97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know: Collective Wisdom from the Experts

Compiled by Barbee Davis

Paperback: 252 pages
Publisher: O'Reilly Media (August 2009)
ISBN:978-0-596-80416-9

If the projects you manage don't go as smoothly as you'd like, 97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know offers knowledge that's priceless, gained through years of trial and error. This illuminating book contains 97 short and extremely practical tips -- whether you're dealing with software or non-IT projects -- from some of the world's most experienced project managers and software developers. You'll learn how these professionals have dealt with everything from managing teams to handling project stakeholders to runaway meetings and more.

While this book highlights software projects, its wise axioms contain project management principles applicable to projects of all types in any industry. You can read the book end to end or browse to find topics that are of particular relevance to you. 97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know is both a useful reference and a source of inspiration.

Among the 97 practical tips:

• "Clever Code Is Hard to Maintain...and Maintenance Is Everything" -- David Wood, Partner, Zepheira
• "Every Project Manager Is a Contract Administrator" -- Fabio Teixeira de Melo, Planning Manager, Construtora Norberto Odebrecht
• "Can Earned Value and Velocity Coexist on Reports?" -- Barbee Davis, President, Davis Consulting
• "How Do You Define 'Finished'"? -- Brian Sam-Bodden, author, software architect
• "The Best People to Create the Estimates Are the Ones Who Do the Work" -- Joe Zenevitch, Senior Project Manager, ThoughtWorks
• "How to Spot a Good IT Developer" -- James Graham, independent management consultant
• "One Deliverable, One Person" -- Alan Greenblatt, CEO, Sciova
• "Developer Productivity: Skilled Versus Average" -- Neal Ford, Meme Wrangler, ThoughtWorks