Managing Multiple Projects

Preface ix Manager as Traffic Cop: Managing Multiple Projects 1(14) The Missing Tools in the Manager's Toolbox 2(1) Time Management for Groups and Individuals 3(1) Personal Time Management 4(5) Intuitive Managing and Its Limits 9(4) Manager's Checklist for Chapter 1 13(2) The Cheeseburger Paradox: The Question of Reliability 15(10) Order a Cheeseburger---Get a Cheeseburger 15(2) Managing for Reliability 17(4) The Intuitive Workplace 21(3) Manager's Checklist for Chapter 2 24(1) The Formal Workplace and Its Forms 25(16) Why Formalize? 25(2) How to Formalize with Forms 27(5) Bad Formalism (Bureaucracy) 32(5) Worthwhile Constraints 37(1) The Happy Medium 38(2) Manager's Checklist for Chapter 3 40(1) Taskonomy: Categorizing Your Work 41(17) Why Categorize Work? 41(1) Tasks: What are They? 42(4) Sequences and Sets of Tasks 46(4) Types of Work Processes 50(7) Manager's Checklist for Chapter 4 57(1) What's on Your Plate? 58(18) Are You Overloaded and Overwhelmed? 58(4) How Much Time Do You Have to Work With? 62(4) Your Project Portfolio 66(3) Your Background Routines 69(1) Crunch Time 70(4) About Time Deficits 74(1) Manager's Checklist for Chapter 5 75(1) Out from Under 76(17) How Busy Are You? 76(1) Overload 77(4) The Emotional Demands of Overload 81(4) Addressing the Problem 85(6) Sustainability 91(1) Manager's Checklist for Chapter 6 92(1) Group Time Management: ``As Simple as Possible, but No Simpler'' 93(17) Make Room for Change in Yourself 93(2) Extensions of Time Management 95(4) As Simple as Possible 99(4) Complications of Time Management 103(5) Manager's Checklist for Chapter 7 108(2) Getting the Big Picture: Commitments and the Team 110(18) The Paradox of Slack 110(3) Interviewing Skills 113(9) Verify Your Estimates 122(1) The Overload Exercise with the Team 123(2) Some Other Ways to Know You're in Trouble 125(1) Manager's Checklist for Chapter 8 126(2) ``Second Things Never...'': The Trouble with Priorities 128(15) How Commitments Get Made 129(2) The To-Do-List Trap 131(3) The Productivity Paradox 134(1) Prioritization as a Symptom 135(2) Prioritization and Gatekeeping 137(2) Prioritization and Goal-Setting 139(1) Prioritization in Crisis 140(1) Manager's Checklist for Chapter 9 141(2) Allocation for Efficiency: The Importance of Compartmentalization 143(18) The Airtight System 144(1) The Efficiency Paradox 144(1) Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) 145(4) Compartmentalization 149(6) How to Compartmentalize 155(2) Reducing Complexity Through Compartmentalization 157(3) Manager's Checklist for Chapter 10 160(1) ``How Does It Know...?'': Tracking Systems 161(22) About Tracking 162(4) Compartmentalization and Tracking 166(1) Keeping Track 166(1) Airtight Listing of Responsibilities 167(1) Airtight Routines 168(1) Airtight One-Off Task Tracking 169(4) Task Size and Trust 173(1) Airtight Projects 174(4) Sequencing Strategies 178(1) When and Whether to Computerize 179(2) Tracking Closes the Loop 181(1) Manager's Checklist for Chapter 11 181(2) How to Change a System 183(18) Timing Major Changes 184(14) The Reliable Workgroup 198(1) Manager's Checklist for Chapter 12 199(2) Appendix 201(6) Index 207