- Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (29 April 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0596007868
- ISBN-13: 978-0596007867
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 18.2 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 202,636 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"The book is written in an easy and witty style that makes for an enjoyable cover-to-cover read, although the structure of the book makes it easy to refer to particular sections as required. Whether you are an experienced project manager or making the transition from developer to manager, I thoroughly recommend that you read "The Art of Projects Management" and keep a copy with you at all the times!" - Jenny Smith, The Developers Magazine - Jan/Feb 2007
Product Description
"Berkun has written a fast paced, jargon-free and witty guide to what he wisely refers to as the 'art' of project management. It's a great introduction to the discipline. Seasoned and new managers will benefit from Berkun's perspectives." --Joe Mirza, Director, CNET Networks (Cnet.com)
"Most books with the words 'project management' in the title are dry tomes. If that's what you are expecting to hear from Berkun's book, you will be pleasantly surprised. Sure, it's about project management. But it's also about creativity, situational problem-solving, and leadership. If you're a team member, project manager, or even a non-technical stakeholder, Scott offers dozens of practical tools and techniques you can use, and questions you can ask, to ensure your projects succeed." --Bill Bliss, Senior VP of product and customer experience, expedia.com
In The Art of Project Management, you'll learn from a veteran manager of software and web development how to plan, manage, and lead projects. This personal account of hard lessons learned over a decade of work in the industry distills complex concepts and challenges into practical nuggets of useful advice. Inspiring, funny, honest, and compelling, this is the book you and your team need to have within arms reach. It will serve you well with your current work, and on future projects to come.
Topics include:
- How to make things happen
- Making good decisions
- Specifications and requirements
- Ideas and what to do with them
- How not to annoy people
- Leadership and trust
- The truth about making dates
- What to do when things go wrong
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
39 of 44 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm afraid I'm going to have to go against the flow here. I really wanted to like this book. There is most certainly a place for a different angle on project management, other than the usual "how to use Microsoft Project" or other dry-as-dust doorstops, and Scott Berkun enthusiastically tries to fill it. However, the informal, rambling and slightly egocentric style that he deploys to very good effect on his website writings gets irritating and doesn't scale to a book. I kept finding myself quietly screaming "Get To The Point - if you have one". "The art of project management" really boils down to a thinly disguised autobiography of Scott's time with Microsoft. From other articles it seems that either his heart wasn't really in it at Microsoft, or he has resolutely moved on, realizing that to deny his creative side was getting him nowhere (and apart from the paycheck, what satisfaction could anyone derive from managing a piece of such insipid bloatware as Microsoft Internet Explorer ?). I fully empathise with him on this, but not to the extent that I'm going to read his book with blinkers on. The main problem is that there are far too many glib, superficial observations on the dynamics of software development teams dressed up as profundity (actually, this reminds me of a far better book, also from a Microsoft staffer: Jim McCarthy's classic "Dynamics of Software Development", which should be required reading for anybody in any software company anywhere).
There are just too many "so what" moments in Scott's book, things which he seems to think are great insights, but which are just plain everyday life in most companies. There is very little real creative thinking, very few ideas or solutions on offer.
I could take specific issue with a number of points - just one example would be that the "basic" functional requirement he uses to illustrate a point, "There will be a barn and it must be green", it just wrong. It describes an implementation, not a user need. It would be better expressed as a series of statements "there shall be a covered space", "the covered space shall not be heated", etc, which would then lead to the solution space he talks about. But in any case, this is in the domain of requirements management, not project management, and it is hardly the only substantive digression.
The text itself is full of minor digressions and little jokes, which start off ok, but get a little old very quickly. It is also illustrated with sketchy type diagrams, which look cute but convey nothing, and random photographs, a bit like Phil Greenspun's timeless "Phil and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing", but nowhere near as good - or indeed upfront (Greenspun declares openly that the photos are totally irrelevant). Actually, I get the feeling that Scott is a bit of a Phil Greenspun wannabe - well so was I once, and there are plenty of others out there.
Clearly Scott wanted to write, and the most marketable topic was going to be something like this that he could flog to O'Reilly. And clearly, there is a subject here to be written about in a new way. But to be honest, whilst I find his website very useful, and inspirational in places, and I'm sure I'd like him personally, I'm afraid the book is a total dud. With firmer editing and mentoring from a stronger publisher, he might have turned out a classic, but then again, since one gets the impression that despite what he says he couldn't wait to escape from Microsoft, I have my doubts. Perhaps he'll write the Great American Novel one day, but he'll have to tidy up his prose first
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I picked this book because I was tempted by the use of the word `art' in the title. After nearly 20 years of working in projects (mostly within government bureaucracy) I was intrigued by anyone who had the courage to use that particular word. When I first read the book I was naturally a bit put off by the Microsoft emphasis but I enjoyed the read and put the book away. But then after a few months I picked the book up again and started reading beyond the Microsoft stuff and then I realised how much insight and experience Scott has managed to get into this one book. When I got fed up or frustrated I started to read the book to see if Scott had any insights or common experiences...and he frequently does. After a while the book got to be like an old friend. Scott seems to have experienced many if not all of the typical frustrations of PMs and it feels great to dip in and see what he did or how he felt. What Scott has included may not necessarily be new or provide all the answers but it does provide a friendly sounding board and a sympathetic ear and frequently leads me to remember something or some way I cracked a problem years back. In effect it helps you to recycle knowledge and I can relate closely to his experiences. The stuff on scheduling/planning and leadership is superb and I haven't seen it discussed better anywhere else. I don't know if it will help newcomers to projects but if you've been around a while and want to reflect on your experiences and maybe recalibrate your approach for a new project or job then this book is first class.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The author is clear and open-minded in his presentation. Most of his advice is common sense, but then again, most of life is common sense.
The book would be very useful to beginning project managers who are looking for a place to start.
Programmers would also benefit a lot. I have worked with too many fellow programmers who, in spite of their intelligence, were quite useless because of their unclear communication and lack of pragmatism.
People who tend to make cynical remarks during team meetings would also be well-served by this book: maybe this way they will finally understand that, unless they have something practical to say, they would be most useful to the project if they just keep their cynicism to themselves and be quiet.
The book isn't perfect and is at times too wordy, but the author doesn't claim to have created a masterpiece of writing. He shares his own experience of project management and resources/approaches he found useful, and the result is a useful little handbook.
Personally, I'd quite enjoy being a programmer on Berkun's team.
The book would be very useful to beginning project managers who are looking for a place to start.
Programmers would also benefit a lot. I have worked with too many fellow programmers who, in spite of their intelligence, were quite useless because of their unclear communication and lack of pragmatism.
People who tend to make cynical remarks during team meetings would also be well-served by this book: maybe this way they will finally understand that, unless they have something practical to say, they would be most useful to the project if they just keep their cynicism to themselves and be quiet.
The book isn't perfect and is at times too wordy, but the author doesn't claim to have created a masterpiece of writing. He shares his own experience of project management and resources/approaches he found useful, and the result is a useful little handbook.
Personally, I'd quite enjoy being a programmer on Berkun's team.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Simply the best book on project management that I've read
I've read a lot of books on project management, and Scott's book really stands out. Scott really captures the "heart and soul" of project management. Read more
Published on 30 Nov 2005 by Andrew Stellman
practical, well written advice
As someone relatively new to project management from the managing side, but having considerable experience of being managed, I picked up this book to see if I could pick up any... Read more
Published on 24 Jun 2005 by D. Graham
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