Fundamentals of Project Management, Sixth Edition

by Joseph Heagney, Thomas Nelson

For close to three decades, Fundamentals of Project Management has helped people tackle the complexities of the job. Succinct and easy to read, the book simplifies concepts, answers questions, and helps tame the chaos that can erupt as projects move from planning to completion. The Sixth Edition of this trusted bestseller offers the practical guidelines and tools project managers have come to expect, along with new information explaining changes to the PMBOK® Guide, 7 th Edition. Updated tools, techniques, examples, and exercises clearly explain how Project mishaps are all too common, but often easy to avoid. With its practical, step-by-step approach, this book gets both new and experienced managers up to speed on the fundamentals—the first crucial step for completing projects on time and on budget.

272 pages, Paperback

Published August 30, 2022

About the author

JOSEPH HEAGNEY has been president of QMA International, LLC since 2001, providing a wide range of management learning solutions. He was previously the Global Practice Leader for Project Management Best Practices at the American Management Association where he currently serves as a faculty member.

Reviews

[Ryan Rodriquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is THE handbook for learning what project management is and how to implement it without being hated.

I had to read this book for a class I'm taking; honestly, it was very interesting. As someone who has worked in the public sector for nearly 20 years, I had no real understanding of project management. I at least had no real sense of its structure and when it should be used. Since there are no quarterly reports for profit or meetings for accountability in the public sector, reading this book and understanding that there are frameworks and systems that exist opened my eyes and understanding.

Implementing structured approaches to projects and designating a project manager who is clear on the mission, vision, goals, and objectives sets your team and organization up for success. It's like Benjamin Franklin said, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read and utilised a PDF copy of this book for a course on—you guessed it!—project management. This copy was technically flawless for my purposes.

The language of the book is highly accessible in that even high schoolers in countries where English is spoken as a second language may find it easy to understand. And by no means do I mean that negatively! One easily imagines what a solid grasp of project management could do for an SMB owner/manager in a developing country… Another note on the language: the tone the author employs is almost informal but manages to avoid it. As I alluded to earlier, this books means business, and so speaks business!

I barely consider myself to be “business-minded” but many of my friends have such an aptitude, so I’m familiar with the frame of mind that is needed for such inclinations. This book speaks to that frame of mind and informs it of how it needs to equip itself properly for effective project management. I must note that our class used this reference while working on a group project for the same course. This was good because we could apply what we learned from the reading in real time.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was reading this to learn more about Project Management. If I decide to move my career in this direction, then re-reading and re-re-reading this book will be an asset to properly distill the knowledge and advise from it. Likely this would be a very valuable book, as it recommends further reading into some of the topics it introduces. It provides you with some direction on this learning journey. As a stand alone educating yourself about something you know nothing about, it was good enough. Not brilliant, or outstanding. But given that isn't it's intended use, then this mediocrity becomes a boon.

Fairly easy read. Good flow. Not too jargon heavy.

Cheers

[Ell · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a project manager, interested in becoming one, or have project management certification that needs to be renewed, I encourage you to get a copy of this most recent edition of Fundamentals of Project Management. There is quite a bit of new information and this book expertly explains the changes to the 7th edition of the PMBOK Guide, as well as provides clear examples and techniques which clarify. It’s worth the investment of time and money.

[Annarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book if you are a pm and want to keep up with the changes in the methodology or just need an excellent reference book.
It's informative and easy to follow.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[Manouane Beauchamp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellente synthèse sur les bases de la gestion de projet. L'auteur y présente certaines anecdotes professionnelles fort pertinentes et cite plusieurs auteurs ou ouvrages, ce qui rend la lecture très intéressante.

[Marc-André Daigneault · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction to project management!

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fairly basic and dated in that it is mostly focused on waterfall methodology. A fine primer if you are new to PM or haven't been keeping up on your CEUs I suppose, but for working PMs or those who have recently read the PMBOK and/or received certifications, this is of little use.

[Abby Epplett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent overview of Project Management, with more life than some other books on the same topic.