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Making Things Happen

Scott Berkun's latest book is out: Making Things Happen, it's an updated edition of his bestseller, The Art of Project Management. Scott was a manager at Microsoft from 1994 - 2003. Back when Microsoft was working on developing Windows, Internet Explorer and MSN.

His inspiration behind the book:

"I'd yet to find a book on leading project teams that didn't bore me to tears," said Berkun when asked about his motivation for writing the book. "Every great engineered thing ever made, from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Eiffel Tower to the Internet was made by teams of people, and I thought it was a crime against those triumphs if there wasn't a book about what really happens on project teams and how leaders handle it. I wanted to capture all the things I'd learned over a decade and increase the odds other people wouldn't have to make the same mistakes I did.

"How much of the software on the web that you use do you think is good?" Berkun asks. "If it's a small percentage, you can't blame the lack of amazing technology available to developers. The cause of poorly made things is something else--it's how projects are led and managed. My book is a handbook for people trying to make good things happen and who care about the intangible, human elements that software engineering and technology books typically overlook."

His publisher O'Reilly received an onslaught of comments on project management after blogging about Scott's new book. One of the best was from Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching:

Learn from the people Plan with the people Begin with what they know Of the best leaders When the task is accomplished The people will remark We have done it ourselves.

I'll share more as I get into the book. The final copy just arrived this week. And before I forget, he's also authored two ChangeThis manifestos which are a good starting point for Scott's topics.

Project Management 1975-style

In a prior life, I worked as a project manager on a large enterprise software project. I was brought in as the functional guy on the project. I had no experience really in IT outside of building a Excel spreadsheet. As we were starting the project, we brought in a project management trainer and one of the first things he talked about was Brooks' law -- Adding people late to a software project makes it later.

In the recent leadership issue of Fortune, Daniel Roth interviews the Fred Brooks. Fred worked at IBM and managed the development of the System/360 computers and OS/360 software. In 1975, he published a book called The Mythical Man-Month, where he details all of the things he learned.

One of the interesting things about the book is the wide acceptance it has found outside the software community. Brooks says in the Q&A:

Surprisingly enough, a partner in a big law firm said, "Oh, this describes our practice." I've had physicians say the same. It's really about people and people in teams: the communications problems, the scheduling problems, the estimating problems.

Make It Real...N-O-W.

18.
THINK/OBSESS...
D -E - A - D - L- I - N - E.
BE RIDICULOUSLY/ABSURDLY/
INSANELY DEMANDING OF
YOURSELF/YOUR LITTLE BAND
OF RENEGADES.

Think "six months"... and sure 'nuf, it'll take six+ months. Think "five days"... and I'll bet you'll get something serious done in five days (Or three!) WOW Projects: "Dreams with deadlines," per Great Groups guru Warren Bennis.

Do It ...NOW....There is no room for procrastination/dawdling in the pursuit of big "dreams". To the contrary, the lordliest "dreamers" I've met also topped the Pragmatism Scale: They are determined to conduct real tests and corner real customers...ASAP. You make your bones in the WOW Project Business not by spinning tall tales but by doing cool stuff...right now.

-This message was brought to you by Tom Peters and The Project50.

Attn: Project Managers

I have two books in my hand that are written for project managers. And since we are all projects managers (ask Tom Peters), these are books that apply to all of us.

The first book is The Definitive Guide to Project Management. The subtitle is "the fast-track to getting the job done on time and on budget". This is a soup to nuts book on the art (because I think it is an art) of managing a project. Here are the chapter headings from the book:

1. Introduction
2. Basic Principles
3. Project organization and team
4. Everyday basics and adminstration
5. Planning
6. Monitoring and control
7. Scope management and risk management
8. Define
9. Design
10. Build and test
11. Implement and Review

The second book is called The Project Management Advisor: 18 Major Project Screw-ups and How To Cut Them Off At the Pass by Lonnie Pacelli. I think this is for folks who have a project or two under their belt. Some of his key causes of project derailment include teams that don't gel, trying to do too much, and not doing enough training. The book has a companion website where you can get more info.

Business Success

Sam Decker at Decker Marketing has a post about an article from Entreprenuer Magazine about Brian Tracy's book Million Dollar Habits.

Is that convoluted enough?