Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management (Theory in Practice)

I had a friend refer this book to me, and I'm glad that I took the time to read through it. It's a book that is best digested on a chapter by chapter basis, rather than a cover-to-cover read. It doesn't explore ground-breaking concepts. It touches on project management topics, but it doesn't dwell on any single topic for too long. He says several times that there are more detailed books for any given topic, and references many of them. It's a book about how to approach a project, get it done correctly, and how to work with other people through its different phases. I interpreted the primary foci of the book to be completing projects by collaborating effectively with other people and adjusting management methods to fit the project, rather than trying to fit the project into a particular management method.The book is written in a funny and informal way that allows it to be read and re-read without feeling like you're opening a textbook. I enjoyed how there weren't straight up procedures for exactly how a project manager should go about doing his/her job. There were rough guides, diagrams, anecdotes, and some suggestions for things that a manager could do, but it seemed obvious to me that these were meant to be interpreted and adjusted to fit both the situation and your own style.I purchased this book on the Kindle. Now that I've read it, I'm considering purchasing an actual copy so I have one to flip through for reference in the future. I plan on referring this book to my coworkers as well. It has helped me define several things that I can work on to improve my success in my current job and any future jobs.

This is a solid book on project management. It covers a lot of fundamentals such as effective communication, decision-making, planning, and problem solving.It's good and full of a lot of useful information, but not great. Berkun worked at Microsoft and was a project manager on Internet Explorer 1.0 - 5.0.A caveat - Internet Explorer is not my favorite product (even pre-Mozilla). But it is a complex product that requires extensive analysis, design, development and testing - and Berkun clearly knows the product development process well.The book does not offer any overall paradigm or methodology for project management. Rather it has short sections on subjects such as 'requirements' where Berkun will share whatever gems of knowledge he amassed in his years at Microsoft. Though I'm normally partial to books where the author presents an overall technique, I do find his anecdotes / advice to be useful. It provides a general context to making good decisions in product development.The only place where I'd really fault the book is that it leans very heavily to a waterfall process, and some of the advice is definitely more useable in a large organization than in a small one. If the book had less waterfall assumptions, I'd probably be willing to give it 5 stars.Despite this, Berkun's insights are still quite useful to someone even in a small startup environment, or pursuing product development in an agile framework.The book can be a bit boring in some sections, but is always informative and offers good advice.

I enjoyed this book when it first came out as "The Art of Project Management", and I like it more now. This is a great book to help PMs understand the nuances of their job. It's fun to read, first off. Each topic and subtopic has a clearly stated set of issues to consider, and the end of chapter summaries and questions get you thinking more. I also enjoyed the stories and examples that Berkun uses to explain things. They helped me connect the book with my life managing marketing projects and understanding the perspective of our technical teams. I find myself going back to the book often when I'm trying to think about how to handle project situations - good thing to have in your corner.

"Making Things Happen" is a project management book that breaks away from the usual mold. There is so much emphasis on a PMP certification that many project management titles have become dry recitations of the PMBOK. Not so with this book!The book is eminently readable, and the advice is well-grounded in real-world experience. As I read the book, I found myself taking notes for how to apply the information to deal with issues that were coming up in my own projects.The tools from the PMBOK are valuable, but there are only so many times you can read a re-hash of an exam cram. "Making Things Happen" was a delightful read that reminded me why it is fun to run a project.