Getting started in project management

Managing a project can mean anything from a multinational rollout for a large corporation to planning a family gathering, and the same fundamentals apply. This introductory book walks readers through the full life cycle of a project. It starts with launching a project and guiding the team, then moves on to structuring the work, allocating resources and setting up a plan. Later chapters cover tracking progress against that plan and bringing a project to a formal close.

Throughout, the authors share practical suggestions for improving the odds of success and point out frequent mistakes that can derail a project. Case studies illustrate how the methods work in real situations and explain the reasoning behind them.

Paula Martin is the chief executive of Martin Tate, a management consulting and training firm based in Torrington, Connecticut. She has spent more than a decade advising organizations on improving performance and works with project teams directly. Karen Tate, the firm's president, holds the Project Management Professional credential and has more than twenty years of project management experience. She has taught project management to teams around the world.