Improving Project Performance

Book excerpt: The approach to project management is too often formulaic, describing what should be done and how to do it, but not adequately describing why those actions are important. Improving Project Performance outlines the what and how of project management, emphasizing why actions matter, the overall intention of the formulaic steps, and the strengths or weakness of various tools and techniques. Successful project teams must understand and focus intently on what Wellman describes as the eight essential habits of successful project teams: -Nurture a shared vision of what is to be accomplished -Translate that vision into a coherent set of performance specifications -Have an integrated plan for accomplishing the purpose -Measure their performance against the plan and their progress toward the requirements -Allow for uncertainty -Manage change -Continually act to influence their future -Over-communicate