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Open to everyone

Guides

Project management, told by someone who does it: for people who run projects, and for anyone who simply has something to get done.

Practical guides, open to everyone, from the world of Deliver or Die. Each one links to the case in the book where its topic becomes a story: if you have read the book, you will meet the characters again; if not, you may want to.

For everyone

What the project manager’s craft teaches people who don’t do it

The book was written for people who don’t run projects at work, too. The Plan Island club includes a psychotherapist, a journalist and some engineers, and in one of the book’s trials it is the psychotherapist and the journalist who reach the answer first, with the simplest tools. These guides are for a house move, a month that doesn’t add up, a problem that won’t budge.

For everyone

Failing better

The point is not to never get it wrong, but not to get it wrong the same way twice. The “debrief”, outside the office.

For people who run projects · For everyone

Time, priorities and delegation

Days still have 24 hours. Planning your time, choosing what comes first, defending yourself from interruptions, delegating.

For people who run projects

The craft, from brief to wrap-up

Briefs and Statements of Work, estimates, Gantt charts, risks, feedback, methodologies: the project management toolkit, explained by someone who uses it every day with companies and agencies. Each guide links to the case in the book where its topic becomes a story.

For people who run projects

What a project manager really does

Not an air traffic controller, but one of the most creative jobs there is. What a PM does, why the role matters, how you become one.

For people who run projects

From brief to Statement of Work

Requirements, brief and SoW: who writes them, what they must contain, how to receive them. And when it makes sense to go beyond the brief.

For people who run projects

Estimating and keeping to budget

The right words, five estimation techniques, the items everyone forgets. And how to notice in time that the budget won’t be enough.

For people who run projects · For everyone

Time, priorities and delegation

Days still have 24 hours. Planning your time, choosing what comes first, defending yourself from interruptions, delegating.

For people who run projects

Risks, plan B and crises

A risk plan that actually helps, what to look for (trivial things too, success too) and how to steer a crisis.

For people who run projects

Feedback and rework

The feedback that helps, how to get out of the revision spiral, how to take unfair criticism, and what to do when it turns into conflict.

For people who run projects

Client and supplier, one team

The first project, trust, transparency. And how to say no to a client without breaking anything.

For people who run projects

PM and Account

Who does what, how to hand over, why two is the perfect number. And “good cop, bad cop”, done honestly.

For people who run projects

Creative pitches and presentations

From the team to the insight, from brainstorming to choosing the idea. And how to tell it: structure, slides, voice.

For people who run projects

Creativity, ethics and consequences

How to lead a creative team, who has the final say, and why whoever designs a project answers for what it does in the world.

For people who run projects

Methodologies without dogma

Waterfall, Scrum, Kanban, Lean, PRINCE2: what they promise, when they work, how to choose. You choose the method for the project.

For people who run projects

Leading a team, remotely too

Authority without authoritarianism, a climate where people do their best, the signs of a toxic environment, remote work.