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| Managing Projects for Success - a trilogy |
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| This is a how-to book offering the opportunity of theory application through a series of 'to do' exercises, supported by diagrams, figures, charts and tables. The book equips the reader with specialist skills that can be immediately applied in practice. The book is divided into three parts. Section one: The Framework, attempts to set the bigger picture within which projects are but a part, and it presents a body of knowledge that describes the profession of project management. Planning and control are of paramount importance in the successful outcome of most projects and for this reason they are explored thoroughly in the second section. The other important project management processes have been incorporated in part three of the book, The Tool Kit. |
| | Review of this title : | This is a very ambitious book because it sets out not just to explain the theory and development of project management, but also to describe how to actually manage projects. In this regard the author has identified a gap in the existing literature on the subject because most publications concentrate on the theory and development, but usually neglect the detail of how project managers actually fulfil their role.
The book has accordingly been divided into three parts:
1. The Framework
2. Planning for Control
3. The Tool Kit
and it is very well structured, with every chapter in each part defining its objectives, followed then by the development which includes exercises to test understanding and being completed by a summary of the points the chapter has established. At the end of each chapter answers to the exercises are helpfully included.
Part 1 - The Framework, contains a review of general management theory and suggests why traditional management may not be so effective in the 21st century. This part of the book is very informative, describing the historical development of project management and giving a good explanation, what project management is, and the ways in which it can be distinguished from general management.
Part 2 - Planning for Control, is perhaps a weakness of the book because of the detail in which it considers planning, scheduling and control. Whilst these are essential skills for a project manager to possess, they are over-emphasised when compared with the emphasis given to other essential skills identified later in the book.
Part 3 - The Tool Kit is, however, one of the strengths of the book, and gives a clear insight into how a project manager actually goes about managing a project, which is the area that most people, new to project management, want most guidance in.
Books on project management fall into two categories:
* Those that treat project management as a generic management approach applicable to most industries;
* Those written specifically for project management, as practised in the development and construction industry.
This book lies in the first category and that is, I feel, its major drawback. There are many examples given in the book which are based on development and construction, but there are also other examples from manufacturing and production. In addition, certain activities and operations are described, using terms more common in production and manufacturing, as opposed to using those commonly used in construction and development.
This doesn't mean that development and construction project management cannot learn from project management, as applied in other industries, indeed most of the practices and techniques used have been adopted from other industries, but they were subsequently modified to suit the particular requirements of construction and development.
I think that the book would be especially useful for students of project management because it is comprehensive and takes the reader through each part in a manner which assists learning and understanding of the points being made, but would be of less use to the experienced project manager, particularly if operating in the development and construction field.
| | Reviewed By : R G Butler FCIOB |
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