Making Things Happen

In the updated edition of this critically acclaimed and bestselling book, Microsoft project veteran Scott Berkun offers a collection of essays on field-tested philosophies and strategies for defining, leading, and managing projects. Each essay distills complex concepts and challenges into practical nuggets of useful advice, and the new edition now adds more value for leaders and managers of projects everywhere. Based on his nine years of experience as a program manager for Internet Explorer, and lead program manager for Windows and MSN, Berkun explains to technical and non-technical readers alike what it takes to get through a large software or web development project. Making Things Happen doesn't cite specific methods, but focuses on philosophy and strategy. Unlike other project management books, Berkun offers personal essays in a comfortable style and easy tone that emulate the relationship of a wise project manager who gives good, entertaining and passionate advice to those who ask.

Scott Berkun worked on the Internet Explorer team at Microsoft from 1994-1999 and left the company in 2003 with the goal of writing enough books to fill a shelf. The Myths of Innovation is his second book: he wrote the best seller, The Art of Project Management (O'Reilly 2005). He makes a living writing, teaching and speaking. He teaches a graduate course in creative thinking at the University of Washington, runs the sacred places architecture tour at NYC's GEL conference, and writes about innovation, design and management at www.scottberkun.com.

Foreword
Preface
Who should read this book
Assumptions I've made about you in writing this book
How to use this book
How to contact us
Safaria“ Books Online
A brief history of project management (and why you should care)
Using history
Web development, kitchens, and emergency rooms
The role of project management
Program and project management at Microsoft
The balancing act of project management
Pressure and distraction
The right kind of involvement
Summary
Exercises
One Plans
The truth about schedules
Schedules have three purposes
Silver bullets and methodologies
What schedules look like
Why schedules fail
What must happen for schedules to work
Summary
Exercises
How to figure out what to do
Software planning demystified
Approaching plans: the three perspectives
The magical interdisciplinary view
Asking the right questions
Catalog of common bad ways to decide what to do
The process of planning
Customer research and its abuses
Bringing it all together: requirements
Summary
Exercises
Writing the good vision
The value of writing things down
How much vision do you need?
The five qualities of good visions
The key points to cover
On writing well
Drafting, reviewing, and revising
A catalog of lame vision statements (which should be avoided)
Examples of visions and goals
Visions should be visual
The vision sanity check: daily worship
Summary
Exercises
Where ideas come from
The gap from requirements to solutions
There are bad ideas
Thinking in and out of boxes is OK
Good questions attract good ideas
Bad ideas lead to good ideas
Perspective and improvisation
The customer experience starts the design
A design is a series of conversations
Summary
Exercises
What to do with ideas once you have them









Skills
Writing good specifications
What specifications can and cannot do

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Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials