An interesting and reader friendly writing style makes for a clear presentation, complete with all the necessary assumptions and mathematical details. Chapter topics include probability concepts and applications, decision models and decision trees, regression models, forecasting, inventory control models, linear programming modeling applications and computer analyses, network models, project management, simulation modeling, and more. For an introduction toquantitative analysis, quantitative management, operations research, or management science-especially for those individuals preparing for work in agricultural economics and health care fields.

    From difficult employees to demanding bosses, you never know where your next problem is coming from. What you do know is that you'll be expected to solve that problem--and solve it quickly and effectively.The New Manager's Handbook explains the rules of this new game, and gives you invaluable tips and pointers for teaming with your employees while inspiring them to breakthrough performance and results. Let the two dozen rules and guidelines in this quick-hitting manual show you the best ways to:DelegateReview performanceThink strategicallyLead great meetingsGive and get results-oriented feedbackProvide directionSpeak with powerCriticize with honesty and tactAsk the right questionsMotivate average performersPrepare for changeAs a new manager in today's no-room-for-error workplace, you will be challenged and tested every day. Unlike previous positions, however, your success will judged by the performance of others. Give yourself every opportunity to succeed, and learn how to win the respect of both your employees and your supervisors, with the time-tested and field-proven techniques in The New Manager's Handbook.

    The book demands rigorous analysis on the part of students without requiring consistent use of sophisticated mathematical modeling to perform it. When the use of quantitative tools or formal modeling is indicated, it is only to perform the necessary analysis needed to inform and support a practical business solution. The guiding principle in the development of Matching Supply with Demand has been "real operations, real solutions." "Real operations" means that most of the chapters in this book are written from the perspective of a specific company so that the material in this text will come to life by discussing it in a real-world context. "Real solutions" means that equations and models do not merely provide students with mathematical gymnastics for the sake of an intellectual exercise.

    Covey has taught to many of the world's top executives and most influential leaders. Align your organization's resources and structures to increase long-term performance and create a high-trust culture - the ultimate competitive advantage.

    This is your guide to getting the most out of them. It's an unquestioned truth of modern life: we are starved for time. We tell ourselves we'd like to read more, get to the gym regularly, try new hobbies, and accomplish all kinds of goals. But then we give up because there just aren't enough hours to do it all. Or if we don't make excuses, we make sacrifices- taking time out from other things in order to fit it all in. There has to be a better way...and Laura Vanderkam has found one. After interviewing dozens of successful, happy people, she realized that they allocate their time differently than most of us. Instead of letting the daily grind crowd out the important stuff, they start by making sure there's time for the important stuff. When plans go wrong and they run out of time, only their lesser priorities suffer. Vanderkam shows that with a little examination and prioritizing, you'll find it is possible to sleep eight hours a night, exercise five days a week, take piano lessons, and write a novel without giving up quality time for work, family, and other things that really matter.

    As newly appointed captain of the USS Santa Fe, a nuclear-powered submarine, he was responsible for more than a hundred sailors, deep in the sea. In this high-stress environment, where there is no margin for error, it was crucial his men did their job and did it well.But the ship was dogged by poor morale, poor performance, and the worst retention in the fleet. Marquet acted like any other captain until, one day, he unknowingly gave an impossible order, and his crew tried to follow it anyway. When he asked why the order wasn't challenged, the answer was "Because you told me to." Marquet realized he was leading in a culture of followers, and they were all in danger unless they fundamentally changed the way they did things. That's when Marquet took matters into his own hands and pushed for leadership at every level. Turn the Ship Around! is the true story of how the Santa Fe skyrocketed from worst to first in the fleet by challenging the U.S. Navy's traditional leader-follower approach. Struggling against his own instincts to take control, he instead achieved the vastly more powerful model of giving control. Before long, each member of Marquet's crew became a leader and assumed responsibility for everything he did, from clerical tasks to crucial combat decisions. The crew became fully engaged, contributing their full intellectual capacity every day, and the Santa Fe started winning awards and promoting a highly disproportionate number of officers to submarine command.No matter your business or position, you can apply Marquet's radical guidelines to turn your own ship around. The payoff: a workplace where everyone around you is taking responsibility for their actions, where people are healthier and happier, where everyone is a leader.

    Fully updated with the 2009 practice guidelines, this book will take you through every step of a project - from planning and establishing roles to closing and reviewing - offering practical and easy-to-understand advice on using PRINCE2. It also shows how to use the method when approaching the key concerns of project management, including setting up effective controls, managing project risk, managing quality and controlling change. PRINCE2 allows you to divide your project into manageable chunks, so you can make realistic plans and know when resources will be needed. PRINCE2 For Dummies, 2009 Edition provides you with a comprehensive guide to its systems, procedures and language so you can run efficient and successful projects.PRINCE2 For Dummies, 2009 Edition includes: Part I: How PRINCE Can Help You - Chapter 1: So What's a Project Method and Why Do I Need to Use One? - Chapter 2: Outlining the Structure of PRINCE2 - Chapter 3: Getting Real Power from PRINCE2Part II: Working Through Your Project - Chapter 4: Checking the Idea Before You Start - Chapter 5: Planning the Whole Project: Initiation - Chapter 6: Preparing for a Stage in the Project - Chapter 7: Controlling a Stage - Chapter 8: Building the Deliverables - the Work of the Teams - Chapter 9: Finishing the Project - Chapter 10: Running Effective Project BoardsPart III: Help with PRINCE Project Management - Chapter 11: Producing and Updating the Business Case - Chapter 12: Deciding Roles and Responsibilities - Chapter 13: Managing Project Quality - Chapter 14: Planning the Project, Stages, and Work Packages - Chapter 15: Managing Project Risk - Chapter 16: Controlling Change and Controlling Versions - Chapter 17: Monitoring Progress and Setting Up Effective ControlsPart IV: The Part of Tens - Chapter 18: Ten Ways to Make PRINCE Work Well - Chapter 19: Ten Tips for a Good Business Case - Chapter 20: Ten Things for Successful Project Assurance Part V: Appendices - Appendix A: Looking into PRINCE Qualifications - Appendix B: Glossary of the Main PRINCE2 Terms

    To grow professionally, you also need soft skills and effective learning techniques. Honing those skills is what this book is all about. Authors Dave Hoover and Adewale Oshineye have cataloged dozens of behavior patterns to help you perfect essential aspects of your craft. Compiled from years of research, many interviews, and feedback from O'Reilly's online forum, these patterns address difficult situations that programmers, administrators, and DBAs face every day. And it's not just about financial success. Apprenticeship Patterns also approaches software development as a means to personal fulfillment. Discover how this book can help you make the best of both your life and your career. Solutions to some common obstacles that this book explores in-depth include:Burned out at work? "Nurture Your Passion" by finding a pet project to rediscover the joy of problem solving.Feeling overwhelmed by new information? Re-explore familiar territory by building something you've built before, then use "Retreat into Competence" to move forward again.Stuck in your learning? Seek a team of experienced and talented developers with whom you can "Be the Worst" for a while. "Brilliant stuff! Reading this book was like being in a time machine that pulled me back to those key learning moments in my career as a professional software developer and, instead of having to learn best practices the hard way, I had a guru sitting on my shoulder guiding me every step towards master craftsmanship. I'll certainly be recommending this book to clients. I wish I had this book 14 years ago!" -Russ Miles, CEO, OpenCredo

    While Lean methodologies were developed in manufacturing environments, many Lean principles can be applied to any kind of business or activity; from software development to accounting systems to household chores.This short book introduces the core concepts of kanban and offers a step by step guide to getting started with kanban.

    But when he took the helm in 2004, America was losing that war badly: despite vastly inferior resources and technology, Al Qaeda was outmaneuvering America’s most elite warriors. McChrystal came to realize that today’s faster, more interdependent world had overwhelmed the conventional, top-down hierarchy of the US military. Al Qaeda had seen the future: a decentralized network that could move quickly and strike ruthlessly. To defeat such an enemy, JSOC would have to discard a century of management wisdom, and pivot from a pursuit of mechanical efficiency to organic adaptability. Under McChrystal’s leadership, JSOC remade itself, in the midst of a grueling war, into something entirely new: a network that combined robust centralized communication with decentralized managerial authority. As a result, they beat back Al Qaeda. In this book, McChrystal shows not only how the military made that transition, but also how similar shifts are possible in all organizations, from large companies to startups to charities to governments. In a turbulent world, the best organizations think and act like a team of teams, embracing small groups that combine the freedom to experiment with a relentless drive to share what they’ve learned. Drawing on a wealth of evidence from his military career, the private sector, and sources as diverse as hospital emergency rooms and NASA’s space program, McChrystal frames the existential challenge facing today’s organizations, and presents a compelling, effective solution.

    Easy to digest and highly visual, you can read it in a weekend...and use it for an entire career. Drawing on 15 years of pioneering experience implementing Agile and Scrum and helping others do so, Zuzana Sochova guides you step by step through all key facets of success as a ScrumMaster in any context. Sochova reviews the ScrumMaster's responsibilities, introduces her powerful State of Mind model and #ScrumMasterWay approach, and teaches crucial metaskills that every ScrumMaster needs. Learn how to build more effective teams, manage change in Agile environments, and take fulladvantage of the immensely powerful ScrumMaster toolbox. Throughout, Sochova illuminates each concept with practical, proven examples that show how to move from idea to successful execution.Understand the ScrumMaster's key role in creating high-performance self-organizing teams Master all components of the ScrumMaster State of Mind: teaching/mentoring, removing impediments, facilitation, and coaching Operate effectively as a ScrumMaster at all levels: team, relationships, and the entire system Sharpen key ScrumMaster cognitive strategies and core competencies Build great teams, and improve teams that are currently dysfunctional Drive deeper change in a safer environment with better support for those affected Make the most of Shu Ha Ri, System Rule, Root Cause Analysis, Impact Mapping, and other ScrumMaster tools Whether you're a long-time Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) or participating in your first Scrum project, this guide will help you leverage world-class insight in all you do and get the outstanding results you're looking for. Register your product at informit.com/register for convenient access to downloads, updates, and corrections as they become available Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE

     Share before you’re ready. Get more agreements. Have difficult conversations. These are a few of the practical but profound ideas Lessonly CEO Max Yoder shares in Do Better Work. No matter your rank or role, if you want to see more understanding, accountability, and progress on your team, these stories and examples are for you. Praise for Do Better Work: “Devastatingly effective, and a must-read for business leaders with a soul. Do Better Work is the modern manual for how to align company success and personal growth.” Jay Baer, New York Times bestselling author of Youtility and co-author of Talk Triggers “The best books pop lightbulbs over our heads that feel so obvious we wonder why we didn't realize them all along. This book does that. An essential read for any 21st-century leader." Coco Brown, CEO and founder of The Athena Alliance “Our world needs a style of leadership that puts people at the center, and I can think of no better guide than the lessons contained in this book.” Scott Dorsey, former CEO of ExactTarget/Salesforce Marketing Cloud “Practical advice with a soul and a deep understanding of how humans connect and work together.” Nataly Kogan, founder of Happier @ Work and author of Happier Now

    Now this classic book has been fully updated and revised with leading-edge practices--and hundreds of new code samples--illustrating the art and science of software construction. Capturing the body of knowledge available from research, academia, and everyday commercial practice, McConnell synthesizes the most effective techniques and must-know principles into clear, pragmatic guidance. No matter what your experience level, development environment, or project size, this book will inform and stimulate your thinking--and help you build the highest quality code. Discover the timeless techniques and strategies that help you: Design for minimum complexity and maximum creativity Reap the benefits of collaborative development Apply defensive programming techniques to reduce and flush out errors Exploit opportunities to refactor--or evolve--code, and do it safely Use construction practices that are right-weight for your project Debug problems quickly and effectively Resolve critical construction issues early and correctly Build quality into the beginning, middle, and end of your project

    Most leaders need reminding everyday that with their privileges comes responsibility and obligation. If any young man or woman seeking to become a leader and not a manager only reads one book on leadership, let it be this one!

    Significant numbers of poorly designed programs have been created by less-experienced developers, resulting in applications that are inefficient and hard to maintain and extend. Increasingly, software system professionals are discovering just how difficult it is to work with these inherited, non-optimal applications. For several years, expert-level object programmers have employed a growing collection of techniques to improve the structural integrity and performance of such existing software programs. Referred to as refactoring, these practices have remained in the domain of experts because no attempt has been made to transcribe the lore into a form that all developers could use... until now. In Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Software, renowned object technology mentor Martin Fowler breaks new ground, demystifying these master practices and demonstrating how software practitioners can realize the significant benefits of this new process.