Projects: A Very Short Introduction

Description

A project is a temporary organization of people and resources brought together to achieve a one-off objective. Andrew Davies explains how and why the project approach is central to success in creating products and services, constructing major infrastructure, launching entrepreneurial ventures, implementing strategies, even landing a man on the moon.

• Provides a clear, accessible introduction to the challenges involved in the organization and management of projects
• Shows how projects are becoming increasingly important for dealing with the accelerating change and uncertainty facing post-industrial societies
• Places projects in their long-term historical context of the agrarian, industrial, and post-industrial ages
• Explains how projects are understood in theory and identifies different dimensions of projects that have to be managed and organized in different ways: uncertainty, complexity, and urgency
• Discusses why projects are the primary organizational vehicle driving innovation in the modern world
• Part of the Very Short Introductions series - over eight million copies sold worldwide

About the Author(s)

Andrew Davies, Chair in the Management of Projects, The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, University College London

Andrew Davies is Professor in the Management of Projects and Director of Research in the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, University College London. His research focuses on the management of projects and project-based organizations. He is author of The Business of Projects: Managing Innovation in Complex Products and Systems, (Cambridge University Press 2005), co-authored with Michael Hobday, and The Business of Systems Integration, (OUP, 2003), with Andrea Prencipe and Michael Hobday. Davies has published in a range of management journals such as California Management Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Research Policy, Organization Studies, Industrial Marketing Management, Industrial and Corporate Change and International Journal of Project Management.

Table of Contents

Preface
1:Introduction
2:America's venture into the unknown
3:From Manhattan to the Moon
4:Arup's adhocracy and projects in theory
5:Lean, heavy, and disruptive projects
6:London's megaproject ecology
7:Back to the future
References
Further Reading
Index

Reviews

"A goldmine of insights into project management — how it is actually done and how it could be done better. Andrew Davies should be read by anyone interested in understanding and improving the management of projects." - Bent Flyvbjerg, Professor and Chair at Oxford University's Saïd Business School, co-author of Megaprojects and Risk

"Andy Davies has written a concise and engaging intellectual history of project management theory and practice, filled with detailed case studies — recommended reading for all scholars and practitioners of project management. This book is a little gem." - Raymond Levitt, Stanford University.

"If you are considering a career in project management or are already involved in one or more projects and want to know how to improve the system then let this book become your bible ... Projects: A Very Short Introduction ... offers a veritable goldmine of insights, anecdotes and analysis of the very basics of project management, showing how it is done, and advising on how it can be done better." - Jade Taylor-Salazar, E&T Magazine