June Book Club

 

We are excited to announce the ProjectManagement.com June book club! The book club provides an opportunity to participate in webinars and discussions around selected books relevant to the overall practice of project management. The book club occurs in three parts:

1. Opening pre-recorded webinar which will be used to introduce the book. During this 30 minute pre-recorded webinar, the author will provide a high level overview of the concepts in his/her book, familiarizing participants with the information.
2. Discussion thread on ProjectManagement.com with input from the book club host and author. During the last week of the discussion, questions will be collected to present to the author in the closing webinar.
3. Closing Q&A live webinar with the author responding to questions submitted both through the online book club discussion thread and during the webinar. The webinar will be a panel style discussion with open dialogue between the moderator and the author.

The first 25 PMI members registered for the closing book club webinar will receive a complimentary copy of the book and will be notified via email. Additional participants will have the opportunity to purchase a copy of the book at their own expense. 

All community members will be able to view the book club opening webinar and participate in the discussion forum. We will evaluate the content of each opening and closing book club webinar to determine the eligibility and breakdown for PDUs.   

Our book club book for June is The Practitioner's Guide to Program Management by Irene Didinsky

Early in her career, Irene Didinsky recognized that project and program management was her passion. She accepted roles of increasing complexity and responsibility in a broad range of industries, including healthcare, energy, utilities, food and beverages, power tools, and hospitality. Ms. Didinsky led global cross cultural projects at Deloitte. She delivered programs that implemented value-based care solutions for large healthcare systems at Evolent Health, a healthcare consulting firm, and she has influenced the delivery of millions of dollars of capital investment through project and program management at Kaiser Permanente. As there are very few books written about program management, Ms. Didinsky became a writer by night while working as a program manager. Her enthusiasm for helping people in all aspects of program management flows through in the expert program management knowledge that she has shared in this book.
 

About the book:

Programs serve as a crucial link between strategy and the execution of business results and organizations implement them to achieve strategic goals. Although the practice of program management has evolved in lockstep with the project management profession, the root causes of program failure remain.

In this step-by-step guide, Irene Didinsky offers a standardized approach to program management, closing the knowledge gaps and variations that currently exist across organizations and industries. For the first time, The Practitioner's Guide to Program Management walks the reader through all the key components of effective program management. Using a case study example of an actual process improvement program, Didinsky discusses the qualities of excellence in program leadership, the importance of organizational strategy alignment throughout the program life cycle, how a program realizes benefits, and how to manage conflicting priorities of stakeholders.

This comprehensive resource also includes an historical overview of the professionalization of the field, outlines the logistics of forming a program management community of practice, and concludes with a glossary of terms. With this desktop manual in their hands, practitioners can expect to thrive and guarantee the success of their programs.

Our June book club host is Tolitha Lewis, PMP. Tolitha has been a PMI Volunteer Leader since 2008.  She was elected as a Director to the PMI Information Systems Specific Interest Group (PMI-ISSIG) in 2008 and served until the completion of the transition to a Community of Practice (CoP) in 2011. In 2012, Tolitha was appointed to the Leadership Team of the Consulting CoP, now referred to as the Consulting practice area, and has been a leader in the webinar program ever since. Based in Indianapolis, Indiana, Tolitha is a Sr. Project Manager.

To register for the closing live book club webinar, please visit the webinar page on ProjectManagement.com, find the book club closing webinar and click on the “Register for this webinar” link.

Please visit the book club information and discussion on the Project Management.com books page. 

For additional questions, please visit the ProjectManagement.com Book Club FAQ page.