RECOMMENDED READING

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it. When we enquire into any subject, the first thing we have to do is to know what books have treated of it. This leads us to look at catalogues, and at the backs of books in libraries.

Samuel Johnson (Boswell‘s Life of Johnson)

Books provide an abundant source of knowledge about how to manage projects. All good project managers have a collection of books on their shelves. They may have read these books, they may apply the contents on a daily basis, or they may own many of the books for future reference. I buy books on impulse. But over time, I’ve learned that that impulse was usually for a reason. Books I purchased years before turn out to be needed later.

The list that follows is, of course, not exhaustive. It is a list based on actually managing projects and reflects my “hands-on” experiences.

The Advanced Theory of Statistics, Sir Maurice Kendall and Alan Stuart (MacMillan, 1977). Probability and statistics is the basis of all analysis of project performance. This is the primary source of statistical analysis.

Agile Project Management for Government, Brian Wernham (Maitland & Strong, 2012). This book is a guide for deploying software in complex environments using agile methods. The case studies show it can be done. The step-by-step guidance shows you how it can be done.

Antipatterns in Project Management, William J. Brown, Hays W. “Skip” McCormick III, and Scott W. Thomas (John Wiley & Sons, 2000). Brown and his co-authors describe the “anti-patterns” of poor project management. The patterns paradigm was once popular in the software development realm but is still applicable to both software and project management. In this book, you’ll find anti-patterns that are likely in place on your projects today.

Apollo Root Cause Analysis: A New Way of Thinking, Dean Gano (Apollonian Publications, 2003). Root cause analysis is the basis of process improvement. Without an assessment of the root causes, there is no way to determine what to fix. The fixes are simply paving over the real problem.

The Art of Modeling Dynamic Systems: Forecasting for Chaos, Randomness, and Determinism, Foster Morrison (John Wiley & Sons, 1991). Modeling a project as a dynamic system is a way to make informed decisions. This book shows how to develop these models and put them to work.

The Art of Systems Architecting, 2^nd edition, Mark Maier and Eberhardt Rechtin (CRC Press, 2000). Rechtin essentially “invented” the analysis of “system of systems (SoS).” Nearly everything in the modern project world is a SoS. Rechtin speaks to software systems as well as complex space, defense, and other systems. This is the basis for defining the needed capabilities I described in Chapter 3 of this book.

Assumption-Based Planning: A Tool for Reducing Avoidable Surprises, James A. Dewar (Cambridge University Press, 2002). Assumptions are the basis of project success and project failure. Planning in the presence of assumptions is a fundamental process for project success.

Catastrophe Disentanglement: Getting Software Projects Back on Track, E. M. Bennatan (Addison Wesley, 2006). All projects get into trouble. This book tells you how to get out of trouble.

Continuous Risk Management Guidebook, Audrey J. Dorofee, et al. (Carnegie Mellon University, 1996). This is the basis of the Continuous Risk Management process. While focused on software development, CRM can be applied to any domain.

Effective Opportunity Management for Projects: Exploiting Positive Risk, David Hillson (Taylor Francis, 2004). Hillson, the “Risk Doctor,” writes about risk management from an integrated approach not found anywhere other than in Ed Conrow’s work.

Effective Risk Management: Some Keys to Success, 2^nd edition, Edmund H. Conrow (AIAA, 2003). This is the seminal work on managing risk. While not written for the casual reader, Conrow’s work is a mandatory read for anyone serious about risk management. A critical concept, lost on many in the project management business, including PMI, is the improper use of “cardinal” numbers to rank and classify risk. Conrow shows us that this is a serious mistake. Cardinal numbers must be used correctly. This means the values used to classify, rank, and compare risks must be “calibrated.”

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan (Crown Business, 2002). Bossidy is a graduate of Crotonville, New York, the University of General Electric. Project management is about “execution”—executing the right work, at the right time, with the right outcomes. This book provides the basis for how to do it.

The Flaw of Averages: Why We Underestimate Risk in the Face of Uncertainty, Sam L. Savage (John Wiley & Sons, 2012). The words estimates and averages are frequently used, but often misunderstood. This book will tell you what they mean. After reading it, you’ll never use these terms again without the proper qualifications.

Forecast Scheduling with Microsoft Project 2010: Best Practices for Real-World Projects, Eric Uyttewaal (Project Pro, 2010). There are lots of books on managing projects using Microsoft Project. Uyttewaal’s book goes far beyond the normal advice. The book has step-by-step instructions to do almost anything you need to do on the project using this tool.

The Handbook of Program Management: How to Facilitate Project Success with Optimal Program Management, James T. Brown (McGraw Hill, 2008). Dr. Brown has sixteen years of experience managing NASA projects and works at the executive level of NASA. This book is a guide for developing and deploying a program management office in any domain that works with high-risk, high-value projects.

How NASA Builds Teams: Mission Critical Soft Skills for Scientists, Engineers, and Project Teams, Charles J. Pellerin (John Wiley & Sons, 2009). Projects are managed by teams. This book describes how NASA builds teams.

How to Think About Statistics, John Phillips (Freeman, 1996). In discussions of statistics, we are frequently told how the numbers are used to manipulate outcomes. This book provides guidance on how to apply statistics and interpret the outcomes of statistical analysis.

Introduction to Probability Models, 4^th edition, Sheldon M. Ross (Academic Press, 1989). If we’re going to build probabilistic models of how project elements interact, we need to provide a foundation for them. This book can help us do it.

Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries, Peter Sims (Free Press, 2011). Often, books about agile development focus on the many paradigms built around developing “value” and the processes needed to develop that value. This book provides a much larger picture of the business processes.

The Management of Projects, Peter W. G. Morris (Thomas Telford Publishing, 1997). Dr. Morris is a professor of Project Management at the University of Manchester, Institute of Science and Technology. Morris’s books have guided the development of project management processes in construction and information technology. This book provides a historical perspective of project management as the basis for developing improvements.

Managing Risk: Methods for Software Systems Development, Elaine M. Hall, SEI Series in Software Engineering (Addison Wesley, 1998). There are many risk management books and articles. Many are good; some are not. This is a good book for software projects. (You’ll find others on this list as well.)

The Martian Principles for Successful Enterprise Systems: 20 Lessons Learned from NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Ronald Mak (John Wiley & Sons, 2006). In discussions about agile development or emergent requirements, we rarely speak about a specific problem domain. This book does. The problem domain is designing, building, and “flying” a Mars landing machine in the presence of emerging everything.

Mathematics for Dynamic Modeling, Edward Beltrami (Academic Press, 1987). Modeling project performance means creating mathematical models of how the project elements interact and how random (stochastic) processes drive this interaction. This book is the starting point for building credible models.

Measuring Time: Improving Project Performance Using Earned Value Management, Mario Vanhooucke (Springer, 2009). Vanhooucke works at the University of Ghent, where he is head of the Department of Information Science and Operations.

Modelling Complex Projects, Terry Williams (John Wiley & Sons, 2002). Williams is a professor and heads the Management Science Department, Strathclyde University. This book describes how and when to use modeling to develop estimates, monitor and control projects, and analyze their performance, leading to successful implementations.

Notes on the Synthesis of Form, Christopher Alexander (Harvard University Press, 1964). Early in the development of computer software, there was a connection with patterns and functionality. This is the first book that made the connection.

Performance-Based Earned Value, Paul J. Solomon and Ralph R. Young (John Wiley & Sons, 2007). Paul J. Solomon is a colleague. He was the “performance manager” for the B-2 Flight Avionics. He was the first to carry the banner for integrating Technical Performance Measures with Earned Value Management.

The Program Management Office: Establishing, Managing, and Growing the Value of a PMO, Craig J. Letavec (J. Ross, 2006). The notion of a program management office (PMO) is not new. Making the PMO work effectively is harder than it looks. Here’s a book that can be the basis of a successful PMO.

Project Management and Methods, Sven Antvik and Håkan Sjöholm (Projektkonsult Håkan Sjöholm AB, 2007). Sven Antvik has worked in the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration and written about his experiences and how those can improve the performance of high-risk projects.

Project Management the Agile Way: Making It Work in the Enterprise, John C. Goodpasture (J. Ross, 2010). John Goodpasture‘s book shows how to integrate agile development processes with standard project development. His advice comes from hands-on experience in government and commercial organizations.

Radical Elements of Radical Success, Dan Ward (Rogue Press, 2005). Colonel Ward writes about managing projects in a unique and informative way. His focus is on seeking the simplest approach to the problem.

Reinventing Project Management: The Diamond Approach to Successful Growth and Innovation, Aaron Shenhar and Dov Dvir (Harvard Business School Press, 2007). This book offers a step-by-step process for managing IT projects and should be on the shelf of anyone who works in the IT business.

Rethinking Performance Measurement: Beyond the Balanced Scorecard, Marshall W. Meyer (Cambridge University Press, 2002). When we speak about performance measurement, we usually start with cost, schedule, or some technical performance measure. Rarely are these measures connected to the business performance measures. And even when they are, the business performance measures are usually not connected to the “mission” of the end user. This book speaks to this issue.

The Seven Secrets of How to Think Like a Rocket Scientist, Jim Longuski (Copernicus Books, 2007). We’ve all heard the expression, “This isn’t rocket science.” This is the book to go to if you want to know what it really means.

Software Engineering Risk Management, Dale Walter Karolak (IEEE Computer Society, 1996). There are lots of books on risk management; this one focuses on software development risk management.

Software Requirements: Analysis and Specifications, Alan Davis (Prentice-Hall, 1990). Requirements elicitation is the second of the Five Immutable Practices of project success, Chapter 3 of this book. There are many approaches to eliciting requirements; this book is a good starting point.

Strategic Performance Management: Leveraging and Measuring Your Intangible Value Drivers, Bernard Marr (Elsevier, 2006). The needed capabilities I described in the discussion of the Five Practices in Chapter 3 of this book start with a strategy for business or mission success. Managing the strategic processes is a critical success factor, and this book starts you down that road.

Time Series, Sir Maurice Kendall (Hodder Arnold, 1990). All project data are a function of time. Analyzing the time series of the data can provide forecasts of future performance. This is a primary source book for that analysis.

A Treatise on Probability, John Maynard Keynes (Watchmaker Publishing, 1921; reprinted 2007). This is one of the first books about probabilistic modeling. Although its focus is on economics, the principles are applicable to project management.

Visual Project Management: Models and Frameworks for Mastering Complex Systems, Kevin Forsberg, Hal Mooz, and Howard Cotterman (John Wiley & Sons, 2005). The Center for Systems Management is where these authors work. It is a think tank and a practical applications source for managing complex projects and programs. This book describes their process for successfully delivering value to customers. One of their steps is “process cycles,” and that is where this book connects to mine.