Product Description

A SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR PROJECT MANAGERS

"...An invaluable tool kit for effectiveness in challenging work environments." -- Thomas Myerchin; National Director of Education; Department of the Treasury

Here's a practical, hands-on guide that gives project managers all the skills they need to move a project through its complete life cycle, including how to:

** develop the business and behavioral skills required of a project manager ** resolve conflicts and hone negotiation skills ** understand and apply the technical tools of project management ** establish project teams...and more JAMES TAYLOR (Oakton, VA) is a certified project management professional with over 25 years of experience. He is currently director of operations for NVT Technologies, Inc., an engineering services company.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1421036 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Review

“The book is written in clear and concise language that moves the eye across the page, even when the subject matter is very technical and replete with mathematical equations. Mr. Taylor knows his subject matter and knows how to make it flow naturally….Emphasizing that many of the problems of any project are ‘human problems’ created by people and solvable by people, Mr. Taylor does a masterful job of making his point.”

-Primavera Magazine

The book is written in a clear and concise language that moves the eye across the page, even when the subject matter is very technical and replete with mathematical equations. -- Primavera Magazine

Review

"Praise for the first edition of A Survival Guide for Project Managers:

""Jim Taylor has provided the working project manager with an invaluable tool kit for effectiveness in challenging work environments."" -- Thomas S. Myerchin, National Director of Education Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service

""This book provides a refreshingly lively and personal presentation of what could be a dull topic. It provides an excellent presentation of the technical aspects of project management, and, more important it provides an equally excellent and much needed description of the human qualities required in management."" -- George W. Menzer, Ph.D., Vice President - Training Systems,

Frontier Applied Sciences"

“… written in clear and concise language that moves the eye across the page, even when the subject matter is technical."

-Primavera Magazine

About the Author
JAMES TAYLOR (Peachtree City, GA) is a senior adviser at ESI International, the largest provider of project management training in the world. He is also the author of Managing Information Technology Projects.

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Customer Reviews

Very pleased.
I've only just started using this book, but so far I've found it a great resource. It doesn't go into a huge amount of detail about the technical tools to use when managing a project, but it does tell you what to use and when. However the sections on managing resources, communications and negotiating are a great addition and just as important as knowing what technical tools to use.

Takes PMs to the next step in their professional development
When I am asked to recommend a good book on project management I always recommend Visualizing Project Management by Forsberg, Cotterman and Mooz. That book teaches project management the right way, in my opinion, by laying a solid foundation. However, at some point you will master the material through application and experience, and you'll want to go to the next level. That is where this excellent book will take you.

As you mature as a project manager you eventually discover that the technical aspects are a great foundation, but the 'soft skills' are essential to success. The book starts with these. The author provides some excellent material on how to make effective oral and written presentations, negotiation skills and leadership.

Don't get the impression that this book does not cover technical material. It does, and it goes pretty deep into some advanced techniques. For example, the author provides a very comprehensive discussion of work breakdown structures (WBS) and how to develop them. In my opinion the biggest failure of projects is the fact that a WBS is never developed before the estimating and scheduling is performed. I really liked the network analysis chapter. It presented in clear prose how to risk-adjust a critical path, which is something I learned over a decade ago, but am met with blank stares when I mention this to most project manager. Indeed, most project managers don't know what a critical path is (they use the term often enough, they just don't know what it means), much less how to perform a critical path analysis. This book will provide this information and a few easy-to-learn techniques as well. I thought that the chapter on earned value was adequate. I was glad to see it included in the book and give the author credit for his comprehensive treatment, but I almost fell asleep here. I recommend that serious project managers augment the earned value knowledge in this book with Earned Value Project Management, 2nd Edition by Quentin Fleming and Joel Koppleman. That book was written by authors who developed the 32 earned value criteria for the Project Management Body of Knowledge (2000 version).

The part of the book that covers managing a project is filled with great advice. I thought the chapter on project selection was particularly valuable because it is objective and based on financial formulae that should be applied to these kinds of decisions. The sample reports are also good templates that should be in every project manager's tool kit.

Overall, this book will give a seasoned project manager much sound advice and provide him or her with an array of advanced techniques. It is truly a project manager's survival guide earning it a solid five stars and a place on the list of the handful of books that I always recommend.

Good introduction to project management.
This book is exactly what I was looking for. I took a Project Management Course back in College, but did not remember much of it. I needed a book that would give the basics of this subject, without being too involved in particular software.

This book does exactly that, and also lists some of the most frequent pitfalls for projects, with half the book emphasizing the human side of Project Management.