Amazon.co.uk Review
Until the early 90s, Project Management was definitely located somewhere near the unsexy end of the business spectrum. But now with the rise of downsizing and outsourcing it has become one of the hot disciplines. Professional membership of the U.S.-based Project Management Institute has quadrupled in the last decade and Microsoft claimed recently to have over two million users worldwide of its project management software. The reasons for this growth are simple. Project management is about managing "projects", that is one-off pieces of work (as opposed to on-going operations). Downsizing, outsourcing and the accelerating pace of change have meant that increasingly work is carried out on an ad hoc, one-off project basis. Publisher John Wiley has cannily spotted this and has now added Project Management to its "Fast Forward" MBA series. It is designed as an advanced textbook for businessmen with a grasp of the basics and insufficient time (or inclination) to go back to school to learn more. Written by Eric Verzuh, president of the Versatile Company, a leading project management consultancy, and co-author of
Accelerate Your Career as a Project Manager, this is not a heavy academic text.
Like the rest of the series it is designed to let the reader extract maximum information in minimum time. There is a strong use of graphics with tables, charts, cross heads and bullet points. Important passages are flagged in bold or emblazoned with the words "key concept." When you read it, you realise that there is nothing magical about project management, just the application of careful common sense. The book covers all the basic stuff like planning, time tabling, quantity and price estimation, resource allocation and scheduling. But it also acknowledges that there is inevitably a political dimension to every project, no matter how small. So it has important sections on how to ensure that all the stakeholders in the project are kept "on board" and the importance of communications.
As Verzuh states in his introduction: "Every project participant from part-time team member to executive sponsor, becomes more effective once he or she understands the basics of project management." Really this is a book about management that every manager should read, whether they have a project or not. --Alex Benady
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
This is one of the bestselling books ever published on the topic of project management. Now in a revised new third edition, it presents you with a wealth of proven techniques for managing projects from establishing project objectives to building schedules to projecting costs. It includes all the basics on defining, planning, and tracking a project, as well as building stronger project teams. This new edition includes new chapters on Agile Project Management, PMI exam prep, and more.
See all Product Description