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ISBN : 978-0-8144-1768-3 (eBook)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Phillips, Joseph.
Project management for small business : a streamlined approach from planning to completion / Joseph Phillips.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8144-1767-6
ISBN-10: 0-8144-1767-1
1. Project management. 2. Small businessManagement. I. Title.
HD69.P75P4947 2012
658.404dc23
2011033457
2012 Joseph Phillips.
All rights reserved.
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Printing number
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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For my parents, Don and Virginia Phillips,
who were entrepreneurs and business owners
for as long as I can remember.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Books, projects, and small businesses are rarely a solo act. So many people contribute to the final deliverable, the final product. Thank you to my editor Robert Nirkind for having faith in me and this book. I appreciate your guidance and keen direction. Thank you also to James Bessent for his hard work and organization in this book. Thank you to Alice Manning for helping my writing shine.
Im so fortunate to have so many friends and colleagues who have cheered me on in my businesses, my writing, and in my life. Many of my friends, like me, own small businesses and weve collaborated and commiserated on the life of a business owner. Thank you to Jo, Andy, and Mike Diaczyk for your friendship, business talks, and lots of good wine. Thank you to Andrea Hancock Deer for your spark. A big thanks for my friends that have cheered me on during the writing of this book: Curt Farris, Angela and Carl Richter, Duane Schoon, Fred and Carin McBroom, Greg and Mary Huebner, Lamont Hatcher, Jonathan Acosta, Jennifer Real, Jennifer Hatfield, Greg Kirkland, John and Cara Sutherland, Don Kuhnle, Norm and Paulette Tarantola, and many more than whats reasonable to include here. Finally, thanks for my brothers Steve, Mark, Sam, and Ben for listening, reading, and being fairly good brothers.
Managing a project isnt that different from managing a small business. There are objectives to accomplish, employees to manage, costs and schedules to control, and customers to keep happy while keeping a constant eye on the budget as well. But projects are also different from small businesses in the sense that they are temporary: You get the contract, do the work, close the project, and get paid. Your vision, expertise, and dedication to quality all contribute to the success of each project and, ultimately, to the profits realized by the company.
If managing projects was easy, they wouldnt be late, over budget, or plagued by issues and defects. Its frustrating and disappointing, I know, when you believe that you and your team have created a solid plan, only to have it unravel during its execution, leading to wasted materials, activities taking longer than necessary to complete, and project profitability shrinking along with the customers confidence in your business. What was once seen as an opportunity can morph into a situation in which youre just hoping to finish the job and break even.
Good projects can be challenging and stimulating, and can provide a tremendous sense of accomplishment for all involved. Successful projects dont happen by accident, however. They are the result of a knowledgeable project manager, a mature project team, and a clear vision of what the project is intended to achieve.
Most project management philosophies are rife with processes, forms, paperwork, meetings, and analysis. While these approaches are often necessary for large, unwieldy projects, they are not practical for small businesses. If you are reading this book, chances are that your business doesnt have the resources to implement a complex methodology. You just need the essentialsa streamlined approach that strips out all of the fat that is inherent in the operations of large, slow-moving companies and arms you with the project management muscle that youll need to get the project done and then move on to the next opportunity.