Customer Reviews

The Little Black Book of Project Management

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

 

 

I was looking for a book that would get me going fairly quickly. I had a project with a tight budget that was going to take the better part of a year. I needed to start managing it, and I needed to start then. Those 600+ page college-text style tomes were not going to help. Then I found this little gem, and I was off and running.

Thomsett starts at the beginning--organizing-- then in 11 chapters and 182 pages describes planning, team-building, budgeting, scheduling, communication, documentation, review, and even tips for eliminating common problems. The most important (and common) tools such as PERT and Gantt charts, flow diagrams, etc. are all here. There are even exercises after each chapter (with answers in the appendix) so you can test yourself and make sure you've got it.

This book helped me get it, and gave me the tools I needed to be able to manage my project successfully. If you're an accomplished project manager, this book will seem basic (although it may be a good review). If you're starting down this path or want to share the basics with your team members, you'll find it to be quite helpful.

This book offers a lot of advice to would be project managers; unfortunately, little of it appears to be born of experience. In fact, following this book to the letter would lead to one novice pitfall after another. The author recommends against adding float (he calls it 'fudge') to cost or time budgets. Experience yields contact with variance, and variance is a fact of life that cannot be denied in the planning phase. Toward the end of the book, advising how to build a career, the author suggests that projects should always be brought in on time and on budget. Without float, how in the world can things come in on time and on budget without a miracle? Although some of the information provided is useful, the mistakes in here are toxic enough to warrant avoiding the book. I would think a book entitled 'little black book' would provide some coverage of organizational politics. Perhaps this is a book that could be sent anonymously to one's enemies? My advice is to avoid the book, and to avoid getting your boss the book, despite the fact that other reviews describe it as an executive primer.

If you are new to the world of project management, and you are looking for a handy, easy-to-read, yet detailed collection of information about successfully managing projects, then this book is a great place to start.

This book methodically walked through the steps of successful project management: initial planning, assembling a project team, budgeting, work scheduling, and project reviewing. Besides those key project management basics, it included a chapter on the importance of project-related communications and a chapter on the career challenges and opportunities of project management. At the end of each chapter was a short "work project" to help the reader check his understanding of the chapter's main points. Throughout the book, the author identified many additional resources (i.e. books and websites) to expand and complement the information presented. The book also made use of many effective checklists and figures to organize and present the information.

As a retired career Marine officer with many years of successfully managing events and projects, and now as a contractor supporting diverse government and military organizations, this book helped me to smoothly transition to the world of civilian project management.

If there is only one book you want to read and you don't want to spend more than a few hours to get up to speed on project management, this is that book.

We were introduced to this book in graduate school at Georgia Tech while taking some Industrial Engineering classes that had a lot of team oriented projects. The Industrial Engineering graduate program at Georgia Tech has consistently ranked No. 1 in the nation for at least the last decade. So, when they recommended that we buy, read and keep this book for a long time to come, I didn't question their judgment.

I wasn't too thrilled with what the book had to say when I first read it a few years back. My first impressions were - why are they making such a big deal about these simple concepts? The theory in the book seemed too simplistic at the time. But over the last few years as I started gaining experience as a project manager, I discovered the reasons why this book is so popular.

The reason why this book is so valuable - most people when first introduced to project management are not interested in reading a lot of material on the subject and want to get a Cliff's notes version of the subject. That's when you can get the most benefit from this book. It is better to read this book than not read anything at all on the subject. And it is a very easy book to read.

Over the years, I have been able to convince several people to read this book and gain project management skills because it is not that much of a commitment to ask from people. I have even led weekly project management learning sessions using this book as the main tool. It worked and people learned quite a bit more about project management than they knew before reading the book.

After years of project management experience and passing the PMP, I now realize what a gem this book is even for an experienced project manager. It can act as a refresher if you read it once a year. Sometimes, we all tend to forget the simplest and most obvious things and this book helps us remember the basic project management principles.

Don't be fooled by this 170 page lightweight, it packs quite a powerful punch! A lot of professionals who are not project managers have thanked me for recommending this book. It helped them understand what I do as a project manager without having to spend too much time. It may be an excellent idea to distribute copies of this very inexpensive book to members of your team so that it can enhance team communications.

If project management is your career, you should definitely move on to other books after finishing this book. You can keep the copy as an annual refresher though.

First of all, the book is over 10 years old at this point. Second of all, it's based on industrial project management concepts from the 70's. Third, it accomplishes very little besides completely boring the reader for 170 pages. It dispenses useless advice such as "make a budget," "make a schedule," written in a stilted format apparently designed to numb the reader's brain. You will not refer back to this book as a reference at any point after reading, I promise you.

If this book has sold well, I imagine it's because of the clever title and black cover. It's certainly not because of the contents. Try "Project Management for Dummies" instead--it's got a silly title, but has much more useful information inside. Or at least buy something sold more recently than this paperweight.

I have no issues with the quality of the book. It was shipped fast, got here on time, and I have no issues with anything as far as that goes.

My issue is with the material itself, this book is old and outdated. There are some useful ideas tucked away in this little book. But I would advice you to find another source if you are thinking about picking up a book on project management. There is so much junk in this book, based on how the authors writing style is you seriously just need to read the first sentence or two of each paragraph and skip the rest.

Pass on this book and keep looking. I would have given it a 1.5 star review but feeling nice I rounded up.

When a major project falls into your lap, one thing is certain: When it's over, your reputation in your organization will be either a lot better or a lot worse, based on how the project turns out. Michael Thomsett covers all the bases you'll need to hit to manage a project successfully, one of the most daunting tasks managers face. He stuffs an impressive amount of information into 205 pages, although at times the text reads as if it is also the product of a flowchart diagram. Thomsett views project management as more science than art, insisting, for example, that project managers should not build a "fudge factor" or float into their budgets. This advice overlooks the unscientific impact that exceeding your budget can have on your career. We recommend reading this little black book before you start your next project.

This book was easy to read and full of helpful information!