When I conceived of this book, the main idea was to create something for the general public, where the main concepts behind the activities of project planning and control would be presented in a simple, quick and direct way, and, for that, I borrowed the term “tweets.”
As everybody knows, the microblog Twitter® has the objective of sharing ideas and information using up to 140 characters. I wasn’t that rigorous in using this concept. You will certainly notice that some of the “tweets” go beyond this limit as I tried to convey the concepts in the best possible way.
The main target audience of this book is not the professional who has project management as his or her career. For these professionals I have 10 other books and more than 20 technical papers where I discuss the most important concepts and tools regarding project, program and portfolio management in a most detailed possible manner. The target audience for this book is the professional from other areas who wishes to have a preliminary knowledge of the subject and who also thinks that project management might contribute as a life skill, just like math.
This book is meant to be read by the lawyer, doctor, entrepreneur, researcher, public servant, and all other professions. Whatever your profession, every time that a temporary nature shows up in a work of yours, which is different from routine, you have in front of you a project. And managing a project is different than managing a routine.
In spite of being organized into themes, “Planning in 140 Tweets” does not have a classic reading sequence. You can just open the book on any page and read it. It doesn’t have to be from the beginning until the end, theme by theme. What matters is the idea and the contemplation about each one of the small messages. It might be that one of them makes a big difference in your job or life, who knows?
- Basic Concepts
- Project Management as a Life Skill
- The Project Manager
- A Career in Project management
- Where it All Begins: the Business Case
- Sizing up the Work to Be Done
- Establishing and Monitoring Deadlines
- Managing Costs and Budgets
- Quality Management
- Leading People
- Understanding the Importance of Communication
- Identifying, Assessing, and Responding to Risks
- Planning and Managing Contracts and Purchases
Glossary
