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The Project 50
Book

The Project 50

Reinventing Work: Fifty Ways to Transform Every Task Into a Project That Matters

Tom Peters
Knopf, 1999
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

Tom Peters explains how to develop "WOW" projects - projects that are significant, revolutionary, exciting and dramatic. He claims that all companies are going in the direction of using projects as their fundamental work unit. The key to success is knowing how to create, sell and implement your projects and then how to exit to your next project. The book is devoted to these four steps. Peters offers 50 key tips on how to develop and launch your projects. This idea-packed, easy-to-read book is written in breezy, short, to-the-point sentences. Peters often uses the "!", which he has adopted as his symbol. His jazzy style underlines his message: throw aside traditional thinking and accept new ideas. This approach also makes the book, like his other recent books written in this style, fun to read, if a little breathless. His information may not be sophisticated, but his contention that everyone’s work truly matters has real power. getAbstract.com recommends this book to everyone in business. Welcome to project world.

Summary

Project-by-Project Thinking

Most white-collar jobs are disappearing. Soon, you will design and carry out projects instead. That is the wave of the future. As companies transform during the coming years, you probably will work less like a chore-driven cubicle slave and more like a professional independent contractor handling projects. As a professional, you will design projects to satisfy the needs of clients who want "deliverables." These projects have clear beginnings and ends. After you complete one project, you’ll move on to create the next.

As an independent contractor (even within a company) think of yourself as a product called "Brand You." Consider the work you do as "The Project," even if you hold a line job in the corporate hierarchy. And think of your department as a Professional Service Team (PSF). Now you are in position. Just add passion for your work. That involves accepting four challenges:

  1. "Create" - Make a "way-cool," exciting, appealing project. A WOW project should "make you gasp." Put 30% of your effort into this stage.
  2. "Sell" - Get others to buy your project. Use another 30% of your effort.

About the Author

Management consultant Tom Peters has written many business books, including In Search of Excellence (with Robert H. Waterman, Jr.), A Passion for Excellence (with Nancy Austin), Thriving on Chaos, Liberation Management, The Tom Peters Seminar, The Pursuit of Wow!, The Circle of Innovation and three books on reinventing work, including this one. He is the founder and chief of the Tom Peters Group.

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