Antipatterns in Project Management

AntiPatterns in Project Management contains easily read and digested templates on people, technology, and process management antipatterns. The examples are concise, yet they offer enough information that experienced programmers and project managers will cringe when they read the stories. The antipattern templates are easy to read and understand. And they provide a consistent framework for the discussion about exceptions, refactored solutions, typical causes, etc.

This is certainly an enlightening book, bringing up many points to consider. The writers are experienced, and though this results in an overly authoratative tone at times, their work is sound. The problem I have with the book is not actually the book itself. If a project manager can be so opened-minded as to step back and look at the problem with an accurate perspective, having a clear idea of all the facts of the case, they should be able to use this book to accurately diagnose and fix the problems they face. If they can't do that this book may be less useful.On the other hand, reading this book adds perspective, which may be enough to help one step back from the situation and reevaluate. In addition, since the authors reference their earlier works frequently, it might be best to read the other books first.

You can acquire knowledge and skills from being shown how to do things right. You can also gain a lot from other people's mistakes. I learned project management the right way with a book titled Visualizing Project Management. It gave me the techniques with which to build experience. This book, Anti-Patterns in Project Management, gave me wisdom.As I read this book I could not help but cringe because just about every anti-pattern discussed reflected what I had seen or endured (or inflicted in some cases) during projects. What I took to be business as usual, and attributed to human nature, turns out to be worst--but common--practices. I am sure that anyone who has managed or performed on a project has seen the same practices time and again. What makes this book valuable is the fact that the authors show you how to rectify these bad practices, and they do so with humor and a practical approach.My favorite set of anti-patterns addresses the people part of the equation because, in my opinion, people are the root cause of failed projects. Why? People indulge in politics, have personal agendas and are too often assigned to responsibilities without any requisite experience or skills. Sound familiar? Also, "people" select the technologies and develop and implement the processes that are covered in the other two groups of anti-patterns. Learn from the anti-patterns provided here and you are well on your way to transforming a project from a nightmare into one that will be successful. Of course, the process and technology anti-patterns discussed will probably be as familiar as the people ones, but they can be resolved once you take the authors' collective advice about how to deal with the people-focused anti-patterns.Not only does this book give you sound advice on how to turn the anti-patterns into best-practices from which PM patterns can be based, but they reinforce this with an appendix that lists project management best practices. The contrast between these and the anti-patterns themselves will anchor your view of project management as an endeavor to which "good" patterns can be applied. Another chapter I particularly liked is titled "AntiPattern Collisions", which is the PM's worst nightmare. This is when anti-patterns combine to become problems from hell, and reflect the complex nature of any process.