PM Network - March 2010

FEATURED BOOKS

DAVID W. WIRICK, PMP

Public-Sector Project Management: Meeting the Challenges and Achieving Results

here may not be a simple formula for success in public-sector projects, but this book delivers the next best thing: a comprehensive set of skill-building strategies.

Approximately 17 percent of the world’s GNP is attributed to the public sector. Projects include military and security operations, the construction of public infrastructure, the creation of public programs, compliance with legislative mandates, economic development, process improvement, the deployment of information systems and law enforcement.

Project outcomes critical to maintaining social order, the challenges can multiply as the sector copes with a fast-changing world. Compounding these issues is the shortage of good public-sector project managers— and specific guidance for them.

Public-Sector Project Management: Meeting the Challenges and Achieving Results is a professional template for making a contribution. Describing the obstacles and basic processes of public-sector project management, the author examines the differences between public- and private-sector projects, including the wide array of stakeholders.

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Building on industry standards and best practices, as well as almost 30 years of public-sector experience, David W. Wirick, PMP, offers readers a variety of tools and techniques to help accomplish goals in public-sector projects:

; Expert guidance consistent with project management best practices

; In-depth coverage of public-sector constraints, including purchasing systems, legal mandates, political and media oversight, and complex rules and processes

; Specific strategies to enhance the management capability of public- and private-sector project managers working under government contracts

; Discussion of the role of planning in managing the expectations of customers, managers and project teams, and coping with the overlapping systems of constraints that impede public-sector projects