My book review this week is on Tom DeMarco’s book, The Deadline, A Novel About Project Management. It’s the story of a project manager who is kidnapped and taken to the beautiful country of Morovia, which has recently been bought by a technology wizard who intends to turn the country into a software giant.
Several key takeaways include:
- It’s all about people. Find the right ones. Put them to work on the right tasks. Help them stay engaged.
- Heavily staffing a project team for the initial period is a waste of resources and slows the planning process.
- Productivity improvement is a long-term investment.
- Manage projects by managing risks. Identify. Quantify. Assess. Mitigate.
- Conflict is inevitable. Keep everyone on the same side and pit them all against the problem, rather than each other.
