Though I am a professor and consultant who focuses on leadership training, management consulting, and complex system change, I have to-date never familiarized myself with project management. Indeed, I have worked with some of the concepts found in project management and found them to be exceedingly helpful in facilitating the change management process with different organizations. This is all to say that reading Dennis Lock's book has been refreshing and insightful. I believe that for students, instructors, and consultants reading this text would bring significant benefit resulting from a greater familiarity with the details of project management.
First, Lock's meta-approach in writing about this subject considers those who know little-to-nothing about the work of project management. He has broken down the complexity of the conversation into a series of clear and concise concepts which are clearly written and easily understandable. Lock provides accessible “hooks and themes” one can use to properly identify and arrange the parts of the project management process.
Second, the chapters are arranged using a structure that describes from beginning to end the project management process. Chapter one, entitled “Projects”, is a general introduction to the project management universe with special consideration for the reader who has little knowledge or background in the project management arena. Chapter two, “Getting ready for the project”, explores all the necessary component parts of the project. Here Lock includes such areas as work breakdown structure, costs and estimating, methodology for calculating costs, and work breakdown. Chapter three, entitled “Organization”, lays the groundwork for understanding how the project management process is nuanced by the type or organization and the people involved in the project process. This includes a brief but helpful conversation about the role of the project manager. Chapter four, “Planning and scheduling”, addresses the ways the project itself can be tracked and analyzed. I found Lock's exploration on the critical path network analysis to be especially helpful (pp. 42-48). Chapter Five, “Contracts and commerce”, is a unique section in the book. Typically, as Lock notes, the process of contracting, costs, and commerce questions are not included in the conversation about project management. Normally, the focus of project management is on the project process itself. Yet Lock argues successfully, that if contracting and costs of project management are fumbled or misunderstood, it can unleash major obstructions that can then impede or even jeopardize the process itself. Chapter six, “Taking control”, addresses the importance of maintaining oversight and exercising control of the different aspects of the process. This would include managing risk, managing changes within the process, ensuring progress, cost control, measuring progress, identifying trends, and predictive analysis. Chapter seven, “Task forces for special projects”, is a gem in Lock's book as he details unique and special situations which call for a specialized group to address a particular dimension within a project process that is particularly challenging or creating major disruption which needs to be addressed. Given my own work of complex organizational change, this chapter offered some very helpful tools. Chapter eight, “Round up”, speaks to the details of concluding and adjourning the project management process. Lock also provides some valuable information on additional reading recommendations and professional associations that can provide valuable resourcing for the newly minted or experienced project manager.
Finally, Lock's work is what I would call an empowering resource for learning about project management. Throughout the text, he works hard to avoid jargon that would prove to be confusing to the reader. Moreover, when he does explore the more complex aspects of the project management, he is mindful and supportive of the reader and their capacity to understanding both the process and the rationale behind the process of project management.
My own intention is to use this text in two areas of my work. First as a consultant, this book will provide insight into my work as a management consultant in the areas of large-scale change management processes many of which can be disruptive and threatening. Though these issues cannot be eliminated entirely, preparing those involved for the pending changes can help to lower the resistance to these changes. Second, as an instructor, this text will be a strong secondary resource for students who need a reliable primer on the topic of project management. From both perspectives, I am pleased to recommend this very well written, concise, and clear book to the readers of this review.
