I work for a small company that designs and manufactures electronics. I technically work in manufacturing, but manage the people responsible for developing manufacturing processes, so by side effect I am responsible for managing new product releases and custom product releases after Sales quotes it, and R&D develops the solution. We don't have a formal project manager and have very little in regards to project management processes. I tend to see the results of the lack of project management process(missed deadlines, chaos tracking down missing information or missed steps from upstream, and in general a stressful environment due to lack of planning and communication in regards to projects / product releases). I have no formal training in project management, but it is by side effect becoming a big part of my job. I've read a bit on project management(Agile methodology, Project Management Lite,...), and to be honest I'm not sure where to start(a bit overwhelmed with all of the information, and a lot of it doesn't seem applicable to us). I don't believe the business sees much value in hiring a professional project manager, or sending some to get formally trained. Although, they do agree we can streamline our processes for releasing products and this should be a priority for me in the coming year. I don't believe they see a link between slow release cycle time, missed deadlines, etc to the lack of project management process. I work in this area on a daily basis and it is very obvious this is the root cause of the problem they are asking me to help solve...
I've got some very very crude practices in place such as a shared spreadsheet with a list of open product releases(aka projects) I send out to applicable departments, with priorities. I also have weekly meetings with my team to keep them on track, and we use Asana for detailed task tracking and communication.
Sorry for all the detail, but before getting to my question I think this background info is crucial to understanding the context of my question... I'm a bit overwhelmed with all of the information on project management, and most of it seems to assume we are working with a PMP or getting someone to become a PMP. This is not a viable option for us to go from where we are to best practices in project management. What I'm hoping someone can point me to is suggestions on what a good methodology would be I should read about. Also if there are any resources anyone could suggest that is more of a "baby steps" type approach.
I would suggest to start with fundamentals, basic concepts. Take a PMBOK guide or any other guide you are comfortable with, just to understand and familiarize.
Suggested Readings:
A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)–Fifth Edition
