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Mastering the Leadership Role in Project Management

Mastering the Leadership Role in Project Management

Practices that Deliver Remarkable Results

Alexander Laufer

May 2012, Hardback, 272 pages
ISBN13: 9780132620345
ISBN10: 0132620340
£31.99
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In this book, project management expert Dr. Alexander Laufer leads an all-star team of practitioners and thought leaders in presenting a powerful project leadership framework. Laufer’s framework addresses the toughest challenges of new product development: large, complex projects composed of many diverse, geographically distributed, and highly interdependent components; organizational change; and repeated and risky tasks. Laufer reveals core leadership principles that are crucial to successful project leadership in dynamic and complex environments, regardless of industry, project goals, or stakeholders. Then, together with his contributors, he presents eight chapter-length case studies covering exceptionally challenging projects in a wide spectrum of industries and products – from developing missiles to reorganizing companies, building spacecraft and dairy plants to flying solar-powered airplanes. Readers will discover new ways to unleash the power of autonomy and learning; adapt to change on a timely basis; “give up” control without “losing” control; use face-to-face interaction to maximize alignment; manage “no fun” missions in hostile environments; deliver on bold ideas through sheer preparation; learn from practice – and unlearn lessons that need to be unlearned. Mastering the Leadership Role in Project Management will be invaluable to executives, project leaders, and aspiring project leaders in all organizations – regardless of their project goals, backgrounds, or experience.

Foreword: Larry Prusak xi
Introduction: Learning from the Best Practitioners 1
Alexander Laufer
Chapter 1: Developing a Missile: The Power of Autonomy and Learning 19
Alexander Laufer, Dan Ward, Alistair Cockburn
Chapter 2: Building of Memory: Managing Creativity Through Action 51
Alexander Laufer, Zvi Ziklik, Jeffrey Russell
Chapter 3: Flying Solar-Powered Airplanes: Soaring High on Spirit and Systems 71
Alexander Laufer, Edward Hoffman, Don Cohen
Chapter 4: Transferring Harbor Cranes: Delivering A Bold Idea Through Meticulous Preparations and Quick Responsiveness 103
Alexander Laufer, Zvi Ziklik, Jeffrey Russell
Chapter 5: A Successful Downsizing: Developing a Culture of Trust and Responsibility 125
Alexander Laufer, Dan Ward, Alistair Cockburn
Chapter 6: A Peaceful Evacuation: Building A Multi-Project Battalion by Leading Upward 149
Alexander Laufer, Zvi Ziklik, Dora Cohenca-Zall
Chapter 7: Exploring Space: Shaping Culture by Exploiting Location 171
Alexander Laufer, Edward Hoffman, Don Cohen
Chapter 8: Building a Dairy Plant: Accelerating Speed by Splitting and Harmonizing 193
Alexander Laufer, Jeffrey Russell, Dora Cohenca-Zall
Epilogue: Practices for Project Leadership 213
Alexander Laufer
Index 239

A powerful new framework for successfully leading today's most challenging, complex, and highest-risk projects.

  • By world-class project managers, led by project management expert Dr. Alexander Laufer, former director of Columbia University's Center for Project Leadership.
  • Eight case studies teach the lessons of projects ranging from building spacecraft to organizational restructuring.
  • Offers proven solutions for developing products, handling change, leading repetitive tasks, and much more.

Dr. Alexander Laufer is a chaired professor of civil engineering at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, where he also served as the dean of the faculty. Currently he is also a visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has served as the editor-in-chief of the NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership Magazine, Academy Sharing Knowledge, and as a member of the advisory board of the NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership. He has also served as the director of the Center for Project Leadership at Columbia University. He is a member of the editorial review board of the Project Management Journal. Dr. Laufer is the author or coauthor of five books; the two most recent ones are Breaking the Code of Project Management (Macmillan, 2009) and Shared Voyage: Learning and Unlearning from Remarkable Projects (NASA History Office, 2005).

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