What We Are Reading

Modern Drug Development combines the skills of many disciplines. Our reading list shows both mainstream titles and more advanced topics

Knowledge Management

If Only We Knew What We Know: The Transfer of Internal Knowledge and Best Practice
by Carla O'dell, C. Jackson Grayson

Internal best practices, discussing the barriers to internal knowledge transfer and offering detailed recommendations for overcoming these barriers. Of particular value is their Knowledge Management Assessment Tool.
Harvard Business Review on Knowledge Management
by Peter Ferdinand Drucker, David Garvin, Dorothy Leonard, Susan Straus, John Seely Brown

This book is a compilation of articles excerpted from the Harvard Business Review covering a period from 1988-1997 - and they still hold true in today's companies. The articles focus on the way organizations can acquire, use, and maintain knowledge in order to remain on the cutting edge of their fields.

Portfolio Management

  Portfolio Management for New Products
by Robert G. Cooper, Scott J. Edgett, Elko J. Kleinschmidt

A solid introduction to approaches of portfolio management and applicable to almost any industry. It gives an historic background, examples of what works and  what doesn't work, how to align the project/product portfolio with core competencies, how to realign R&D operations and more. If your company is using a Stage Gate product development process, this book will be a great addition as the portfolio review approach links right into the stage gates.

Project Management

Goal Directed Project Management
by Erling S Andersen, Kristoffer V Grude, Tor Haug

Goal Directed Project Management (GDPM) is a management philosophy and a set of tools and principles for planning, organizing, leading and controlling projects. The method is characterized by its practical and “psychological” approach to both focusing a project group to reach common goals and on controlling the progress of each individual. GDPM is simple: Why! Project definition, What! Deliverables; How! Activities.
The Handbook of Program Management: How to Facilitate Project Success with Optimal Program Management
by James T Brown

With The Handbook of Program Management, you'll obtain the skills to incorporate new technology and people into your processes while delivering improved products and services that continually outpace your competition. Dr. James Brown helps you create the necessary culture that will ensure the success of your project managers and teams by providing the insights you only get from a trusted mentor.

General Management

Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative
Ken Robinson

This is a great book. It makes you wonder why we insist on sustaining an education system that is narrow, partial, and inappropriate for the challenges of the 21st century. But it also explains how it came about. Human beings have so much latent creative ability to offer. How can we develop and access these resources..
Six Thinking Hats
Edward de Bono

De Bono wants to achieve a more structured and less confrontational thinking. The six "thinking hats" are different ways of looking at an issue that has to be decided: under the white hat one presents the facts, under the red hat one says how one feels about the issue, etc. It's a great tool for teams to work more effectively and have fun doing so.
Managing to Have Fun
by Matt Weinstein 

We spend a lot of time working, why not make it fun? This is a wonderful book with many practical ideas how to make work more fun. There are even 52 examples (one for each week of the year) of ideas for adding fun. One of my favorites was paying the toll for the person behind you at the toll booth, and lingering behind to see the expression on the person's face when they catch up to you on the road.