A good book on managing software development projects - a more accurate title - would be very welcome. Unfortunately, this book is the all too usual turgid British text. Amazingly, for a book on *software* project management, it does not mention any project software tools (like MS Project) at all! To be accurate MSProject is mentioned in the index but does not appear on the quoted pages. It would seem that the authors recommend managing complex software projects by means of paper and pencil - and by means of academic but practically useless network diagrams. Gantt charts, the universal graphic means of illustrating project schedules, are scarcely mentioned (again, two references in the index!). The book reads more like a plodding text on software engineering rather than a practical 'how to' on project management. Makes you wonder what projects the authors have actually managed.