Customer Reviews

Fundamentals of Project Management (Worksmart)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Covers the basics -- but if you have ever read any other book on project management, or managed a project yourself, or worked for a company that has a formal project management process, or gone to a 1-day seminar on project management -- this is not for you. There's nothing wrong with this book, it's very thorough, balanced and well-thought out, but it is definitely aimed at beginners.

I have been trying for some time to get people on my company to read about Project Management, with no success: even if they start, they don't read more than a few chapters. This book has an exceptional advantage over many other books: It is short, instructive, readable, and fun.

In the last three months, I have convinced four people to read this book, lending to them the copy I bought for the company, and two of them bought a copy for themselves (I almost forgot: it is also very inexpensive :-) ). Afterwards, most of them say that the book does not contain any secrets, but it provides an excellent framework on PM, and wets their appetite for this discipline.

By the way, some of the best books on PM I have read come from Amacom. I'd recommend Team Based Project Management, also by James Lewis, and another great book is Information Systems Project Management, by Hallows.

I'm not a project manager. I'm a system administrator for a large website. I bought this book in my previous job because of all the projects I had to handle, either as a lead or as a key team member. Like many people, I'm often a project manager even though I'm not a Project Manager. The book helped some; I got some of the terminology down and at least now I can follow most of a technical discussion about project management.

That said, 80% of project management is common sense and being organized and responsible. The other 20%, the technical side, is useful, but don't fool yourself. There are probably better PM books out there, especially if you're totally unaccustomed to leading any sort of project. But if you're a pretty organized person who just wants to see what the fuss is all about, this isn't a bad choice.

A good introduction to project management. The author provides sound, basic information in a format that is very easy to read. If you have no experience as a project manager and need to get up to speed quickly, this is the best place to begin your study. It won't make you an expert, but it will give you a solid foundation on which to build.

If you are looking for a book that introduce you into project management without boring then it's a good point to begin. It'll give you the basis with an easy and nice prose including for non english.
After read it you'll have better criterion selecting another books to increase you knowledge on project management.

If you need an easy-to-read, beginners level book for Project Management, this is definetely the book. Very clear writing and good examples. It is a fundation builder for a newbie project manager.

Most people think they know what project management is all about and might think they don't need, at the very least, a quick prep course in the subject. This book is a wonderful starting point for those people. It's not going to give you all the answers, but it does say some very valid things that most of us just assume we know already.

This one is very general about some guidelines in project management without any step-by-step instruction for how to achieve. If you are a beginner, this one might be not suitable for you, go for Sunny Baker's one called IDIOT, which is the best one for beginner and senior.

This book provides some basics which anyone can use. Even if you use it just for your own work, it outlines some common sense steps which everyone should follow. I have lent it to several coworkers and all have found it useful.

Anyone wanting to get a foothold on the burgeoning field of project management can easily begin with this small book. Its clear and untechnical language flows effortlessly through ten accessible chapters. The author mixes real life anecdotes with the inevitable dump truck full of jargon. This helps pick up the pace considerably (anyone who has read books on project management knows their entertainment value). Also, various aphorisms of project management wisdom dot the margins, including a memorable one from Charlie Brown: "No problem is so big or complicated that it can't be run away from". Most, however, spill good advice for newcomers or seasoned managers seeking a refresh, such as "No plan, no control!"; "Rule: The people who must do the work should participate in developing the plan"; "The WBS is a good way to portray the scope of a project"; "An exact estimate is an oxymoron"; "Project Management is not just scheduling"; "A negative message always takes priority over a positive one"; "Process reviews conducted as witch-hunts will produce witches". One of the book's final quotes recommends that project managers watch the movie "Stand and Deliver" (the one from 1988 directed by Ramon Menendez) for a good example of leadership. This book really covers a lot of ground in some 133 pages.

Readers completely unfamiliar with project management will learn about such things as work breakdown structures, the difference between a mission, a vision, and an objective, project control, earned value analysis, and the ever elusive nature of the work estimate. These tools will help anyone get a handle on managing a small to a medium sized project (for a large project do more reading; much more reading).

Earned value analysis might have been too heavy of a subject for an introductory text. The author throws rather esoteric terms and acronyms at newcomers without providing a framework for real world application. Unfortunately, the discussion remains rather academic and probably not too useful.

The author does give a great rundown of network diagrams and their uses. No one should come out of this book without a clear understanding of early finish, late finish, early start, and late start. Readers who do should read it again. Also, the pages on critical path analysis effectively illuminate this bugbear concept.

The book doesn't end with simple concepts and jargon. An entire section on managing project teams closes the book. Many longer books ignore the psychology and human resources aspects of project management, so it's suprising to see this subject broached in a book of this length.

Of course no book attains supernatural perfection. As good as this book is, one thing missing from it is a case study that runs through all of the chapters. Many of the concepts get treated in the abstract and left there. The earned value analysis chapter suffers greatly from this lacuna. Some step by step applications of the concepts would improve comprehension for absolute newcomers. Plus, the book's brevity runs the risk of not providing enough granularity for retention. Some of the chapters fly by really quick, along with many of the definitions. After a constant shower of concepts readers may grow dizzy in the new world of project management and find that none of the book stuck to their neurons. But the "Key Points to Remember" included at the end of each chapter do help.

Those who need just a glance of this huge field can probably stop reading here. But those continuing on to manage projects of considerable complexity have to read more detailed books. This one will by no means give potential project managers all that they need. It serves best as a ten thousand foot view of the field or as a reiteration of basic concepts. So don't rely on it alone. Nonetheless, the book succeeds admirably in what it sets out to do: lay out the fundamentals of project management in an accessible way for general readers.