Reviews: Managing Smaller Projects: A Practical Approach

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Managing Smaller Projects: A Practical Approach [book]
[9781895186857]

$34.75

Displaying 1 to 6 (of 6 reviews)

Result Pages: 1

by G. Thulbourn

Date Added: Monday 10 November, 2008

An excellent structured approach to project management for smaller projects. This isn't rocket science, but this book is an excellent guide to those new to the area or wanting to add some structure to their projects. The only thing that let the book down was the reluctance to look at how computers can help in the process. There is a computer on everybody's desk these days and there are many pragmatic ways in which they can help.

Rating: [4 of 5 Stars!]

by PM World Today (Catherine Vilaga)

Date Added: Tuesday 20 May, 2008

Managing Smaller Projects is a practical guide to incorporating principles of Project Management into smaller projects simply and easily. When applied to smaller projects, traditional project management methods and techniques often prove ill-suited and result in overkill. Watson sets out to devise a system that will help people control smaller projects in a logical and effective way without incurring the expensive overhead costs associated with traditional project management methods, tools and techniques. The result is his Smaller Projects (SP) Method.

As a human resources (HR) professional, I find that project management is an importan tskill set in my profession. But, because most HR projects are considered small to medium in size, the application of traditional Project Management is daunting and not always practical. The author's approach allows me to introduce the foundations of project management to human resources projects in a more efficient manner that is tailored to the smaller scale of most HR projects.

Anyone that must manage smaller projects would benefit most from this book: layman, novice, and the seasoned project manager.

Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]

by W Boudville

Date Added: Wednesday 09 April, 2008

As a cofounder of a startup computer company, I found Watson's advice to be quite cogent. There are all sorts of elaborate methods for management of large scale projects, computer-related or otherwise. Like the Capability Maturity Model Integration from Carnegie Mellon. But this and others of its ilk can be offputting to a new manager, who has to supervise a small group. Much of the functionality is simpler unnecessary or too time consuming. And the books that explain those models can be many hundreds of pages long. Daunting to even start reading, let alone to decide whether to use those or not.

A virtue of Watson's book is that you can quickly absorb it in a few hours. You don't have to risk a huge commitment of your time, to form an opinion of it. Turns out that the procedures it describes are very easy to do. Plus, you don't necessarily need a computer to keep track of the tasks. The book's diagrams show a process that can be documented on paper or blackboard.

There is very little of a quantitative aspect here. No metrics. Somewhat of an old fashioned approach, before computers became prevalent and made it possible to quantify a lot of processes. So this is not a book for quality control or six sigma type tasks in a production line.

Rating: [4 of 5 Stars!]

by Charles Ashbacher

Date Added: Wednesday 09 April, 2008

The smaller project is often overlooked in books about software and project management. Many authors give the implicit signal that only the large projects need to be managed, as if the small projects can be run in an ad hoc manner. That is of course not the case; the small project needs focus and direction, just like the large ones. In some ways, since the small project will often have a more rigid delivery window, it requires a more consistent focus.

Watson sets down some basic guidelines for such projects, starting with some simple forms. Being short and simple, these forms could only be used on small projects. However, like all forms, they should be considered a rubber sheet rather than a rigid slate. Even small projects require a high degree of adaptability as things are rarely constant.

There is no question in my mind that the guidelines set forward in this book will work in helping you manage your small projects. While they will not scale up to the larger projects unaltered, there is much of the structure that will. And to the extent that a large project can be split into a sum of smaller projects, you may find that these principles may also be of enormous benefit, even when your project is large.

Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]

by John Matlock

Date Added: Wednesday 09 April, 2008

There exists the PMBOK which stands for Project Management Body of Knowledge and long with it a certification program for project managers. This consists of a tried and true set of procedures, forms, techniques, and software to assist in the management of projects.

This book has an opening sentence: 'Many of the methods and techniques used in traditional project management look like proverbial sledgehammers when directed at smaller projects.' He is absolutely right, the use of a full scale project management system on a smaller project will likely take more effort than is to be spent on the project itself.

Instead the author has come up with the SP (Smaller Projects) Method. It keeps what is useful but eliminates the 'luxuries' of dealing with smaller projects. For instance one part of big projects is team building. The smaller project 'team' may well have just a single individual for a month or two.

To go with the information in the book, one of the appendices includes a series of forms that you can use to work with the smaller projects that will assist in its management.

Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]

by Reader Views (Kathleen Dowdell)

Date Added: Tuesday 08 April, 2008

The purpose of Mike Watson’s guide “Managing Smaller Projects” is primarily to help people manage smaller projects logically and effectively. This might seem like a simple task, one that could be applied by studying prior project management methods used by large corporations on large projects. This is not so. Watson explains the what, why and how of managing smaller projects so that these smaller projects are not overlooked and left to their own devices and ultimately become a financial burden to the company.

One of the 16 chapters in the book discusses the challenge of managing a project alongside your normal work load. This is extremely useful in evaluating your time commitments by measuring where you spend your time. The author suggests completing a time sheet for 3-4 weeks to get an actual account of how you spend your time at work. Additionally, a chapter on project initiation outlines eleven strategic project factors that are a useful, practical approach for tackling your project. Once the answers to these project factors are drafted and out in the open, two things are accomplished. First, you can communicate the conditions surrounding the project. Second, the project plan (developing a strategy) can be built around these conditions. Then these strategies can be listed in “pieces” or “chunks” which will make it easier to manage the project.

When beginning a small project you must be very clear about what area of your current operation you are trying to improve. In reviewing your objectives, the goals of your plan, the roles and responsibilities, and resources your target will be in sight and you will not waste time scattered about in every direction.

Some practical information that the author shares is to resist the desire to buy project management software thinking it will manage the project. “People manage projects, not computers” is the author’s viewpoint on this. I would agree with this theory. I have purchased software programs that I thought would cut down on my work only to find that the programs caused more work and were not appropriate for what I wanted them to do. A computer is more useful for documenting and holding the many tasks but it will not manage the project. As the author quotes “you wouldn’t buy an accounting package, give it to a novice and then rely on them to produce company accounts for the next month end, would you?” What it can do for you though, is keep track of your task list, break the list into doable units, keep spreadsheets on your progress, and organize your resources. There are seven standard forms included at the end of the book along with two checklists to remind you of useful techniques for each stage of the project

Mike Watson has been a consultant, project manager, and trainer for over 30 years. His practical approach makes “Managing Smaller Projects” an invaluable tool for people who lack formal management training as well as those who work in formal management who want to control smaller projects without the formal corporate burden that is often felt in that environment.

Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]