Effective project management is essential for acquisition members to successfully procure the necessary products, equipment and technology to fulfill Soldiers’ operational requirements and enable them to complete their missions. This month’s book reviews focus on improving project management to deliver outcomes more quickly, efficiently and competitively. As illustrated in Douglas Wiltsie’s companion article this month, Improving the Milestone Decision Review Process, decreasing workforce capability gaps and improving program executive office common system/standards require a rethinking of current practices to improve project management. I hope you find this month’s reading list useful and that the books aid you in improving your project management skills to make our acquisition processes more productive.

The Rise of the Project Workforce: Managing People and Projects in a Flat World by Rudolph Melik. An authority on project and workforce management, Rudolph Melik explores the notion of the economically “flat world” and how this has transformed project management and essentially the entire project workforce. The idea of flat-world economics was largely initiated by Thomas Friedman in his 2006 bestseller The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. Melik affirms that in terms of economics, the world has become flat as companies now have become more competitive, adaptable and effective through globalization. All organizations are affected by this change and any business that cannot keep up with the ever-changing flat-world needs and requirements will ultimately fail. Businesses need effective project management to remain competitive within the capital world and excellent project management if significant profits are desired.

Melik offers suggestions, tools and real-world examples of how to successfully complete project management in the flat world. His experience as co-founder of Tenrox, a company designed to aid employers with streamlining project management and optimizing resources, gives him firsthand knowledge of and experience with project management.

Melik contends that the primary source of success is being able to manage projects with constant change and through the development of new technology. Using these two sources as beneficial to your business, instead of allowing them to work against your desired outcomes, is key. Certain tools and technology are essential to living and working in a flat world and using these to your advantage significantly increases your potential for success.

Melik believes the implementation of an online workflow system works best for project management in the mobile, global world. Automating workflow processes, while remaining compliant with the many regulations that dictate the business world, enables efficient project management. Melik believes that a change to process automation must be slowly but steadily adapted; quickly trying to transform all of a company’s systems simultaneously would be disastrous. However, if automation can be phased into a company’s systems, it will be very effective over time.

The author provides detailed charts, lists and flowcharts to illustrate his concepts. The book essentially covers three topics that contribute to the author’s overarching ideology:

• The Project Workforce: how it has changed and emerged into a global market today.
• Project Management: the technologies and tools to be effective.
• Implementation Roadmap: a business case on how to integrate automated project management.

Applicable to readers ranging from entry-level positions to high-level executive managers, The Rise of the Project Workforce: Managing People and Projects in a Flat World offers practical and feasible applicable solutions for today’s complex and technology-dependent workforce. The increase of technology and the demands of the consumer require that products be delivered more quickly while maintaining the same quality. Melik offers sound advice on how to do this while managing complex projects. He addresses not only current issues, but future issues that may arise with project management, such as risk mitigation and regulatory compliance. Melik also provides correlation between project management and human capital management, two areas that are closely intertwined but that require a certain balance to manage successfully.

Transforming Performance Measurement: Rethinking the Way We Measure and Drive Organizational Success by Dean R. Spitzer. In Transforming Performance Measurement, the author tackles the idea that to successfully improve your organization’s performance, you must have the proper tools in place to ensure correct performance measurements. If your organization’s performance measurement approach is not accurately gauging performance, it causes dysfunction among the organization.

Spitzer believes that, “Most traditional measurement systems actually encourage unhealthy competition for personal gain, creating internal conflict and breeding distrust of performance measurement.” In Transforming Performance Measurement, he introduces a nontraditional approach to performance management that actually reduces organizational dysfunctions, while promoting a collaborative goal to enhance value throughout an organization.

Known as a performance improvement thought leader, Spitzer stresses that performance measurement should be more about the crucial social factors that determine how well measurements will be used, rather than focusing on calculations and analysis. The author developed a “socialization of measurement” process that emphasizes asking the following questions:

• How well do our measures reflect our business model?
• How successfully are they driving our strategy?
• What should we be measuring and not measuring?
• Are the right people having the right measurement discussions?

According to Spitzer, “Performance measurement is a dynamic process that calls for an awareness of the balance necessary between seemingly disparate ideas: the technical and the social aspects of performance measurement.” In this book, he presents a roadmap for introducing this concept into your organization’s performance measurement system. Spitzer notes that although it will take time to perfect this technical-social balance within an organization, it is important to start building on this concept now.

The book presents 34 Transformational Measurement Action Plans (TMAPs) that focus on marketing, human resources, customer service, knowledge management, productivity, information technology, research and development, and costing. These TMAPs are strategies that Spitzer encourages you to introduce into your organization’s performance measurement process right away.

The most important point that Spitzer makes is that using the wrong measurement tools will take an organization down the wrong path, leading it further and further away from its goals and mission. Transforming Performance Measurement can help you develop a performance measurement strategy that specifically fits your organization and provides you with the tools to keep your organization on the right track.

Best Practices in Planning and Performance Management: From Data to Decisions, Second Edition, by David A.J. Axson. Managerial duties of traditional budgeting and reporting have become increasingly obsolete and burdensome in today’s information age. The business world moves too quickly for the detailed complexity needed to conduct these duties while still remaining competitive. As author David A.J. Axson writes, “Managers are seeking new decision-making processes and tools that enable them to shorten the cycle time to make and implement a decision.” Updating your management practices is Axson’s solution to contending and remaining successful in the business market. Best Practices in Planning and Performance Management: From Data to Decisions, Second Edition, offers detailed, comprehensible plans for upgrading management practices and also provides in-depth analysis on the profits of implementing such practices.

Axson is held in high regard in the business industry as a leader in planning and performance management. The former head of Corporate Planning at Bank of America, a co-founder of The Hackett Group and currently president of the business advisory firm, The Sonax Group, Axson has extensive professional experience with achieving business’ strategic goals. Axson uses case studies to illustrate leading companies’ practices and decisions and provides insight on the positive and negative retributions from their actions. He draws several firsthand examples from the benchmarks and practices of The Hackett Group.

Best Practices in Planning and Performance Management characterizes what a “best practice” involves and contends that any business can create or adapt one. Axson provides a multitude of best practice examples and common mistakes companies make when not using best practices. He also emphasizes that best practices evolve, so continual development of those applicable for your business is extremely beneficial. The real-world examples provide a clear plan for quicker, more effective planning, reporting and budgeting, as opposed to the processes of most present-day organizations, which are disjointed and cumbersome.

Best Practices in Planning and Performance Management is divided into three sections:

• Part one explains why managers in today’s business world need to alter their performance management skills, as well as provides tools and measures for managers to evaluate the potential for performance management in their own business.
• Part two addresses the performance management process and its components: strategic planning, tactical and financial planning, management reporting, forecasting and risk management.
• Part three details how to design a best practice or benchmark — “vehicles for performance management” — for your company and how to integrate this into your company’s processes.
  

Axon’s unique perspective on performance management causes readers to re-evaluate how their managerial practices would fare with the implementation of his ideas. Axson does not only speak to high-level managers in his book. His ideas are applicable to any business decision maker, so the book is helpful to readers from all backgrounds who hold a variety of positions.

Effective project management is an essential component for success in the acquisition workforce. Adapting to the ever-changing needs of warfighters, combined with the continuously evolving global market, acquisition professionals are challenged with acquiring and providing the best possible products. By maintaining the proper technologies and tools, while managing complex projects, our acquisition workforce can continue to fulfill essential battlefield requirements and help our warfighters complete their missions successfully.