The AMA Handbook of Project Management
by Paul C. Dinsmore, Editor
489 Pages
Includes CD-ROM
ISBN# 0-8144-0106-6
1993
Hardback
AMACOM
American Management Association
1601 Broadway
New York NY 10019
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The AMA Handbook of Project Management
reviewed by
Charlie Morris
The theory of project management was developed during the Apollo moon landing project, and has since evolved into a highly effective management discipline, and one that is particularly useful for Web developers. Most Internet projects are a little less ambitious than putting a man on the Moon (although some are far less likely to succeed), but they do tend to fit the standard definition of a project to a T.
October 27, 1998
What is a project? In the first chapter of the AMA Handbook of Project Management, Francis M. Webster offers these criteria:
- Projects are unique undertakings that result in a single unit of output.
- Projects are composed of activities...operating on an interrelated set of items...
- Projects involve multiple resources, both human and nonhuman, which require close coordination.
- The "project" is not synonymous with the "product of the project."
This introductory chapter also lists the main functions of project management, serving as a good overview to the essays that make up the rest of the book.
- Project Integration
- Strategic Planning
- Resource Allocation
- Scope Management
- Time Management
- Cost Management
- Risk Management
- Human Resources Management
- Contract/Procurement Management
- Communications Management
The AMA Handbook of Project Management is a collection of 39 essays from a dozen or so authors, all established figures in the business and/or academic worlds. Although not quite chapters as such, they do form a logical and readable narrative, and are grouped into sections.
The sections, each with 2 or 3 essays, are:
- Project Management Concepts and Methodologies
- Overview
- Managerial Strategies for Starting Up Succesful Projects
- Project Structures and Organizations
- Planning the Details of Project Management
- Controlling Costs and Keeping on Schedule
- Teamwork and Team Building
- Power, Influence and Leadership
- Quality in Project Management
- Project Management Applications
- Project Management and Change Management
- Engineering and Construction Concerns
- Information Systems and Software Projects
- Research and Development Projects
- Launching New Products and Build-to-Order Projects
- International and Cross-Cultural Projects
Like others from publisher AMACOM, this is a fine book. It's well written, well edited, mercifully free of errors, well bound and printed on quality paper. It's somewhere in the middle between a textbook and bedtime reading material. Another excellent book from the same publisher is Information Systems Project Management. As the title implies, it's more oriented toward IS projects.
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