Featured Book of the Month

Delivering Successful PMOs

Peter Taylor and Ray Mead

Delivering Successful PMOs is intended to be the companion book to Leading Successful PMOs (Peter Taylor) which was a guide to all project based organisations providing a common language to describe the variety of possible PMOs, explaining how to do the right things, in the right way, in the right order, with the right team, and identifying what made a good PMO leader. Delivering Successful PMOs takes this to the next level and provides a clear framework to conceive, design, build, prove and embody an enterprise PMO inside an organisation, dealing with the strategic intentions, the politics, the people and the projects. The book draws on the rare experience that Ray Mead, through his organisation p3m global(www.p3m.global) had in building an enterprise PMO for a major organisation (based in the Middle East) from the ground up - a ’greenfield’ enterprise PMO. Through this process he and his team have developed an invaluable methodology that is shared through this book alongside a real case study - this is not theory, this is not ’perfect’ world modelling, this is proven through practice and live application. Peter and Ray extend the guidelines from the first book and weave them in to the process of delivering a PMO that works for an organisation and delivers success - measured by improved project health, greater returns on investment, a better project management community, closer connection to business strategy and a more mature project organisation.

Accidental Agile Project Manager

Zero to Hero in 7 Iterations

Ray Frohnhoefer - Connect with Ray in The PMO Leader Forum

If you are new to agile project management, the number of providers, methods, certifications, and other choices can be overwhelming. This easy-to-read book contains everything you need to get started in as short a time possible. Each chapter includes a project management tip, reading selections from the Project Management Institute's PMBOK® Guide and Agile Practice Guide, and additional learning resources. A set of more than a dozen ready-to-use templates is available online.

Applied Project Management

Mounir Ajam - Connect with Mounir in The PMO Leader Forum

Some still think of project management as a domain only applicable to construction, engineering, or technology projects. However, over the last two or three decades, project management skills have been recognized as essential skills in all domains, and positions. Not everyone needs to be a project manager but most professionals can benefit from project management learning.

Applying Artificial Intelligence To Project Management

Paul Boudreau - Connect with Paul in The PMO Leader Forum

Author Paul Boudreau shares the keys to project management success using a modern approach: artificial intelligence. Within the pages of Applying Artificial Intelligence to Project Management, Boudreau describes five AI tools in concept and how they apply directly to project success, as well as the strategy and method to use to purchase and implement AI tools for project management. Understand the difference between automating a task and changing it by using AI. Discover how AI uses data and the importance of data maintenance. Learn why projects fail and how using artificial intelligence for project management improves project success rates. Read project management success stories in one of the best business books on machine learning, and prepare to leave behind that 50 percent project success rate for one that’s 95 percent or higher.

Advanced Project Portfolio Management and the PMO

Multiplying ROI at Warp Speed

Gerald Kendall and Steven Rollins

This comprehensive book presents a road map for the achievement of high value enterprise strategies and superior project management results. It provides methods for best project selection, faster completion, optimal project portfolio management, and how to explicitly measure the PMO for rapidly increasing project ROI. The Project/Program Management Office (PMO) is the fastest growing concept in project management today and is key to effective implementation of project management across the organization.

Be A Project Motivator:

Unlock the Secrets of Strengths-Based Project Management

Ruth Pearce

Learn how behavior, language, and attitudes affect engagement and how leveraging character strengths can help improve relationships, increase innovation, and build higher-functioning teams. This focus on character strengths - such as bravery, curiosity, fairness, gratitude, and humor - can help project managers recognize and cultivate the things that are best in themselves and others.

Business Driven PMO Setup: 

Practical Insights, Techniques and Case Examples for Ensuring Success

Mark Perry

This book is rooted in the shared experiences and business settings of all PMOs and it is organized to provide the reader with actionable solutions to the problems and execution difficulties that PMOs face.Most PMO books are written by academics, trainers and consultants from the PM community and present academic or theoretical approaches and models that too often fail.

Business Driven PMO Success Stories: 

Across Industries and Around the World 

Mark Perry

Business Driven PMO Success Stories was written by and with over two dozen contributing authors from the worldwide project management and project management office (PMO) community. It offers executives, managers, and all those involved in the projects of the organization, an understanding of the value a PMO can provide, the knowledge they need to determine the purpose of their PMO, and how to craft a PMO best suited to fulfill that purpose.

Change Intelligence

Use the Power of CQ to Lead Change That Sticks

Barbara Trautlein

Today, executives, supervisors, and project managers have plenty of methodologies for managing change, yet the failure rate of major organizational change is still an abysmal 70 percent. In this innovative guide, Barbara Trautlein argues that this is because our current approaches are inadequate when not used in tandem with a deep understanding of change intelligence, or CQ--the skill set required to lead a team or company through vital transformations. Inside, she gives readers access to a proprietary, interactive CQ assessment that s based on substantial research and experience in working with hundreds of top organizations. 

Collaboration Tools for Project Managers

Elizabeth Harrin

Explore how online tools can deliver project success and improve business value by speeding up and optimizing communication.

Customer-Centric Project Management

Elizabeth Harrin

A short guide explaining what customer-centricity means in terms of how you work and its importance for project performance.

Dare To Lead:

Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. 

Brene Brown

Brené Brown has taught us what it means to dare greatly, rise strong, and brave the wilderness. Now, based on new research conducted with leaders, change makers, and culture shifters, she’s showing us how to put those ideas into practice so we can step up and lead. 

Delivering Successful PMOs

Peter Taylor and Ray Mead

How to design and deliver the best project management office for your business. Explaining how to do the right things, in the right way, in the right order, with the right team.

Easy in Theory, Difficult in Practice:

100 Lessons in Project Leadership

Kiron Bondale

Strategic change occurs through the successful execution of projects. This is much easier said than done! There are hundreds of references covering the concepts underlying project management. But since each project is unique, project managers frequently learn more through the school of hard knocks than they do from theory. Whether you are new to the field or a senior practitioner, the lessons in this book will provide you with pragmatic, practice-based insights into project leadership.

Engaging Stakeholders on Projects

Elizabeth Harrin

Discover the tips and tricks to harnessing the power your team has to offer and effectively employing them for project success. 

Extreme Ownership:

How US Navy SEALs Lead and Win

Jocko Willink

Sent to the most violent battlefield in Iraq, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin’s SEAL task unit faced a seemingly impossible mission: help U.S. forces secure Ramadi, a city deemed “all but lost.” In gripping firsthand accounts of heroism, tragic loss, and hard-won victories in SEAL Team Three’s Task Unit Bruiser, they learned that leadership—at every level—is the most important factor in whether a team succeeds or fails.

Good Leaders Ask Great Questions:

Your Foundation for Successful Leadership

John Maxwell

This book is a thorough, insightful response to those readers and anyone who feels they have plateaued on their journey to develop their ultimate potential. Every leader has room to grow, and the advice in these pages will help listeners assess their current position, and structure an effective plan to achieve their goals.

How the Project Management Office Can Use Artificial Intelligence To Improve The Bottom Line

Paul Boudreau - Connect with Paul in The PMO Leader Forum

Artificial Intelligence is finally making its way into project management and the challenge is to take advantage of all the benefits and avoid the pitfalls. In a highly competitive industrial environment, the PMO is in an ideal position to understand, adopt and optimize AI tools for project management. The PMO can align corporate objectives to the new technology and vastly improve the bottom line.This is a both a practical guide and visionary description of how AI will disrupt project management and how the PMO can harness this capability to create a substantial competitive advantage for the organization.

Innovation Project Management:

Methods, Case Studies, and Tools for Managing Innovation Projects

Harold Kerzner

An essential text for professional project managers, corporate managers, innovation team members, as well as students in project management, innovation and entrepreneurship programs. 

Is the Project Management Office still fit for purpose? 

Fatimah Abbouchi - Connect with Fatimah in The PMO Leader Community

Our White Paper delves deeper into existing problems with the Project Management Office (PMO). It aims to address the lag between PMOs and Project Management practices across an organisation, such that gaps can be swiftly closed, creating a model that iterates and evolves with Project Management.

Leaders Eat Last:

Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't

Simon Sinek

Too many workplaces are driven by cynicism, paranoia, and self-interest. But the best ones foster trust and cooperation because their leaders build what Sinek calls a "Circle of Safety" that separates the security inside the team from the challenges outside. Sinek illustrates his ideas with fascinating true stories that range from the military to big business, from government to investment banking.

Leading Change

John Kotter

Needed more today than at any time in the past, this bestselling business book serves as both visionary guide and practical toolkit on how to approach the difficult yet crucial work of leading change in any type of organization. Reading this highly personal book is like spending a day with the world’s foremost expert on business leadership. You’re sure to walk away inspired—and armed with the tools you need to inspire others.

Leading Successful PMOs

Peter Tayler

How to Build the Best Project Management Office for Your Business. Achieve benefits from standardizing and following project management policies, processes, and methods.

Project Management Best Practices:

Achieving Global Excellence

Harold Kerzner

Ideal for both college and corporate training, this book is accompanied by an Instructor’s Manual and PowerPoint lecture slides that bring project management concepts right into the classroom. As the field continues to grow and evolve, it becomes increasingly important to stay current with new and established practices; this book provides comprehensive guidance on every aspect of project management, with invaluable real-world insight from leaders in the field.

Project Management Beyond Waterfall and Agile

Mounir Ajam - Connect with Mounir in The PMO Leader Forum

Project Management beyond Waterfall and Agile presents a flexible, universal, and integrated three-dimensional model for managing projects, the Customizable and Adaptable Methodology for Managing Projects™ (CAMMP™ ). By tailoring and customizing the model to a specific industry or organization and by adapting it to a function or project classification, this model can be used to manage any project. CAMMP™ can also be used both in a traditional or an Agile environment. CAMMP™ integrates leading concepts on competence, processes, and sustainability. The model’s three dimensions are project lifecycle, project management processes, and, finally, competence, sustainability, and best practices. The book explains how to integrate these dimensions to manage a project across the three dimensions and the project stages. CAMMP™ is a stage-gate process, which is vital for project success.

Project Management Communication Tools

Bill Dow

Project Management Communication Tools is the authoritative reference on one of the most important aspects of managing projects--project communications. Written with the project manager, stakeholder, and project team in mind, this resource provides the best practices, tips, tricks, and tools for successful project communications.

Project Management Foundation:

Learning a Project Management Methodology Applying the Learning on a Community Project

Mounir Ajam - Connect with Mounir in The PMO Leader Forum

This book explains the foundational elements for managing projects. It provides an overview of a project management methodology that is proved and aligns with global leading practices and standards. The style the author uses encourage those who never managed a project to learn and acquire skills. It is also highly practical and useful even for those experienced project managers.

Project Manager

Elizabeth Harrin

This book is a highly accessible guide to being a project manager (PM), particularly a project manager working within an IT field. The role is set out with reference to required skills, competencies and responsibilities. Tools, methods and techniques for project managers are covered, including Agile approaches; risk, issue and change management processes; best practices for managing stakeholders and financial management.

Radical Candor:

Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity

Kim Scott

Radical Candor is about caring personally and challenging directly, about soliciting criticism to improve your leadership and also providing guidance that helps others grow. It focuses on praise but doesn't shy away from criticism—to help you love your work and the people you work with.

Redefining the Basics of Project Management:

Filling the Practice Gaps by Integrating Pmbok(r) Guide with a Project Life Span Approach!

Mounir Ajam - Connect with Mounir in The PMO Leader Forum

This book is to introduce the readers to an effective project management methodology, a systematic approach for managing projects. Through the methodology and book, the author is attempting to bridge some of the gaps in the practice of project management that exists today; gaps created by numerous factors and challenges facing the dynamic and exciting field of project management. 

Risk Assessment Framework: 

Successfully Navigating Uncertainty

Ray Frohnhoefer - Connect with Ray in The PMO Leader Forum

Risk Assessment Framework provides a complete framework and a recommended means of implementation to establish a complete, reusable, and sustainable risk management methodology for any initiative. Tools, templates, forms, and guidance provide support for the implementation of the framework. It is up to the initiative manager to review the framework, tailor the framework to be appropriate for the initiative as needed, and select tools and techniques to support the tailored framework.

Start With Why:

How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action

Simon Sinek

START WITH WHY shows that the leaders who've had the greatest influence in the world all think, act, and communicate the same way -- and it's the opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be led, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY.

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: 

Follow Them and People Will Follow You

John Maxwell

This expanded and updated edition of one of the most trusted and referenced leadership books of all time features new insights and revised content that is fundamental for any leader. Internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker, and author John C. Maxwell has taken this million-seller and made it even better: 

The High-Impact PMO

How Agile Project Management Offices Deliver Value in a Complex World

Philippe Husser

Enjoy and learn survival lessons from successful PMOs that will advance your experience in the complex strategy, portfolio, and project management realm. In this book, Philippe Husser draws upon three new domains of knowledge — complexity sciences, indirect strategies, and human dynamics — to help you thrive and succeed in a volatile, uncertain, and complex world. This book guides you through each domain with real-life stories: Explore and deal with nonlinearities, unpredictability, emergence, order and absence of order. Develop and execute strategies with indirect or bimodal approaches, initial shocks, and strategic gap-bridging initiative portfolios.

The PMO Lifecycle:

Building, Running, and Shutting Down

Bill Dow - Connect with Bill in The PMO Leader Forum

This book covers the step by step process of building, implementing, running and shutting down a PMO. No other text on the market will take you through the steps of the PMO lifecycle.  With new tools, new charts and graphs and new step-by-step instructions, this book is going to help you be successful.

The Program Management Office:

Establishing, Managing and Growing the Value of a PMO

Craig Letavec

Official reference material for the Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP) Credential Examination!The role of project management in the modern organization has grown significantly. The effective management of project portfolios that include numerous short-terms projects, large multi-project programs or both has become a growing challenge for industry, government and other institutions.

The Project Book:

The Complete Guide to Consistently Delivering Great Projects

Colin Ellis

Engaging, informative and humorous, The Project Book will help project managers, project sponsors, scrum masters and product owners across all organisations to deliver successful projects in a way that customers will talk about for years.

The Unwritten Rules of Managing Up:

Project Management Techniques From the Trenches

Dana Brownlee

Refreshingly practical and candid insight into the best practices and techniques that project managers have successfully used for decades to manage a wide variety of senior-level stakeholders - ranging from perfectly competent and pleasant to downright dysfunctional and inept. While managing up is an incredibly valuable skill for virtually any type of boss (not just the difficult ones), the audiobook includes recommendations for managing six particularly challenging - and common - types of senior leaders. 

Using the Project Management Maturity Model:

Strategic Planning for Project Management

Harold Kerzner

An ideal book for senior level and middle level corporate managers, project and team managers, engineers, project team members, and business consultants. It also benefits both business and engineering students in courses on advanced project management. 

Visual Project Management

Paul R. Williams - Connect with Paul in The PMO Leader Forum

Today's project manager has more to manage than just project scope, deliverables, communications and teams. They are also expected to manage large volumes of project-related data. And the expectation goes beyond just managing the data. It extends into creating great visualizations that allow stakeholders to fully digest that large volume of data in a manner that is quick, effective and clear. They are also expected to serve as facilitators in the use of visual thinking tools as a method for working through project issues, risks and problems. 

Why Me First?

How to Destress Yourself Through the Art of Self-Love

Kajal Khurana

If stress and anxiety are keeping you up at night or you can’t explain why you feel tired all the time, then you may be holding the key to unlocking your potential energy and life force. While anxiety, depression, and insomnia are all considered “normal,” they don’t have to be.