The Project Manager’s Partner, Second Edition:
What’s New  

Like its predecessor, The Project Manager’s Partner Second Edition draws its inspiration from The Project Management Institute's Guide to PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge), seeking to provide specific how-to-do-it tips for achieving many of the PM practices identified in PMBOK's. Also like its predecessor, the Partner is organized around  20 Key Project Manager Actions and Results – the lion’s share of the book is devoted to providing new project managers with the tools to take any of these actions and get quality results.

Compared to the original Project Manager's Partner, the second edition has a completely restructured introduction to project management (PM) basics that presents the reader with just enough introduction to the field of PM to provide a foundation for using the tools.  Part I concludes by providing readers with a hands-on assignment designed to help them develop a unique Project Life Cycle as the foundation for a project they may be planning.  Building on this unique life cycle, Part II provides another assignment which encourages readers to identify which of the Key Project Manager Action Items in Part III they will need to start planning their projects – so the emphasis on hands-on performance begins early! 

This edition also includes an entirely new discussion (with a samples and worksheets) on the distinction between estimating effort versus estimating durations for activities.

Finally, the author has drawn on his recent experiences implementing the Partner in training and consulting engagements to create many powerful new PM tools (guidelines, checklists, worksheets).  In addition to all of the tools and examples found in the original Partner, this second edition contains 25 new items, bringing the new Partner’s total number of tools to support project management to 57!  (See detailed comparison chart.)

We hope you enjoy this handbook and that you find it to be a valuable tool for planning and managing your projects. 

Reviewer Rick Saia wrote in Computerworld: 
"This, Greer's third book on the subject, is especially focused on rookie project managers. The book covers project management from soup to nuts and is dotted with several easy-to-understand forms and tables that can guide you through a project. It also offers questions for readers to answer in order to determine whether a project has passed certain checkpoints. Don't skip the introduction: Reading it can help you pick out the parts of the book you may feel you need to read, given your project management experience - or lack of it. Also, check out Appendix E, which outlines six guidelines that can help you decide whether to kill a project. After all, if a project merits a death sentence, there's no sense in wasting your company's money today."

How to Order

To order this handbook via the web, go directly to the HRD Press web site. 
(Click here to see full contact info for HRD Press.)

(C) Copyright 2002 from Michael Greer's Project Management Resources web site.  The URL is http://www.michaelgreer.com. For more information, send e-mail to greers_pm@yahoo.com. -- Feel free to copy and distribute for informational (not-for-profit) purposes.

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