Project Management Metrics, KPIs, and Dashboards: A Guide to Measuring and Monitoring Project Performance


Product Description
Essential strategies from Harold Kerzner on measuring project management performance
The maze-like path of today's projects reflects a business environment that's growing in complexity. Factors influencing projects, such as new advancements in computer technology, an unpredictable economy, and the increase in stakeholder involvement make metrics and key performance indicators (KPI) for project management an important focus. Such measures are commonly used to help an organization define and evaluate how successful it is, typically, in terms of making progress towards its long-term organizational goals.
Project Management Metrics, KPIs, and Dashboards helps functional managers gain a thorough understanding of what metrics are and how they can be best implemented to gain traction in a fast-paced and diverse working atmosphere. With content aligned with PMI's PMBOK® Guide, this book offers extensive coverage on KPIs and how they may be monitored, using techniques such as business dashboards to assist in prescribing meaningful business strategies. After reading this book, functional managers will bolster their awareness of what good metrics management really entails and be armed with the knowledge to measure performance more effectively.
This book begins with basic KPI principles, helping functional managers deal with such key issues as:
Successfully integrating KPIs and metrics into managing a project within a business strategy
Important business dashboard techniques used in monitoring performance
What is really important to different stakeholders in a project
Managing resistance to change
Next the book explores the key questions to ask before implementing a dashboard or reporting system. Some of these questions include:
What are your needs?
What is involved in integration?
What's involved in operations and maintenance?
What does the system cost?
How long will the system last?
Throughout the book, helpful illustrations clarify complex concepts and processes. These illustrations are also available as PowerPoint slides for course and seminar presentations.
Project Management Metrics, KPIs, and Dashboards: A Guide to Measuring and Monitoring Project Performance Review
I'm the CTO of a not for profit that evaluates and accredits Bodies of Knowledge (IABOK dot org). Kerzner's book loosely follows the PMBOK, but is intented for practical project evaluation and execution in the real world, not self study for the certification exams, although the material will certainly help with a much deeper understanding of what's BENEATH the certification questions. Since I help write those questions, I'll guarantee that the best answers are all about what's here.At a little over 350 pages for a 7.5 x 9" trim, this might seem like a pretty expensive little work, even with Amazon's great discount. UNTIL you get into it. The presentation- format is simply amazing. Dr. Kerzner and his publishers spared no expense with numerous "MBA" like tables, bullets, graphics, charts, etc. to present the salient points in jump off the page color and "3D" like quality. This not only makes the material of high value for density of info, but also makes self study, application and memorability much, much easier.
Kerzner is as negative as he is positive-- showing a LOT of "bad" decisions, mistakes, cases and other traps for project managers. I often judge an "advice" book by whether or not the author goes beyond a corporate, bureaucratic perspective. 8 points for taking the customer's "specs" into account, 10 plus for actually extending the project's objectives to the CUSTOMER's success-- and Kerzner does just that.
If you're in your own small company, back of the napkin PM is fine, as long as you're a good presenter. But if you're either in a bigger organization, or consult for one, you know that your "powerpoints" can make or break you. Dr. Harold does a superb job of showing not only stunning dashboards used by the best practices companies, but gives numerous, well organized, 3D and color "plug in" dashboards that the reader can emulate to make their own project monitoring, managing and presentations go to the board level.
Because project management is much different than transaction or ops management, many books have a lot of "apologetics" that try to justify the PM role, especially in matrix organizations where the product manager controls the budget, and the project folk have to continually justify their authority. Kerzner doesn't "avoid" this-- instead, he uses a LOT of metrics to show numerous ways to both manage and spin cost vs. value, including of the project team's contributions.
Even if you're not in project management, you're being measured every day, or your projects and products will be. Understanding metrics is as important for K-12 teachers as it is for Engineers designing nuclear reactors or power distribution grids. I always advise our customers to study metrics of all kinds-- and this book is a MUST in that category, not just for PM. An investment that returns far more than a single reading confers-- you'll refer both to content AND presentation over and over. Skim, read, study or refer? All four in this case. Usual note: I have nothing to do with this author or publisher or Amazon.
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