Managing Complex Projects

Citation

Waheed, Z. (2012), "Managing Complex Projects", Facilities, Vol. 30 No. 13/14, pp. 695-695. https://doi.org/10.1108/f.2012.30.13_14.695.1

This book comes from the author of numerous books on project management (PM), PM metrics, PM strategy and PM best practice (including perhaps the most widely‐used graduate text on PM), Harold Kerzner. The co‐author is a practitioner and a consultant in the field.

Managing Complex Projects is aimed at practitioners and individuals who may want to familiarise themselves with what constitutes project management. The book is handy, uses a large font, with each idea explained on a separate page (hence the size of the book) complemented by flowcharts, checklists, and highlights of the various concepts presented. It is a simple text, but one firmly based on the nine knowledge areas of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), the global PM standard providing guidelines, rules and characteristics of the project management profession.

Anyone familiar with PM would appreciate the fact that the book touches upon all the various important aspects of projects. Having first distinguished between traditional and non‐traditional i.e. complex projects, the book explains the various aspects of cost, time, quality, risk and human resource management in simple, straightforward terms. Apart from these usual areas, the business case for complex projects and stakeholder management (which is extremely important for complex projects) is explained in tandem with the use of an effective communication strategy during complex projects. Readers are made aware of the Project Management framework, but the book essentially focuses on the practicalities of running complex projects and clarifies what each concept means in practical terms.

Definitely not an academics' book, Managing Complex Projects nevertheless has use for practitioners in terms of being a very handy, easy‐to‐browse guide. It is easy reading, and is likely to come handy when a particular area of project management needs to be quickly looked up prior to a meeting or a planning exercise.