This Book is one of the recent publications of Essential Managers sereis by Dorling Kindersley Limited "DK", titled "Project Management" and written by Peter Hobbs in addition to his assistant team, whom handled the book's art work. It was published- The Seconed Addition - in 2021.
The book come in less than 100 pages of Basic Project Management guidance, and professional advice about how to run your project successfully by using the best practices identified in it.
Tough, Project's life cycle (Phases) here for instance (Initation, Definition, Planning, Control, Implementation and Review) is slightly different from PMI's Project's Predictive Lifecycle/Phases (Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monutoring & Controling and Closing) in terminology and sequence, yet one's can relates to the Concept.
The contents (language and approach) is simple, practical and useful, which makes it easy to understand the ideas and implement it, moreover the content presentation and the book's artwork were pleasant - thanks to the artworks team - and did contribute to enhance one's experience of reading this book.
It is designed to targeted those whom are not experienced in the project management field, yet it contains valuable tips as well for experts, where the examples are realistic - to our actual life work environment- more than abstract.
My only take (or suggestion) here is that the statistical percentages that were included in the book to give general impressions (as facts) about various issues/approaches, where lacking the information source. The source should be included there -in this book- as a footnote, to give a reference and validate the credibility of the "assumed fact" displayed.
Overall it is a good read to understand "the know how" of running or managing a project successfully, in one's organization.
Recommended.
Quotes:
"A project is a piece of work that is designed to bring about an agreed beneficial change within a fixed timeframe using specified resources." Page 10
"A project is a "one-off" scope of work defined by three parameters - time, cost, and quality." Page 10
"The six phases of a project:
1- Initiation.
2- Definition.
3- Planning.
4- Control.
5- Implementation.
6- Review." Page 14
"The planning phase focuses on the detail of what has to be produced and how this can be done most effectively with minimum risk." Page 15
"Success comes from building diverse individuals into a strong team and motivating them to produce quality results within the requisite timeframes." Page 20
"While it is important to have at least some understanding of the technical aspects, your management role is to provide the decision-making, planning, and leadership skills." Page 21
"The initiation phase should end with the sponsor signing off the brief and allocating resources that allow you to move into the definition and planning phases of your project." Page 28
"Members of your team will take greater "ownership" of your project if they feel an important part of it." Page31
"In broad terms, defining the scope of your project is done by asking the right people the right questions in the right way, and recording your findings clearly." Page 34
"The business case for a project weighs up two factors: the cost of undertaking the project and the benefits it is likely to deliver." Page 40
"66% of organizations do not regularly complete projects on budget." Page 40
"64% of project managers usually undertake risk management." Page 42
"32% of the reasons for project failure rest in poor estimation in the planning phase." Page 46
"Being purely "reactive" damages productivity, reduces the quality of results, and not least is stressful for you." Page 56
"The three constant axes of communication you need to maintain are with the sponsor, the client, and the team." Page66
"Changes happen in such small steps that they go unnoticed until their true impact becomes apparent." Page 74 *Scope Creep
"52% of projects experience Scope creep." Page 75
"Never agree to a change in scope before carrying out a full impact assessment, to identify how other features of the product will be affected, and developing a costed plan for how to deliver the change." Page 76
"US$99 million is lost for every US$1 billion invested due to poor project performance." Page 76
"The decisions you make during every phase of your project's lifecycle should be with implementation in mind." Page 80
"89% of projects in US high-performing organizations are completed." Page 80
"Snagging is the process of identifying and resolving minor defects that takes place during the implementation phase, prior to the project being declared complete." Page 87
"Never declare a project complete until the end user has been trained to use the product and first-line support is available from outside the project team." Page 87 *when quality is critical (sustaining the benefits)
"69% of projects meet their original goals and business intent." Page 90
"Project learning is done for a purpose - to improve performance on future projects. Don't keep useful information and ideas to yourself - pass them on to where they can make a difference." Page 91
"THINK SMALL
Don't underestimate the value of small, easily implemented improvements to your approach. A "lessons learnt" review should identify several of these, and their combined effect can be significant." Page 93