Project Management, for Beginners (and it’s for life)

DK Essential Managers Project Management by Peter Hobbs

This book is tiny, only 4” x 6” and 72 pages. Its title says it all. It’s a primer. It doesn’t go in-depth with strategies for every situation, but alerts you to everything you need to anticipate. The step-by-step breakdown of the process, from defining your goals to getting cooperation from everyone involved, to checking progress, completing/releasing/launching the work and taking a final look at the quality of your accomplishment both just before and sometime after release, are well-defined in four simple chapters: “Thinking project,” “Setting up a project,” “Managing work in progress,” and “Going live.” Equally important, this book won’t age. The tactics offered are only broad suggestions for appropriate tools without going into particular vendors, or programs, etc. that are obsolete over time.

It’s not just for work. Our lives are filled with projects: planning vacation, choosing a pet, remodeling the kitchen, helping Dad downsize. If we think of all of our tasks as projects, we just may be more productive.

It was cold, wet and gray in the Puget Sound region. In other words, completely typical for this time of year. But as I sat in front of my computer scrolling through Facebook, cat on lap and absolutely NOT going to go anywhere for the night, I decided I might as well write another of my book reviews. So there it is above.

Reading list for my upcoming CPO exam.