Project Management Hacking

This book provides guidance for project managers that is missing from every major body of knowledge and educational offering for working project managers -- It identifies the activities that influence project success and focuses the limited time and energy available towards just those activities. The Project Management Institute (PMI) and most literature on project management discusses all aspects of project management with an acceptance that you will use "expert judgement" to narrow down focus because a project manager cannot be expected to use every process outlined by PMI to manage every project.

This book uses the concept of hacking our standard conventions, recently popularized at a wider scope of the population as "life hacks," "food hacks," and other shortcuts to get to the same end. It outlines a standard path that conventional wisdom identifies, an evil path that project managers frequently resort to under time/quality pressures, and a hacker path that outlines a better way to look at the challenge.

The main benefit of the book is that it equips project managers with approaches to refocus their efforts on the factors that precisely matter while spending less time doing it. Project management is a demanding discipline with a growing body of knowledge with the exception on how to actually do it all.

Essentially, readers are presented with humorous anecdotes and examples while they learn how to save time, improve quality, and advance their career. The primary sections of the book cover how to approach the most common certifications in project management, continuing education, leading project teams, initiating/planning/ executing/monitoring/controlling projects, general life skills, and taking on additional responsibilities.

Hacking project management is about focusing the limited bandwidth a project manager can give a project towards the activities that drive project success. None of these are great secrets, but they often are under-emphasized in other attempts to provide guidance because they are fundamental and foundational. The fundamentals are what drive success, but they are not often the factors managers like to do or call out as a key reason the project succeeded.