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HBR Guide to Project Management
Harvard Business Review
Harvard Business Review guide is a valuable source of step by step work that a project manager has to tackle during a project. It helped me understand tools like WBS (=work breakdown structure) and finally after all the years spent in TAP I knew how to use it in practice. It follows more of a traditional project management flow, though I believe even those can be agile when used with a somewhat “agile mindset”. The whole book is written in a language very easy to understand and on its nearly 200 pages gives you a knowledge worth 400 pages in some different books.
It puts a lot of emphasis on soft skills as well, which is a huge plus of this book since project management often neglects it. And, in between the book you can find very useful examples from practice and tips on how to go about things occurring a bit from “nowhere” - conflicts, delays of the project and so on.
Except understanding easily the project phases and appropriate tools to use in the specific phases, they also put a lot of emphasis on the key skills that a project manager should be prepared to use in the different phases.
Let me explain the phases of the project:
Planning is about mapping out the project. It consists one key part to start with - identifying the real problem. A key starting point that we run into all the time, whether in the TA methodology or in the process of putting a business idea into reality or in other supportive methods like Action Learning. I could be naming more but I think we got the message. It is all around us. And I was happy to have seen this explained in the book as well. It also consists of identifying the stakeholders, defining objectives, determining scope, resources and major tasks.
Build-Up phase is about how to get the project going. That means, assembling the right team, planning assignments, creating a schedule, developing a budget. The writers connect the tools from different parts and show you how to use them. For instance, in the planning phase you create a WBS and in the Build-Up phase they tell you how to use it to create a schedule. And once again, they use ATP terms like CPM (=critical path method) or the Steering committee that in my first year I had a hard time wrapping my head around.
Implementation phase is about executing the project. How to monitor and control the process and the budget, how to report progress and explains why it is important to hold regular team meetings. In this part they also give amazing tips on how to manage problems and control the project slowdowns.
Closeout is about how to handle end matters. Something that we often neglect when in fact we have to pay a lot of attention to. Here comes the evaluation of the project performance, how to close the project, how to debrief with the team and develop a post-evaluation report.
What was sooo useful for me was this table at the beginning of the book where you can see all the phases, skills and tools in one table. I often get back to this one to refresh my memory.
To sum up, this book is an amazing starting point to fully understand what is the job of a project manager. His responsibilities, his weapons and things to warry. It gets you started fast and in a very practical way.
