My work repsonsibilities have changed to more project management and much less engineering. I've seen some of what project managers do from past engineering work, but still have to climb a steep learning curve. Can you help by recommending books to me that focus on practical methods and personal experience of project management? Thank you.
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Project Management Book Recommendations 5
- Thread starter pmureiko
- Start date
GeoPaveTraffic
Geotechnical
I agree with Harold53, PMI and their PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) is a very good resource for those in project management. If you want/need a more introductory place to start you might want to checkout the book Project Management, A Managerial Approach by Jack Meredith and Samuel Mantel. It is not a great book by any means, however, it is the only book on true project management that I'm aware of.
As for Rjeffery's recommendation of books on/by Deming, I would not recommend them for project management information. While they may have some useful info, they will be more focused on quality, which is only one part of project management.
As for Rjeffery's recommendation of books on/by Deming, I would not recommend them for project management information. While they may have some useful info, they will be more focused on quality, which is only one part of project management.
HamishMcTavish
Nuclear
I have found "Project Management: a Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling" by Harold Kerzner a very useful book in the past or you could try the "Handbook of Project Based Management: Improving the Process for Achieving Strategic Objectives" by J. Rodney Turner. Kerzner has many case studies to illustrate lessons learned but the book by Turner is an easier read.
No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary - William of Occam
No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary - William of Occam
I agree with HamishMcTavish.
I particularly recommend Turner's work. I refer to it almost daily.
Another book I found useful is:
Professional Construction Management by Donald S. Barrie and Boyd C.Paulson. As the title suggests it is heavily biased towards construction projects though.
Cheers
I particularly recommend Turner's work. I refer to it almost daily.
Another book I found useful is:
Professional Construction Management by Donald S. Barrie and Boyd C.Paulson. As the title suggests it is heavily biased towards construction projects though.
Cheers
ElwoodGreen
Mechanical
I took a 3-day seminar by James P. Lewis which included a copy of his book "Project Planning Scheduling & Control." Check the website for info. I thought it was very good, but I have limited experience. At least one nuclear plant trains much of their staff via these seminars.
Mr. Lewis doesn't use a bunch of statistical analysis or formulae, and the book is very readable. I need to finish it and formally implement his methodology. It is very straight forward, and I might even get something done.
Mr. Lewis doesn't use a bunch of statistical analysis or formulae, and the book is very readable. I need to finish it and formally implement his methodology. It is very straight forward, and I might even get something done.
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5
- #8
Where exactly are you looking for help?
Are you looking for help in scheduling?
Are you looking for help in cost control?
Are you looking for help in inspection and quality control?
Are you looking for help in leadership and personnel management?
Are you looking for help in communication?
Are you looking for help in running meetings?
These are all areas where a project manager has to be competent. There are many books on all these topics. Read several of them and draw your own conclusions.
No matter what any one book says, the methods and approaches given in the book are usually only one person’s ideas of how to manage. Never take any one person’s opinion as gospel because there are lots of ways to manage a project.
Find your own style for management and leadership, one that suits your personality, abilities and industry.
For what it’s worth, in managing technical professionals the key is usually to ensure good communications within the group and with any outside resources. You will never have all the answers but if you are always asking the right questions you will always get the right answer. Foster good and clear communications. Never shoot the messenger who brings you bad news. Never BS the troops and they will never BS you.
Don’t let your emotions rule. If you are having trouble at home leave them there before you come to work. If you are having troubles at work leave them there before you go home.
Remember budgets and schedules are only forecasts. Just as you would never personally blame the weatherman if it rains on your picnic, don’t blame the scheduler or budgeter factors beyond their control. Be flexible and adapt to changing circumstances.
Loyalty in any organization flows both ways. Be loyal and take care of your staff and they will be loyal and take care of you. Don’t take care of your staff and they will still take care of you, just in ways that you will not enjoy.
When assigned any responsibility always assume that the authority to do the task comes with the assignment. If it doesn’t then refuse the task.
And finally always remember that no one ever gets up in the morning and gets ready to go to work thinking that he is going to do a bad job today. Your job is to make sure that they can do the job assigned, that they have the tools to do it and that they understand what you want done.
Good luck and HAVE FUN!
Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng
Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
Are you looking for help in scheduling?
Are you looking for help in cost control?
Are you looking for help in inspection and quality control?
Are you looking for help in leadership and personnel management?
Are you looking for help in communication?
Are you looking for help in running meetings?
These are all areas where a project manager has to be competent. There are many books on all these topics. Read several of them and draw your own conclusions.
No matter what any one book says, the methods and approaches given in the book are usually only one person’s ideas of how to manage. Never take any one person’s opinion as gospel because there are lots of ways to manage a project.
Find your own style for management and leadership, one that suits your personality, abilities and industry.
For what it’s worth, in managing technical professionals the key is usually to ensure good communications within the group and with any outside resources. You will never have all the answers but if you are always asking the right questions you will always get the right answer. Foster good and clear communications. Never shoot the messenger who brings you bad news. Never BS the troops and they will never BS you.
Don’t let your emotions rule. If you are having trouble at home leave them there before you come to work. If you are having troubles at work leave them there before you go home.
Remember budgets and schedules are only forecasts. Just as you would never personally blame the weatherman if it rains on your picnic, don’t blame the scheduler or budgeter factors beyond their control. Be flexible and adapt to changing circumstances.
Loyalty in any organization flows both ways. Be loyal and take care of your staff and they will be loyal and take care of you. Don’t take care of your staff and they will still take care of you, just in ways that you will not enjoy.
When assigned any responsibility always assume that the authority to do the task comes with the assignment. If it doesn’t then refuse the task.
And finally always remember that no one ever gets up in the morning and gets ready to go to work thinking that he is going to do a bad job today. Your job is to make sure that they can do the job assigned, that they have the tools to do it and that they understand what you want done.
Good luck and HAVE FUN!
Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng
Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
ElwoodGreen
Mechanical
RDK, I agree with much of what you said, and I need help in every area you mentioned. Here's my scenario:
Small public utility with many "projects"
Limited staff resources
Recent budget problems
Politically motivated staff reduction instigated by an outgoing General Manager, which caused an engineer (me) to become at minimum a half-time plant operator to cover for the lost operator. I had to burn a vacation day to enjoy my Saturday birthday
This goes right to the heart of your loyalty statements. No one asked me about the impacts of the staff reduction at our little power plant, even though I have been here since the feasibility study. My loyalty to the company went to near zero. I no longer trust my immediate supervisor, nor do I trust the departmental manager who hired me 6 years ago. I will be studying for a PE License in order to get my skill level up, and if I pass (perhaps even if I don't), then I will likely be looking around for a change. Previously, I would have likely stayed on until retirement.
Other threads discussed the differences between public and private employment. My scenario happens quite often in public employment when ever there are budget woes. Namely, the shortsighted political decisions that can adversly affect not only your work life, but also your home life. I can no longer enjoy any Saturday activities such as family gatherings. The only positive I got is an extra day off every week.
I'll stop rambling now. Please keep posting the "words of wisdom" that many of us need to read in order to make improvements. Thanks.
Small public utility with many "projects"
Limited staff resources
Recent budget problems
Politically motivated staff reduction instigated by an outgoing General Manager, which caused an engineer (me) to become at minimum a half-time plant operator to cover for the lost operator. I had to burn a vacation day to enjoy my Saturday birthday
This goes right to the heart of your loyalty statements. No one asked me about the impacts of the staff reduction at our little power plant, even though I have been here since the feasibility study. My loyalty to the company went to near zero. I no longer trust my immediate supervisor, nor do I trust the departmental manager who hired me 6 years ago. I will be studying for a PE License in order to get my skill level up, and if I pass (perhaps even if I don't), then I will likely be looking around for a change. Previously, I would have likely stayed on until retirement.
Other threads discussed the differences between public and private employment. My scenario happens quite often in public employment when ever there are budget woes. Namely, the shortsighted political decisions that can adversly affect not only your work life, but also your home life. I can no longer enjoy any Saturday activities such as family gatherings. The only positive I got is an extra day off every week.
I'll stop rambling now. Please keep posting the "words of wisdom" that many of us need to read in order to make improvements. Thanks.
I cannot help you with the politics of the situation other than to say that politics are everywhere. They are a normal part of human interactions. Once the elected politicians get involved long term planning and common sense go out the window and the main consideration is how good will this look in a 10 second sound bite on the evening news.
For this I can suggest that you get a copy of “The Ropes to Skip and The Ropes to Know” by Ritti. This is a quite readable study in organizational behavior and is available various online bookstores. It’s a serious organizational behavior textbook (I used it my MBA classes) but is written with a sense of humor.
As to PM books you really have two choices. The first is the popular press. These are the books that offer to tell you everything you need to be successful in ten easy steps or how to be a one-minute manager.
Some of these are good, they are simply readable versions of serious works, and most are crap. One I liked is “What They Don’t Teach You in Harvard Business School” by McCormack. It’s a little dated since it predates the computer revolution in business but the basics are there for a starting manager.
For the actual basic technical details of project management, visit your local university bookstore or library. Get some first year commerce textbooks on subjects like finance and accounting, management science and commercial law.
Books like the PMBOK are good but it helps to have a good understanding of the basics first. First year commerce classes are usually a good starting place.
You have to understand the basics and know the difference between a debit and a credit if you ant to talk to accountants. The sections on variance analysis and reporting have to be read and understood in the content that your firm uses the concepts. A lot of the terms have slightly different meanings and local variations form industry to industry.
Management science is the mathematical modeling of workplace situations. For any engineer the math is so simple that you can simply read the book and work a couple of sample problems and get a good understanding of what the computer is doing. Pay particular attention to the scheduling, resource leveling and optimizing areas.
Law is important to understand since you will be dealing in the area of practical law. You don’t have to be a lawyer but you have to have an appreciation of how they think and the basic guiding principals.
To improve communication skills “Technically Write” by Ronning is a good communication book. It covers all aspects of technical communication. Also look at local speaking groups like Toastmasters for chances to practice your speaking and meeting management skills.
No job is worth sacrificing your personal life and family life for. If the situation becomes untenable look at getting out. Just get as much practicable experience as possible before you make the jump to a new position and you might land higher on the ladder.
Hope this helps and god luck.
Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng
Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
For this I can suggest that you get a copy of “The Ropes to Skip and The Ropes to Know” by Ritti. This is a quite readable study in organizational behavior and is available various online bookstores. It’s a serious organizational behavior textbook (I used it my MBA classes) but is written with a sense of humor.
As to PM books you really have two choices. The first is the popular press. These are the books that offer to tell you everything you need to be successful in ten easy steps or how to be a one-minute manager.
Some of these are good, they are simply readable versions of serious works, and most are crap. One I liked is “What They Don’t Teach You in Harvard Business School” by McCormack. It’s a little dated since it predates the computer revolution in business but the basics are there for a starting manager.
For the actual basic technical details of project management, visit your local university bookstore or library. Get some first year commerce textbooks on subjects like finance and accounting, management science and commercial law.
Books like the PMBOK are good but it helps to have a good understanding of the basics first. First year commerce classes are usually a good starting place.
You have to understand the basics and know the difference between a debit and a credit if you ant to talk to accountants. The sections on variance analysis and reporting have to be read and understood in the content that your firm uses the concepts. A lot of the terms have slightly different meanings and local variations form industry to industry.
Management science is the mathematical modeling of workplace situations. For any engineer the math is so simple that you can simply read the book and work a couple of sample problems and get a good understanding of what the computer is doing. Pay particular attention to the scheduling, resource leveling and optimizing areas.
Law is important to understand since you will be dealing in the area of practical law. You don’t have to be a lawyer but you have to have an appreciation of how they think and the basic guiding principals.
To improve communication skills “Technically Write” by Ronning is a good communication book. It covers all aspects of technical communication. Also look at local speaking groups like Toastmasters for chances to practice your speaking and meeting management skills.
No job is worth sacrificing your personal life and family life for. If the situation becomes untenable look at getting out. Just get as much practicable experience as possible before you make the jump to a new position and you might land higher on the ladder.
Hope this helps and god luck.
Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng
Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
ElwoodGreen
Mechanical
Thanks again, RDK, for your insight. I am not really management material, but I do need to be able to manage projects. I'll try to implement the strategies & tools from my current book. They make sense to me, and I don't need to expand on them at this time. I'll also be keeping my eyes and ears open for other opportunities in the area.
pmureiko,
You may want to investigate the book Building a Project-Driven Enterprise: How to Slash Waste and Boost Profits Through Lean Project Management by Ronald Mascitelli.
ISBN: 0966269713
The book is available through Amazon.com via this link:
I was trained on Lean Project Management and can recommend the book.
Best regards,
Matthew Ian Loew
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
You may want to investigate the book Building a Project-Driven Enterprise: How to Slash Waste and Boost Profits Through Lean Project Management by Ronald Mascitelli.
ISBN: 0966269713
The book is available through Amazon.com via this link:
I was trained on Lean Project Management and can recommend the book.
Best regards,
Matthew Ian Loew
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
I agree with earlier comments that there is not necessarily one book or reference that covers project management for your circumstances exactly. My experience is that you need a broad library to reference sections from each major author. Most of the books referenced above I am familiar with and they have very strong points. An extra one to add is 'Project Management: Orientation for Decision Makers' by John Dingle.
Auminer, PE, MBA in PM
Auminer, PE, MBA in PM
- Thread starter
- #14
This is not a book recommendation, but if you have some training budget you should strongly consider the two day PM bootcamp offered by PSMJ. I have attended many types of technical, managerial, communication, and PM training over the years, and this is far and away the best.
FrankDesigns
Mechanical
- Oct 9, 2003
- 2
Also try out the Seven Habits for Highly Effective People (Steven Covey). It is not about Project Management specifically, but it will help make your life easier. Organization is the best tool you have available to you as a project manager.
Words of encouragement: Anyone can become a project manager if you were an engineer (logical thought is a given in Engineering). It is much more difficult to go the other way.
Good luck.
Words of encouragement: Anyone can become a project manager if you were an engineer (logical thought is a given in Engineering). It is much more difficult to go the other way.
Good luck.
Matt
What is "lean project managment"? If someone else had said it I would have dismissed it as a buzzword.
Henry
ProEpro
What is "lean project managment"? If someone else had said it I would have dismissed it as a buzzword.
Henry
ProEpro
Henry,
Well, it is a bit of a buzzword, but the lean aspects represent some added fidelity that atempts to focus attention on reducing and/or eliminating some of the more wastfull elements of traditional PM. Here are some additional resources that provide more information:[ul][li]Lean Project Management How to Slash Waste and Boost Profits - Hands-on Workshop [/li][li]Driving Lean Upstream Can Multiply Its Benefits click on Publications >> Articles[/li][li]Lean Project Management [/li][/ul]
I hope this helps.
Best regards,
Matthew Ian Loew
"Luck is the residue of design."
Branch Rickey
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
Well, it is a bit of a buzzword, but the lean aspects represent some added fidelity that atempts to focus attention on reducing and/or eliminating some of the more wastfull elements of traditional PM. Here are some additional resources that provide more information:[ul][li]Lean Project Management How to Slash Waste and Boost Profits - Hands-on Workshop [/li][li]Driving Lean Upstream Can Multiply Its Benefits click on Publications >> Articles[/li][li]Lean Project Management [/li][/ul]
I hope this helps.
Best regards,
Matthew Ian Loew
"Luck is the residue of design."
Branch Rickey
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
I am currently reading the "PDMA Handbook of New Product Development" edited by Milton Rosenau. The chapters are composed by various contributors and it is a relatively straightforward read (intentionally so). It provides an overview of a wide variety of strategies/techniques for Project Management. Other resources may be found at
Regards,
Regards,
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