Project Management ToolBox: Tools and Techniques for the Practicing Project Manager Review

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Project Management ToolBox: Tools and Techniques for the Practicing Project Manager ReviewProf. Milosevic's Project Management Toolbox is to the practitioner of Project Management what the Physicians' Desk Reference is to practitioners of medicine. As the name appropriately implies, this book contains just about every tool and technique one can imagine to be used to manage, and assess projects effectively. But not one or two tools for every phase of a project, but several -- or to quote a cliche -- "a tool for every occasion".
Sound project management techniques are clearly described, substantiated by research, and presented in an easy to understand format. But Milosevic goes even further -- he details how to use each tool, when to use each tool, and when the use of a particular tool may not be appropriate. He even goes so far to present comparisons (pros and cons) of comparable tools (complete with sample form templates that can be put to immediate use), so that the project manager reading the book can select the most appropriate tool or technique to use for his/her particular project and/or organizational environment.
The book is organized logically, and in such a way that after you read the first chapter (which explains the theory & structure of the book), it isn't really necessary to read the book sequentially to put the concepts to practical use.
Whether you're a seasoned project manager, or a manager without much practical experience managing projects, you'll find this book useful and informative. Not merely from an academic point of view, but from a practical one as well.
That's why I recommend that you don't put the book on your bookshelf. Put it on your desk and you'll use it constantly to resolve immediate project management issues, as well as serving as an indispensable project management desk reference.Project Management ToolBox: Tools and Techniques for the Practicing Project Manager Overview

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Agile Career Development: Lessons and Approaches from IBM Review

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Agile Career Development: Lessons and Approaches from IBM ReviewReview of "Agile Career Development - Lessons and Approaches from IBM"
IBM has developed a career development model for all employers...large, mid-size, and small....to follow in order to have the tools and "...agility to quickly and effectively change the way decisions are made..."
Let's be honest, the business world as we know it is changing. The workforce began its evolution with the addition of Gen Xers into key positions and management roles and continues with Gen Y and the mass departures of the Baby Boomers. Areas of the employee/employer relationship need to be revamped in order to have the people strength to move business forward and to ensure profitability.
One of these areas is career development and the move away from traditional plans and systems that are followed blindly but do not provide results. Traditional approaches to performance management, compensation planning, and career development are no longer adequate. Traditional career development tools are disconnected and their value to the employee is not clear. A career development program that truly supports business strategy and business outcomes is the IBM model in "Agile Career Development."
The ability of employees is directly related to organizational alignment and accomplishment of organizational goals. Business processes will succeed only if adequately skilled and motivated employees, supplied with accurate and timely information, are driving them. This is the premise in "Agile Career Development."IBM used internal surveys, exit surveys, and their "World Jam" to elicit information from employees. In other words, IBM listened to its employees. IBM redefined the roles of employees and managers and focused on "engagement" that played a key role in supporting the new agile career development tools. They were then able to realize the results of an expert workforce as key to growth and innovation. This is a model that will work for all employers. The book makes reference to the global workforce and the globalization of work but the model set out in "Agile Career Development" will also move non-global companies towards success and positive business outcomes.
Josephine L. Simmons
Human Resource Management Professional
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The Certified Software Quality Engineer Handbook Review

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The Certified Software Quality Engineer Handbook Reviewthis book describes software quality in very good way by examples and includes the most important topic software quality management , software life cycle , audits, metrics, etc ...The Certified Software Quality Engineer Handbook Overview

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Requirements Engineering Review

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Requirements Engineering ReviewThis book presents in the space of some 200 pages, split into 9 chapters, a clear and concise introduction to a state-of-the-art approach to requirements engineering (RE). It starts out by introducing a generic RE process, which is then instatiated, later in the book, into concrete processes for generating stakeholder requirements (i.e. user requirements) and system requirements.
The beautiful thing aboout this generic process (and the concrete ones to follow it) is that V&V and change management are intrinsically part of it. The authors are particularly strong in their treatment of traceability. They have gone into an unusual depth. The book has some good advice on writing better requirements . In particular, I find the idea of requirements boilerplates (i.e. templates for each class of requirements) extremely useful. The book concludes with an introduction/demonstration of the DOORS RE tool, from Telelogic (the affiliation of two of the authors).
Overall, this is an excellent book that every requirements engineer, should have on their desk.Requirements Engineering Overview

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The Product Manager's Handbook 4/E Review

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The Product Manager's Handbook 4/E ReviewAs a new product manager, I found this book quite useful as an overview of what is to be expected of a product manager. The book covers the roles, skills, and expectations of the product manager, covers the different organizational structures that cover product management, and uses detailed examples to show how those functions work in practice.
My only criticism is that it is a broad overview, and as such some of the areas (branding, for example) are covered very briefly. This book probably won't teach anything to the experienced product manager, but it might be useful as a reference to how other companies approach product management.The Product Manager's Handbook 4/E Overview

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Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love Review

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Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love ReviewIt is a pity that there are only 5 stars to award the maximum appreciation for this book. There are a number of achievements that deserve, alone, five stars.
First, Marty Cagan clearly states what qualities a Product Manager must have. Not everyone is talented to be a Product Manager. The author lists unmeasurable traits, such as product passion, customer empathy, innate intelligence (there is no substitute for it, we learn), ethics, integrity and confidence. The latter is very important as the entire teams in engineering and marketing must be kept inspired. This leads to the corollary that simply training a person to be a Product Manager is not enough. One must know when an unsuitable person must look for other positions. This is something uncommon, to consider what many view a process driven function to a talent.
Second, the book asks where to place the Product Manageent function. In Engineering? In Marketing? There is a distinction between a Product Manager and Product Marketing Manager. As veteran product manager myself, I know the challenges to be part of engineering. Engineers are sometimes suspicious of marketing and their product manager becomes the "piñata" everyone beats in frustration. As part of Marketing, there is tendency to follow release processes and create demands engineering can not deliver in a logical way. Marty advocates the creation of a Product Council with equal rights as engineering and marketing
Marty says a successful product manager sees himself as the CEO of the product. This is absolutely true, but unfortunately the Directors of Engineering and those of Marketing, also see themselves as CEOs. As long as an independent product council does not exist, the product manager must be a CEO with zero authority. S/he must be a diplomat and shrewd negotiator before he can be a CEO. Yet the true blue blood product manager is the one whose skills are required for start up.
As startup is usually a one product or service company. Chapter 28 is dedicated to product management in a startup company. The challenge is a new start up is started with an idea that comes from engineering. However we must have the right product for the right audience, before "before burning through $500,000 or more in seed funding".
Every aspect of the product management function is presented.
I am an alumni of UC Berkeley Haas School Product Management executive program, one of few, if not the only program dedicated to Product Management. Berkeley program talks of portfolio management. What products to release, how many are completely new and how many are new releases of older or even very old products?
It all depends on the risk tolerance. A products portfolio must include new high risk, lottery-like winning products. This is what made Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley. After reading Marty Cagan, every professional team all over the world can produce "inspired" products. Silicon Valley and it's personalities now share all they know. But what is a low probability to create outside Silicon Valley is another Google. The Google Sequoia Capital VC's made more money in Google than all the rest of the portfolio combined over the last 20 years.
Another topic that I would have liked to see expanded in a next edition is pricing. How do we price the products in such a way that we do not leave money on the table? But this is another subject. Marty's book is both educational and thought provoking. The book self published by Silicon Valley Product Group, the company of Marty Cagan, went beyond the goal of being a reference for it's prospective v customers. It is THE BOOK for of product management, a must-read for anyone.
The idea of the product manager as a creator with talent and passion I advocated for years in my blog, "The memories of a Program Manager". It is re-assuring to see the same sentiments shared in the more comprehensive, practical and sensitive book of Marty Cagan..Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love Overview

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101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions Review

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101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions ReviewOur company's research has shown that poor communications cause more stalled progress in organizations than any other issue. One of the primary areas where this occurs is in hiring. Most people end up giving an incomplete and misleading impression of how they would do in a new job. Most interviewers fail to ask and pursue questions in ways that will overcome this problem. Mr. Fry's book helps surmount both problems so that the right person gets the right job for her or him, and the company involved.
One of the great strengths of this book is that it has an organized process for a job seeker to prepare for interviews. As Mr. Fry puts it, "Interviewing is 50 percent preparation." There are pages of questions to be answered as background before considering the questions that interviewers are likely to inquire about. This preparation makes developing those answers much easier, and improves the quality of the responses as well. But beyond that, the preparation will also help the job seeker do some thoughtful self-examination for determining where your strengths, interests, and background fit.
The author does a nice job of explaining that the key question is: "Who are you?" in terms of your potential ability to do the job.
Mr. Fry encourages honesty, and shows ways that interviewers will try to check on that quality in you. On the other hand, he also encourages you to give responses that will play well with the interviewer (spinning as it were). I suspect that a more straightforward approach would be more appealing to most interviewers.
For example, one sample question is to describe the latest book you have read. Rather than describe some wholly inappropriate book, he encourages an answer with a business-related book like Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits . . . . I think a better response would be to say, "Why don't I describe a book I read that relates to this position?" Then if the interviewer doesn't object, start talking about one that seems relevant. Otherwise, you can give the impression of being someone who only reads business books, which is probably not true.
A similar issue comes up with the question: "How long have you been looking?" The author suggests saying a short period of time, even if it has been long. I think a better and more honest answer would be to describe how long you have been looking for the specific position you are interviewing for, and explain why it may have been a while. For example, you may be very choosy, or perhaps there are few positions of the sort you really want. That would make a person more credible to me as an interviewer.
The advice is very good in one sense -- it places equal emphasis on good answers and on bad ones. So you will know what can hurt you. You will also learn about the different types of interviews, and what can help and hurt you in each one.
I found almost every question that I have ever used as an interviewer over the last 30 years in this book, so you should be well prepared for most interviews by following this book. Your self-confidence should also be higher because you are unlikely to be caught unprepared by a question.
Just be sure that the job you are looking for and take is one that excites you both for what the organization stands for and what you will be doing. Otherwise, you will simply be selling yourself short to get a paycheck. Don't do that!
Good luck in finding that ideal position!
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