The Smart Mission
NASA's Lessons for Managing Knowledge, People, and Projects
Published on 16. August 2022
176 pages
978-0-262-36954-1 (ISBN)
Description
EFFECTIVE PROJECT MANAGEMENT, ACCORDING TO NASA: Three project management experts reveal why human skills and expertise-not technical tools-are what make projects succeed.
The project is the basic unit of work in many industries. Software applications, antiviral vaccines, launch-ready spacecraft: all were produced by a team and managed as a project. Project management emphasizes control, processes, and tools-but, according to The Smart Mission, that is not the right way to run a project. Human skills and expertise, not technical tools, are what make projects successful. Projects run on knowledge. This paradigm-shifting book-by 3 project management experts, all of whom have decades of experience at NASA and elsewhere-challenges the conventional wisdom on project management, focusing on the human dimension: learning, collaboration, teaming, communication, and culture.
The authors emphasize three themes: projects are fundamentally about how teams work and learn together to get things done; the local level-not an organization's upper levels-is where the action happens; and projects don't operate in a vacuum but exist within organizations that are responsible to stakeholders. Drawing on examples and case studies from NASA and other organizations, the authors identify three project models-micro, macro, and global-and their different knowledge needs. Successful organizations have a knowledge-based culture. Successful project management guides the interplay of knowledge, projects, and people.
The project is the basic unit of work in many industries. Software applications, antiviral vaccines, launch-ready spacecraft: all were produced by a team and managed as a project. Project management emphasizes control, processes, and tools-but, according to The Smart Mission, that is not the right way to run a project. Human skills and expertise, not technical tools, are what make projects successful. Projects run on knowledge. This paradigm-shifting book-by 3 project management experts, all of whom have decades of experience at NASA and elsewhere-challenges the conventional wisdom on project management, focusing on the human dimension: learning, collaboration, teaming, communication, and culture.
The authors emphasize three themes: projects are fundamentally about how teams work and learn together to get things done; the local level-not an organization's upper levels-is where the action happens; and projects don't operate in a vacuum but exist within organizations that are responsible to stakeholders. Drawing on examples and case studies from NASA and other organizations, the authors identify three project models-micro, macro, and global-and their different knowledge needs. Successful organizations have a knowledge-based culture. Successful project management guides the interplay of knowledge, projects, and people.
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Edward J. Hoffman | Matthew Kohut | Laurence Prusak
The Smart Mission
NASA's Lessons for Managing Knowledge, People, and Projects
Book
10/2023
MIT Press
€22.00
Shipment within 10-20 days
Edward J. Hoffman | Matthew Kohut
The Smart Mission
NASA's Lessons for Managing Knowledge, People, and Projects
Book
08/2022
MIT Press
€25.50
Shipment within 10-20 days
Persons
Edward J. Hoffman, currently CEO of Knowledge Strategies, LLC, and Senior Lecturer at Columbia University, was NASA's first Chief Knowledge Officer and founder of the NASA Academy of Program/Project and Engineering Leadership (APPEL). Following the Columbia shuttle failure, he led the team that designed the Strategic Management and Governance Handbook. He is the coauthor of Shared Voyage: Learning and Unlearning from Remarkable Projects.
Matthew Kohut, former major communication advisor to NASA, is coauthor of Compelling People: The Hidden Qualities That Make Us Influential, named one of Amazon's Best Business Books of 2013.
Laurence Prusak, former strategy consultant to Hoffman at NASA, is Senior Lecturer in the Information and Knowledge Strategy graduate program at Columbia University and the coauthor of Working Knowledge, a widely cited text about how knowledge works in organizations, and other books.
Matthew Kohut, former major communication advisor to NASA, is coauthor of Compelling People: The Hidden Qualities That Make Us Influential, named one of Amazon's Best Business Books of 2013.
Laurence Prusak, former strategy consultant to Hoffman at NASA, is Senior Lecturer in the Information and Knowledge Strategy graduate program at Columbia University and the coauthor of Working Knowledge, a widely cited text about how knowledge works in organizations, and other books.
Content
Introduction vii
1 Knowledge 1
2 Learning 23
3 Stories: Knowledge, Meaning, and Community 47
4 Culture 65
5 Teaming 81
6 Global Collaboration: The International Space Station 105
Don Cohen
7 The Way Forward: Mission-Critical Advice 123
Notes 131
Index 145
1 Knowledge 1
2 Learning 23
3 Stories: Knowledge, Meaning, and Community 47
4 Culture 65
5 Teaming 81
6 Global Collaboration: The International Space Station 105
Don Cohen
7 The Way Forward: Mission-Critical Advice 123
Notes 131
Index 145
