Smart Things to Know about Managing Projects

Author Donna Deeprose takes you inside the process of setting up and coordinating a project. Her book, a project in itself, no doubt, is as clear and well-organized as the work plan you'll be able to create when you finish reading it. As befits an author in the hands-on "Smart Things to Know" series, Deeprose provides charts, tables and worksheets for designing project activities, as well as a dandy summary of key points at the end of each chapter. She addresses planning in detail and offers examples of how to organize and present your project's master plan. While she does not skimp on straightforward logistics, the author emphasizes complex projects, where you have to plan for multiple activities and work with a team of people handling tasks of varying intricacy. Some of the general ideas about planning might be fairly familiar and obvious, but We recommend this book for its greatest strength: a solid presentation of specific procedures.

Project Management is so often deemed to be either so esoteric that only those certified by the Project Management Institute in the skill can do it or so simple that only dummies can't do it. Neither assumption is true. Project Management is a discipline, and good project management skills can be learned. Luckily, Ms. Deeprose is aware of that and has given us a "workbook" on project management that should certainly be in the toolbox of every employee in any organization. What most of us do on a daily basis is manage projects of one sort or another. SMART Things to Know About Managing Projects may not be PIMBOK, the project management bible, but it is definitely THE book to have access to when you are planning to tackle any work that has a goal at the end of it: project management methodology, which is outlined so clearly and completely in Ms. Deeprose's book, will help anyone plan and execute any project that involves accomplishing something within a given timeframe. Everyone should get this book and read it through - and then refer to it over and over when working alone or with others to accomplish anything. If you are planning your class reunion dinner (see pages 60-90) this book will help you; if you are managing a project team charged with designing and building a factory, if you are managing a project to explore deep space - in fact, any project you might be working on or managing can be managed better by using the techniques and skills outlined in this book. This book provides the information and methodologies needed to execute any project in clear, unambiguous, easy to follow terms. Now, with this book, there are no more excuses for failed projects!