The Rational Project Manager: A Thinking Team's Guide to Getting Work Done [Hardcover]

A. Longman (Author), Jim Mullins (Author)

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Product Details

Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (April 1 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0471721468
ISBN-13: 978-0471721468
Product Dimensions: 23.3 x 15.9 x 2.4 cm
Shipping Weight: 422 g
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #369,076 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

This comprehensive exploration of the project management process presents the tools, steps, and processes of project management and uncovers the critical thinking -- the why -- vital to project management excellence. Incorporating Kepner-Tregoe?s renowned and effective problem-solving and decision-making processes, the book guides you through the core activities of project management?planning, solving problems, making decisions, and assessing risk. It positions projects within an organization?s "performance environment," an understanding of which is essential for effective team performance and alignment. Offering a combination of overarching insights into organizational dynamics, as well as specific processes and practices for effective management, this is a resource no project leader -- and no project team member -- should be without.

From the Inside Flap

In today's increasingly complex business environment, more and more of the work companies do is done in the form of projects. To be profitable and successful, an organization's projects must be completed on time and on budget, while also meeting its goals. As a result, the art of project management has become increasingly vital to businesses everywhere.

In the tradition of the phenomenal business bestseller The Rational Manager, this comprehensive guide explores and explains the rationale, processes, and tools of successful project management. While The Rational Project Manager covers the nuts and bolts of the discipline, it also offers a unique concentration on the logic and thought processes necessary for successful project completion.

Senior consultants from Kepner-Tregoe, the consultancy whose founders revolutionized organizational problem solving and decision making in The Rational Manager, authors Andrew Longman and Jim Mullins provide one-of-a-kind guidance on problem solving and decision making in project management. Contrary to the litany of excuses heard when projects fail—from "we didn't have enough time," to "we didn't have good enough people"—the majority of failed projects are the result of poor planning and poor critical thinking. That's why this book provides such a heavy focus on the vital skills of communication and problem solving.

The authors divide project management into three stages—definition, planning, and implementation—exploring each stage in depth and showing project managers and contributors how to apply concepts and avoid common mistakes. Setting aside theoretical exploration, complex formulas, and software-as-savior cure-alls, The Rational Project Manager focuses on the fundamentals of why projects fail and offers a proven methodology for making sure they don't.

Practical, straightforward, and comprehensive, this one-of-a-kind resource is the bible for project managers everywhere. Offering unsurpassed insight on the methodology and critical-thinking skills that form the cornerstone of any successful project, The Rational Project Manager helps get work done.

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
PICTURE THE MEMBERS OF a project team exchanging comments during the lunch break of a recent management course. Read the first page

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com ^(beta)

Amazon.com: 3.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A refreshing reference to Project Management, Aug 28 2005

By Jason K. M. Wong "eljkmw" - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: The Rational Project Manager: A Thinking Team's Guide to Getting Work Done (Hardcover)

I must say that this book is indeed refreshing for me, especially after years of re-applying and re-understanding Kepner-Tregoe's methodologies in Project Management (PM), as well as, Problem-Solving & Decision Making (PSDM). For those who have undergone Kepner-Tregoe's workshops in PM and PSDM, this book together with "The New Rational Manager" are essential "re-iterative" references for anyone embarking on improving their PM and PSDM knowledge and experiences. These books are undoubtedly important to have on your bookshelf in the workplace that can be referred to over and over again.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars managing projects in Special Collections, May 24 2005

By S. E. Szmuk Tanenbaum - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: The Rational Project Manager: A Thinking Team's Guide to Getting Work Done (Hardcover)

I am now retired, but I wish that during my 27-year career as a university librarian I had had a guide like The Rational Project Manager to see me through the many complex projects I was responsible for carrying out. When moving special collections or setting up a preservation lab, my team and I would have benefited enormously from having a clear, easy to follow process for managing important projects.

Szilvia Szmuk-Tanenbaum

6 of 12 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Stay Away, Nov 22 2007

By Jeffrey Ned Shamon "Ned Shamon" - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: The Rational Project Manager: A Thinking Team's Guide to Getting Work Done (Hardcover)

I am mad at being misled into purchasing this book! Why? 1) It provides bad PM Guidance. 2) Its promotional notes are misleading.

1) Bad PM Guidance: This short (and often repetitive) book uses one overriding project example throughout to illustrate its points--an office move for an organization. At the book's outset, the project team learns it has to complete its project within three months and under $170k. From there the book tells the reader that the project team then starts to define the project scope and estimate the work. Huh??? The book has assigned a project with its duration and cost budget determined BEFORE the project team has estimated what it is going to take? New PM's, if you follow this path start looking for a new career. What if there aren't enough staff to do the work in three months? Ever? What if there are no movers able to work within your $170k budget? (The authors better not plead that this defective example is constrained by length of the book. They're the ones who wrote and packaged this `book' to be so very brief. It looks like it was composed over a long weekend. A little more time developing a RESPONSIBLE book could have easily avoided this egregious advice.)

2) Misleading Promotional Notes: Inside jacket reads, "...offers a unique concentration on the logic and thought processes necessary for successful project completion." Notwithstanding the overriding flaw cited in #1, there are no UNIQUE logic and thought processes. No, it doesn't. This is very basic PM stuff here, e.g. seek out expert advice, get buy-in from many stakeholders. Right. Thanks a lot. And the endorsements on its back cover from corporate executives, what book are they referencing? These CXO's can't really be impressed with this half baked prose. Rather, their endorsements must be just quid-pro-quo's for past or future endorsements for their books.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 3 reviews 3.7 out of 5 stars