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by Trish Melton (IChemE)
“It used to be that the best Project Managers were those that solved the big crises, like heroes putting out the fire whilst saving the business. Today this is not success – a great Project Manager will not allow any inferno – he’ll smell the smoke way before ignition and put it out with the help and support of his teams and his stakeholders.” With that introduction, Trish Melton proceeds to describe the tools a project manager uses to smell the smoke and extinguish fires before ignition.
“Project Management Toolkit: Supporting Success at Every Stage”, one of five book’s in IChemE’s project management series, is a refreshing addition to the literature because it was not written for IT project managers. The immensely practical advice and “handy hints” apply equally well to IT projects, of course, but the examples are primarily drawn from engineering projects in process industries.
The structure of the book is based on the concept that every project goes through four value-added stages: why?, how?, in control?, and benefits realized? Each stage is described in turn, accompanied by numerous tools, check lists, case studies, and “handy hints”.
Trish Melton describes the aim of the book as “to develop a practical, usable resource which can be picked up and used on ‘day 1’”. She has clearly done that. She has also provided some critical tools, such as the “why Checklist”, that many experienced project managers do not use well.
There is one other reason to purchase the book. It contains the password to access a restricted area of IChemE’s web site containing the blank tool templates described in the book. The templates alone are worth the purchase price!
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