Successful Project Management: Applying Best Practices and Real-World Techniques with Microsoft® Project: Applying Best Practices, Proven Methods, and ... with Microsoft® Project (Business Skills)

Worthwhile entry-level book for people in other disciplines (e.g. business analysis, software engineering) that want to move into project management. The book is largely based on the PMBOK (though it does not use any PMBOK-style processes and diagrams), and covers all knowledge areas. The book sticks with a generic project management approach, which can work with any type of software development methodology. Interspersed throughout the book are sidebars on how to perform various project management activities within Microsoft Project 2010.On the minus side, I found the book to be a little too verbose for my liking. I preferred Stackpole's 'User Manual to PMBOK Guide' for this reason. Two glaring omissions from this book are the absence of any figures and the absence of any case studies or descriptions. Finally, there are no new ideas for experienced project managers. The book is useful to this latter category in that they can have a handy title to recommend to those interested in the field, and also their business counterparts.Recommended for entry level project managers, who have had SDLC experience on at least two past projects.

I try to get my hands on anything Bonnie Biafore has written. Her approach to project management is both insightful and practical. The book is a super checklist and reference guide. I have the book on my desk at work for quick reference. The book is a must have for any project manager (whether a new or seasoned veteran).

If you need to know the secrets of the "how to" of the project management, you need this book. Is a great source for begginers or for pros who want specific points to work with. Ok, it refers to MS PROJECT, but you can apply the book to any project management software, including an open source software (as in fact i'm doing).

very simple and understandable

Great Projects 101 book.

My expectations were not high, as they usually are not when buying a text book for school. But right out of the package before even opening the book, pages fell out. There is hardly any glue in the spine. I need this for school and cannot afford the time it would take to send it back

When I started reading Successful Project Management: Applying Best Practices and Real-World Techniques with Microsoft® Project, I was actually a bit confused for a short while. The reason? I was expecting to read about how to do project management with Microsoft Project, but instead there was nothing about it at all. And why so? Because the author did something very interesting: focusing on the methodology from the PMI (Project Management Institute), and only bringing in Project where required! This means that you will first get to learn about the theory of project management, and only afterwards you get to see how to do it in MS Project. In my opinion, this is a quite useful approach for PM beginners.Which brings me to the next point: this book is for beginners only, not for experienced PMs. If you've been managing projects for a while already, there might not be much useful for you in this book. If you've just started with project management, however, this book is definitely an interesting read. It goes through the different phases of a project, following the standardised and proven PMI methodology. The book goes through all the important phases of a project (getting approval, building a WBS, building a schedule, budgeting, executing, managing change, and so on), however without going too deep into it. You'll get to understand the basics of each topic, however don't expect to much information that explains it much further.My opinion of this book: I was struggling a bit whether I find this book only average or better than that. In the end, I thought hard about the target audience for this book and how useful it is for them, and came to the decision that it's a solid book for junior project managers, or anyone working on a project for the first time, and that I would give it a rating of 4/5.

Successful Project Management: Applying Best Practices and Real-World Techniques with Microsoft Project has a slightly misleading title - you won't really see MS Project used until chapter 4. This book is really about translating the Project Management Institute (PMI) methodology into a format which can be readily understood, with the occasional diversion to the use of Microsoft's Office tools. Project 2010 version is assumed, as is the availability of other Microsoft tools like Excel and Word.If you have experience with formal project methods, this is probably not the book for you. New or part-time project managers would benefit from the text, as it discusses most of the touchpoints of project management in easily accessible language. That's not a small accomplishment, and is complemented by a clear, direct writing style.The most common tasks in Project (work breakdown structure, resource information, etc ) are covered at a level sufficient to make the reader functional, but not necessarily expert. There are also a number of frustration-saving tips, such as those on where to use fixed dates on tasks.In addition to the tool-related narratives, there are also chapters on ancillary topics like budgets, reporting and some financial analysis. This should be of great value to the novice PM.Overall, a good purchase for anyone just starting out in project management.Disclaimer, I was provided access by O'Reilly Publishing to an electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

There is so few book for planning engineer that make a useful developing tool.This book is an attempt to prepare for an MCTS exam.I haven't passed it yet and I don't think this book is sufficient to get me through.I suspect more training is required.

I am new to Project Management and I've found this book very interesting and useful. Language very clear and the practical examples with Microsoft Project 2013 help the user to understand the concepts and the topics discussed.I advice this book to everyone is at the first step with Project Management.