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Review: Scott Berkun's 'The Art of Project Management'
Merlin Mann | May 23 2005
The Art of Project Management
by Scott Berkun oreilly.com — Online Catalog: The Art of Project Management O’Reilly recently sent me a review copy of Scott Berkun’s The Art of Project Management. I’ve read a couple chapters through, and—as the author himself has recommended—have grazed through a bunch of the sections that looked especially interesting to me. See, I have a marker for a non-fiction book that’s really connecting with me—as I’m reading it, I find myself repeatedly cursing the fact that it didn’t exist earlier. I’m definitely feeling that with this one. Where so many Project Management books fetishize GANTT charts, waterfalls, and abstract planning methods, most of Berkun’s book lives much further down in the trenches—where misunderstandings happen, dates slip, and bad decisions threaten to derail your project. The book is full of really practical advice on handling these challenges in the real world. And, yes, I really wish it had existed 7 or 8 years ago. As it is, many of my bouncer skills were primitively self-taught. One of my favorite chapters, as you might guess, is called “How Not to Annoy People: Process, Email, and Meetings.” It includes a useful bit on how to write good email that I wish everyone who owned a computer would consider reading and then stapling to their monitor.
There’s a PDF of a sample chapter (Chapter 3: How to figure out what to do) on the O’Reilly book site to give you a flavor. But if your job includes any kind of project management especially in the world of web development, you might want to have a look at this. The skills Berkun encourages go beyond one team member’s role, though—communicating well, meeting deadlines, and moving your piece of the project forward are the skills that make anyone the team’s MVP. POSTED IN:
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I think this is exactly...
I think this is exactly why Basecamp succeeds (for us, at least). It’s not about charts and graphs and reports, it’s about communication. Their Manifesto sold me originally and their product continues to sell me every day.
I was always turned off...
I was always turned off by project management when I started out in the world of software development. It seemed to be just a job for someone who enjoyed spending their days tweaking Gantt charts in MS Project. It wasn’t until I came across Agile Development that I began to see that there was a better way. Communication and feedback are absolutely vital. Planning is important, but not too fine grained or too far into the future.
For an interesting read on the agile perspective on planning etc take a look at Mike Cohn’s book Agile Estimating and Planning. It is a work-in-progress, but you can download most of it right now as PDFs…
Any other project management books...
Any other project management books you recommend? I’ve searched high and low through Amazon but they all seem to be so software or business oriented. Any new books similar to this that discuss project management for creatives? Web? Print? Any advice would be great, thanks!
I know what you mean,...
I know what you mean, Todd. Worse still is how full of jargon many are. My problem wasn’t so much in using tools as in knowing how to manage expectations and communicate efficiently with very different personalities. That’s the hard stuff.
Dynamics of Software Development and Rapid Development are two I learned a lot from (make that three I love from MS people).
As far as other, non-software books, the pickins is thin, in my experience. I’ve bought probably half a dozen okay-quality books just so I’d be up to date on lingo, but I haven’t been really bowled over by a PM book in a while.
Let me pick through some boxes and see if any jog my memory.
This might be more web-y...
This might be more web-y than you want, but I really enjoyed Web ReDesign: Workflow that Works. According to the book’s website, there’s a second edition (haven’t seen that one yet). The name is a bit of a misnomer, in my opinion—it’s actually full of useful stuff for any kind of web design project. Good sample documents and excellent overviews of how this stuff works.
Back in the spacer-gif days, it was all about David Siegel, and I’d love to see a complete update of SoSW to see what’s changed over the years.
Anyone else able to nominate good, practical books on project management? Preferably non-web-y, non-tech-y, and plainly written?
Thanks Merlin, these are great...
Thanks Merlin, these are great recommendations. I know what I’m doing on my lunch hour today!
After reading these comments I...
After reading these comments I went back thru my notes from writing the art of pm book - here’s some stuff I found:
The best all around simple lightweight non-geeky non-stuffy book on project management I found was Project management: the essential guide. It’s a tiny 96 pages, lots of diagrams, and very skimable, simple, concise reading (and it’s industry agnostic). I found this too late to make it into the book biblography, but it’s a minor gem. Hard to find though (as gems often are :)
For web development and creative projects I liked Friedland’s Web project management. It’s not quite right for pure design work, but it is focused on a client model of work. I looked at a ton of web dev management books and this was the only one I felt I got anything from.
I recently stumbled onto Getting there by design: an architect’s guide to project and design management, but haven’t see it yet. Could be interesting for those that wanted more design focus.
Anyway, if any of you do check out my book I’d love to know what else you’d like to see covered - I’m always writing essays and plan to write more books, so you’re feedback is always welcome at scottberkun.com
The Art of Project Management 43Folders...
The Art of Project Management
43Folders has a review copy of Scott Berkuns new The Art of Project Management.
"Where so many Project Management books fetishize GANTT charts, waterfalls, and abstract planning methods, most of Berkun’s book lives much…
The Art of Project Management Scott...
The Art of Project Management
Scott Berkun’s The Art of Project Management: Buy it.
If it is half as good as Scott’s online essays, it will be an amazing read.
Merlin of 43Folders has a great review of the book. I wandered out at lunch to buy it.
I need to stop reading blo…
The Art of Project Management Ich...
The Art of Project Management
Ich habe sowieso eine grosse Bereitschaft, Bücher von O’Reilly zu erwerben, denn die meisten Bücher sind unglaublich gut geschrieben. Wenn dann noch Merlin von 43 Folders ein O’Reilly-Buch empfiehlt, und dieses auch noch das Thema Projektmanagement …