What people think about The Lazy Project Manager
Review 1:
Mark Perry ( PMO Podcast http://www.botinternational.com/thepmopodcast.htm )
This book belongs on every PMO bookshelf.
Review 2:
The brown envelope arrived at my house in Davie, Florida, on Friday June 26th 2009. Inside was a copy of Peter Taylor's 'The Lazy Project Manager'. That evening I dropped onto my sofa and began to read. This is not a technical writing but it is a book written with quintessential British humour outlining the thoughts of an experienced, and obviously very capable, project manager on the best way for a project manager to act to achieve success and maintain some form of mental stability in the quagmire and turmoil of his professional life. From the outset this book re-centers the reader and brings one down to earth. Having been a project manager over the last 25 years in the United Kingdom and the USA on major construction projects I have to say that Peter Taylor has hit the essence of the project manager's role and responsibility squarely in the face.
'The Lazy Project Manager' is anything but lazy. This book is a real 'Keep It Simple Stupid' guide to personal organization that any project manager in any industry needs to read as a matter of necessity. Over the weekend as I read 'The Lazy Project Manager' (reclined on the living room sofa) my wife responded to my numerous cries of 'Oh, bloody hell' with 'What now?' and as I told her of what I had just read she responded with 'But, that's just so obvious!' Yes, I know it's obvious, it's all obvious. Some of it I do already, some of it I once did and have slipped out of the good habits, and some of it I should really get a handle on right now. There is nothing like having someone's writing slap you round the face like a wet herring and you sit there (well, actually laying on the sofa) and you enjoy the experience. Thank you very much Peter Taylor!
This book is not to be underestimated. The message is very clear to anyone who wants to listen. I would challenge any reader of 'The Lazy Project Manager' not to take away a benefit to their project management role and process. After reading 'The Lazy Project Manager', and applying Peter Taylor's principles, the above mentioned quagmire and turmoil will begin to clear. This is a book to be kept close and referred to again and again to reinforce the guidance that it provides.
So, it is the morning of Monday June 29th 2009 here in Miami and I have re-organized my e-mails, I have already removed myself from two distribution lists of stuff I never read anyway and delegated a change review meeting to those that are better equipped. I have read The Times online and written this review I will be a 'Lazy Project Manager' before the day is out.
Ian Swanson Director of Construction at MDM Development
Review 3:
Pull up a comfy chair, pour yourself a drink and wait for the project team to come to you. Welcome to the world of productive project management laziness, and Peter Taylor is the laziest of all. In a good way.
Peter's book, The lazy project manager: How to be twice as productive and still leave the office early
This is not The 4-hour Work Week
Taylor bases his approach on the dinosaur theory:
All projects are thick at one end, much, much thinner in the middle and then thick again at the far end.
That's hard to explain without the dinosaur picture but you get the idea: work hard at the start to get things off on the right foot, then let your team take the strain, then close it down effectively and carefully with lots of involvement from you at the end.
I liked Peter's book. It's easy to read. He weaves the science in without you really noticing it. It's all based on sound business, economic and military theory: Pareto and a version of the Johari window make an appearance, along with enough diagrammatic grids to illustrate the key points in a coherent visual way. And it's fun. He writes about Monty Python, buses, reading the newspaper and there are jokes about frogs and balloons and it is oh so much more fun than I am making it out to be right now. OK, not hilariously, laugh-out-loud-on-the-tube-and-everyone-stares funny, but smirk-to-myself-and-goodness-it's-my-stop-already funny.
The thing that really stood out for me is that Peter approaches the book and its readers with the same principles that he writes about. The 80/20 rule is the guiding light of The Lazy Project Manager
The other great thing about this book is that it includes lots of anecdotes of times when things didn't go well - and who doesn't like reading about other people's mistakes? We learn much better from people saying, "I messed up," than we do from people saying, "I was so brilliant."
The Lazy Project Manager isn't going to teach you how to be a project manager. You need to know that before you open this book. But it will show you how to be more productive with the hours in the day, and in Peter's book that equals more time away from your desk to do what you want.
So I will delegate more, and more effectively, at the right times. I will curl up in my comfy chair and watch re-runs of Gossip Girl. I just have to train my team to bring me tea and life will be good…
Elizabeth Harrin, http://www.pm4girls.elizabeth-harrin.com/
Review 4:
It is extremely unusual for me to pick up a 'management book' involuntarily. I think I lost that particular desire when I did my MBA in the nineties. However, occasionally there is a need to acquire additional information or background knowledge. So it was with some trepidation that I picked up Peter Taylor's book one Sunday afternoon, knowing that I'd promised a review. I finished it later that day, having only put it down for a meal. I really, really enjoyed it. I've read a number of the 'jokey' type of management books over the years; those that have catchy titles, and purport to be a fun read, yet seem to be.
This time I was pleasantly surprised that the book not only caught and kept my attention, but that it did it in a very enjoyable, easily absorbed way. Peter's use of analogies and stories is where I found some of the value. The remainder of the value came in the real content of the book.
Over the years as a project / programme management consultant, lecturer, teacher and practitioner, I've built up a pretty good education about how to manage change into organisations through projects. I cannot find fault with any of Peter's recommendations - especially the bit about being lazy! Peter has been able to enrich the content by using his stories and analogies to make a number of points, all of them common sense; even things like "it is important to separate the important from the immediate" (my words not his - you find his analogy in the book).
One of the analogies that Peter uses, almost from the outset, is that of a dinosaur - in fact a brontosaurus. "I'm sure you know the one, thin at the front, thick in the middle, then thin at the other end." Well, Peter modifies the analogy a bit by saying that projects should be thick at the front, thin in the middle and thick at the other end again. The thickness of the project shape represents the amount of effort or work that needs to be done at that stage of the project. The corollary is: initiate well, compensating for difficulties, be lazy in the middle because a well organised project can run on its own like a well oiled machine if initiated well, then put some effort into finishing with real enthusiasm, helping all the stakeholders realise how well it has gone, and what a wonderful result we have.
Organising your project in this fashion allows you to apply the principles of being a lazy project manager - and still be successful. That is really what it is all about. Don't forget, this is not about just being lazy and not doing the job - this is being lazy, and being successful as well. Do the job, but do the job in the most intelligent way you can, so that you can be lazy when you can.
That is my kind of project management.
The other bits that are interspersed throughout the book are about how to achieve the above by using a great deal of common sense. Peter's book made this entertaining, yet useful for me. -
Reviewed by John Zachar, Product Development Manager with the APM. John has previously written for both Tipoffs and How to Manage a Camel, and would love to hear your feedback.
Feel free to contact John with your thoughts about The Lazy Project Manager at john.zachar@btinternet.com. This review is the work of Mr Zachar and is no way connected to any views, beliefs or opinions of the APM.
Review 5:
Relax, have a seat in your comfy chair, and enjoy 'The Lazy Project Manager'
Now, here is a book that is in harmony with the postings on this page and also written in a style that accommodates my sense of humor and philosophy of project management. The Lazy Project Manager, a brand-new book by Peter Taylor, is, by his own admission, not a methodology nor a replacement for a PM book, nor a preparation for the PMP Exam. It is, however, written by a gentleman who is a PMP and who has a great deal of real-world PM experience. So you should pay attention regardless of what the book isn't. What the book is, instead, is a collection of wisdom and coaching about how to manage projects in such a way that you are active and assertive as a PM when you need to be and only when you need to be.
The author, a fan (like me) of Monty Python and silliness in general, adapts one of Python's gimmicks as the common thread throughout the book: "a project is thick at one end, much, much thinner in the middle and then thick again at the far end". This is the opposite of a dinosaur, as theorized by Anne Elk (brackets, Miss, brackets) who stated, in her very own theory, which was hers, "all brontosauruses are thin at one end, much, much thicker in the middle, and then thin again at the far end". Brontosauruses aside, the concept is that projects have the most need for attention and assertiveness by the PM at the starting and ending stages and in the middle need communication and management, yes, but in a much 'lazier', more monitoring and controlling fashion.
In his coaching and advice, the author tackles the usual suspects, feature and scope creep, the evils of email, reporting not being the same as communicating, dealing with a wide variety of project sponsors, and all cleverly illustrated not only with illustrations (the author is fond of two-by-two grids) but also illustrated with stories from his own experience and with jokes or brain teasers thrown in here and there. Taylor does something that I have done on my blog and in my own writing - he gives you a chance to cheat. By cheating, I mean that he levels with you, the reader, the busy reader, the lazy reader, and says something like, "look, if you want to get to the bottom line, skip over to the last chapter now. You will miss some stuff but ... you'll get the idea". In fact, he even uses this principle of cheating itself to help explain the Pareto principle - a tactic I thought was particularly ingenious.
Another interesting thing about this book is the author's use of footnotes. Where many authors rely on footnotes only to reference their sources, Taylor instead takes the opportunity to provide a variety of other things in the footnotes. Don't skip them - or you will find yourself missing a recipe for a virgin bloody Mary.
So don't be lazy - get a hold of this book and read it, perhaps on a lazy summer afternoon.
Rich Maltzman, PMP Scope Crepe blog
Review 6:
As a practicing Project Manager (PM), I am always looking for ways to do my job better and for best practices that I can adopt. So, when the opportunity came my way to read this book, I jumped on it and am not sorry I did so. The Lazy in the title refers to doing things better so you do not have to do as much and the subtitle of this book is "How to be twice as productive and still leave the office early" which is a very worthy goal for anyone in any position and a skill that I would dearly love to learn!
The book itself is a very quick read. There are essentially only 100 pages of real text and the book's format is relatively small and there is lots of white space. I was able to read through it in a few hours time. The questions then becomes, is the time investment worth it? And, are you learning enough from reading this book to bother with it?
My answers are unqualified "yes"es!
While the book is short and snappy it does cover the main things that PMs should focus on and spend their time on. The author divides any project into three phases: Startup, execution, and conclusion. Most of the book is spent on the Startup phase as that is the time when you need to really work hard at the project to make it succeed. The author wisely focuses on the two most critical ingredients that will make or break any project: The planning work for how the project should be executed; and the communications process to make sure everyone involved with the project knows what the plans are and what to do about them. Everyone involved with the project includes the project sponsor and any outside influencers that may not be a formal part of the team, but are critical to the project's success. This phase also has the critical planning for how to combat the inevitable attempts at project scope creep.
For the execution part, the author's recommendation is to simply relax and let the team do its work according to the plans prepared. If you spent the time to plan properly, then in this stage all you need to do is monitor that the project is progressing as it should and delegate the real hard work to your team members. In the final stage, a strong recommendation is made to perform a "post-mortem" to learn valuable lessons that can be applied to other projects. Of course, battling project scope creep continues in these phases as well.
The writing style is breezy and light. This is not a negative thing! I liked the introduction of stories, quotes, and anecdotes that illustrated various points by either making fun of the author himself or complete tangents! (what does it say about me, that I got the point of the woman who buries her mother at first glance???) Many professional books tend to give anecdotes from the author's past in which the author is highlighted as always making the right choice and being the consistent hero. One of the strongest points of this book is that most of the anecdotes represent situations where the author was making missteps! Even an anecdote that has the project ultimately succeed is described as one where the author - the PM! - went off to a bar to drown his sorrows and consequently caused his team to do the right things and save the day! All by happenstance. I loved it!
The author talks initially of the Pareto principal where 20% of the work is responsible for 80% of the effects and he applies this at the end of the book by summarizing his teachings in two rounds. In the first round he summarizes his previous 100 pages into 13 bullets spanning six pages; and then he reiterates this to go down to 10 points spread across a page and a half! This works quite well as a reminder of what the book was about and represents well the kind of humorous approach that is evident throughout the book.
As someone who has been managing projects for over 20 years, the quality of his advice was also important to me. On the one hand, I did not learn anything that I did not know. On the other hand, it was nice for me to learn that I am indeed a `lazy' project manager!!! (his definition of lazy is someone who has intelligently planned the work and is diligent in smartly executing the work so you do not need to become a hero that spends many hundreds of extra hours in resolving unnecessary or avoidable crises). In short he advocates planning projects well in the beginning; allowing the team to resolve most of the problems that come up during the project reserving your efforts for those things that cannot be resolved by anyone else; conducting a post-mortem at the end of the project; and communicate, communicate, communicate non-stop. From my own personal experience I know that this is absolutely the right advice.
Should everyone who is in Project Management get a copy of this book? Almost. If you are new to it or are contemplating entering the field, then I would NOT recommend this book as you will probably get more value from reading one of the more extensive discussions of the nuts and bolts of how to run a project. This book will come into its own for you, and provide much value, only after you have a few projects under your belt and are ready to try and figure out how to be better at it. Nonetheless, given the quality of the advice, the great writing style, and the nice way in which these important concepts are stated, I give this book 5 stars.
Naor Wallach (Amazon USA)
Review 7:
If you are a project manager (experienced or otherwise), or perhaps involved in projects as a sponsor or stakeholder, read this book and you should benefit from it.
Then, keep it on your desk or shelf, and particularly at project inception, or when the going gets tough, cherry pick from it; or just look at the cover and focus on that trigger of the lazy (in control) project manager in his armchair, albeit perhaps looking just that bit too comfortable .
This is an unusual book - it's not a complete guide or reference and makes a point of saying that, it veers between light, frothy, serious with genuine insights, a bit "new age" and "touchy and feely" - a pin stripe suit with a flower power shirt?
I gained specific "takeaways" from the book but what I also found beneficial was that the words on the page seemed to put me into a confessional or benchmarking state whereby I was continually questioning, comparing and evaluating the author's experiences and key points against my own.
Michael Finer, (Amazon UK)
Review 8:
Entgegen den sonstigen Büchern zum Thema Projektmanagement überrascht Peter Taylor mit einem eigenen Ansatz und einer neuen Sichtweise.
Aufbauend auf eigenen Erfahrungen werden die wesentlichen Projektmanagement-Themen durchgängig behandelt und mit Beispielen auf der Praxis untermauert. Der Gedanke der "Productive Laziness" wird Seite für Seite näher gebracht und schlußendlich ergeben sich dem Leser eine Fülle von Anregungen für ein Nach- und Umdenken im tagtäglichen Projektgeschäft.
Das Buch sei all jeden empfohlen, die eine gesunde Mischung aus fundiertem theoretischen Projektmanagementwissen, langjähriger Praxiserfahrung mit einer gesunden Brise englischen Humors in einer neuen Denkweise erfahren möchten.
Dieses "andere Buch über Projektmanagement" hat für mich das Prädikat "besonders empfehlenswert".
Matthias Schmich (Amazon Germany)
Review 9:
A fast read but not necessarily a shallow one.
Mr. Taylor has codified twenty years of insight from Project Management into a slim volume that skates around the danger of being too cute--this would devalue it even if it were fun to read, which it is--instead providing the tools and confidence to work lazy.
The idea that smart but lazy people are best suited for leadership was superbly illustrated by the example of Field Marshal Count von Moltke ..... I love that Taylor even provides a means to "cheat," i.e., skip to the end of the book. Nothing like catering to your audience, and it reminded me of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" mystery books I devoured when I was a kid.
The Lazy Project Manager would make a great gift for the PMs in your downline (assuming you don't mind passing on the secrets of lazy project management, and why shouldn't you if it makes your employees work more efficiently?). And honestly the advice is not just for project managers. Anyone who wants to manage themselves and their employees better will benefit from it. "If you have to scroll you have lost control" rings very true!
The book is visually appealing with plenty of white space and just enough diagrams. Funny stories sprinkled throughout the book make the time pass quickly. (My favorites were the genie and the hot air balloon.) The catchy title, combined with current efforts of businesses to do more with less, mean Mr. Taylor will likely be busy on the speaking circuit.
Jason Kirkfield (Amazon USA)
Review 10:
Peter does an outstanding job of linking a simple concept, the lazy PM, to talk through the must activities of any project manager. What makes it interesting are the real life experiences that back up the theory.
Rob Mossman
Review 11:
I like it. This book puts the job of PM in the right perspective of what really matters in project management and focus on human beings.
Mr. Taylor wrote a book that is fun to read, provides a certain amount of information that is particularly interesting for PM who has already experienced the same situations and some lessons learned.
I have been particularly interested in the way Mr. Taylor depicts project sponsor analysis, project creep and communications. The human is the key factor. And, yes the investment worth it.
P Salvini (Amazon Canada)