EII Connections

The Editor's Desk

Over the years I have accumulated a list of the services that a Project Support Office (PSO) could provide. My current list numbers 43 services falling into six different categories. It would be a mistake to implement all of the listed services at once even if that is the ultimate goal of your PSO.

Introducing a PSO into your organization is asking management to absorb quite a bit. You will have a much better chance of success if the services are prioritized and introduced piecemeal. Here is the list in no particular order for your consideration:

Project Support

Consulting and Mentoring

Methods and Standards

Software Tools

Training

Project Managers

Training

Project Managers

If you are interested in more detail on this topic, take a look at our signature PSO monograph entitled How to Establish a Project Support Office. This publication will prepare you with an understanding of what a PSO is, what they do, how they are structured and placed in the organization, and the steps to follow to establish a PSO. You will leave this publication fully prepared to take on the challenges of the PSO.

Robert K. Wysocki

President, EII

Editor, EII Publications

Eye on the Industry

Summit 2006: What's Next in IT?

10th Annual

Cutter Consortium Summit

Cutter Consortium's Summit conference has always been a place to meet great thinkers from around the world, to collaborate and share emerging ideas and to debate them as a group, and to leap beyond the mainstream. Summit delegates not only have the opportunity to hear the leading thinkers in IT present inspiring keynotes, they're invited to play a key role in the discussion.

The 10th Annual Cutter Consortium Summit, held May 7-10 in Cambridge, MA, has a focus on the future. Access the experts and join them in examining the changes afoot that will forever transform IT.

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Special Offer for Readers of

EII Connections

Receive $200 off your registration to Summit 2006: What's Next in IT? Don't delay! This special offer expires March 31, 2006. Please refer to Priority Code 60R*E03EII to ensure your savings.

Access the Summit 2006 web site and register.

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You are invited to discuss and debate the issues with keynoters and the other distinguished senior-level panelists in the discussion that follows each keynote in this unique, single-track program. And you'll be able to continue the debate with your fellow delegates during the unstructured times deliberately built into the conference program.

Preview the Summit 2006 sessions

Suggest a Topic

In order to focus our energies on topics that you our readers find valuable, we’d like to solicit your ideas.

Email us your suggestion. Include a brief description of your topic and the target market. Indicate if you would like to author the publication or if you know of someone who would.

Just Published

The following publications have just been added to our inventory this month.

You may purchase electronic or printed versions through our Store.

How to Establish a Simple Project Process Quality Improvement Program
by Robert K. Wysocki, Ph.D.
ISBN 1-933788-30-5 (Electronic)
ISBN 1-933788-31-3 (Print)

Six Easy Methods for Estimating Activity Duration
by Robert K. Wysocki, Ph.D.
ISBN 1-933788-28-3 (Electronic)
ISBN 1-933788-29-1 (Print)

So You Want to Teach with Teams, Online and with Real Projects: Step-by-Step from Traditional Lecture to Online
by Richard Manning, Ph.D., Maxine Cohen, Ph.D. and Robert DeMichiell, Ph.D.
ISBN 1-933788-22-4 (Electronic)

Many books have also been added to the EII Publications inventory this month. Order these books through our affiliate on our web site.

Under Development

These publications are scheduled for future development. You may advance order electronic or printed versions through the Store.

How to Establish a Career Planning Program for Project Managers
by Robert K. Wysocki, Ph.D.
Available in May 2006
ISBN 1-933788-34-8 (Electronic)
ISBN 1-933788-35-6 (Print)

How to Plan and Conduct a Project Planning Session
by Robert K. Wysocki, Ph.D.
Available in May 2006
ISBN 1-933788-32-1 (Electronic)
ISBN 1-933788-33-X (Print)

So You Want to Teach with Teams, Online and with Real Projects: Step-by-Step from Traditional Lecture to Online
by Richard Manning, Ph.D., Maxine Cohen, Ph.D. and Robert DeMichiell, Ph.D.
Available in May 2006
ISBN 1-933788-23-2 (Print)

SPECIAL INSERT: Book Review

EFFECTIVE SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Author: Robert K. Wysocki

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Effective Software Project Management is an integration of contemporary software development models and the project management approaches to support them. The integration produces a discipline – SDPM. The book is written in the same style as the author’s previous successful work: Effective Project Management: Traditional, Adaptive, Extreme, 3rd Edition (EPM3). His intention was to structure this book to be as parallel in project management format to Effective Project Management, 3rd Edition as these diverse software development models allow. That will leverage the success of Effective Project Management, 3rd Edition with this new offering, which is designed specifically for the information technology professional and academic markets. By all accounts the author has been successful.

The book is structured around five major types of software development approaches: linear, incremental, iterative, adaptive, and extreme. These approaches span a continuum that ranges from certainty (linear models) to uncertainty (extreme models). There are a number of contemporary software development models that fit this continuum and which will be developed along with the best practice project management tools, templates, and processes that support them.

The book's structure is unique. There are no competing titles that treat the integration of software development and project management into a discipline to the extent that this book does. Through this approach the author clearly intends to retain the readership of the professional and trade market as well as expand the growing academic market already established through Effective Project Management: Traditional, Adaptive, Extreme, 3rd Edition.

The main text of each of the 7 parts of the book focuses on one of the major types of software development approaches. For each of those types, specific models are discussed. The author discusses 11 specific models in total.

Each of these types can be supported by similarly configured project management approaches. That creates a foundation for a discipline which the author calls Software Development Project Management (SDPM).

Each of the 7 major parts of the book can be read independently of each other. That allows the professional reader to focus on the software development approach they are using and learn about the project management best practices to support their efforts.

Alternatively, the college or university student can use the book as a survey of the contemporary approaches to project management in the context of a specific software development environment.

For both markets, the book is very much a “how to” oriented book. A variety of tools, templates, and processes are presented in the contexts in which they have worked successfully.

Read the complete book review >>