Customer Reviews

The Rational Project Manager: A Thinking Team's Guide to Getting Work Done

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I must say that this book is indeed refreshing for me, especially after years of re-applying and re-understanding Kepner-Tregoe's methodologies in Project Management (PM), as well as, Problem-Solving & Decision Making (PSDM). For those who have undergone Kepner-Tregoe's workshops in PM and PSDM, this book together with "The New Rational Manager" are essential "re-iterative" references for anyone embarking on improving their PM and PSDM knowledge and experiences. These books are undoubtedly important to have on your bookshelf in the workplace that can be referred to over and over again.

I am now retired, but I wish that during my 27-year career as a university librarian I had had a guide like The Rational Project Manager to see me through the many complex projects I was responsible for carrying out. When moving special collections or setting up a preservation lab, my team and I would have benefited enormously from having a clear, easy to follow process for managing important projects.

Szilvia Szmuk-Tanenbaum

I am mad at being misled into purchasing this book! Why? 1) It provides bad PM Guidance. 2) Its promotional notes are misleading.

1) Bad PM Guidance: This short (and often repetitive) book uses one overriding project example throughout to illustrate its points--an office move for an organization. At the book's outset, the project team learns it has to complete its project within three months and under $170k. From there the book tells the reader that the project team then starts to define the project scope and estimate the work. Huh??? The book has assigned a project with its duration and cost budget determined BEFORE the project team has estimated what it is going to take? New PM's, if you follow this path start looking for a new career. What if there aren't enough staff to do the work in three months? Ever? What if there are no movers able to work within your $170k budget? (The authors better not plead that this defective example is constrained by length of the book. They're the ones who wrote and packaged this `book' to be so very brief. It looks like it was composed over a long weekend. A little more time developing a RESPONSIBLE book could have easily avoided this egregious advice.)

2) Misleading Promotional Notes: Inside jacket reads, "...offers a unique concentration on the logic and thought processes necessary for successful project completion." Notwithstanding the overriding flaw cited in #1, there are no UNIQUE logic and thought processes. No, it doesn't. This is very basic PM stuff here, e.g. seek out expert advice, get buy-in from many stakeholders. Right. Thanks a lot. And the endorsements on its back cover from corporate executives, what book are they referencing? These CXO's can't really be impressed with this half baked prose. Rather, their endorsements must be just quid-pro-quo's for past or future endorsements for their books.