PORTABLE
MBA
in
PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
EDITED BY
ERIC VERZUH
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

PORTABLE
MBA
in
PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
The Portable MBA Series
The Portable MBA, Fourth Edition, Robert Bruner, Mark Eaker,
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Concept to Create a Customer-Oriented Company, Frederick
E. Webster
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Chapter 3 is abridged from Project Management: A Managerial Approach, 5th edition, by Jack R.
Meredith and Samuel J. Mantel Jr. Copyright © 2003 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. This material is used
by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Chapter 8 is from The Pfeiffer Book of Successful Team-Building Tools, edited by Elaine Beich.
Copyright © 2001 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. This material is used by permission of Pfeiffer/Jossey-
Bass, Inc., a subsidiary of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Chapter 9 is from Managing Software Development Projects, 2nd edition, by Neal Whitten. Copyright
© 1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Chapter 10 is from Mastering Virtual Teams, 2nd edition, by Deborah L. Duarte and Nancy Tennant
Snyder. Copyright © 2001 by Jossey-Bass, Inc. This material is used by permission of Jossey-Bass,
Inc., a subsidiary of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Chapter 12 Copyright © 2003 by the pci group.
Chapter 13 is from Creating an Environment for Successful Projects, by Robert J. Graham and Randall

ects; project management is the tool set of the twenty-first century.
The growing use of project management mirrors the growing number of
projects we find in our workplace. In every industry and profession, organiza-
tions find a greater proportion of their time and resources are committed to
projects, giving rise to the project-based organization. In the past, many firms
considered themselves project based. Consulting firms, construction-related
businesses, aerospace companies, and agencies such as the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers can find that 80 percent to 100 percent of their revenue/budget is
attributable to projects. However, a firm need not be completely devoted to
projects to face the challenges of managing multiple projects or to gain the
benefits of applying the project management discipline. If even 20 percent of
your organization’s budget or revenue is represented by projects, consider your-
self a project-based organization. That isn’t suggesting you try to jam the oper-
ations of your entire department or company into the project mold—it is
viii
Preface
suggesting that if one-fifth of your budget /revenue is project-based, signifi-
cantly improving the performance of your projects will have an impact on your
overall bottom line.
This book is intended for the leaders of this emerging entity known as the
project-based organization. CIOs, department managers, program managers,
and senior project managers being challenged to implement project manage-
ment—to formalize the processes of managing projects—will find strategies
and standards for leveraging the proven discipline of project management.
For our purposes, the project-based organization can be a department, di-
vision, or entire company. Government agencies and nonprofits should consider
themselves candidates as well as for-profit businesses. The traditional project-
based firms often focused on a few very large projects or programs. The new
breed of multiproject enterprise is often comprised of many smaller, indepen-
dent projects. Optimizing performance on one project is already difficult. Op-

Preface
ix
processes and activities should be taking place on projects as well as their own
critical contribution to project success. Experienced project managers should
be able to use these chapters as a condensed resource outlining the must have
project management activities. Be aware, however, that if you are seeking de-
tailed tips and how-to advice for managing projects, that is better found in my
previous book, The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management, also published
by John Wiley & Sons.
Part Three addresses the human dimension of project success. No experi-
enced project leader or manager can deny the importance of a unified team
and a positive atmosphere. Nor can we ever discount the value of a driven,
can-do team attitude. To some, achieving these environmental team factors far
outweighs the importance of critical path analysis or risk planning. Rather
than argue over their relative importance, this book presents both the science
of project management (Part Two) and the art of team leadership (Part Three)
as essential to a successful project. As with Part Two, Part Three presents well-
established principles, but it differs in one important respect: The books on
building successful teams outnumber even those on project management. Top-
ics in this section were specifically chosen because they serve the project envi-
ronment—temporary teams, often composed of people who work in different
organizations (sometimes different companies) and who may even be geo-
graphically dispersed. Because of their unique perspective, these three chap-
ters address the heart of building a successful project team.
Good project management is essential for project success, but it is not
enough for the project-based organization. Part Four presents the macro view
of the project-based organization: the processes and systems required to over-
see multiple projects, the leadership challenge involved in formalizing project
management practices, and the other capabilities—beyond project manage-
ment—required for a successful project-based organization.

days of training later have staffed a project management office with full-
time, experienced project leaders and invested in enterprise project manage-
ment software.
For those of us who work in this field and see the potential for project-
based organizations, the momentum is both gratifying and cause for alarm.
Our satisfaction is easy to understand. Our alarm stems from the dangers asso-
ciated with management fads. Nearly everyone with more than 10 years of
work experience has seen at least one fad wash over his or her organization—
complete with training, slogans, and accompanying software—only to have the
new ideas and better ways disappear as everyone “got back to work.” That can
happen with project management, too.
Leading the charge to building a better project-based organization makes
sense for many organizations, but that doesn’t make it easy. This book is in-
tended to make that journey a little bit straighter, a little less painful, and, ulti-
mately, to improve the quality of work life of every person who is working in
the project environment.
E
RIC
V
ERZUH
xi
Acknowledgments
On every project, one of my greatest pleasures is recognizing the people whose
individual contributions lead to the ultimate success of the team. Particularly
in this case, I am privileged to have my name on the cover of a book that is the
product of many, many hands. To all those who have given me their time and
trust, I offer my thanks and these acknowledgments:
Larry Alexander and Karen Hansen of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. conceived
this project.
Paula Sinnott of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. assisted me with editorial duties

xiii
About the Editor
Eric Verzuh is president of The Versatile Company, a project management
training and consulting firm based in Seattle, Washington. His company trains
thousands of professionals every year in the proven principles of project man-
agement including how to get the most out of Microsoft Project
®
. Versatile’s
consulting practice focuses on helping firms establish consistent, practical
methods for managing their projects. The company’s client list includes large
corporations such as Adobe Systems, General Electric, and Lockheed Martin,
as well as government agencies and small businesses. Verzuh is a frequent
keynote speaker at conferences on project management.
Verzuh is the author of The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management,
also published by John Wiley & Sons. He has been certified as a project man-
agement professional (PMP) by the Project Management Institute. He can be
reached via his company’s Web site at www.versatilecompany.com.

xv
About the Contributors
Elaine Biech is president and managing principal of Ebb Associates, an orga-
nizational development firm that helps organizations work through large-scale
change. She has been in the training and consulting fields for 22 years working
with for-profit and nonprofit organizations such as McDonald’s, Land’s End,
the U.S. Navy, and the IRS. Author and editor of two-dozen books, and recipi-
ent of the 1992 National American Society for Training and Development
(ASTD) Torch Award, Elaine Beich has presented at numerous national and in-
ternational conferences.
Robert G. Cooper, PhD, is a world expert in the field of new product man-
agement. He has been called “the quintessential scholar” in the field of new

tration (FAA), the United Nations, Whirlpool Corporation, NORTEL Net-
works, Johnson & Johnson, and Gap, Inc. Duarte is a faculty member at George
Washington University and teaches courses in leadership, organizational learn-
ing, and research methods. She also teaches at the Singapore Institute of Man-
agement and at the International Space University in France. She holds a
doctorate in Human Resource Development from George Washington Univer-
sity, and is a frequent presenter at conferences and workshops, and has pub-
lished extensively in the areas of global and virtual teaming leadership, project
management, and knowledge management.
Randall L. Englund, MBA, NPDP, CBM, is an author, speaker, trainer, and
consultant. He is a partner in a new advanced project management training
venture called Madeline Learning and an associate to the Human Systems
Knowledge Network and the Strategic Management Group. He was a project
manager for Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) in Palo Alto, California, for 22
years. As a workshop facilitator and consultant, he draws on his experience re-
leasing high-technology products, developing a system product life cycle, re-
solving computer system architectural issues, researching effective practices
for project success, and designing management processes, courses and Web
shops. Englund is a member of PMI and a former board member for the Prod-
uct Development and Management Association (PDMA), and is a certified
New Product Development Professional (NPDP). With Robert J. Graham, he
co-authored the book Creating an Environment for Successful Projects: The
Quest to Manage Project Management. Their next book is Creating the Project
Office: A Manager’s Guide to Leading Organizational Change. Graham and
Englund also present executive briefings for Stanford University, Project-
World, Strategic Management Group (SMG), and PMI.
Robert J. Graham is an independent project management consultant and se-
nior associate with the Strategic Management Group. Graham was a senior
staff member at the Management and Behavioral Sciences Center at the Whar-
ton School, University of Pennsylvania. He taught in the MBA and PhD pro-

He has conducted more than three hundred seminars at universities
across the United States and consulted in the areas of operations management
and project management to more than 200 for-profit and not-for-profit orga-
nizations. He co-wrote the article on Project Management for the Interna-
tional Encyclopedia of Business and Management (2001), published by
Thomson Learning, London, and he has co-authored several books, including
two popular college textbooks—Project Management in Practice, and Project
Management: A Managerial Approach (2003), now in its fifth edition—both
from Wiley.
Jack R. Meredith is Professor of Management and Broyhill Distinguished
Scholar and Chair in Operations at the Babcock Graduate School of Manage-
ment at Wake Forest University. He received his Ph.D. and MBA degrees from
the University of California, Berkeley. He has worked as an astrodynamicist
for Douglas Aircraft Company and TRW Systems Group on the Viking, Apollo,
and other space programs. His current research interests are in the areas of re-
search methodology and the strategic planning, justification, and implementa-
tion of advanced manufacturing technologies. His recent articles have been
xviii
About the Contributors
published in Management Science, Operations Research, Journal of Operations
Management, Sloan Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, De-
cision Sciences, and others. He has co-authored five popular college textbooks:
Operations Management for MBAs (Wiley), Quantitative Business Modeling
(South-Western), Project Management: A Managerial Approach (Wiley), Oper-
ations Management: A Process Approach with Spreadsheets (Wiley), and Proj-
ect Management in Practice (Wiley). He was the founding editor of Operations
Management Review, and is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of
Operations Management, and a member of the editorial advisory board for
Production and Operations Management.
Nancy Tennant Snyder is vice president for leadership and strategic compe-

6. Project Risk Management 179
Eric Verzuh
xx
Contents
7. Quality, Quality Management, and Project Management 207
Ned Hamson
PART THREE BUILDING A HIGH-PERFORMANCE
PROJECT TEAM
8. A Model for Building Teamwork 251
Elaine Biech
9. Discipline: The Glue That Holds It All Together 262
Neal Whitten
10. Virtual Team Critical Success Factors 287
Deborah L. Duarte and Nancy Tennant Snyder
PART FOUR MANAGING THE PROJECT-BASED
ORGANIZATION
11. Stage-Gate™ New Product Development Processes:
A Game Plan from Idea to Launch 309
Robert G. Cooper
12. Enterprise Project Management: The Path to Maturity 347
Denis Couture
13. Creating an Environment for Successful Projects in
Your Organization 378
Robert J. Graham and Randall L. Englund
14. Integrating Project Management into the Enterprise 394
Eric Verzuh
Index 423
1
PART ONE
THE CASE FOR

For the most part, project management was ignored by schools
teaching management and by professional managers because most peo-
ple weren’t working on projects. That began to change by the mid-
1980s. Economic and technology factors combined to increase the
number of projects in many firms. Initially, the problems of projects
were considered the domain of engineers, programmers, and others who
actually worked on project teams. The answers were found in the exist-
ing project management discipline. Today, however, executives are tak-
ing an active interest in projects and project management.
What has changed is not only that more people are working on proj-
ects, but also that the proportion of budget and/or revenue attributable
to projects has jumped significantly. When projects represented less
than ten percent of our activities, they could be treated as anomalies.
The fact that they are difficult to estimate and demand cross -functional
staffing is challenging, but the project management tool set addresses
these problems. When projects become 30, 50, or 70 percent of a de-
partment’s activities, they demand a different kind of attention.
Executives trained in the theories of twentieth-century manage-
ment recognized a gap—theories of economies of scale and process im-
provement were focused on getting better at doing the same thing. But
projects are always doing something new. The disciplines we use to
make the trains run on time are not necessarily the ones that will help
us build a new railroad.
Here’s another way to view the problem: When our work is primarily
repeatable activities (manufacturing is a classic example), the old
metaphor for an organization as a machine where the structure and
processes are cogs and gears serves a purpose. Fine tuning the machine
means analyzing and improving specific processes or authority struc-
tures. But imagine that the cogs and gears are constantly changing size
and speed, and they come and go on a seemingly random basis. How do