Customer Reviews

Project Management: Best Practices for IT Professionals

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is not a book about project management, rather it is a collection of IT project management best practices that will guarantee success if they are incorporated into your project management bag of tricks.

Mr. Murch has classified the best practices by providing a set of general practices and a set of specific ones that are aligned to each phase of the system development life cycle. This organization allows you to use this book as a resource guide when planning, estimating and scheduling the project, and as a desk reference when controlling it.

While some of the best practices are widely known (although not as widely practiced), the real gems in this book are: associating tasks with deliverables (too often the deliverable part of the task is not identified during planning, which results in tasks that do not contribute to project goals - if a task does not produce an associated deliverable you need to question why the task is included), project status reporting (the sample status report is excellent, except for one glaring omission discussed below), and the focus on quality assurance and configuration management metrics, which encompasses factors that are frequently missing from IT project controls.

The project status report example is a highlight of this book. Mr. Murch's proposed format will provide a succinct summary of a project's health, and give the project manager, his or her team and the sponsor an ongoing view of the project's status. What mars this otherwise perfect format is an integrated view of cost and schedule performance is completely missing from the picture. He comes close by discussing estimate at completion vs. budget in the project cost performance of the report format, but does not connect it to the schedule performance. A true best practice is to compute a schedule performance index (Budgeted Cost of Work Performed divided by Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled), and a cost performance index (Budgeted Cost of Work Performed divided by Actual Cost of Work Performed). These link schedule and cost performance and show a true picture of the project's health. I hope this gets rectified in the next edition of this excellent book.

Every chapter of this book contains at least one or more gems that will make you a better project manager. I think every IT project manager should have a copy close by. We should applaud Mr. Murch's efforts for successfully cataloging and documenting these IT project management best practices. Despite the incomplete picture his project status report gives this book deserves 5 stars.

Much of what is written about project management misses the whole point. When managing a "project", you are simply managing people. All the metrics and project management software in the world will not make a successful project. It's the efforts, motivation and skill of the people involved that yield success. Mr. Murch's project management approach begins with people - understanding the necessary skills for the PM, clearly defining project team roles, devoting an entire chapter to team motivation and retention, exploring ways to involve and empower end users. The metrics and methodologies are presented as well, with case studies that clarify and emphasize important points. The book also covers the tricky topics of problem management, risk management and crisis management. I also found the sections on configuration management and release management beneficial. This is project management presented by someone who's lived it in the trenches and truly has "best practices" to share with other professionals and students of the field.

This is an important new work on project management that is written is refreshing new way that gives the reader new perspectives on the problems of managing projects. Murch has found a way to stimulate his readers. The book continually draws you in and is so interesting - - among the topics are history, team building, team retention ( a very important topic) project reporting and skills development. All this is achieved in the first section.

In the next section Murch details a complete Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) down to the task level, suggesting best practices - very few books have ever done this. This alone justifies the price and value of this book.

In the techniques section, he reviews necessary project management methods such as Rapid Application ( RAD ), problem management, risk management, PM methodologies, (another very important topic) and other topics

In conclusion as a seasoned and battle scarred Project Manager - this book will be read by my team(s) and other members of my organization.

It will not leave my desk - excellent --- full kudos to Mr. Murch.

I found little value in this book. Perhaps I misunderstood the title, but I hope to save you from doing the same. This book contains no best practices - only a very general (and incomplete) overview of the project management process.

I would have expected to see a book heavy on "practice" considering the book's title, but the book is mostly theory at a very high level. The book has more of a dictionary feel than anything else. The project management process is presented, and each area in the process is defined (at least partially).

Sections on release management, configuration management, and problem resolution were under a page long. From the description and other reviews, I was really expecting to find some meat in these areas. For that matter, most of the chapters were rather light on content - again, not what I would expect in a "practice" book.

A few other notes:

* The writing style is rather dry - not academic, but more corporate process team.
* The quality of the book materials, binding, typography are excellent.
* Resources for further reading are poor.
* Some excellent graphics: CRUD matrix, process overview, status report template (it's for this reason that I didn't give it a one star)
* Case studies were poor: they seemed to have no ties to the chapter in which they were presented.

In a nutshell, for a very high-level overview of project management theory, this book will prove beneficial. If you have a background in project management, or are familiar with the process, or are looking for infomration you can put to work, this is not the book for you.

This well written book with incisive text and the author expresses a sense of excitement and optimism about IT Project Management that pervades throughout. The book is broad in its coverage but hits the bulls eye for content,accuracy and quality. The book is particularly strong in the first parts which includes an excellent chapter on the History of Project Management and team building and retention practices.

In section two there is a detailed description of a Software Development Project Lifecycle and well-illustrated description of the tasks and milestones, deliverables. The sections on techniques is well balanced and highly informative with Chapters on Rapid Application Development (RAD),Risk management and others.

This is an important new book in the highly competitive field of Project Management and it comes highly recommended.

Mr. Richard Murch's book on Project Management can very well serve as a textbook for any beginner venturing into the area for the first time. All the same, for organizations, which impart project management training to its seasoned developers, this book could be a useful guide. Richard Murch has presented the subject with such dexterity that gives you a feeling of reading a travelogue- a real journey to Project management, from initiation to rollout.

Few books on Project management dissect its application into various SDLC areas, carefully giving pointers to best practices, key process areas, tools, methodologies and vivid examples. The special topics and appendices also give you a good insight into trends and additional references. For any successful project Manager, it would serve as a checklist of what they are practicing

I've been an IT project manager for about 30 years, working on every type of project, style and size. I have managed projects from a team of 1- to over 400 FTE's. I have just gone back to get my Master's in PM and this book helped me to attain that goal. This book was used as a textbook in one of my classes. It provides the clearest, most concise directions for project management skills I have ever seen ( and I have seen many. The writing style is precise, clear and imparts knowledge though out. The book is well structured and logical in its various sections, and anyone trying to get their IT management to buy into the concept of project management training would do well to champion this book.

Clearly, Mr. Murch has done the project management profession a great service by providing it with a text that can be used for many years to come. I highly recommend it for all PMs - either experienced, novice or intermediate. There is something here for everyone.

The best reason for reading this book is it will give you the tools and techniques with which to properly manage projects and be successful.

Get it - Read it- Learn from it.

This is the best piece of literature on Project Management that I've found anywhere. It provides proven methods you can feel confident to apply in your IT projects, and gives case studies, examples and suggestions to Best Practice levels where it is applied.

This author knows what he is talking about. Could become a classic in its field.

As a full time ITS project manager for over ten years, currently working for a major public retirement system, I have nothing but kudos for Mr. Murch's latest tome. In today's world, where it has become fashionable to define oneself as a project manager, even if the only project you have ever managed is picking up a roll of stamps for the boss on your lunch break, Richard Murch sets forth clearly what skills/abilities are necessary in order to honestly be called a project manager. This work should be beneficial both to the novice, learning about project management for the first time, as well as a guide to the executive faced with selecting a project manager for his/her staff.

Mr. Murch's book vividly describes, in easy to grasp examples, the techniques I have believed in and practiced for many years. I wish every executive in my company would read this book, my job would be much easier. I plan on keeping my copy on my desk, at all times, as a constant reminder of those skills I need to practice daily, in order to be a success as a project manager

I am a student at DeVry University working on a B.S. in Information Technology. I plan on keeping this book (actually I have two) as part of my permanent library. This book covers the basics of IT project managent including the steps of the systems development life cycle(SDLC) in a very logical and concise manner..as most of us techies tend to think. Clearly, Mr. Murch is an experienced professional IT manager. His advice focuses on what is practical and makes sense. I wish that I had had this book when I needed resources for my systems analysis term paper. Good books in this field are rare!