Customer Reviews

Project Management For Dummies

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I don't normally post reviews of books I read. However, this time I am making an exception; and I hope you take a moment to read this, if you are seriously considering buying this book.

I have been performing projects for several years at work; but recently, I began to receive expanded project responsibilities. I have never had formal project management training; and I decided it was time to look for resources to help me improve my planning and management practices. My boss and several colleagues highly recommended this book; and, after reading it, I can see why.

This book is a wonderful resource for anyone who plans and performs projects. The author takes what could certainly be a very complex and dry topic and makes it seem logical and easy to apply in many different situations. His examples are to the point and easy to relate to. His discussions on several topics (for example, assigning team member roles, defining outcomes, identifying work to be performed) helped me see why several projects with which I had been involved in the past had failed. His insights on how to ensure the tools and techniques are used most effectively are invaluable.

I was able immediately to start using many of the techniques at my job; and I saw their positive effects almost at once. I felt I had greater control over what happened in all aspects of my projects. I was even able to influence team members' behavior on some of the larger projects on which I was working.

What really motivated me to write this review, however, was a review by Joseph Dewey that I saw on this site before I bought this book. After I read the book, I realized that, sadly, his "review" consisted mainly of a combination of unsubstantiated criticisms ("this is a bad book", "(the author) is a bad author", "(the author) is arrogant", etc.) and grossly exaggerated or just plain false statements ("I'm not kidding, every one of the 100 examples in this book follows the same model", "all the techniques sound the same", etc.).

I understood that this review reflected the feelings and opinions of one person. However, it occurred to me that someone who had not read the book might read this review and actually believe some of what it says. And I truly feel it would be a shame, if this review caused even one person to miss out on this uniquely valuable resource. If you are seriously looking for insights and approaches to help you dramatically improve your project performance, I strongly suggest you buy this book.

Individuals with any experience in running a project, whether it is a small focused job or a large-scale product development effort, will find subject treatises too fundamental. The chapters lack the in-depth coverage and focus as the apparent goal is to present a broad-based overview of basic concepts in the field of project management.

Here is a guideline to use in deciding whether or not to purchase this book:
How comfortable are you with using the Microsoft Project software?
If you are very comfortable with MS Project, I recommend that you try "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge" instead.
If you have never used MS Project and/or have no idea what it does, then you should probably buy this book.

Stan is an excellent trainer (I have attended 2 of his courses), and it turns out he is a good writer, too! He presents PM concepts and tools in an easy-to-understand way with great real-life examples. As a new PM, I have found this book to be a great reference as well as good "flip-through" reading.

A solid book that introduces many tools and techniques central to project management. If you have to manage projects in addition to doing your "real work" this book is for you. If you're a project manager by profession, you should be past this book by now.

I can't believe how bad this book is. I read this book from cover to cover. Toward the end, I plugged on just so that I could write a negative review on amazon. But, I think that this book changed my mind about reading bad books all the way through just so that I can review them.

This is the third of five project management books that I'm reading. But, after this book, I need to take a break from project management books for a while. My head hurts--bad.

And, this is the worst "For Dummies" book that I've read, and I've read about 20 of them. John Wiley and Sons really needs to recall this substandard book.

What makes this book so bad? A few things:

1) Stanley Portny is a bad author. This book has no life. This book has no soul. I've read algebra books that breathe more life into the subject material. I've read statistics and economics books that breathe more life into the subject material.
2) This book is extremely repetitive. Project management has a lot of different subjects to it. Project management is an exciting subject. However, he makes everything from Gantt charts to risk management to a work breakdown structure seem like the exact same thing.
3) Stanley Portny is extremely arrogant. This is the first "For Dummies" book where the word "I" is the most commonly used word in the book. The authors of the "For Dummies" books usually quietly take a back seat to the subject material. Not in this book--the author is very prominent.
4) All of the examples are the same. This really bugged me. All of the examples in the book go something like this:

At a recent training session, someone came up to me and said, "I don't think I need a certain aspect of project management." Well, I, Stanley Portny, disagreed with this person, and I made every effort to show this person that they were wrong, and that they did need the certain aspect of project managment.

You probably think I'm kidding--I'm not. Every one of the 100 different examples in the book follow this same model. It seems that Mr. Portny hasn't ever heard the maxim, "There's no such thing as a stupid question." It seems that Mr. Portny's adage that he lives by is, "Every question is a stupid question--and an opportunity to show how brilliant I am."

Please don't buy this book...unless you're buying the one that I just read that I'm immediately selling used on amazon.

I use the PM for Dummies often as a reference tool. When dealing with clients I need to freshen up on terms and methodology I don't use frequently. When I am on the phone with a rep from Hershey or Hallmark I can't afford to misuse or misunderstand a term or principle so I use for Dummies to ensure excellence. I've been doing this for years and wish I'd had this tool from the start. (Submitted by Charles Carpenter, PM Consultant and author of Real World Project Management and a charlesspeaks.com keynote speaker.)

This book gives the professional insights of a master of his job. Stanley Portny knows what he is talking about. He allows the average person to read this book and feel knowledgeable in the field of project management. He should be proud of his ability of making such a complicated subject seem so easy. "Dummies" are lucky to have found him.

This is a good book for beginners. If you are a seasoned Project Manager, you probably won't find this book of much interest.

Stanely Porter's book succeeds in explaining to the reader the phases of a project in a logical sequence -- all of this is done using a simple and clear language style.

The book is also peppered with a lot of useful tips how how to deal with project-related matters such as micro-management, project turnaround, how to hold people accountable, how to become a better project manager, and on.

In my opinion, the only weakness in this book are certain examples, which are far too long (especially in Chapters 3 & 4). Also, I personally like books which have a summary at the end of each chapter (which is not the case for this book). This is the reason why I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

There have been a bunch of books published recently on project management. Most of them have been oriented to helping the student cram to take the project management certification test. This book is different in that it is less concerned with the reader taking a test than it is with the reader actually learning how to manage a project.

It begins with the 'simple' task of understanding your project. What is the project, can it be done, and developing the start of a plan. From there it goes on to the basic project management problem of putting a team together, managing the team, and of course the paperwork.

Intended to be a beginners book, this book talks about keeping the paperwork to a minimum and doing it manually. Even in Chapter 17 where he talks about using computer technology he talks mostly about standard packages like word processing and spreadsheets rather than integrated project management software such as Microsoft Project.

He mentions Microsoft Project, but he also says that there are more than 50 such packages of all shapes and sizes on the market. Hint, Mr. Portny - For your next edition of this book, provide a list of at least some of these packages with comments, and especially with price, as I suspect some of them are free.

Like most 'For Dummies' books, this is an excellent introduction to the topic.

This book covers the basics of project management but does not include the "how to" tools to be "the reference guide" for project managers. Perhaps to be a project manager you can't be a dummy.