Guest post by Travis Anderson
I was in my study reading the Top 7 WBS Mistakes Project Managers Make by Nankivel (http://wbscoach.com/7-mistakes) and started to wonder what other project management enthusiast read. Many of us work in different industries, have different experiences, live in different parts of the world, and are from different generations, but I bet we all have a few books in common among all of us here at the pmStudent. So please leave a laundry list of books that are your favorite or a “must” for the PM community trying to expand the body of knowledge.
Here are a few of the books or case studies on my shelf:
- The Goal by Goldratt
- Critical Chain by Goldratt
- You’re in Charge – Now what? by Neef & Citrin
- Performance Based Earned Value by Young
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Covey
- Winning with People by Maxwell
- The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader by Maxwell
- The 21 irrefutable Laws of Leadership by Maxwell
- All the One Minute Manager books by Blanchard & Johnson & crew
- Winning by Welch
- Napoleon on Project Management by Manas
- What Makes an Effective Executive by Drucker
- NEW to my list!!! Top 7 WBS Mistakes Project Managers Make by Nankivel
Thanks in advance for sharing.
No related posts.
{ 41 comments… read them below or add one }
One of my favorite Project Management books is Kimberly Wiefling’s “Scrappy Project Management.” It’s a really quick read and easy reference filled with helpful real-life anecdotes.
Here’s the URL: http://www.amazon.com/Scrappy-Project-Management-Predictable-Avoidable/dp/1600050514/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263411839&sr=8-2
Enjoy!
I’ll agree with that recommendation Lisa, Kimberly’s book is great! I wrote a post about it earlier.
pmstudent.com/scrappy-project-management
What? No “Parachute” books?
Hi Travis et al,
Here is my “Top Ten” list, roughly in order of priority, based on how frequently I refer to them:
1) Project Management Using Earned Value, by Gary Humphreys
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
2) Re Imagine by Tom Peters
3) Flat World by Tom Friedman
4) Death of Demand by Tom Osenten
5) Activity Based Costing by Gary Cokins
6) Business Savvy Project Manager by Gary Heerkens
7) Management Tasks, Responsibilities and Practices, by Drucker
9) Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
10) Linked by Barabasi
My #1 favorite, Humphrey’s Project Management Using Earned Value, is, IMPO, 1000 time BETTER than the PMBOK Guide in terms of being a USEABLE methodology. Covers EXACTLY the same topics as the PMBOK does, but in a way that makes sense and is, IMPO, a “best practice”.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
http://www.build-project-management-competency.com
1000 times better? Come on Paul.
Humphrey’s book is a good book. The PMI Practice Guide is not meant to be tutorial – it’s a Practice Guide, just like the title says, nor are any of the other practice guides.
Paul Solomons’s Performance Based Earned Value is good practice book.
But for free you can use the EVM training materials developed at Rocky Flats
http://www.science.doe.gov/opa/
Look at the bottom of the page for the tutorial materials.
Sorry, look under the resources link
http://www.science.doe.gov/opa/13Resources.html
Dr PDG,
I would have to say the Thomas Friedman is one of the best authors of our time. Although I have not read Flat World, his book Hot, Flat, and Crowded is a great book for project managers in the Energy sector to read. According to Mr. Friedman, we as in America have lost our innovative edge. The last time this country really invented something in proportion to a great paradigm shift is the internet during the space race to the moon in the 60s. Arguably the world is getting hotter as CO2 emissions from our current economic model tagged as GDPism by Friedman. China is coping our economic model amplifying this affect on a grand scale. China is competing for many of the same resources and energy is going to be one of the most concerning issues that our world society will face in the next couple decades.
I understand that you spend ample time in southeast Asia.
What is your take on this energy opportunity?
Hi Travis,
Yes, I have been based in Indonesia for over 17 years now and spend a fair amount of my time teaching in China and India.
When I teach in China, classes start at 08:00 and RARELY do I get out of the classroom before 19:00, with only an hour for lunch. When you walk out of a class in China, you feel your brain has been sucked dry…. They are INCREDIBLY hungry for knowledge….. Throughout all of South and Eastern Asia, you can literally FEEL the excitement….
For at least the last 8 years, I have been telling my own kids that unless they get their fingers out of their collective butts, in 10 more years, we are all going to be speaking Mandarin…… As a FIRST LANGUAGE!!
My biggest concern is that America has become complacent. We no longer have that “fire in our belly” that you describe above. (I came of age during the 1960′s and was inspired by JFK)
Not to offend anyone, but I see America as having become much like the UK or the EU….. “has beens”… A country, leaders and people who are living on past glories instead of being leaders. A country driven by entitlements and not accomplishments.
I voted long ago with my feet and have not regretted it…. Asia is the future, at least for the rest of my life… And most likely, yours as well….
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
http://www.build-project-management-competency.com
Hi Travis et al,
Here is my “Top Ten” list, roughly in order of priority, based on how frequently I refer to them:
1) Project Management Using Earned Value, by Gary Humphreys
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
2) Re Imagine by Tom Peters
3) Flat World by Tom Friedman
4) Death of Demand by Tom Osenten
5) Activity Based Costing by Gary Cokins
6) Business Savvy Project Manager by Gary Heerkens
7) Management Tasks, Responsibilities and Practices, by Drucker
9) Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
10) Linked by Barabasi
My #1 favorite, Humphrey’s Project Management Using Earned Value, is, IMPO, 1000 time BETTER than the PMBOK Guide in terms of being a USEABLE methodology. Covers EXACTLY the same topics as the PMBOK does, but in a way that makes sense and is, IMPO, a “best practice”.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
http://www.build-project-management-competency.com
1000 times better? Come on Paul.
Humphrey’s book is a good book. The PMI Practice Guide is not meant to be tutorial – it’s a Practice Guide, just like the title says, nor are any of the other practice guides.
Paul Solomons’s Performance Based Earned Value is good practice book.
But for free you can use the EVM training materials developed at Rocky Flats
http://www.science.doe.gov/opa/
Look at the bottom of the page for the tutorial materials.
Sorry, look under the resources link
http://www.science.doe.gov/opa/13Resources.html
Dr PDG,
I would have to say the Thomas Friedman is one of the best authors of our time. Although I have not read Flat World, his book Hot, Flat, and Crowded is a great book for project managers in the Energy sector to read. According to Mr. Friedman, we as in America have lost our innovative edge. The last time this country really invented something in proportion to a great paradigm shift is the internet during the space race to the moon in the 60s. Arguably the world is getting hotter as CO2 emissions from our current economic model tagged as GDPism by Friedman. China is coping our economic model amplifying this affect on a grand scale. China is competing for many of the same resources and energy is going to be one of the most concerning issues that our world society will face in the next couple decades.
I understand that you spend ample time in southeast Asia.
What is your take on this energy opportunity?
Hi Travis,
Yes, I have been based in Indonesia for over 17 years now and spend a fair amount of my time teaching in China and India.
When I teach in China, classes start at 08:00 and RARELY do I get out of the classroom before 19:00, with only an hour for lunch. When you walk out of a class in China, you feel your brain has been sucked dry…. They are INCREDIBLY hungry for knowledge….. Throughout all of South and Eastern Asia, you can literally FEEL the excitement….
For at least the last 8 years, I have been telling my own kids that unless they get their fingers out of their collective butts, in 10 more years, we are all going to be speaking Mandarin…… As a FIRST LANGUAGE!!
My biggest concern is that America has become complacent. We no longer have that “fire in our belly” that you describe above. (I came of age during the 1960′s and was inspired by JFK)
Not to offend anyone, but I see America as having become much like the UK or the EU….. “has beens”… A country, leaders and people who are living on past glories instead of being leaders. A country driven by entitlements and not accomplishments.
I voted long ago with my feet and have not regretted it…. Asia is the future, at least for the rest of my life… And most likely, yours as well….
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
http://www.build-project-management-competency.com
Glen, my first question is, do you have this book? If not, how do you consider yourself qualified to comment on my opinion of it?
And I think I was clear that I considered it to be 1000 time better as a USEABLE tool? (The content, for all intents and purposes, close to 100% the same as in PMI’s PMBOK Guide)
Despite the name, what Humphrey has produced is what I consider to be an “end to end” approach to project management. Truly step by step by step….. Yes, Earned Value is a core element of his approach, as I think we agree it should be, but it is but one part of what I believe to be a holistic and amazingly pragmatic approach to initiating, planning, executing, controlling and closing projects.
Bottom line- I urge everyone to invest $125 in a copy and then make your own comparisons. Maybe you will agree, maybe not….
But rest assured, Humphrey’s Project Management Using Earned Value is but one of a handful of books that actually sits on my desk and not in my bookcases……
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
http://www.build-project-management-competency.com
Yes Paul I have this book and all the books Gary has written and I work directly with Humphrey’s at two of our defense clients (NASA Orion, IBR and Future Combat Systems Class I).
Can I assume you also work “hands on” with the Humphrey’s staff on defense and space programs, applying his books and processes for IBR’s, JSR’s and rebaselining projects.
Is your 1,000 fold increase measurable in terms of increased benefit to the user? Or were just tossing out the “1,000 fold better” figuratively?
Great, Glen…. I am happy to learn that not only do you have the book, but actually work with Gary and his staff.
No, I have never worked with them directly, but have known him and used his books for many years. As you know, my primary business is general construction and construction in the oil, gas and mining sectors, not aerospace.
And my reference to 1,000 times more useful is based (roughly) around the ratio of times I reference Humphrey vs the number of times I cite the PMBOK Guide. So while I used the number figuratively is it based on a well established metric used in the academic world.
Wishing you and yours a belated Happy New Year!! (Or an early Chinese New Year of the Tiger)
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
http://www.build-project-management-competency.com
Dr. PDG
I hear that Humphry’s book is a good book to use while studying for the EVP certification. Can you contest to this?
Well Travis, let me put it this way….. I use Humphrey’s book as ONE of the primary textbooks for ALL our AACE Certifications. Not only the EVP, http://www.aacei.org/certification/EVP/welcome.shtml but also the CCC/E, PSP and CEP….
The name of the book is somewhat misleading, for while it focuses on Earned Value, (as is appropriate, IMPO) it really is a step by step methodology. Takes substantially everything that is in the PMBOK Guide and makes it “real” and “understandable” in a pragmatic, applied sense.
Is this step by step methodology appropriate for ALL applications? I don’t know, but I am using it in oil, gas, mining, telecommunications (including IT) and international development projects (like rebuilding Aceh or Haiti) and it has worked for us and our clients.
Best of luck, Travis and I will be curious after you take your EVP to compare the AACE certification process vs PMI’s…..
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
http://www.build-project-management-competency.com
When you make exxadurated statements, it just hard for me to resist.
Travis,
The Humphrey’s book is good. I listed it as the best EV book in 2006. But there are many equally good sources that are FREE.
The Humphrey’s book is the compilation of the course materials and the text used in his courses.
Start with Paul Solomon’s Performance Based Earned Value. There are numerous FREE sources at the Defense Acquisition University (www.dau.mil). These courses can be taken as an audit, but the materials are FREE and the narrative is many times entertaining.
Also take a look at
http://herdingcats.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/01/books-books-and-more-books.html.
And finally use the Booz Allen like I posted above for the course we use at Department of Energy.
The critical learning here is to establish what domain you’re applying EV. If you’re not subject to government guidance (US, UK, Aus or the like) then you’re free to swizzle (a defense term) the approach in pretty much any way you want and still call it EV.
But there are narrower options in ANSI/EIA-748B domain EV processes, once you are subject to the FAR and DID guides
Glen,
First let me ask you if you have an EVP certification?
What are some of the first steps to start preparing for the EVP cert?
When I started to prepare for the PMI PMP cert I was able to use the PMPrepcast to help guide my choices regarding study material, a study plan, and Q&A on application and test stuff.
Can you prove any insight or guidance?
FYI – I work for SAIC as a project controller on a DOI project joint with the USGS and NASA called LDCM. Josh Nankivel and I worked together on this project. My experience is approx. three years preforming EVM using tools such as Primavera for the RLN and Cobra for the EV engine. Previously I have completed the one week Humphry’s training and have the big blue book at my desk. Dale Gilliam was my tutor and now my mentor for EVM.
Academically, I have a BSc PM, PMP, and just finishing my MBA.
Can you provide any suggested guidance? I was hoping you could do a post on the EVP topic.
Travis,
No I don’t. I manage people who do. The EVP cert is very focused on cost. We have cost staff, but or larger focus is on IMP/IMS for the program.
Ray Straton has a course that seems to be a first step. I know folks at Ball here in Denver who have done the study and test as a group.
Let me ask around here to see what are next steps. There are several people on the LinkedIn forum with EVP’s here in Denver.
I’m probably not the first person to ask, but if you’re working the USCG/NASA domain, make sure you have guidance focused on DoD 5000.02 style EVM.
Travis,
Go to LinkedIn and search in the people line for EVP
Blake Crenshaw
Glenn Counts
are people I know
Glen, my first question is, do you have this book? If not, how do you consider yourself qualified to comment on my opinion of it?
And I think I was clear that I considered it to be 1000 time better as a USEABLE tool? (The content, for all intents and purposes, close to 100% the same as in PMI’s PMBOK Guide)
Despite the name, what Humphrey has produced is what I consider to be an “end to end” approach to project management. Truly step by step by step….. Yes, Earned Value is a core element of his approach, as I think we agree it should be, but it is but one part of what I believe to be a holistic and amazingly pragmatic approach to initiating, planning, executing, controlling and closing projects.
Bottom line- I urge everyone to invest $125 in a copy and then make your own comparisons. Maybe you will agree, maybe not….
But rest assured, Humphrey’s Project Management Using Earned Value is but one of a handful of books that actually sits on my desk and not in my bookcases……
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
http://www.build-project-management-competency.com
Yes Paul I have this book and all the books Gary has written and I work directly with Humphrey’s at two of our defense clients (NASA Orion, IBR and Future Combat Systems Class I).
Can I assume you also work “hands on” with the Humphrey’s staff on defense and space programs, applying his books and processes for IBR’s, JSR’s and rebaselining projects.
Is your 1,000 fold increase measurable in terms of increased benefit to the user? Or were just tossing out the “1,000 fold better” figuratively?
Great, Glen…. I am happy to learn that not only do you have the book, but actually work with Gary and his staff.
No, I have never worked with them directly, but have known him and used his books for many years. As you know, my primary business is general construction and construction in the oil, gas and mining sectors, not aerospace.
And my reference to 1,000 times more useful is based (roughly) around the ratio of times I reference Humphrey vs the number of times I cite the PMBOK Guide. So while I used the number figuratively is it based on a well established metric used in the academic world.
Wishing you and yours a belated Happy New Year!! (Or an early Chinese New Year of the Tiger)
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
http://www.build-project-management-competency.com
Dr. PDG
I hear that Humphry’s book is a good book to use while studying for the EVP certification. Can you contest to this?
Well Travis, let me put it this way….. I use Humphrey’s book as ONE of the primary textbooks for ALL our AACE Certifications. Not only the EVP, http://www.aacei.org/certification/EVP/welcome.shtml but also the CCC/E, PSP and CEP….
The name of the book is somewhat misleading, for while it focuses on Earned Value, (as is appropriate, IMPO) it really is a step by step methodology. Takes substantially everything that is in the PMBOK Guide and makes it “real” and “understandable” in a pragmatic, applied sense.
Is this step by step methodology appropriate for ALL applications? I don’t know, but I am using it in oil, gas, mining, telecommunications (including IT) and international development projects (like rebuilding Aceh or Haiti) and it has worked for us and our clients.
Best of luck, Travis and I will be curious after you take your EVP to compare the AACE certification process vs PMI’s…..
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
http://www.build-project-management-competency.com
When you make exxadurated statements, it just hard for me to resist.
Travis,
The Humphrey’s book is good. I listed it as the best EV book in 2006. But there are many equally good sources that are FREE.
The Humphrey’s book is the compilation of the course materials and the text used in his courses.
Start with Paul Solomon’s Performance Based Earned Value. There are numerous FREE sources at the Defense Acquisition University (www.dau.mil). These courses can be taken as an audit, but the materials are FREE and the narrative is many times entertaining.
Also take a look at
http://herdingcats.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/01/books-books-and-more-books.html.
And finally use the Booz Allen like I posted above for the course we use at Department of Energy.
The critical learning here is to establish what domain you’re applying EV. If you’re not subject to government guidance (US, UK, Aus or the like) then you’re free to swizzle (a defense term) the approach in pretty much any way you want and still call it EV.
But there are narrower options in ANSI/EIA-748B domain EV processes, once you are subject to the FAR and DID guides
Glen,
First let me ask you if you have an EVP certification?
What are some of the first steps to start preparing for the EVP cert?
When I started to prepare for the PMI PMP cert I was able to use the PMPrepcast to help guide my choices regarding study material, a study plan, and Q&A on application and test stuff.
Can you prove any insight or guidance?
FYI – I work for SAIC as a project controller on a DOI project joint with the USGS and NASA called LDCM. Josh Nankivel and I worked together on this project. My experience is approx. three years preforming EVM using tools such as Primavera for the RLN and Cobra for the EV engine. Previously I have completed the one week Humphry’s training and have the big blue book at my desk. Dale Gilliam was my tutor and now my mentor for EVM.
Academically, I have a BSc PM, PMP, and just finishing my MBA.
Can you provide any suggested guidance? I was hoping you could do a post on the EVP topic.
Travis,
No I don’t. I manage people who do. The EVP cert is very focused on cost. We have cost staff, but or larger focus is on IMP/IMS for the program.
Ray Straton has a course that seems to be a first step. I know folks at Ball here in Denver who have done the study and test as a group.
Let me ask around here to see what are next steps. There are several people on the LinkedIn forum with EVP’s here in Denver.
I’m probably not the first person to ask, but if you’re working the USCG/NASA domain, make sure you have guidance focused on DoD 5000.02 style EVM.
Travis,
Go to LinkedIn and search in the people line for EVP
Blake Crenshaw
Glenn Counts
are people I know
BTW Paul,
I posted back in 2008 that the Humphrey book was one of the best EV books around. But not 1,000 time better than the other dozen or so books with EV in title.
So if you need to know my qualifications for making that assessment, it’s because I use nearly every EV book on the planet in our direct hands on practice of DOD/DOE/NASA earned value management.
I’m confident you could say the same for your SE Asia construction direct hands on EV practice.
So how about toning it down a bit about qualifications to apply the contents of those books on EV based – and I might add DCMA EVMS audited – programs.
Glen,
I thought we agreed to ignore one another?
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
http://www.build-project-management-competency.com
BTW Paul,
I posted back in 2008 that the Humphrey book was one of the best EV books around. But not 1,000 time better than the other dozen or so books with EV in title.
So if you need to know my qualifications for making that assessment, it’s because I use nearly every EV book on the planet in our direct hands on practice of DOD/DOE/NASA earned value management.
I’m confident you could say the same for your SE Asia construction direct hands on EV practice.
So how about toning it down a bit about qualifications to apply the contents of those books on EV based – and I might add DCMA EVMS audited – programs.
Glen,
I thought we agreed to ignore one another?
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
http://www.build-project-management-competency.com
I must say, I simply love it when you guys have a go at each other!
I must say, I simply love it when you guys have a go at each other!
My favorite project failure case study is:
The Guns of August, by Barbara Tuchman
However, people are so much of projects I have to say the following are next:
The Diary’s of Anias Nin (all five volumes)
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, By Paul Kennedy
The Freud Jung Letters
Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
Crime and Punishment, Leo Tolstoy
From Beirut to Jerusalem, by Thomas Friedman
Then there is book to show you should always keep an open mind:
Issac Asimov’s Guide to the Bible
You can’t told how to manage projects, you need to learn how to manage them.
Cheers,
Todd (aka BackFromRed)
My favorite project failure case study is:
The Guns of August, by Barbara Tuchman
However, people are so much of projects I have to say the following are next:
The Diary’s of Anias Nin (all five volumes)
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, By Paul Kennedy
The Freud Jung Letters
Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
Crime and Punishment, Leo Tolstoy
From Beirut to Jerusalem, by Thomas Friedman
Then there is book to show you should always keep an open mind:
Issac Asimov’s Guide to the Bible
You can’t told how to manage projects, you need to learn how to manage them.
Cheers,
Todd (aka BackFromRed)