Authors: David Francis.
Paperback, 240 pages
Publisher: Que
Publication Date: 2004-12-19


Reviews :

   

The PMP Practice Questions Exam Cram 2 offers you a solid opportunity to drill and practice for the highly critical professional exam. The book features 500 questions based on the 9 Project Management Processes described in the PMI PMBOK and in our PMP Exam Cram 2. All questions found in the book will also be on the accompanying CD in a test engine powered by MeasureUp. The questions will have full explanations of correct and incorrect answers so you can use this manual to review and brush-up on weak areas. It features relevant Exam Notes to help you score better on the test, plus the ever popular "Cram Sheet" tear card, to use for last-minute cramming. Join the ranks of readers that have chosen Exam Cram 2 as part of their preparation for their certification exams!

...

Authors: Dan Bradbary. David Garrett.
Paperback, 288 pages
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Publication Date: 2005-03-08


Reviews :

    Get The Straight Scoop On Project Management--Ingenious Strategies That Work!

Have you studied the traditional processes of project management, only to discover that in reality they fall short? Are you done with the idealistic theories of how things should function and eager to apply some street-smart tactics that tackle the real problems like egos, cliques, and squabbles?

Welcome to the fine art of Herding Chickens--unconventional, innovative techniques for successful project management. Inside, the authors divulge expert approaches to getting a disparate project team moving in one direction. In their engaging style, they'll show you novel ways to boost efficiency, eliminate chaos, and ultimately complete your project on time, within budget.

A fun and irreverent collection of the most useful tips, tricks, and concrete solutions, Herding Chickens describes how to:

• Inspire, motivate, and herd your project team--no matter how dysfunctional it is
• Look ahead to keep from falling behind
• Read, deal with, and charm all types of people
• Navigate the corporate jungle with finesse
• Control all aspects of a meeting, from the time waster to the loudmouth
• Use technology to enhance organization and communication

...

Authors: Douglas Rushkoff.
Hardcover, 336 pages
Publisher: Collins Business
Publication Date: 2005-12-01


Reviews :

   

On a landscape that seems to be transforming itself with every new technology, marketing tactic, or investment strategy, businesses rush to embrace change by trading in their competencies or shifting their focus altogether. All in the name of innovation.

But this endless worrying, wriggling, and trend watching only alienates companies from whatever it is they really do best. In the midst of the headlong rush to think "outside the box," the full engagement responsible for true innovation is lost. New consultants, new packaging, new marketing schemes, or even new CEOs are no substitute for the evolution of our own expertise as individuals and as businesses.

Indeed, for all their talk about innovation, most companies today are still scared to death of it.

To Douglas Rushkoff, this disconnect is not only predictable but welcome. It marks the happy end of a business cycle that began as long ago as the Renaissance, and ended with the renaissance in creativity and collaboration we're going through today.

The age of mass production, mass media, and mass marketing may be over, but so, too, is the alienation it engendered between producers and consumers, managers and employees, executives and shareholders, and, worst of all, businesses and their own core values and competencies.

American enterprise, in particular, is at a crossroads. Having for too long replaced innovation with acquisitions, tactics, efficiencies, and ad campaigns, many businesses have dangerously lost touch with the process -- and fun -- of discovery.

"American companies are obsessed with window dressing," Rushkoff writes, "because they're reluctant, no, afraid to look at whatever it is they really do and evaluate it from the inside out. When things are down, CEOs look to consultants and marketers to rethink, rebrand, or repackage whatever it is they are selling, when they should be getting back on the factory floor, into the stores, or out to the research labs where their product is actually made, sold, or conceived."

Rushkoff backs up his arguments with a myriad of intriguing historical examples as well as familiar gut checks -- from the dumbwaiter and open source to Volkswagen and The Gap -- in this accessible, thought-provoking, and immediately applicable set of insights. Here's all the help innovators of this era need to reconnect with their own core competencies as well as the passion fueling them.

...

Authors: Thomas J. Watson. Peter Petre.
Perfect Paperback, 480 pages
Publisher: Bantam
Publication Date: 2000-02-29


Reviews :

    In this eloquent first-person account of a family drama that changed the face of American business, the man who transformed IBM into the world's largest computer company reflects on his lifelong partnership with his father--and how their management style and shared dedication to excellence united to create a unique corporate culture that became the blueprint for the entire technology boom.

In the course of sixty years Thomas J. Watson Sr. and his son, Thomas J. Watson Jr., together built the international colossus that is IBM. This is their story: a riveting and revealing account of two men who loved each other--and fought each other--with a terrible fierceness.

But along with the story of a father and son, this is IBM's story too. It chronicles the management insights that shaped its course and its unique corporate culture, the style that made Thomas Watson Sr. one of America's most charismatic bosses, and the daring decisions by Thomas Watson Jr. that transformed IBM into the world's largest computing company. One of the greatest business-success stories of all time, Father, Son & Co. is a moving lesson for fathers who dream for their children, as well as a testament to American ingenuity and values, told in a disarmingly frank and eloquent voice.


Promising to remain an important business reference as we move into the next century, FATHER, SON & CO. takes a look at the management insight that helped to shape IBM's course and unique corporate culture.  It looks at Watson, Sr., one of America's most charismatic bosses, and Watson, Jr., who spurred IBM into the computer age.

Ten years after its original publication, FATHER, SON & CO. remains a uniquely honest book. Watson's willingness to write about the loving but ferociously combative relationship he had with his father and the turbulent battles behind some of IBM's most far-reaching decisions gives readers rare insights into the realities of leadership. -->...

Authors: Thomas H. Davenport.
Hardcover, 352 pages
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Publication Date: 2000-02


Reviews :

    A No-Nonsense Guide to the Benefits and Pitfalls of Enterprise-Wide Information Systems

How many organizations would doubt the promise of an integrated enterprise system (ES)? Not many, judging by a $15 billion industry. The combination of an ES as a platform for organizational information and Internet technology for gaining access to it adds up to the ideal solution for company-wide data sharing in real time. Not surprisingly, small and large companies worldwide are either considering an ES, in the process of implementing one, or living with the results. Yet, says Tom Davenport, unless managers view ES adoption and implementation as a business decision rather than a technology decision, they may be risking disappointment

Mission Critical presents an authoritative and no-nonsense view of the ES opportunities and challenges. Suggesting ESs are not the right choice for every company, the author provides a set of guidelines to help managers evaluate the benefits and risks for their organizations. To be successful, argues Davenport, an organization must make simultaneous changes in its information systems, its business processes, and its business strategy. Such changes are described in detail with extensive examples from real organizations. Bolstering his contention that ESs should be viewed as business vs. technology projects, Davenport spells out the specific business change objectives that should be formulated in advance of ES adoption and monitored throughout its implementation.

The first strategic guide to the ES decision, Mission Critical will be indispensable to general managers and information technology specialists at all stages of the implementation process. ...

    As information-dependent companies of all types continually expand, acquire, merge, and globalize, the need to share critical data--between far-flung sites, independent divisions, and even neighboring departments--increases exponentially. Thomas Davenport, director of the Institute for Strategic Change at Andersen Consulting and a professor of information management at Boston University, advocates integrated enterprise systems (or ESs) to expedite the process. In Mission Critical, he explains how these inherently complicated, unfailingly expensive, and yet potentially vital programs can best be coordinated with existing operations. He explores specific benefits as well as possible drawbacks. And he shows why some of the biggest players in the business world have succeeded in their ES efforts, while others with equal resources and similar goals have not.

While a properly designed ES will facilitate rapid dissemination of electronic data to pertinent employees, partners, and customers through Internet or intranet access, Davenport repeatedly claims, the key is handling this "as a business project, not a technical one." This means clearly defining objectives from the outset, utilizing executives with power to execute the required organizational changes, and incorporating explicit across-the-board incentives and penalties that are tied to the project's ultimate conclusion. Top managers and information specialists will find helpful guidance here on all relevant aspects of the process, including pre-implementation procedures, software selection, organization-wide strategies, and tips on using an ES to its full advantage. --Howard Rothman...

Authors: Jessica Keyes.
Hardcover, 528 pages
Publisher: Auerbach Publications
Publication Date: 2005-02-28
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    The goals of an IT balanced scorecard include the alignment of IT plans with business objectives, the establishment of measures of IT effectiveness, the directing of employee efforts toward IT objectives, the improved performance of technology, and the achievement of balanced results across stakeholder groups. CIOs, CTOs, and other technical managers can achieve these goals by considering multiple perspectives, long- and short-term objectives, and how the IT scorecard is linked to other scorecards throughout their organizations. Implementing the IT Balanced Scorecard: Aligning IT with Corporate Strategy lays the groundwork for implementing the scorecard approach, and successfully integrating it with corporate strategy. This volume thoroughly explains the concept of the scorecard framework from both the corporate and IT perspectives. It provides examples, case histories, and current research for critical issues such as performance measurement and management, continuous process improvement, benchmarking, metrics selection, and people management. The book also discusses how to integrate these issues with the four perspectives of the balanced scorecard: customer, business processes, learning, and innovation and financial....

Authors: Barbara C. McNurlin. Ralph H. Sprague.
Hardcover, 642 pages
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Publication Date: 2005-02-11
Edition: 7

Reviews :

   

Dealing with the management of information technology (IT) as it is being practiced in organizations today, the emphasis of this book is on the current material that information systems executives find important; its organization is around a framework that readers new to the information can understand. In this 7^th edition, discussions include the rising societal risks of IT, new sections on digital convergence, messaging, and instant messaging, and a revised discussion on wireless technology. The topics of outsourcing and and information security have been updated and enhanced. Information Systems Management in Practice continues to merge theory with practice through real-world case examples. Topics include leadership issues, the CIO’s responsibilities, uses of IT, information systems planning, essential technologies, managing operations, systems development, decision-making, collaboration, and knowledge work.   An excellent reference resource for anyone employed in the information technology sector of business, especially managers of and executives in those departments.

...

Authors: Todd Fitzgerald. CISSP Micki Krause.
Hardcover, 312 pages
Publisher: Auerbach Publications
Publication Date: 2007-12-22
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    Caught in the crosshairs of “Leadership” and “Information Technology”, Information Security professionals are increasingly tapped to operate as business executives. This often puts them on a career path they did not expect, in a field not yet clearly defined. IT training does not usually includemanagerial skills such as leadership, team-building, communication, risk assessment, and corporate business savvy, needed by CISOs. Yet a lack in any of these areas can short circuit a career in information security.

CISO Leadership: Essential Principles for Success captures years of hard knocks, success stories, and yes, failures. This is not a how-to book or a collection of technical data. It does not cover products or technology or provide a recapitulation of the common body of knowledge. The book delineates information needed by security leaders and includes from-the-trenches advice on how to have a successful career in the field.

With a stellar panel of contributors including William H. Murray, Harry Demaio, James Christiansen, Randy Sanovic, Mike Corby, Howard Schmidt, and other thought leaders, the book brings together the collective experience of trail blazers. The authors have learned through experience—been there, done that, have the t-shirt—and yes, the scars. A glance through the contents demonstrates the breadth and depth of coverage, not only in topics included but also in expertise provided by the chapter authors. They are the pioneers, who, while initially making it up as they went along, now provide the next generation of information security professionals with a guide to success....

Authors: Annabelle Gawer. Michael A. Cusumano.
Hardcover, 336 pages
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Publication Date: 2002-04-29
Edition: 1st

Reviews :

    It is the fundamental challenge of the high-tech sector: A firm must innovate internally to succeed-yet its success may equally depend on corresponding innovations by external firms. Whether a company develops a ubiquitous operating system or the software that runs on it, a VCR or the movies we play on it, every participant in a high-tech network is vulnerable to the innovative moves of its partners and competitors.

Yet, in spite of this perilous situation, some firms have developed strategies that have made them industry powerhouses and world-class innovators. How? By becoming platform leaders-companies that provide the technological foundation on which other products, services, and systems are built. Platform leadership is the Holy Grail of high-tech industries, but it is difficult to achieve.

In Platform Leadership, high-tech strategy experts Annabelle Gawer and Michael A. Cusumano reveal how Intel, Microsoft, and Cisco, as well as companies including Palm and NTT DoCoMo, have orchestrated industry innovations to support their products-and, in the process, established dominant market positions. Based on these in-depth case studies and on incisive analysis, the authors present their Four Levers Framework for designing and implementing a successful platform strategy-or for improving an existing strategy:

1. Determine the scope of the firm: Is it preferable to create product complements internally or let the "market" produce them?

2. Design product technology strategically: What degree of modularity is appropriate? Should product interfaces be open or closed? What information should leaders disclose to outside firms?

3. Shape relationships with external complementors: How can the company balance competition and collaboration with outside players?

4. Optimize internal organizational structures: What processes and systems will allow the company to manage internal and external conflicts of interest most effectively?

For executives, strategists, and entrepreneurs in many high-tech arenas, this book shows how firms can orchestrate innovation to ensure their own competitive futures-and drive the evolution of their industry.

...

    Certain products, like the VCR and the microprocessor, are far more valuable as the center of a network of ancillary items than they ever could become on their own. Platform Leadership, by Annabelle Gawer and Michael A. Cusumano, examines how a handful of firms has maximized this position--or are attempting to do so--and proposes a framework that other businesses can use to establish similar game plans. Combining original research with analysis that draws upon their experiences as professors specializing in high-tech strategy, Gawer and Cusumano focus on Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, Palm, NTT DoCoMo, and supporters of the Linux operating system to show how to establish and expand this vital hub positioning. Their four-pronged approach concentrates on scope (what firms produce on their own and encourage others to produce), technology (how much detail about product architecture and design they should disclose to outsiders), alliances (how collaborative or competitive their relationships with those outsiders should be), and organization (what structures best balance subsequent external and internal conflicts). The examples selected illustrate varying methods for walking the fine line required to achieve "platform leadership" and will provide food for thought along with practical guidance for others interested in attaining similar status. --Howard Rothman ...

Authors: Peter Meyer.
Paperback, 272 pages
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: 1999-12-01
Edition: 1st

Reviews :

    Written by an expert who has helped thousands of people nationwide find success as computer consultants, this is your complete guide to starting and managing a thriving computer and network consulting practice. From start-up costs to contract negotiation, from taxes to pricing and marketing, you get concise, straightforward advice and guidance on all the critical issues involved. And throughout the text you'll find candid accounts from seasoned computer consultants who share invaluable insights into all aspects of the business. You'll learn how to:
* Assess your strengths and zero in on your market niche
* Use proven, affordable marketing and sales techniques
* Decide when you need a broker and find one you can work with
* Set fees and negotiate contracts to your best advantage
* Bid on government contracts--and win
* Manage your time and workload for optimum satisfaction
* Choose and win the clients you want to work with
* Use the Internet to build your success...