Just Enough Project Management: The Indispensable Four-step Process for Managing Any Project, Better, Faster, Cheaper [Paperback]

Curtis Cook (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 20, 2004

Practical, proven techniques for managing today's smaller, more mission-critical projects

Managers who can bring projects in on time, under budget, and within specs are among the most valuable and marketable in today's project-driven environment. Just Enough Project Management-- written by globally renowned project management authority Curtis R. Cook--is a quick-hitting, no-nonsense pocket guide on how to successfully handle projects of any size, in any environment.

This versatile book's one-of-a-kind, customizable templates free managers from the time-consuming process of having to reinvent basic techniques and methods from one project to the next. Valuable for projects of every size, but especially helpful for today's newer breed of tighter, more focused projects, Just Enough Project Management will help project managers achieve:

• Greater bottom-line performance
• Dramatically improved team morale
• Long-term competitive advantage

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

How to successfully manage any project while eliminating bureaucracy and red tape

The project-driven approach has proven its value, leading to spectacular results--projects delivered faster and at a more reasonable cost than ever before. Problem is, the project management process used for large projects is too cumbersome and bureaucratic for the projects most of us face, and is often more complex and costly than the problems it is designed to solve. Sound familiar?

Just Enough Project Management integrates today's most effective project management information and tools into a uniquely straightforward process for managing small to medium sized projects. This valuable and timesaving manual will provide you with:

• A versatile four-step process to initiate, plan, control, and close your next project
• Customizable templates to help you get projects up and running with a minimum of wasted effort
• Tips, techniques, and war stories from the front lines of contemporary project management

The fundamental goal of project management is to produce the desired results, on time and on budget. Let Just Enough Project Management show you how to get back to that goal and manage projects that successfully transform your objectives into immediate bottom-line results, instead of simply creating more projects.

About the Author

Curtis R. Cook, Ph.D., is the former president and CEO of Novations Project Management and a globally renowned project management authority.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (October 20, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071445404
• ISBN-13: 978-0071445405
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #44,621 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Total Quality Management
  • #35 in Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Production & Operations
  • #56 in Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Project Management

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not too much, not too little, October 4, 2007

By 

Douglas Brown (Alexandria VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Just Enough Project Management: The Indispensable Four-step Process for Managing Any Project, Better, Faster, Cheaper (Paperback)

This book is about right for a new project manager or a small project (hopefully these would both go together but so often it does not). It is also quite useful for an experienced project manager of a smaller project looking for that line that separates the least amount of control from sheer negligence. This book is a little heavier than that, but still pretty light.

It is not quite as useful as the Dummies series in terms of a full service solution but really, despite the titles, those are not for novices. This book has a reasonable enough approach and reasonable enough templates to implement it.

The drawback I found was that the author uses relatively trivial illustrative "projects" so that newbie can understand the principles without getting hung up on details. The problem is even as a trained project manager the examples of PM applied to such simple things as "weekend at the country cabin" projected precisely the image of absurd over-control that is the thing that frightens PM opponents in the first place. For a real newbie, it could even more scary because if that is what you have to do for something so obviously simple, how much overhead goes with a real project?

That is really a minor quibble, though. If you are introducing a novice to the idea of PM, or if you are introducing PM to a nervous organization, this book might be a good place to start as a base case. It is certainly about the closest thing I have found in the past months of looking for such a solution.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just Right, January 6, 2008

By 

Christopher Erickson - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Just Enough Project Management: The Indispensable Four-step Process for Managing Any Project, Better, Faster, Cheaper (Paperback)

I was looking for a good basic book to recommend to some PM-phobic coworkers and found the Idiot's and Dummie's editions rather pale and useless.

I especially appreciate Cook's emphasis on using just the right amount of PM and not letting the PM process overwhelm the actual work!

This book was exactly what I was looking for. Not too PMBOK-heavy and not too dimwit-light.

4.0 out of 5 stars Just Enough Project Management: The Indispensable Four-step Process for Managing Any Project, Better, Faster, Cheaper, October 21, 2011

By 

Jean N. Koster (Louisville, CO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Just Enough Project Management: The Indispensable Four-step Process for Managing Any Project, Better, Faster, Cheaper (Paperback)

The book holds its promises. It gives a brief discussion on some essential components of project management. Ideal for everybody who wants to get a quick start in project management.