Getting a Project Done On Time is a highly readable book that contains a lot of good advice. It's a bit hard to categorize, however. It isn't (and doesn't claim to be) a comprehensive project management text, but it isn't really limited to time-related topics either. I don't know that the concept of getting a project done on time really narrows things down much, as the skills required to get a project done on time are pretty much the same as those required to get it done at all.
October 27, 1998
One of the epigrams in the book is from the famous management theorist Peter Drucker, who said "Time is the scarcest resource and unless it is managed, nothing else can be managed." So, the book covers a lot of things that don't necessarily have to do with time per se, as the table of contents illustrates:
Fact Finding
Getting Help from Other People
Planning and Charting Projects
Reviewing the Project Plan With the Prime Mover
So Much to Do, So Little Time
Influencing Participants
Presenting Project Results
Managing People and Projects: The Psychology of Project Shelving
The writing style is highly readable, with the leavening of sardonic humor that project management topics seem to call for. Realistic examples abound. In fact, each chapter begins with an instalment in the ongoing saga of a harried project manager trying to Get His Project Done on Time.
This book is a bit rambling, but it does contain some useful advice. Those who are looking for something focused on time management will be disappointed, however.
