Book review / International Journal of Project Management 19 (2001) 189±193
Successful Project Management
Milton Rosenau, John Wiley, 1998, 343 pp. ISBN: 0 471
29304 0, £40.95
My main comment when I receive a book of 350
pages purporting to tell the reader how to successfully
manage projects is that it probably covers only a fraction
of the requirements and skills of a successful project
manager. A look at the debate on the various bodies of
knowledge will show that there is no universal agreement
on the skills and these skills are very wide-ranging.
There are many issues that such a book cannot possibly
cover in any great depth. Added to that, books tend to
concentrate on the planning aspects of project manage-
ment and gloss over (and some may say more important)
aspects (such as success criteria, con®guration manage-
ment, quality). I feel that this book is no exception.
The book has an introductory chapter on projects and
the project management process. The book is then
structured into ®ve main parts:
1. goal de®nition (3 chapters);
2. project planning (7 chapters);
3. leadership (5 chapters);
4. project monitoring (5 chapters);
5. project completion (2 chapters).
There is a sixth part of four chapters examining other
project management issues such as small projects, new
product development and project management software.
Each chapter is a separate topic and includes a summary
of typical problems, a case study (the Materials Study
Project) and a summary of highlights.
It is good that the book stresses the importance of
strategy and success criteria when de®ning the project
goals. However, the Triple Constraint of time, cost and
performance (similar to the Iron Triangle) is quoted as
PII: S0263-7863(99)00054-X
Financial Protection in the UK Building Industry
Will Hughes, Patricia Hillebrandt, John Murdoch. A &
F N Spon, 1998, 189 pp. ISBN: 0 419 24290 2, £65
This book is based on an academic research project,
and accordingly has the structure that one expects for
such a report. It is an impressive piece of work and tackles
a problem area which has not been widely written about.
The subject of ®nancial protection is looked at from many
standpoints including the insolvency of any one of the
parties to a contract; the failure to perform by any party;
the problems of late, incomplete or total non-payment;
the failure of main contractors to pass on payment on
time; retention money: performance bonds; demand bonds;
191
the measure for success. This doesn't go anywhere near
discussing the various interpretations of success from
the di€erent stakeholder viewpoints. The chapters on
project planning spend much time on tools such as net-
work diagrams and bar charts. They provide nothing
new on planning a project which hasn't been covered
many times before.
Part 3 entitled `Leading the people who work on the
project' is about how a project is organised Ð organi-
sation structures, recruitment, support team
structures Ð rather than leadership although there is a
brief discussion on motivation, stimulating creativity and
communication. The parts on monitoring and project
completion are factual with little analysis of the key issues.
The book is aimed at people who are professionals in
a discipline (such as an engineer, a computer pro-
grammer, oce administrator) who have no experience
in project management but need these skills to achieve
an organisational goal. From that point of view it would
be useful as a primer, although it would have bene®ted
greatly from a bibliography if the reader wished to
investigate certain issues in more depth. It is written in a
very readable style with many illustrations and exam-
ples. However, I do not see the book appearing on the
library bookshelves of any academic institutions. I
wouldn't expect to see it appearing on a reading list for
a project management subject. It doesn't say anything
new that would interest academics or students.
At over £40 it is rather over-priced for the value it
would give to the reader. It is written from the author's
extensive industrial experience and is a useful initial
introduction into project management for those new to
the discipline. However, there are many other books
that provide the same introduction.
J. Wateridge
The Business School, Bournemouth University, UK
parent company guarantees; professional indemnity insur-
ance; collateral warranty; inherent defects insurance;
insurance of the contract works.
The over-riding message of the text is that this is a
complex area, and one which merits careful study.
Moreover the implication is that the whole subject is
somewhat confused with many overlapping areas, with the
potential for unnecessary duplication and/or omissions.
There is clearly scope for lawyers to advise on the way
to ensure protection, but this is something that should
really be undertaken by quantity surveyors. However it
is in the interest of clients and consultants to be fully
aware of the pitfalls and the means of protecting against
them. The report concludes that overall, clients are