Product Description

Whether you are organising an important event or heading up a large team, running a project can be a daunting process. Project management is fraught with perils; unfinished and unsuccessful projects are everywhere. In fact, it’s more common than not for projects to fail. Spiralling costs and missed deadlines are just part of everyday life for many project managers.

But project management doesn’t have to be like this. It is possible to manage projects that consistently succeed. Brilliant Project Management condenses over thirty years of hands-on project management experience to show you what to do in simple, smart and practical steps.

Discover what the best project managers know, say and do – so you won't just be good, you'll be brilliant.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #917 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 161 pages

Synopsis
Whether you are organising an important event or heading up a large team, running a project can be a daunting process. Project management is fraught with perils; unfinished and unsuccessful projects are everywhere. In fact, it's more common than not for projects to fail. Spiralling costs and missed deadlines are just part of everyday life for many project managers. But project management doesn't have to be like this. It is possible to manage projects that consistently succeed. Brilliant Project Management condenses over thirty years of hands-on project management experience to show you what to do in simple, smart and practical steps. Discover what the best project managers know, say and do so you won't just be good, you'll be brilliant.

From the Author
In this book we've distilled down what we think it takes to be a brilliant project manager. We've drawn on the good, the bad and the ugly - and the eccentric. But above all, we've thought long and hard about what we've learned from rolling up our sleeves and getting our hands dirty. Between us we've got over thirty years of Barker and Cole hands-on project management experience. That's plenty of time to learn lessons at the school of hard knocks!

Our advice has been packaged up as a guide book to project management. You can dip into the topics that interest you most, or read it from cover to cover. Like any guide book, we've had to be selective about the subjects we explore. However, we've focussed our attention on what you'll find of most practical use and can immediately apply. We'll show you the tricks of the trade and the traps to avoid. Best of all, this advice is tried and tested in the real world of project management.

We've got plenty to say about both the traditional project management topics, as well as the people side of the job that often gets overlooked. Project managers don't just struggle with the intricacies of plans and risk logs, they struggle with people too.

From the Back Cover

Whether you are organising an important event or heading up a large team, running a project can be a daunting process. Project management is fraught with perils; unfinished and unsuccessful projects are everywhere. In fact, it’s more common than not for projects to fail. Spiralling costs and missed deadlines are just part of everyday life for many project managers.

But project management doesn’t have to be like this. It is possible to manage projects that consistently succeed. Brilliant Project Management condenses over thirty years of hands-on project management experience to show you what to do in simple, smart and practical steps.

Discover what the best project managers know, say and do – so you won't just be good, you'll be brilliant.

Customer Reviews

What's the difference between a risk and an issue?
As the title suggests and the other reviewers have agreed, this is a great book about project management. At around 150 pages, it is quite short and although it is written in a light-hearted and engaging way it doesn't feel short on content. Real world advice is given in the areas listed below and you also get a feel for how the authors see these different pieces fitting together to support one another (i.e. running a lessons learned log alongside the risk and issues logs - facilitating early utilisation of new knowledge and removing the `chore' perception from an end of project lessons learned debrief). But if you would like really detailed information regarding any of them you may still end up buying supplemental materials, which is something that the authors admit and something I certainly intend to do:

* Project planning
* Risk and issue management
* Delivering quality
* Resource management
* Leading effective teams
* Productive meetings
* Facilitation skills
* Making use of lessons learned

Having started to study the Prince2 Manual, this book has been a welcome relief from its' very dry presentation, and at the same time a very good complement to the ideas and method set out within Prince2. As such I would certainly recommend Brilliant Project Management to anyone studying for Prince2 (which assume would also apply to MSP or other such methodologies); or for anyone new to project management; or for someone with experience under their belt but with a desire to raise the bar, be it in terms of performance, satisfaction, consistency or a combination of aforementioned.

Plain and simple language
I read it in a week, simple, plain and easy language.
Must buy for PMs.

I agree with the 5 stars for the other reviews!
Just to say, I've done my Prince2, read up on Scrum and Agile methods etc etc, but this book filled in the gaps - not just theory, but *practice* !!!

Practical, concise, and in my view essential.