Richard Newton is a consultant, author and company director. His specialist expertise is helping companies improve their capabilities in project and change management. For the last 8 years he has run his own specialist consultancy, working with a range of blue chip clients, with whom he works worldwide. He has worked in the public sector, telecoms and media, mining, oil and gas, and financial services. Richard regularly speaks at conferences and public events and posts articles in a variety of journals and online sites.

Preface Introduction PART 1: THE FOUNDATIONS Projects Project management The role of the project manager Customers, clients and users PART 2: SETTING UP YOUR PROJECT Defining your project Objectives, deliverables and tasks Building a plan Estimating and resourcing PART 3: UTILISING THE TEAM, SPONSOR AND STAKEHOLDERS The high-performance project team Global and offshore teams The effective sponsor A productive stakeholder community PART 4: DELIVERING THE PROJECT Managing progress: perform, deliver, accomplish What project managers need to know Understanding project risk Value-added project reporting PART 5: PRACTICAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT Making risk management real The temptations and costs of multi-tasking The right and wrong uses of the plan on a page Audit, assure, control or coach the project? PART 6: THE PROJECT ENVIRONMENT Prioritisation The culture of delivery The limits to planning and prediction Dealing with external problems PART 7: INTEGRATED PROJECT MANAGEMENT The strengths and limits of project management Bridging the divide: project and change managers From delivery to benefits realisation The lessons from lean and six sigma PART 8: ALIGNING PROJECTS TO BUSINESS NEEDS High-speed project management Delivering in a cost-constrained environment Optionality in projects Who has a valid interest in the project? PART 9: CHALLENGING PROJECTS Taking over the project no-one is running Not seeing the wood for the trees The customers who do not know what they want Delivering in times of change PART 10: THE IMPROVING PROJECT MANAGER Learning from projects Best practice, continuous improvement and accreditation Adopting a new project management approach Building a project delivery capability GLOSSARY INDEX