Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Five years ago I read the most insightful and inspiring book on project management I had ever seen. This was morbidly titled "Deathmarch" due to the proliferation of unrealistic projects that I.T. teams found themselves caught up in.
I have now found a new contender for my favourite book on the topic, in Radical Project Management by Rob Thomsett. Coincidentally, it is part of a series edited by Ed Yourdon, the author of Deathmarch!
This book is novel in its approach by embracing two key facts.
Firstly, project management is no longer a dry topic, best left to crusty managerial types. The modern I.T. professional needs to be all of network guru, web developer, database administrator, software developer and, of course, project manager. Hence, even the most hands-on techie has to grip this topic!
Secondly, traditional project management methodologies are losing relevance in today's wired world where the only constant factor is change.
Thomsett argues that such practices are inward-looking and static. Conversely, his "Radical" philosophy looks outward, embracing stakeholders, management and end-users, seeking to involve them in the project's development from conception to implementation.
This is what Thomsett means by calling his philosophy "radical" - it departs from tradition. The term also, to my mind, plays on the "RAD" - Rapid Application Development - paradigm that boosted languages like Delphi and Visual Basic into the limelight. RAD languages also sought to involve end-users in the creative development process by allowing the rapid construction of functional prototypes.
Of course, a mere philosophy by itself is insufficient (consider the USSR!) and pleasingly, Thomsett fills his pages with case studies, details of new project management tools and how to successfully use them, and just good common-sense and stories "from the chalk face". As one reads this book, it is abundantly evident that the author is writing from a wealth of experience - this book is by an I.T. professional for I.T. professionals.
I wholeheartedly recommend it, and it certainly has found a place on my desk.
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Product Description:
Introduces XPM: Project Management for today's complex, chaotic business environments. Provides innovative new XPM tools: how to make them work in your organization. Softcover.
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