Naked Project Management

by Dennis Lock

Books about project management are plentiful. The best of those books are too comprehensive for the person faced for the first time with managing a small and relatively straightforward project, or for the student studying for a degree or business qualification in which project management is only one of several modules. But, at the other extreme too many of the simpler books treat project management lightly, gloss over or ignore some essential processes, and even get the facts wrong and give incorrect examples. Naked Project Management is an introductory guide to the world of project management from one of the world's most accomplished project management authors. Lock has stripped project management down to its bare facts - simplifying everything but trivializing nothing - leaving sound practical advice on how to organize and manage a small or medium sized project. The book is written in the direct jargon-free style that has become Dennis Lock’s hallmark. Everything is carefully explained and supported with clear diagrams. It covers all the essential aspect of project management in astonishingly few words and provides further instruction with an entertaining case study project that flows logically through the chapters from beginning to end. Degree and other students for whom project management is an elective or small part of their course will love this compact time-saving and reasonably priced study resource.

Genres: Business

128 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2012

Reviews

[BCS · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very basic introduction to project management ‘stripped down to its bare facts’. It is aimed at beginners and students alike, and is intended to ‘whet appetites’.

The main project types and project life cycles are described. A case study is used to demonstrate the key stages of a project, including

* Work breakdown
* Costing and estimating
* Project organisation
* Project planning and scheduling (with a brief look at critical path analysis)
* Contracts
* Managing and monitoring projects
* Special projects - projects out of control and business change projects
* Project debriefing

The case study involves a local authority project to create a children’s playground in a public park. It is rather manufactured and, incredibly, the project is completed on time and within budget!

Whilst IT projects are not covered specifically, the fundamentals of project management covered within the scope of the book are still applicable. There are only a few references to project management software, and references to project management methodologies only appear at the end of the book in ‘Further Reading’.

A lot of thought obviously went into the production of the book - it’s unfussy, well laid out, compact, easy to read and not overly lengthy. For its intended audience it should provide an excellent, value-for-money, basic introduction to the subject.

Mike Rees IT Consultant MBCS CITP