readers grow in this area. But this is only half the story. PMs must also grow as transformational leaders. They must build a vision for the product and create common purpose within the team. They must also be connected with their team, understanding the needs, abilities, and goals of each member. And they must display the kind of character people can follow. These are the skills that are required for a PM to inspire their team to care, to want to win, to do their best. Transactional and transformation skills work together to create total leadership. Too many writers present PMs with a false choice: “be a great manager or be a visionary.” The outstanding PM will be both and this book accentuates that point throughout. Projects that develop new products are fundamentally different from other project types. First, PMs are typically dealing with complex technology, partially understood customer needs, and team members that don’t always have the best interpersonal skills. The PM is not always the technical expert, but must understand enough to make tough decisions when the team is not fully aligned. They also need knowledge of multiple project management techniques if they are to create the optimal plan for each project. Also, PMs need to know enough about patents to understand where there’s an opportunity to protect an invention and when to seek legal counsel. This book addresses those topics, presenting numerous project management methods as different tools in the toolbox. There’s even a chapter dedicated to patents for PMs. And every chapter focuses on product development. None of this says building an office park or running a marketing campaign is easier than developing a product. But they are different and product developers need a book that focuses on their domain. The recent growth of project management methods has been exciting. The critical path method (CPM) was developed in the 1950s; even so, it’s still the method of choice in many industries. In the 1980s, Phase–Gate project management (PGPM) was added as the need for cross-functional teams and process became clear. PGPM set up standards that every project in an organization had to meet and, in doing so, became the foundation for project portfolio management, another important advance. But even with these improvements, project results remained largely disappointing, with launch delay being the most common complaint. A number of alternatives to CPM were introduced starting with critical chain project management (CCPM) in the late 1990s, a method with intense focus on schedule. A few years later, lean product development (LPD) brought thinking from lean manufacturing to the engineering department: increase value, reduce waste. Today, both of these methods are flourishing, improving product development across all industries. Around 2000, as software projects grew more common, it became clear that the existing project management methods focused on “high cost of iteration” projects—generally, hardware projects that demand a great deal of planning. Large investments in factory equipment, supplier tooling, and regulatory certification demand that most hardware designs be fully validated before release. CPM, PGPM, and CCPM are built to serve this dynamic. By contrast, software projects often have a low cost of iteration—new versions can be built in days. So, highly detailed planning at the outset is not as important. Accordingly, a family of Agile methods (Scrum, eXtreme Programming, and Scrumban, for example) were created and have become the dominant methods in many software industries. These methods build the product up, starting with the most basic functioning version and then iterating again and again until the full-featured version is released. That’s not practical when you’re tooling $1M worth of castings, but it works well for many software projects. So, with all these project management methods, which one should a PM learn? The answer is, to some degree, all of them. Accordingly, this book will present these methods as alternatives, describing where each fits best. Each will be compared to the others across a dozen characteristics. Further, each will be deconstructed so PMs can pick and choose the components that fit their needs. Want to mix Kanban boards from LPD into your CPM project? No problem. Want to build the minimum viable product into your CCPM project? Also, not a problem. When you understand the methods, you can mix and match with ease. This book treats each method like a set of tools. None are better or worse; it’s just that each does some things better than the others. Finally, PMs must be versed in visual workflow management. This is the skill of building a simple, credible “picture” that can be used to drive good action. Visual workflow management can be (and should be) applied across a wide range of issues from a 2-week cost-reduction effort to a key performanceindicator (KPI) that lasts the life of the project. Visual workflow management has three primary requirements: • Simple: it fits on one page with minimum text and a person outside the core project team can understand it quickly. • Credible: people trust the data. They understand it, they believe the source, and they know the picture is updated regularly. • Drives good action: the information is there to allow the person to make the decision that their role requires, be that a team member or the company president. Visual workflow management is taught throughout this book. These skills are needed to present status to the project sponsor and steering committee. They are needed to communicate with the team, ensuring consensus concerning the major issues. Most importantly, they are needed for the PM to know he or she truly understands the project issues throughout its life. Recent advances in project management are broad and vibrant. There are a host of new methods that can be tailored to every project. The principles that build good leaders who can leverage those methods are known. The tools to maximize the efficiency of these methods are also widely available. It is the goal of this book to bring all of these factors together so you and your organization can reliably launch great products on time and on budget. This book is separated into three parts: • Part I: The Fundamentals     The first three chapters provide an overview of projects and their use in product development along with the basic techniques you can use right now to get started. This part is written assuming you bought this book because you had an immediate need and that you shouldn't have to read through hundreds of pages to start managing projects. Accordingly, the critical path method, the foundation of project management, is presented in Chapter 2 (Planning) and Chapter 3 (Execution). • Part II: Leadership Skills and Management Methods     Chapter 4 explains the value of leadership skills and then provides material to help PMs build those skills. Chapters 5–8 present four competing project management methods, including critical path management with Phase–Gate (Chapter 5), critical chain project management (Chapter 6), lean product development (Chapter 7), and Agile methods (Chapter 8). The goal is to provide a balanced view of each without advocating any. • Part III: Advanced Topics     Three advanced topics are presented in this last part: • Chapter 9 Risks and Issues: Preparing for and Responding to the Unexpected     Describes risk management using two lines of defense. The first line is diligent preparation—adequate planning, choosing a strong team, and having the right processes in place. The second is competent leadership in resolving issues since some risks will survive even the most diligent preparation. • Chapter 10: Patents for Project Manager     Discusses patents and patent law as they relate to project management for product development. It is likely that as PM, you will at some point come into contact with patent law, especially when developing innovative products. Unfortunately, patents are often misunderstood by development teams. PMs are in a unique position to help the company accomplish its goals related to patents so you will want to be familiar with the basics. • Chapter 11: Reporting     Provides...

Über Autor(innen)

Ellis, George
George Ellis is Director of Technology Planning and Chief Engineer of Servo Systems at
Kollmorgen Corporation, a leading provider of motion systems and components for original
equipment manufacturers (OEMs) around the globe. He has designed an applied motion
control systems professionally for over 20 years He has written two well-respected books
with Academic Press, Observers in Control Systems and Control System Design Guide, now
in its third edition. He has contributed articles on the application of controls to numerous
magazines, including Machine Design, Control Engineering, Motion Systems Design, Power
Control and Intelligent Motion, and Electronic Design News.