Real-world project management tools and techniques you can start using today IT professionals are often faced with extremely challenging project deployments, as well as initiatives that are mission-critical to their organizations. For IT project managers, a strong understanding of the discipline of project management can be invaluable-both to success with individual projects and to their overall careers. However, most books and training materials on project management pay little or no attention to the unique challenges IT project managers face. "PM Crash Course(TM) for IT Professionals" is full of project management tools that you can apply immediately to your IT projects-to deliver them on time, on budget, and with fewer headaches. Authored by world-renowned project management trainer Rita Mulcahy, this book will help you get your IT projects back on track using proven, real-world project management tools and techniques. This revolutionary Course in a Book(R) covers the basics of project management, including planning, scheduling, budgeting, and more. It also moves beyond the basics to cover a number of real-world project management tools and techniques for IT initiatives. The authors provide indispensable practical checklists, templates, and exercises to reinforce your learning of these concepts. The book includes dozens of tricks, insights, and contributions from real project managers sharing what has made a difference for them when managing real-world projects. If you are looking for easy-to-use tools and processes to make an immediate impact on your current IT project, "PM Crash Course(TM) for IT Professionals" is the resource for you. Rita Mulcahy, PMP, founder and CEO of RMC Project Management, is the most popular project management author in the world. Since 1991, hundreds of thousands of project managers have utilized her 30+ best-selling books and resources to expand their project management knowledge and further their careers. Real-World Issues Covered: - Understanding why IT projects fail---and preventing failure - Defining effective IT project charters and requirements- Organizing IT roadmaps into manageable projects- Capturing, creating, and using historical data - Establishing "soft" and "hard" project metrics and milestones - Defining project scope, and avoiding scope creep- Identifying and managing stakeholders and expectations- Choosing the right PM tools for your needs-including in-house, hosted, and cloud-based solutions