Modern project management is increasingly important, as it is very well suited for fulfilling today's demands on companies, especially regarding the efficient cooperation of individuals, as well as the development of a goal- and solution-oriented approach.

A project can be understood as a temporary company, since all essential enterprise management functions must be performed in projects as well. The project management approach applied in the present book is a holistic management concept. In addition to project planning and control, it also covers the topics of teamwork, communication, and the organizational integration of projects into companies.

This book provides a guideline for performing individual projects, for professionally selecting projects that are vital for company success (project portfolio, program), for improving project management quality, and for consequently focusing company work on the current environmental requirements (project-oriented company). Additionally, numerous practical examples and case-studies of different project types illustrate the implementation of the presented methods.

Further relevant aspects of today's project management approaches, such as projects as business cases, procurement and contract design, virtual teamwork, project management career paths, agile project management, or Stage-Gate approaches are integrated into the actual edition. This book contributes to the further development of project management knowledge, and to the establishment of a professional project manager profile. Requirements on competencies and qualifications of project managers are integrated according to the international IPMA and PMI standards.

Univ.Prof. DI Dr. Gerold Patzak ist Universitätsprofessor für Systemtechnik und Methodologie an der Technischen Universität Wien sowie Gastprofessor an der University of Colorado at Boulder, USA. Er ist Gründer der Primas CONSULTING, einem innovativen, internationalen Consulting-Unternehmen im Bereich Projektmanagement.