Fergus O'Connell - Böcker

We are all faced with projects going off the rails, veering far from what we initially set out to do, costing ten times as much and taking far too long to complete - this is just part of everyday working life. Honing our general skills in project management seems like the obvious answer, but Fast Projects promises a quicker and easier solution - cutting the time to get projects done in the first place.

Learning to operate within a short schedule not only cuts costs and improves revenue and cash flow, but it also sets you aside as a sharper and slicker operation. How to build, shorten and execute a realistic plan in the shortest time possible is covered in detail along with a specific focus on ensuring you have clearly defined goals and are making accurate project predictions with a successful tracking progress.

Using worked examples and tried and tested techniques, Fast Projects is your practical guide to ensuring projects not only succeed, but are delivered early. If you want to get the most out of your team and take control of your workload, resources and time, this book is for you.

What You Need to Know About Project ManagementProject Management is all about getting things done without spending too much or taking too long. But when you start hearing things like man-days, PSOs and stakeholders, it just makes it difficult to understand.So what do you really need to know about project management?Find out: Why setting clear goals mattersHow to estimate absolutely everythingHow to get things back on track after they've gone wrongHow to track big projectsWhy work/life balance matters when you're running a big projectThis clear and simple approach will mean you'll never panic when faced with a big project again.Read More in the Want You Need to Know Series and Get to Speed on the Essentials... Fast.

Overloaded? I’ll bet you are. We all lead busy lives. You fall into bed exhausted at the end of the day, feeling that you’ve got a lot done. Perhaps you are getting lots done.But is it stuff that really matters? Or is it just stuff? It’s time to wise up. You will never clear that list.Get used to the idea that some things will never get done. Not delayed. Not rescheduled. Not re-prioritized. But simply dropped.And from now on, instead of trying to clear that endless to-do list, you’re going to do a much smarter thing. You’re going to just do the important stuff.And the brilliant thing is, you already have the power to do this. That power is to do less.   Soon enough, you’ll have the space to enjoy the moment, be creative, find new or better ways of doing things, get ideas, and spot opportunities you would have missed when you were running around. In short – you’ll be happier. Much happier. As soon as you stop doing, the power of doing less will begin to flow.

Summer, 1914. Clara, a passionate young London wife and the mother of two small girls, is married to Henry, a manager at an insurance company, but the marriage is not in good shape. Both of them have, in their own ways, given up on it.As the countdown to WWI begins in the capitals of Europe and war is declared, Clara discovers Henry is having an affair with a woman at work. Clara too finds herself drawn to another man, James, a divorced Foreign Office worker, and must fight against both the conventions of the time and her own conscience as they fall in love. But when Henry and James enlist, Clara must begin the long vigil, waiting to see which, if either of them, will return from the fighting.

A project management expert identifies methods for running any project successfully based on lessons learned from the exploits of two storied explorers.What could be more intriguing than a management book built around a gripping story of exploration? The 1911–12 race between British explorer Robert Scott and Norwegian Roald Amundsen to be first to the South Pole provides the rarest of case studies. Two teams carry out the same project. One is spectacularly successful; the other fails miserably. Just about everything about good—and bad—planning, management expert Fergus O'Connell maintains, can be learned from these leaders.The results of poor planning are not always as dire as they were for Scott. But in business, poor planning can have serious consequences, often because the same mistakes are repeated. Starting with an introduction that details their exploits, the book goes on to use Scott and Amundsen as examples of good and not-so-good leadership. It contrasts the difference in how the two men planned and executed their projects and how they led their teams, highlighting things that must be in place for success. What can happen when those things are ignored is also spelled out. Readers will come away from this book entertained and with a in-depth understanding of a new method for assessing the health of any project—and running it successfully.

If you’ve ever been told that you ‘have to do more with less’ or ‘work smarter not harder’ and wondered what these things are supposed to mean, this book gives you the answer. It shows how a little planning - normally thought of as being the preserve of large undertakings, great construction projects or huge sporting events or military offensives – will indeed enable you to get more done with less effort.

Autumn, 1914. Clara, a passionate young London wife and the mother of two small girls, has seen both her husband and the man she loves go off to fight on the front. The inept generals take over from the inept politicians, and so the war drags on, while Clara waits fearfully to see which, if either of her men, will return. It looks as though Clara has lost her chance for happiness. Can she find the courage for one last desperate attempt to make her dreams come true?

Business is becoming increasingly project-based and our ability to manage projects has become one of the key skills for success as managers and business people. This compact guide, written by a leading project management expert, gets to the heart of successful project management. Project management is not complicated - many projects may be complicated, but project management itself is not. By following a set of simple rules and applying simple techniques, there will be no need for the expensive project failures that we often see. Moreover, as this book shows, projects can be significantly shortened by again using simple ideas and techniques. Anyone who manages projects will find this book helps them to save time, effort, resources, and money.