Conclusion
Given Gert Noordzij's extensive experience, it should not be difficult to identify
and display a typical project life span for a typical New-Hotel Opening. If there
is no specific project documentation available, then it would be quite acceptable
to "construct" one from several personal or documented experiences. It could be
rather like the Woody
2000 Case study that is offered on this web site and which has attracted a
large audience.[19]
The book as a whole requires substantial upgrading and with an improvement
in content should prove a valuable asset for the New-Hotel Opening industry.
Footnotes
In his Introduction to the First Edition, the author presents the following
Figure 2:[20]
Figure 2: Five building blocks to improve project performance effectively
In our view, there should be a very important fourth block along the bottom
representing the knowledge and skills required to actually produce the end product,
namely, a successfully accomplished New-Hotel Opening. A manager without this
knowledge would be completely "at sea" in trying to run such a project, and would
likely be "sunk" by his or her own supporters, regardless of any project management
skills they may have. Another block in the top row might also be added to represent
the "New-Hotel Opening industry standards".
Under the subject of Root Cause Analysis, the author attempts to illustrate
the Root cause analysis and causal chain for New-Hotel Opening delays described
in the text.[21] This illustration provides
valuable insights, but unfortunately, the figure in the book is not legible, and
the link provided to access a full size replica is no longer active. Not to worry,
you can get a full-sized PDF copy by contacting the author directly.[22]
In Section 6.5, the author replicates The Guides' Table 3-1 Project Management
Process Group and Knowledge Area Mapping.[23]
Unfortunately, this table is badly flawed because to the uninitiated it tends
to imply that the five process groups are equivalent to PMI's generic project
life cycle. It also implies that out of the ten knowledge areas listed, only two
have any Initiating Processes, and only two others have Closing Processes.
Also in Section 6.5, the author shows "Examples of Project Schedules". However,
this too has been copied from The Guide and is not actually legible. In fact a
couple of examples taken from a real New-Hotel Opening project would be most valuable,
even if they have to be drawn up after the event.
The references in Section 7 only list the authors and their publications. They
do not take you to the actual source of material quoted.
Finally, we think that 26 "Accolades" is a bit of overkill, considering the
foregoing. Three or four would be ample.
We look forward to a much-improved Second Edition of this book.
R. Max Wideman
Fellow PMI
19. See the
Introduction on this page: www.maxwideman.com/papers/woody2000/intro.htm
20. Project Management of Hotel Opening Processes, Introduction
to the First Edition, p xxiv
21. Ibid, p10
22. Contact Gert Noordzij by Email at gert.noordzij@hotelopeningprocesses.com
for a full scale printable version" of the Root cause analysis and causal chain
for New-Hotel Opening delays described in the text.
23. The Table referred to is presented as "Table 4, Mapping of
the forty seven project management processes into the five project management
process groups and ten project management areas" on page 87
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