Downside
In reading through the book we encountered a number of personal annoyances. For example:
Some of the paragraphs are rather long, especially in the Introduction. Similarly, some sentences are unnecessary long. This makes for heavier reading than necessary and less likelihood of getting the author's message across.
There appeared to be a lack of consistency in the use of terminology. Therefore, a Glossary of key terms and their definitions would have been helpful. As an example, Jason defines a methodology as described in our section titled "What we liked - the important lessons" earlier. That is, "A methodology is a set of guidelines or principles that can be tailored and applied to a specific situation." But, Chapter 2 opens at a much higher level with a discussion of "Key decision makers must often determine whether a universalized project life-cycle methodology is sufficient for all their projects."
Then Chapter 3 is titled "Project Management Frameworks" but the content reflects a discussion of high-level project management methodologies or otherwise the design of the phases in the project life span. Chapter 4 is titled "Development Methodology" and properly covers a variety of methodologies covering the management of the technology. Chapter 5 is titled Implementing Project Methodologies, but it is not always clear whether the text is about project management or technical management methodology.
There also appeared inconsistency in the labeling of the potential phase names of the various methodologies described. It is true that different methodology proponents use different labels, perhaps to differentiate their products, but in a book drawing comparisons this is not helpful. In all the methodologies described, we did not see any mention of what we consider to be one of the most important project phases: "Transfer of the product to the care, custody and control of the owner/users"
Some subsections are introduced with a bulleted list, followed by a detailed description of each bullet item. However, while the first several items in the list are dealt with, the remainder is absent. It is almost as though the author was interrupted in mid flight and never returned to the same spot. Similarly, some methodologies are mentioned but not described and others are described but not listed in explanatory tables. More consistency of content and descriptive format would have been welcome.
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Development
Methodologies, Managing the Technology
