Review: Reinventing Project Management: The Diamond Approach To Successful Growth And Innovation
By EricMesa
- 2 minutes read - 264 words
Reinventing Project Management: The Diamond Approach To Successful Growth And Innovation by Aaron J. Shenhar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I’ve been involved in projects from all levels: developer, Project Manager, Manager of PM, and customer of project (technically this is everyone everywhere, but I’m talking about at work). This book has really changed the way I view Project Management. On the next project I start (or inherit), I want to make sure I try out the diamond principles mentioned here. Even if they aren’t a panacea, they appear to change the way everyone involved thinks about the project. Often perspective changes like this can have huge knock-on effects in large companies. Results that previously seemed random now make sense when viewed in this framework.
More important than anything else in this book is the flexibility the authors advocate in projects. Even in the simplest of projects, they argue, there are often important truths that change and should affect the project. Of course, how good or bad this is depends on the complexity of the project. (And, like everything else, a bit of luck)
Two things made this a good read: First, the style is written from PMs to PMs. It’s not overly technical for the sake of seeming smart. Second, lots and lots of case studies. I hate when I’m reading business books and everything seems reasonable and easy to apply. Then I try to apply it in real life and find a bunch of gotchas. Their case studies show the pros and cons to everything they suggest.