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

Robert K. Wysocki (Author), Rudd McGary (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 986811585X | ISBN-13: 978-0471432210 | Publication Date: August 8, 2003 | Edition: 3rd

• An updated edition of the bestselling book on managing IT projects
• New topics introduced in this edition include Adaptive and eXtreme management methods, team selection and management, and risk analysis
• Immerses readers in a simulated real-world situation where they must perform as seasoned project managers to move example projects through their lifecycles
• Walks readers through a series of projects that they are most likely to encounter on the job
• Authors adhere to the Project Management Institute's (PMI) curriculum outline
• The fully-interactive CD-ROM has been updated for MS Project 2002

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"A landmark book, indispensable for today’s versatile project manager."
—Doug DeCarlo, Principal, The Doug DeCarlo Group

In previous editions, this book has established itself as the definitive guide to effective project management. Now, with this major revision, it's updated to reflect significant changes in project management practices over the last few years. Written again by Robert K. Wysocki and a new coauthor, Rudd McGary, this book covers traditional methods of project management as well as adaptive and extreme approaches. Unlike other project management books that simply give abstract advice, this timely book mentors you through a series of real-world exercises and adheres to the Project Management Institute's (PMI) Body of Knowledge, 2000 Edition.

Effective Project Management is packed with thought-provoking discussion questions related to the chapter materials and case study as well as an abundance of exercises.

The material covers:

• Traditional project management, including risk assessment and control
• Generating, building, and representing the Work Breakdown Structure
• Estimating duration, resource requirements, and cost
• Constructing and analyzing the project network diagram
• Organizing and conducting the Joint Project Planning session
• Recruiting and managing a project team
• Adapative Project Framework, Extreme Project Management, and their core values
• Project portfolio management, including prioritizing projects

THE CD-ROM contains case study files that reinforce the principles and skills discussed in the book, PowerPoint® slides of every figure and table in the book, and Microsoft® Project 2002, 120 Day Trial Edition.

About the Author

ROBERT K. WYSOCKI, PHD, has more than 38 years of experience as a project management consultant and trainer, information systems manager, systems and management consultant, author, and training developer and provider. Effective Project Management, Second Edition, is a bestseller and is essential for the library of every project manager.

RUDD MCGARY, PHD, PMP, has been practicing and teaching project management for more than 25 years. McGary has taught at the Ohio State University, Indiana University, and the University of Iowa and has been CEO of two operating companies. As the current central Ohio VP of Certification for PMI, he has worked with hundreds of candidates to help them become certified.

Product Details

• Paperback: 504 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 3rd edition (August 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 986811585X
• ISBN-13: 978-0471432210
• ASIN: 0471432210
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,154,097 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 20th and 21st books in project management. I hope you enjoy the practical aspect of what I know and have shared about project management.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

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

By 

"alquimista" (Tres Cantos, Madrid Spain) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Effective Project Management, 2nd Edition (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

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Effective Project Management: Traditional, Adaptive, Extreme, Third Edition (Paperback)

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

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Effective Project Management: Traditional, Adaptive, Extreme, Third Edition (Paperback)

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.