Thursday, April 13, 2023

If you want to learn project management, here are some good starting books to read

 No one really starts in school with project management in mind as a career path, so many PMs end up as transfers from other career starting points such as majors in science, business, marketing, finance, etc.  So I get asked a lot what books to recommend for people starting out in the PM field or interested in advancing their basic PM skills.

Some books I find that I continue to recommend again and again are:

  1. "The Project Management Body of Knowledge" by Project Management Institute (PMI)
  2. "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)" by Project Management Institute (PMI)
  3. "Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity" by David Allen
  4. "Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High" by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler
  5. "The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses" by Eric Ries
  6. "Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time" by Jeff Sutherland
  7. "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change" by Stephen Covey
  8. "The One Minute Manager" by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
  9. "Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2" by AXELOS
  10. "Critical Chain" by Eliyahu M. Goldratt

These books cover a wide range of topics in project management, from the basics of project management methodologies and processes (particularly 1, 2, and 9 above) to specific techniques for increasing productivity and managing stakeholders. I think 3, 4, and 7 are great reads for any business person and are applicable far beyond project management.

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