Volume X - Issue II - February 2008
PM Book Reviews
Book Title: IT Maintenance: Applied Project Management
As software systems maintenance increases in size and complexity, so does the need to predict and control scope, schedule, and costs. This book focuses on the business of system maintenance. It weds the key concepts of project management (geared towards delivering a product or service) and applies it to an area that delivers a service and which Project Management has not traditionally been applied to – Maintenance. Basic project Management has never applied to maintenance and this book attempts to do just that. IT Maintenance: Applied Project Management is a practical reference source and a valuable resource that provides a step-by-step guide that redesigns and presents project management best practices to better and add more value to how IT system maintenance is managed. The book performs this task by re-evaluating the incentives needed to increase the value and quality of system maintenance. This book enables project practitioners understand and apply modified project management best practices and details how to perform consistently, improve reporting status and metrics, build greater customer satisfaction, streamline team operations, and decrease the stress level of staff and the manager's ongoing workload.. IT Maintenance: Applied Project Management frames project management best practices to make them more applicable and relevant to how IT system maintenance is managed. The book makes a perfect accompanying guide to PMBOK because like PMBOK, it is structured by process groups and makes referencing easier. The book provides a best practices checklist by posing a series of questions designed and intended to promote successful completion of projects. It is a valuable tool for assessing critical elements of IT projects. These guidelines are intended to assist IT project members in evaluating initiated IT projects, as well as in preparing for project presentations.
Book Title: Rainbows and Ratholes, Best Practices for Managing Successful Projects Introduction to the Book This is a specialty book of approximately 150 pages and is a compilation of essays, white papers, training lectures, observations and personal experiences developed by the author for presentation to learned societies, corporations and PMI sponsored seminars and events. The book is organized in a series of essays focusing on the “what and how” of successful Project Management with each essay dealing with specific aspects of situations that may be encountered by both new and experienced managers. The essays serve as “windows” by presenting an integrated panoramic view of challenges and best practices that may be of benefit to the Project Manager at some point during a difficult project. The author speaks of successful organizations embracing a “projectized” culture that is founded on the principle of customer focus, committed sponsorship, trusting relationships, outstanding teamwork and continuous improvement. The author asserts that this “projectized” culture will permeate through the organization and will empower project teams to operate most effectively and will deliver successful results. His emphasis and purpose of writing and compiling this book is to help Project Managers “avoid the pitfalls or ratholes and catch the pot of gold of success at the end of the rainbow!”
Book Title: Construction Project Scheduling and Control
Introduction to the Book Well framed within the construction business the “CONSTRUCTION PROJECT SCHEDULING and CONTROL” book will foster the interests of a wide range of readers whether or not part of the industry. The work is well balanced between fundamental theory of scheduling and controlling and practical experience accrued straight from the field. Overview of Book’s Structure The book is structured in twelve separate chapters and two extra appendices highlighting examples of reporting and filtering information in the Primavera Project Planner software environment and a glossary of terms as well.The main part of the book’s content is dedicated to scheduling theory and 10 chapters cover this process alone. Centered on the Primavera Project Planner-Suretrack software-scheduling tool the author goes through many practical examples and questions welcomed for those who are in the beginning of the learning curve. Important things concerning the methods for accelerating the schedule by crashing or fast tracking are also treated.
Book Title:The Art and Power of Facilitation:
Introduction to the Book As our business lives become inundated with more and more meetings, we realize that time is precious and competition for participant focus and energy is fierce. We can all recall meetings which wasted time, created conflict and failed to meet stated goals. This book’s title alone, The Art and Power of Facilitation: Running Powerful Meetings, immediately invokes an expectation that there is a way to turn away from unsuccessful meetings and experience effective ones. I was anxious to open the book and read. The end result of this easy-to-read book is that it certainly meets the stated objective “to arm the reader with necessary skills and behaviors leading to effective facilitation and meeting management”. In fact, it accomplishes much more than that. The target audience is the business analyst yet it reaches out to anyone facilitating or attending a meeting of any type. As a project manager, I found the information to be presented in a new light by re-emphasizing skills learned in the past and bringing them back into focus. The authors, Alice Zavala and Kathleen B. Hass, are both experienced not only as business analysts but as professionals in project management with over 25 years experience each in the business environment. Their credentials include engagements in both commercial and federal organizations. They are certainly well qualified to author a book on the topic of powerful meetings.
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