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Book Review - Kirkus

BOOK REVIEW 

Just received the review from Kirkus Review for my book Simple Project Management - do read on for more insights. 

Overview of Kirkus Review:

Kirkus Reviews is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus.The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. Kirkus Reviews, published on the first and 15th of each month, previews books before their publication. Kirkus reviews over 10,000 titles per year.


"SIMPLE" PROJECT MANAGEMENT
For Noobs to Pros: Simple Enough For The First Project Complex Enough To Be Steppingstones To The Pmp Certification
Ng Wei Kwan
Partridge Singapore (122 pp.)
$29.99 hardcover, $14.99 paperback, $3.99 e-book
ISBN: 9781543781571
May 6, 2024

Ng’s nonfiction debut lays out the nuts and bolts of project management.

The author, a certified project manager, breaks down the steps to effective project management, from the conceptualizing and beginning stages through all possible outcomes. He draws the basics from the Project Management Institute’s PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) and looks at the most common reasons projects fail, including poor business acumen, lack of commitment from managers, and, of course, poor planning.

In brief chapters illustrated by charts and bullet points, Ng touches on all the fundamental elements of what will make a project succeed, boiling them down to maxims like “foster transparency” and “collaboration is key.” He also explains how important the basics of the project management certification process are and the associated costs. Some companies, he points out, have their own on-demand project management webinars: “The difference actually relies on the discipline of the participant—it takes quite a bit of effort to sit through the thirty-five hours of training.” 

Obviously drawing on his own experience and education, Ng writes with clarity and demystifying directness about a complicated subject. Particularly helpful are his examples of all kinds of projects, including many his lay readers will immediately understand, like President Kennedy’s 1961 promise to
spend $531 million to put astronauts on the moon by the end of the decade (the final project extended to 1973 and cost $28 billion). 

But the strongest aspect of Ng’s book is his buoyant optimism and common sense. “By having the discussion upfront, one can avoid serious arguments at a later stage when problem [sic] arise (and they will),” he writes. This is just one of the book’s many passages that will provide good guidance for anyone facing a daunting project.

A compact and genuinely instructive breakdown of the project management process.


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