IT Project Management: A Geek's Guide to Leadership

Description

This book’s author, Byron Love, admits proudly to being an IT geek. However, he had found that being an IT geek was limiting his career path and his effectiveness. During a career of more than 31 years, he has made the transition from geek to geek leader. He hopes this book helps other geeks do the same. This book addresses leadership issues in the IT industry to help IT practitioners lead from the lowest level. Unlike other leadership books that provide a one-size-fits-all approach to leadership, this book focuses on the unique challenges that IT practitioners face. IT project managers may manage processes and technologies, but people must be led. The IT industry attracts people who think in logical ways―analytical types who have a propensity to place more emphasis on tasks and technology than on people. This has led to leadership challenges such as poor communication, poor relationship management, and poor stakeholder engagement. Critical IT projects and programs have failed because IT leaders neglect the people component of "people, process, and technology." Communications skills are key to leadership. This book features an in-depth discussion of the communications cycle and emotional intelligence, providing geek leaders with tools to improve their understanding of others and to help others understand them. To transform a geek into a geek leader, this book also discusses: Self-leadership skills so geek leaders know how to lead others by leading themselves first Followership and how to cultivate it among team members How a geek leader’s ability to navigate disparate social styles leads to greater credibility and influence Integrating leadership into project management processes The book concludes with a case study to show how to put leadership principles and practices into action and how an IT geek can transform into an effective IT geek leader. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Contents Foreword Preface Acknowledgments About the Author Disclaimer Chapter 1: Initiation 1.1 Selecting a Geek Leader 1.2 The Geek Leadership Challenge 1.2.1 The Lion 1.2.2 The Bear 1.2.3 The Snake 1.3 Overview of This Book Chapter 2: Why Geek Leadership Is Different 2.1 What Is a Leader? 2.2 Great Geek Leadership 2.3 Transformational Leadership 2.4 IT Geeks Are Different 2.4.1 The Big Five Personality Traits 2.4.2 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Study 2.5 Information Technology Projects are Different 2.6 Why Are IT Projects So Sickly? 2.7 We Need IT Geeks to Lead IT Geeks Chapter 3: Emotionally Intelligent Communications 3.1 The Importance of Effective Communication 3.2 Missed Signals 3.3 Basic Brain Operations 3.3.1 Instinct 3.3.2 Emotions 3.3.3 Intellect 3.3.4 Intuition 3.3.5 Schemas and Communications 3.4 The Rational-Emotive Behavior Model 3.5 The Communications Cycle and the REB Model 3.6 The Communications Cycle and Self-Images 3.7 The Talk Continuum 3.8 Analysis of the Missed Signals Use Case 3.9 Ground Truth 3.10 Keys to Emotionally Intelligent Communications for IT Geeks 3.10.1 Plan 3.10.2 Do’s and Don’ts 3.10.3 Check 3.10.4 Act 3.11 Conclusion: Communicating in a Complex Environment Chapter 4: Self-Leadership 4.1 Things Are Changing 4.2 Self-Talk 4.2.1 The Self 4.2.2 Internal Motivation 4.2.3 Rewriting Your Code 4.2.4 Improving Your Self-Talk 4.3 The Self-Leadership Cycle 4.3.1 Commit 4.3.2 Learn 4.3.3 Seek Mentorship 4.3.4 Experiment 4.3.5 Review and Analyze Chapter 5: Followership 5.1 What Is a Follower? 5.2 Use Case: Everything is Spinning 5.3 Effective Followership 5.3.1 Unifying Purpose 5.4 The Leader and the Effective Followers 5.4.1 Motivating Followers 5.4.2 Leaders Should Do What Only They Can Do 5.5 The Leader, the Followers, and Conflict 5.5.1 Loyalty and Submission 5.5.2 Ethical Conflict 5.5.3 Influencing the Team 5.5.4 Follower Maturity 5.5.5 Conflict Resolution 5.5.6 Praise and Reprimands 5.5.7 Resentment 5.5.8 Task Performance 5.6 Building Great Groups 5.6.1 Team Charter 5.7 Reverse Micromanagement 5.8 Conclusion Chapter 6: Personal Credibility 6.1 The Incredible Craig 6.2 Social Styles for Personal Credibility 6.2.1 Driver 6.2.2 Expressive 6.2.3 Amiable 6.2.4 Analytical 6.3 Analysis of “The Incredible Craig” 6.4 Mindful Credibility 6.4.1 Step One: Know Yourself 6.4.2 Step Two: Control Yourself 6.4.3 Step Three: Know Others 6.4.4 Step Four: Do Something for Others 6.4.5 Conclusion Chapter 7: Project Leadership Integration 7.1 CompTIA Project+ Project Domains 7.1.1 Initiation/Pre-Project Setup 7.1.2 Project Planning 7.1.3 Project Execution and Delivery 7.1.4 Change Control and Communications 7.1.5 Project Closure 7.2 Leadership Integration 7.2.1 Best Practice: US Air Force Airman Comprehensive Assessment (ACA) 7.3 Conclusion 7.4 Leadership Integration Plan Template Chapter 8: Closeout 8.1 Sidelined 8.1.1 Gold Plating 8.1.2 Let’s Do This Another Way 8.1.3 You Are No Steve Jobs 8.1.4 I Can Handle the Truth 8.1.5 A Not-So-Simple Requirement 8.1.6 Creating the Leadership Standard 8.1.7 Creating a Schedule 8.1.8 Are You Practicing What You Preach? 8.1.9 Anxious and Uncomfortable, but Not Alone 8.1.10 Leadership in Action 8.1.11 A Leadership Opportunity 8.1.12 Stay Out of the Way 8.1.13 The Final Deliverable References Further Reading Index