Book Review

Just Enough Project Management
Author:  Curtis R. Cook

In this book, Curtis Cook takes professional project management principles and scales them down to the size of project most of us encounter. At the same time he makes them more approachable and easier to understand and apply.

The book is just 136 pages in length, not counting the index, but it contains an astonishing amount of  information -- including a number of templates and checklists that are easily created in Word or Excel and a wealth of tips, techniques and war stories that serve to make the material more interesting and easier to learn. The material is presented in seven sections.

Chapter One is the Project Management Overview. It provides a gentle introduction to the subject, discusses the process, presents a few basics, and explores the difference between too much and just enough project management.

Chapter Two is the section on Initiating the Project.  It defines and enumerates the input requirements for a project. It highlights the role of the project manager and explores the roles of project stakeholders. Finally it details the tasks and outputs of the initiation step, and briefly touches on how project management fits into the organization as a whole.

 Chapter Three is a discussion of Project Management Basics. It lists the elements of a project plan and discusses the planning process including who should be involved. Then it goes through through the planning process element by element and identifies the tasks involved. Also included is a template for the kickoff meeting agenda, a sample work breakdown structure, and a template for a project task worksheet with a completed sample.

Chapter Four is a bonus chapter on Advanced Planning Techniques. It covers schedules, budgets, risk, communication, and changes. It also discusses the approval process and the role of approval in moving the project to the next phase. Included in the chapter is a sample calendar view, Gantt chart and network diagram. Templates are provided for risk management, project status reporting, and change requests.

Chapter Five goes into the business of Controlling the Project. This the managing part of project management. It talks about the controlling process and managing performance. It covers project communication and status reporting, meetings and change control. There is a section on managing cost, schedule and resource variances. Also covered are approaches to managing risks and problems, managing the project team, and managing customer relationships including customer acceptance.

Chapter Six is a discussion of closing the Project. It starts with a brief discussion of problems that occur if a project is not properly closed, and then offers a model for properly closing a project. The chapter provides two excellent checklists: a project closeout checklist and a lessons-learned checklist. Anyone who has the good fortune to work in a "learning organization" will recognize the value of a lessons-learned checklist.

A final chapter is dedicate to Juggling Multiple projects and Dealing with Project Overload. A brief discussion of how overload has become the norm in most organizations is followed by an explanation of interconnectedness. This is followed by an excellent set of suggestions for coping with project overload. A number of useful tools are presented including sample white board layouts and wall charts for work journaling.

The last part of the book contains a fairly comprehensive glossary containing a broad selection of project management terms that the new project manager is likely to run into. Many of them, while commonly used on large projects, are not used in the book as part of the recommended approach for manging small projects. It also contains a nice well-rounded bibliography for further reading. Most of the books recommended go into more detail and are suitable for someone who is embarking on a more serious and in-depth exploration.

Again, I was impressed with the amount of information and project management wisdom that Curtis Cook was able to pack into such a handy little book. He writes clearly with an economy of words that must be read to be appreciated. Highly recommended.

- Jake Alexander