Books

Book review: The Power of Habit

June 17, 2013

“Habits can be changed, if we understand how they work,” writes Charles Duhigg in his book, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change. “Habits, scientists say, emerge because the brain is constantly looking for ways to save effort.” Without habits, our brains would be overloaded with the minutiae [...]

Shortcuts to Success is now published!

June 12, 2013

My new book, Shortcuts to Success: Project Management in the Real World (2nd Edition) is now out. It was a bit of a labour of love to update the first edition. This new version contains 31 new case studies from project managers all round the world, working on everything from very small projects to multi-million [...]

Book review: AMA Business Boot Camp

May 27, 2013

“One of the most difficult aspects of being a new manager is supervising people who were formally your peers and may now resent the power shift,” writes Edward Reilly in AMA Business Boot Camp: Management and Leadership Fundamentals That Will See You Successfully Through Your Career. Reilly continues: Be objective, fair, and focused on making [...]

Why do stakeholders contribute?

May 15, 2013

I’ve recently read Project Stakeholder Management by Pernille Eskerod and Anna Lund Jepsen (part of Gower’s Fundamentals of Project Management series). It talks about why stakeholders contribute to projects. You might think that it’s obvious. After all, your project sponsor is probably the one who wanted this project to happen in the first place, and [...]

Giveaway: Project Management for Musicians

May 13, 2013

**Update: Please note that this giveaway is now closed** I have a great giveaway for you today – one of the heaviest books I’ve ever had to ship out as a giveaway! It’s Project Management for Musicians: Recordings, Concerts, Tours, Studios & More by Jonathan Feist. Published in February by the publishing wing of Berklee [...]

4 ways to proactively manage stakeholders

May 1, 2013

Stakeholder management is a hot topic at the moment, given that A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)—Fifth Edition now includes a tenth knowledge area on managing stakeholders. So Pernille Eskerod and Anna Lund Jepsen’s book, Project Stakeholder Management, is quite timely. In it, they argue that proactive stakeholder management is [...]

Book review: Project Management Interview Questions Made Easy

April 17, 2013

Structured around 7 steps to a successful interview, Project Management Interview Questions Made Easyby Dr Andrew Makar is about more than the interview questions themselves. It is a whole guide to getting a new job. It’s a short book which makes it easy to read and it is written in a very relaxed, helpful style. [...]

The 8 Levers of Change

April 3, 2013

In their book, Leading Successful Change: 8 Keys to Making Change Work, Gregory P. Shea and Cassie A. Solomon talk about the 8 things that you should be targeting if you want the change from your project to stick. They say that if your project isn’t addressing at least 4 of these elements, then the [...]