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Lewis, James P. Project Planning, Book Report

Lewis cites company policy as a major hygiene factor; many employees feel oppressed by company policies and are less productive, or even intentionally counterproductive as a result. Most people have at some point had to deal with a company policy that was arbitrary and annoying. It is indeed a major de-motivational factor, but Lewis may be overestimating the ability of the project manager to influence it; the sort of company that puts arbitrary policies in place is also likely to be unresponsive to requests to change them, regardless of how well-reasoned they are. Lewis concludes with an example project plan: his plan to develop this book, and a class to accompany it. His plan uses the planning techniques described in the book, and includes a number of charts and diagrams. To provide support. The example plan provides a good overview of the techniques laid out in the book, and might provide a useful resource for anyone inexperienced at planning projects. The example does rely heavily on outdated computer software, however, and therefore may require significant changes in order to be used with more modern project-planning software.

Lewis covers the major topics involved in managing projects, including planning, scheduling, budgeting and managing people. There is little original content in the book, rather, Lewis simply restates ideas from other fields,...

Lewis must think his readers foolish to feel the need to explain what a project is or that motivating people requires interpersonal skills. Lewis may have found a market for a book, but he failed to find a meaningful message to deliver. Connecting the ideas Lewis uses to the field of project management would have required far fewer words; what would actually be interesting is a book of similar length that added original information to the field of project management, instead of simply borrowing.
Lewis does not add any useful information to the world with Project Planning, Scheduling & Control. The book simply contains a series of borrowed ideas presented from the standpoint of a project manager. Anyone wishing to learn how to manage projects would do well to find another guide, preferably one that is not so condescending as to attempt to teach the reader what a project is. I was reminded of concepts I had already learned elsewhere while reading this book, but I learned little about project management book. I did learn something about how not to write; a verbose, condescending and repetitive style is a sure way to limit the reader's interest. It may be difficult to write a text on project management that is interesting or engaging, but it is a near-certainty that someone has done a better job than Lewis did.

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