Book Structure
Each chapter is divided into sub-topics consisting of one or more pairs of pages. As in the previous books, the first in the pair is like a presentation slide, while the second is its more detailed explanation. The chapter headings are as follows:
- Project Management Framework
- Integration Management
- Scope Management
- Time Management
- Cost Management
- Human Resources Management
- Procurement Management
- Quality Management
- Risk Management
- Communications Management
The perceptive will note from this list that the book's chapters cover the nine knowledge areas of the Project Management Institute's A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge ("PMBoK") with Project Management Framework added at the front end. However, the chapters are not in exactly the same order as the PMBoK. For example, Quality, an input variable along side scope and an essential feature in the attainment of success in most projects, is relegated to a place even lower in the list than in the PMBoK.[6]
By far the largest chapters are Project Management Framework; Integration Management; and Communications Management (between 62 and 93 pages) while the remaining chapters are relatively short (between 16 and 28 pages). The general intent of the shorter chapters is to demonstrate how the content in each knowledge area differs from the PMBoK's descriptions when it comes to examining a complex project. Essentially, in the view of the authors, these differences arise as a result of the project expectations of multiple stakeholders.
In fact, the book is really all about stakeholders and their influence in a "complex project". The issue of "stakeholder" surfaces in all of the chapters, while the concluding chapter on Communications Management is almost entirely dedicated to the subject of stakeholders and the potential problems they present.
Indeed, the authors conclude the book with these Final Thoughts:[7]
"In fact, the changing roles of the stakeholders and their varying degrees of involvement in the project add to the project's complexity. We have also seen how the management of project risk takes on added importance. Many of our observations about specific knowledge areas of the PMBOK® Guide deal with the permutations of increased risk attached to those areas. Finally, we've noted the need for new tools, lifecycles, and techniques demanded by increased project complexity."
6. From 5th place in PMBoK to 8th place in this list.
7. Managing Complex Projects p387
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Introduction to Book 4
