If you are part of a large business or are associated with the federal, state, or local government as an employee or as a contractor, this book has special meaning for you. It uses many federal policies, plans, processes, and standards as references. It uses these references for two reasons: first, they are thorough, and second, you, as a taxpayer, have already paid for them—why not use them?

Projects and programs usually consist of three principal periods—planning,conducting, and concluding. The conducting period is divided into two parts that occur sporadically: normal and terrifying. The normal part consists of theday-to-day activities that are going according to plan. The terrifying part is when the project goes off track—roughly akin to a ‘‘near-miss’’ in an airplane. This book was written to take some of the terror out of the ‘‘near-miss.’’ While this book won’t solve all your problems, it will give you a leg up on a lot of them. In addition, this book will provide techniques to tailor or customize the process to your way of doing business or for your specific business area or your specific technical problems.

Many companies reward project and program managers for jobs well done. These rewards come in a number of different forms. One of the rewards is in the category of recovery. It is a coveted award because any project or program manager who has been around for a while knows that it is considerably more difficult to restore a project or program than it is to start up or maintain one. Frequently, the recovery award is called the Phoenix Award. It is called the Phoenix Award because it relates to the mysterious phoenix—the bird that is the symbol of immortality, resurrection, life, and death. In ancient mythology, the phoenix was said to consume itself in flames and then, three days later arise from the ashes, allowing the cycle of life to continue. . . .