Engineering Project Management

by Nigel J. Smith

Engineering Project Management provides a clear description of the aims of project management, based on best practice, and discusses the theory and practice in relation to multi-disciplinary engineering projects, both large and small, in the UK and overseas.   The Third Edition takes account of the increase in joint ventures, project partnering, special project vehicles and other forms of collaborative working. The text has been extended to give more information on procurement, stakeholders and collaborative provision.   For the first time this book now contains a chapter on the UK PRINCE2® project management methodology providing a unique insight into this increasingly popular approach.   The expertise of the authors gained from their promotion of effective project management through a combination of professional experience, research, consultancy, education and training should be beneficial to both students of project management and recently appointed or practising project managers. The material is appropriate to support Masters level teaching, MSc, MBA and MEng, either by universities or others, action or distance learning courses and self learning programmes.   Also of interest   Managing Risk in Construction Projects Second Edition Nigel J Smith, Tony Merna & Paul Jobling 978 14051 3012 7   Strategic Issues in Public-Private Partnerships Mirjam Bult-Spiering & Geert Dewulf 978 14051 3475 0     Cover illustrations courtesy of Getty Images   Cover design by Andy Meaden

Genres: Engineering

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually Chapter 20, 'Projects in Controlled Environments 2: PRINCE2', was quite helpful in understanding the whole Project Management Process methodology as specified by OGC. And if a book helps me in understanding at least one thing, it must be a good one.
However, if someone looks for help in Design Management (Chapter 14), he or she should look better elsewhere for advice. This Chapter (14, Design management) I do not really find very helpful. As is written there (p.235): "There are many areas of industry and commerce where design activities are carried out. These include such diverse areas as creating new clothes fashions, the preparation of food and drink, graphic design, lithography, business strategy, engineering design, industrial design and architecture. The ways in which creativity manifests itself in these different design processes are many, varied and mostly not well understood." I know that this statement is, at least for mechanical engineering design, not true and have the sneaking suspicion that it is not true for the other design industries as well. It is written further on (p.235): "... This period is often frustrating as attempts are made by the thinker to manipulate the better and less-well-known elements of information into a solution. There often follows a period of time, in the synthesis stage, when the person working on the problem consciously moves away from seeking a solution to the problem and works on some other activity or problem. At this stage the input information is being synthesised in the thinkers subconscious mind. This is usually followed by the 'Eureka' moment when the thinker becomes aware of what seems to be a major breakthrough in finding the solution. At times a fully formulated solution 'appears' in the mind of the creator, although this is more often illusory. The person working on the problem is then able to evaluate the solution, or a part solution, they have arrived at, contrasting it with the problem as they have defined it to themselves in the assessment stage of the process. .... There is clearly then some element of unpredictability in the process of creation."
For all who are looking for a more systematic approach here a reference to books for the Mechanical Engineering Design Process:
- Dieter, G.E./Schmid, L.C.: Engineering Design; McGraw-Hill Engineering Design
- Ullman, D.G.: The Mechanical Design Process; McGraw-Hill The Mechanical Design Process
- Pahl, G./Beitz, W./Feldhusen, J./Grote, K.H.: Engineering Design - A Systematic Approach; Springer Engineering Design: A Systematic Approach