The Rise of the Project Workforce: Managing People and Projects in a Flat World Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)In the summary to the book, it boldly states that "economically speaking, the world is flat again. Globalization, projectization, fragmentation of the enterprise--including outsourcing--and real-time collaboration across the planet have enabled companies to reduce costs, leverage a global talent pool, and execute challenging deliverables with a dispersed yet incredibly connected project workforce."Integrating the popular notion of "flat world economics" made famous by Thomas Friedman in his bestselling book, "The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century", Melik outlines and develops what is basically an Internet based, online workflow system that could be used to manage a mobile, project based workforce.

This is important to keep in mind, because after reading the preface, perusing the table of contents and the general impression the book and its title invoked in me, gave me the impression the book was going to be written and themed in a similar vein as Friedman's book, but focused on the project workforce aspect.Instead, the majority of the book reads like a software requirements specification with bulleted lists, flowcharts, charts, wireframes, and constant allusions to the implications of a "flat" world, which by now has become a platitude.

In all fairness, the system he outlines in his text if it could be implemented in its entirety and most importantly, gain full cultural adoption and buy-in by the organization that implements it, would be an excellent system.The key to this system, which I'm in complete agreement with, is the need to automate the everyday workflow processes throughout the enterprise, such as time sheets, T&E expenses, billing, invoicing, etc.Furthermore, as Melik acknowledges, these processes need to be aligned with regulatory requirements and compliance, especially as he notes in Chapters 4 and 5 with SOX, labor laws, and contracts.This adherence to regulatory requirements and compliance, while simultaneously keeping agile, adaptive and responsive to the fast paced realities of the flat world is where it will be most difficult for companies.I'm currently with a company experiencing this very painful situation.

The book acknowledges that it would be unrealistic to convert to a enterprise level, Project Management Workforce overnight as outlined in the book, and advocates a sound approach of phased implementations that incorporates user adoption and company deployment incrementally.The final chapter gives a good example of the kind of business case for building company adoption, and Melik provides a step-by-step illustration of building a business case, with a fairly comprehensive table identifying stakeholders and the kind of issues and concerns each would address.

Now to the weakness of the book.

First, I would have liked more elaborations into the problems you would encounter trying to implement the Project Management Workforce in the real world, because the majority of companies have yet to embrace the "Hollywood Model" of bringing together the best human resources necessary for a project, then disbanding and forming other teams to other projects.Most companies are still struggling endless to hire the right talent for the right position.Typically, they will over hire when the demand is high, then lay off when they need to show quarterly profits to their shareholders.In addition, most companies have yet to even embrace implementing a sound project management system and processes within their organizations.The notion of a PMO has just recently come on, and the ones who have, have yet to implement it properly!How hard would it be to have such companies, which are the majority, to embrace such a radical transformation?Some real world case studies would have helped.

Second, the first part of the book elaborates on the notion as mentioned earlier about the emergence of the flat world and its implications on the global economy, quoting luminaries such as Thomas Friedman, Tom Peters, Andy Grove, etc. as a way to heighten the importance of the rest of the book and its system and to add a cutting edge legitimacy to its projectized workforce system.Not that such issues are not important, but the fact that these ideologies have already been regurgitated in industry trade magazines related to IT for the past decade or so ad nauseum, and the way Melik constantly sprinkles "flat worldness" throughout the book, make the notion trite and kinda of annoying to see repeated throughout the text.The project workforce system he outlines in this text would be a pretty good one, but there is nothing earth shattering about it and the majority of the book reads like a functional specification for a system the author is no doubt selling (The company selling the system is called Tenrox).Nothing wrong with that, but I felt hyping up the system using Friedman's ideology made the book promise more than it delivered.

In conclusion, this book was a very useful read and in fact, helped me to write a comparative proposal of two enterprise portfolio management system my current company is looking to adopt, by giving me some additional guidelines on what a good enterprise project portfolio system would have and the features to look for.But I feel it promised more insights and elaborations into "The Rise of the Project Workforce" ala Friedman's flat worldness then it delivered.Had it just stuck to outlining the functional specifications of a project workforce system, my expectation would have been more in check, but I have to admit the marketing of the book may have influenced me more to buy it, so in that regard it was well done.

-Don Kim

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Rise of the Project Workforce: Managing People and Projects in a Flat World

Product Description:
The Rise of the Project Workforce

"Melik brings a difficult subject into focus by adding a detailed and feasible approach to managing complex projects in the digital age. Not only is The Rise of the Project Workforce a strong entry-level primer, but an extremely valuable reference guide for any seasoned project or program manager."
-Jonathan W. Rider, Vice President and CIO, Gilbane Inc.

"Project professionals remain challenged with business solutions that force-fit production and manufacturing discipline and tools to meet the needs of knowledge-based information workers. This book provides a comprehensive reference for enterprises that are making the shift to a service-based and project-based world."
-Ray Wang, Analyst, Forrester Research

"This is a must-read for anyone looking for a framework to manage complex projects where speed, quality, and managing diverse competencies are critical success components of the project."
-Rich LaBarbera, President and CEO, Kintera Inc. and former president, Niku Corporation

"The strength of The Rise of the Project Workforce is in the breadth of the topics covered-in both the realm of project management as well as human capital management. Lots of books do one well, but Melik manages to successfully educate readers on the importance of balancing and linking both areas."
-John Colbert, CEO, Guidance Software Inc.

"This book is a well-organized, college-level course for professionals preparing for the changes and challenges of the twenty-first century. It touches on current and future issues associated with risk mitigation and regulatory compliance that affect every company competing in the global marketplace today."
-David Hofferberth, Analyst, SPI Research

Get 92% OFF

Want to read more honest consumer review about The Rise of the Project Workforce: Managing People and Projects in a Flat World now ?