The Project, Program and Business change book in the IT Management series is a practical guide for senior managers who are looking to improve their success in delivering projects and realizing clear business benefits. The book is based on the experience of its author David McKean and the feedback from hundreds of delegates and IT Leaders network members, sharing best practice from the industry.

It is targeted for experienced managers who have probably been running projects from some time and are looking for something to take them to the next level. For this reason, the book only gives a cursory overview of the basics of project, program and business change management and instead focuses on higher level issues.

• About the author and IT Leaders
• An introduction to IT projects, programmes & change
• Project success guidelines 1 - Get off to a good start

1. Choose good projects (be careful what you ask for)
2. Choose the right time to start
3. Choose a good team
4. Be clear on what is being delivered
5. Create a high level architecture

• Project success guidelines 2 - Managing project progress

1. Develop strong project management skills
2. Make them sweat the small stuff
3. Keep a high level overview for yourself
4. Tips for managing costs, contracts and suppliers
5. Set up good project governance
6. Communicate clearly to all parties
7. Keep measuring value (SPRINT)
8. The art of managing project portfolios

• Project success guidelines 3 - Closing the project

1. Get ready early for the “go-live”
2. Make the change “irreversible”

• Risk Management - 5 things to know

1. The basic calculation – Problems vs. Risks?
2. The Risk Register
3. Assumption based risk analysis
4. A smart way of visualizing risk profiles
5. Quality based costing and Monte Carlo

• Change leadership

1. The special role that IT managers play in business change
2. Success guidelines for business change
3. The emotional side of (business) change (DREC)
4. The importance of a good team

• Outline of the top project frameworks

1. International standards
2. PRINCE2
3. Project Management Institute
4. Agile Development

• In conclusion

1. Take time to reflect
2. Staying ahead