Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management (Theory in Practice (O'Reilly))

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With milestones, hitting a date is less important than hitting it smoothly. If you don’t do it right, the next milestone will be at risk. 16. Power and politics There are **many different types of political power**, like rewards, coercion, knowledge, references, and influence. The Art of Project Management (O’Reilly), is full of practical tools and real experience that will help you succeed with your projects.. it’s refreshing to see a book on project management that spends as much time on human factors…This book is a candid and honest piece of work.” The book is divided into three parts. Part One focuses on the planning process, and discusses the usual planning and scheduling, but also adds some very valuable material on why you need a vision, what constitutes a good vision, Where good ideas come from, and how to use them. This gets into some very specific application, such as putting prototypes together and getting in front of people, which I think will seem natural to anyone in an Agile environment. Hi Scott- We use your book in our HCA graduate program at Utica College. I am an adjunct professor that is utilizing this book in my online class. Have you created a guidebook for teachers or group leaders to use for discussion of the chapters? I obviously want to be sure that I hit on the most important ideas in the chapters. Suggested discussion questions post reading would be an excellent resource to ensure I cover the ideas you consider most important. Does such a guide exist? Thanks for your response! Reply

Writing things down serves both the writer and the team. It provides a basis for discussion and a **point of reference that does not depend on people’s fallible memory**.Getting to where you need to be can be difficult but you can be the change you wish to see on this earth! These make it happen quotes will send a message of inspiration to anyone who may think that they need it every day. You may even choose to send your favorite one of these make it happen quotes to someone in your life who deserves the world! Now is the **time begin the postmortem process**. Give yourself, as well as your team, the benefit of learning from what went well and what didn’t go well. Things will not always go as planned. Don't sit around and wish for better. Get up and make it happen." Trying to come up with an idea, we should remember two things. First – there are bad ideas. If an idea doesn’t solve a problem, it is a bad one. Second, you can feel free to think both in and out of the box. There is no need to look for new solutions if they are ready-made. If nothing else, you will reset the conversation to focus on the project goals, which everyone can agree with. If a debate has gone on for hours, finding common ground is your best opportunity to moving the discussion toward a positive conclusion. Be a prioritization machine

These people constantly assess themselves and seek for means to be better. This attitude is what you need to attract success and sustain your dreams and goals. Individuals who make things happen pursue ways to be more productive. They Establish SMART Goals Decide on what you are going to work on the next day before going to bed. Establishing your priorities ahead of time will enable your brain to be ready for what is ahead. 4. Create a Reward System The most evil meetings occur when there is a mismatch of the goals and how they’re organized. If there are more than 10 people in the room, it’s very difficult to have a highly interactive or deep discussion. There isn’t enough time for everyone to participate, and what will happen is that a small group of dominant personalities will use up most of the available time… Most committees take this form and have the expected mediocre to crappy results. You’ll find a lot to steal from this short, inspiring guide to being creative. Made me want to get up and make stuff!”– Austin Kleon, author of How To Steal Like An Artist To be a great leader, you must learn how to **find, build, earn and give trust** to others – as well as learn to **cultivate trust in yourself**

Part 1. Plans

Complete with a new forward from the author and a discussion guide for forming reading groups/teams, Making Things Happen offers in-depth exercises to help you apply lessons from the book to your job. It is inspiring, funny, honest, and compelling, and definitely the one book that you and your team need to have within arm's reach throughout the life of your project.