University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
A Manager's Guide to Project Management
Book

A Manager's Guide to Project Management

Learn How to Apply Best Practices

Michael B. Bender
FT Press, 2009
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Editorial Rating

6

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

Though Michael Bender aims to be clear, tension is at the heart of his project management book. He doesn’t want to overdo commonly covered material, but he also doesn’t want to leave out any key terms or meaningful details. At times, this can lead to death by subtitles, where he introduces a series of topics but stops short of articulating their full meaning or import. To be fair, he shows project management for what it is – not a small city within an organization but a huge, at times overwhelming, continent inside a company. Even at its most difficult, the book gives senior managers a feel for the layers of complexity in the world of projects. Bender, who views projects as the holy grail of organizational value, tells managers how to aid and support them. He sensitizes leaders to the helpful or harmful ripple effects that their decisions have on organizational culture. getAbstract recommends this as a reference book for senior executives. It isn’t light or easy to swallow, but taken in pieces, it might save you from project indigestion.

Summary

Projects and the “Executive’s Role”

Projects are a fixture in the corporate landscape. They can “add value to an organization”; in fact, value is their primary concern. Project managers draw from a deep, well-defined set of tools with a long history. So why do so many projects come in over budget, miss deadlines or flounder? At least part of the problem starts at the top with the influence of senior managers. Given a bad cultural climate, a political quagmire or the wrong environment, some projects never take off, let alone land. Managers must be aware of these common problems that plague projects:

  • “The project du jour” – When priorities change too often, people don’t know where to put their energy, and projects can languish.
  • “The warm-body syndrome” – When an executive wants to push a project, one common move is to “grab the next warm body” and put him or her on the task. This doesn’t necessarily help the task, especially if the person is not well-suited for it.
  • “Project work” conflicting with “real jobs” – Some people see projects as an “ancillary” distraction, not integral to the fabric of their...

About the Author

30-year project management veteran, Michael Bender is CEO of Ally Business Developers.

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