PREFACE
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Blueprint For Project Recovery—A Project Management Guide is a unique combination
of text and interactive CD that provides:
❒ A tutorial for the aspiring project manager
❒ A text for the newly assigned project manager
❒ A checklist for the ongoing project manager
❒ A quick-response recovery tool for the project manager with a project in
trouble
If you are part of a small business, this book provides insight into all levels
of projects. It draws from the ‘‘best-of-the-best’’ to provide you with a consolidated
view into what all businesses, large, small, government, and commercial,
are doing.
If you are part of a large business or are associated with the federal, state, or
local government as an employee or as a contractor, this book has special meaning
for you. It uses many federal policies, plans, processes, and standards as
references. It uses these references for two reasons: first, they are thorough, and
second, you, as a taxpayer, have already paid for them—why not use them?
Projects and programs usually consist of three principal periods—planning,
conducting, and concluding. The conducting period is divided into two parts
that occur sporadically: normal and terrifying. The normal part consists of the
day-to-day activities that are going according to plan. The terrifying part is
when the project goes off track—roughly akin to a ‘‘near-miss’’ in an airplane.
This book was written to take some of the terror out of the ‘‘near-miss.’’
While this book won’t solve all your problems, it will give you a leg up on a
lot of them. In addition, this book will provide techniques to tailor or customize
the process to your way of doing business or for your specific business area or
your specific technical problems.
Many companies reward project and program managers for jobs well done.
These rewards come in a number of different forms. One of the rewards is in
the category of recovery. It is a coveted award because any project or program
manager who has been around for a while knows that it is considerably more
difficult to restore a project or program than it is to start up or maintain one.
Frequently, the recovery award is called the Phoenix Award. It is called the
Phoenix Award because it relates to the mysterious phoenix—the bird that is
the symbol of immortality, resurrection, life, and death. In ancient mythology,
the phoenix was said to consume itself in flames and then, three days later arise
from the ashes, allowing the cycle of life to continue. . . .
All too often, projects and programs are consumed in flames and turn to
ashes. The purposes of this book are to recommend up-front planning, provide
a checklist for ongoing projects, and, if you are really in a bind, effect the resurrection
from the ashes and allow the project’s cycle of life to continue.
Now, let’s look at what is forthcoming in this book and how we are going to
handle these elements.
The first part of the book consists of Chapters 1 through 5. Chapter 1 sets
the stage with an overview of the project/program environment and the recovery
process. Chapters 2 and 3 present checklists for programmatic and technical
issues, together with the associated explanations that can be used as a checklist
for planning a project or checking an ongoing project. Chapters 4 and 5 follow
the same convention but, this time, offer a recovery approach for those issues
that have, or may have, gone off track.
The second part of the book, Chapters 6 through 10, provides techniques
and methodologies for expanding the provided database and tailoring it to your
specific needs.
I recommend that you read the book from beginning to end and follow the
process that is outlined. However, I recognize that you may not have time to
do all that. For that reason, I have provided checklists to make the process easier
and, if you have a problem that needs immediate attention, you can jump to
Chapter 11 and use the interactive CD to help you solve the problem staring
you in the face. If you take that approach, however, take some time to go back
and read the whole book so you won’t get in that bind again!
Ronald B. Cagle
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