Rory Burke’s revised textbook on project management is aimed at both academic and managerial audiences. Rory has taken some of the key ideas from techniques manuals such as the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), and presented this information in a concise and accessible manner. The book is structured in a mostly conventional manner, making use of the concept of the project life cycle to sequence the material sensibly.
There are 23 chapters and six appendices within the 342 pages, which means that some of the chapters are very focused and concise, looking at quite specific issues or project management tools. The author quickly defines and contextualises the subject in the first chapter, and uses PMBOK material to quickly define many of the key areas of knowledge required by project managers. The second chapter looks at the history of project management and, typically, emphasises the early work to develop the subject in the 1960s. Like so many of the rival texts, modern project environments, especially project management in non‐technical areas of organisations, are not discussed in much detail.
The third chapter looks at the project life cycle and the tasks associated with each project phase. Although most of the material here will be familiar to those academics using this concept in their own teaching, the author does look at elements of the overall product life cycle beyond the normal project handover phase as additional mini‐projects which need to be integrated into the planning process.
The next few chapters are devoted, in turn, to project feasibility, selection and estimation. The author has probably achieved the right degree of emphasis here, with good judgement on how the material is divided and structured. The text then has seven short chapters covering different aspects of project planning and scheduling. The book does not spend too long explaining techniques normally performed by computer. The basics of concepts such as PERT are covered quickly, with the complexity usefully relegated to later appendices. The chapter on project cost control conveys explanations of BCWS, BCWP, etc. well, but the material still seems sufficiently concise. A key factor here is the high quality of the tables and diagrams (although these are not in colour).
The later chapters look at more general issues, including organisation structure and risk management. I would have preferred the section concerning risk to have appeared earlier in the text, as it affects project feasibility, selection and other key decisions extensively. Similarly, one of the last chapters looks at the leadership characteristics needed by project managers. This could have been established sooner.
Overall, this is one of the best‐written books of its type. The author has done well to summarise so much material in a clear and concise manner. The style is good and the presentation is of a high standard. The author’s own experience of using these techniques is worked into the chapters well, without this dominating or interrupting the basic messages. Some academics would prefer a text which includes case material, exercises and a more extensive reading list. A few illustrated examples would probably add some value, especially if these come from non‐technical projects. However, this is a text that anyone needing a concise overview of the key project management techniques would find useful.
