Need Good Book on Project Management

[Jeffry Kristianto Yanuar]

Hi friends, how you're doing ?

I have a plan to continue my study to achieve the Master of IT degree. The problem is, one of the course that is offered on that degree is project management and I don't have a skill on that course. Therefore, can you please help me by recommending good books to learn the Project Management ?

Your help will undoubtedly become a contribution to my learning experience.


thanks


Jeffry Kristianto Yanuar SCJP, SCJA, SCJD

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

This sounds like a serious question and not meaningless drivel. As I think where to move it, I'm torn between process and job discussion. I'm going to go with the later and the forum moderator can move it if he disagrees.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Jeffry,
What books does the school use? I would think they would be a good starting point.

[Jeffry Kristianto Yanuar]

Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:This sounds like a serious question and not meaningless drivel. As I think where to move it, I'm torn between process and job discussion. I'm going to go with the later and the forum moderator can move it if he disagrees.

I wrote in the "Meaningless Drivel" because it has nothing to do with Java. Feel free to move it as necessary

Here's the situation, I am not yet registered in the MIT course so I don't have any picture on it. I'll take the MIT course in the next July (2010). Nevertheless, I am a planning person type who prefer to prepare for something far from the D-Day.

So the thing that I do is look at the course's syllabus (on the Internet), find the appropriate book, and learning it so when the time has come, I already have a skill on every section that is being offered in the MIT course. Unfortunately, the syllabus doesn't provide the textbook.

thanks for the help

Jeffry Kristianto Yanuar SCJP, SCJA, SCJD

[Rizvan Asgarov]

Hi Jeffry and others,

I offer the following book:
Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture by Martin Fowler

Sincerely,
Rizvan

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Jeffry,
That makes sense. In which case you just want a good book and not necessarily the course book!

When I took a Project Management class, they used:
On time, within budget: Software project management practices and techniques - I liked this one
The Idiots Guide To Project Management - this was ok, but I'm not a big fan of the series
A guide to the project management body of knowledge - more of a reference book, but it's interesting to google PMBOK to see what is considered an area project management

Another alternative is to go to your local public library and see what books they have. After all, you will wind up buying a book to keep when you take the course.

These books all focus on project management rather than people management. Which is probably what you want given the course title. I mention this in case you actually want to become a manager. In which case both are important.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Oh yeah. And if you aren't familiar with MS Project, a book on that tool is good to read.

[Jeffry Kristianto Yanuar]

Thanks Sheriff !!!


Jeffry Kristianto Yanuar SCJP, SCJA, SCJD

[Mark Herschberg]

What is the MIT class on project management (what's the course number, not the name)?

If you look though the bunkhouse you'll see some recommended books on project management.

--Mark

[chris webster]

You should contact your college and ask if they recommend a particular book for preparatory reading, because they may have their own approach to teaching project management.

I did an MSc last year which included a module on PM, and the textbook we used was "Software Project management" (4th edition) by Bob Hughes and Mike Cotterell, which was pretty good and up to date.

If you are not already familiar with Agile and SCRUM etc, you should also consider reading about this e.g. "The Art of Agile Development" by James Shore and Shane Warden, or "The Pragmatic Programmer" by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas, because Agile approaches are likely to be highly relevant for whatever projects you end up working on.

Finally, if you want to do a bit more background reading, I recommend "The Mythical Man Month" (1995 edition or later) by Fred Brooks. It's based on the old-style "waterfall" approach to development (the book is originally from the 1970s and was updated for the 20th anniversary edition in 1995), but it's a very intelligent look at the realities of software project management, regardless of fashionable methodologies.

Good luck!