Effective Project Management: Traditional, Adaptive, Extreme [Paperback]

Robert K. Wysocki (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 18, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0470042613 | ISBN-13: 978-0470042618 | Edition: 4

Unlock your potential and achieve breakthrough performance in project management

If you're looking for a more robust approach to project management--one that recognizes the project environment and adapts accordingly--then this is the perfect resource. It not only guides you through the traditional methods, but also covers the adaptive and extreme approaches as well. You'll gain an in-depth understanding of each one and know exactly when and how to use them.

You'll also be introduced to the Adaptive Project Framework, which arms you with a new project management methodology. And with the help of two new case studies, you'll be able to put these ideas into practice and experience some of the contemporary nuances of projects.

This definitive guide to project management shows you how to:

• Take advantage of new variations on traditional project management methods, including risk assessment and control
• Decide the best method for managing specific types of projects by analyzing all of the pros and cons
• Apply the Adaptive Project Framework to the world of fast-paced, high-change, and complex projects
• Create a war room to successfully manage multiple team projects
• Determine how project portfolio management approaches can help companies achieve a greater return on investment
• Utilize all nine Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) standards advocated by the Project Management Institute (PMI)

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Unlock your potential and achieve breakthrough performance in project management

If you're looking for a more robust approach to project management—one that recognizes the project environment and adapts accordingly—then this is the perfect resource. It not only guides you through the traditional methods, but also covers the adaptive and extreme approaches as well. You'll gain an in-depth understanding of each one and know exactly when and how to use them.

You'll also be introduced to the Adaptive Project Framework, which arms you with a new project management methodology. And with the help of two new case studies, you'll be able to put these ideas into practice and experience some of the contemporary nuances of projects.

This definitive guide to project management shows you how to:

• Take advantage of new variations on traditional project management methods, including risk assessment and control
• Decide the best method for managing specific types of projects by analyzing all of the pros and cons
• Apply the Adaptive Project Framework to the world of fast-paced, high-change, and complex projects
• Create a war room to successfully manage multiple team projects
• Determine how project portfolio management approaches can help companies achieve a greater return on investment
• Utilize all nine Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) standards advocated by the Project Management Institute (PMI)

About the Author

Robert K. Wysocki, Ph.D., has over 40 years' experience as a project management consultant and trainer, information systems manager, systems and management consultant, and training developer and provider. He is the founder of Enterprise Information Insights, Inc., a project management consulting and training practice. Wysocki has also written 15 books on project management and information systems management.

Product Details

• Paperback: 672 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 4 edition (December 18, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470042613
• ISBN-13: 978-0470042618
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 1.3 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #810,599 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My entire professional life has been focused on project management in one way or another. First as a practitioner starting in 1963. PMI wouldn't arrive on the scene until 1969 and so I was on my own. As a result I'm self-taught and all of my books have grown out of my practice of the profession. I grew up to be a consultant, then a trainer, and now an author. I'm currently writing my 22nd book tentatively titled "A Practical Enterprise-level Project Management Model." My signature book is "Effective Project Management: Traditional, Agile, Extreme." Now in its 6th edition it is used in over 300 colleges and universities worldwide and is also a best seller in the professional reference market. Being a best-seller in those very different markets is unique. All of my books are theoretically sound and PMBOK compliant but they grew out of my own personal experiences as a project management consultant. I hope you enjoy the practical nature of what I have learned and have shared about the practice of project management.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good introductory book March 21, 2002

By "alquimista"

Format:Paperback

I purchased this book because I was looking for material to prepare the PMP certification exam. The book is easy to read and the concepts and key terms are clean and well explained. However, from my point of view, is too shallow to be fully "effective". I've been managing software projects for the last 6 years and, after reading the book, I felt that it didn't cover all my expectations, for example, treatment of Critical Chain Project Management is little more than a quote of its existence.

Anyway, if you are looking for an introductory book on PM I think is a pretty good book, but remember, to gain more in depth knowledge on particular subject matters you'll have to look at the references.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, yet succinct August 27, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

An excellent book on management of IT projects. The author discusses three different kinds of project management: Traditional, Adaptive and Extreme. The book is worth the purchase price for just the discussion on the Traditional project management method. The material about "Adaptive" and "Extreme" variations are icing on the cake.

What I like about this book is that the author effectively acknowledges the shortcomings of traditional project management and does not harp on its dogma. The material on adaptive project management offers a way out for those projects where the method of implementation is so unknown that traditional full-court project management practices will only hurt and not help. Much of the information on adaptive and extreme project management is similar to the "extreme programming" methodology, but specifically targeted towards a project manager.

I think this book is an excellent purchase. It is well written and succinct (unlike the 1000 pages of bullet-points from a competing author). Other reasons to purchase the book are its reasonable price and the fact that you get a trial version of Microsoft Project 2002 with it.

I wish the author had gone into greater depth about earned value. I have found earned value difficult to do without good support from the project management tool (calculating BCWS for example is tedious to do by hand); every time I tried to do earned value for a real project using MP98 or MP2000 the tool has crashed on me.

In summary I believe that this is an excellent book, and should be read by every project manager.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The third edition is excellent August 14, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

There is a complete PM education in this fairly compact book. The third edition touches upon non-traditional project management. In other words, project management in real life as opposed to what is in most every textbook.

To me the value of the third edition lies in Robert Wysocki's recognition of projects where either the goal is clear but the methods aren't, or where even the goal is unclear. These types of projects seem to predominate in IT. This book is worth purchasing for the insight that the authors bring into the non-traditional non-textbook real-life projects.

The prose is clearly written and reads very tightly. Contrast this to the random collection of thoughts in Kerzner's book. This book is written for the practitioner, though someone taking a college course in project management would also benefit.

Excellent book, at an excellent price. You can't go wrong.