Books

"The Art of Agile Development" by James Shore and Shane Warden is a pretty old book, published back in October 2007. I got my hands on it at the recommendation of an old friend, who now works as a software developer. Even though I do not manage software development projects, he highly recommended it to me, as an inspiration for healthy approaches to project management in general. Therefore I bought it and started reading. Little did I know, that I would find lots of project management inspiration in its pages. To learn more, don't hesitate to read the whole review.

In my quest for learning how to create great presentations, I've stumbled upon "slide:ology - The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations", a book created by Nancy Duarte and published by O'Reilly in the summer of 2008. Unlike other books which generally teach basic ideas or concepts for making presentations, "slide:ology" gets down to the dirty little details of how to actually create great slides which help you communicate and connect to your audience. Read this review to find out if it actually manages to help people become better at making slides.

"Presentation Zen - Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery" by Garr Reynolds is no longer a new book. Launched back in 2008, a hit since day one, this book promised to change the way people create and deliver presentations in today's business world. I read it shortly after its launch, been charmed by it and did my best to follow its principles. Want to know if the book held its promise and actually delivered better presentation skills for its readers? Read this review based on my true story.

Back in 2009, when I've first heard about 'PM Crash Course for IT Professionals: Real-World Project Management Tools and Techniques for IT Initiatives', by Rita Mulcahy and Martha L. Young, could not help but be excited. The book seemed to be an interesting read for project managers working on IT projects and I really wanted to learn more from Rita Mulcahy's experience on this type of projects. Therefore I ordered the book and read it as soon as I've found some time. Does this book manage to be a good guide for IT project managers? Read this review to find out.

I will continue our series of book reviews with what can seem an unusual choice for the typical project manager: Seth Godin's latest book, called "Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?". As you might expect, this book is not about project management. However, it is a good read for any project manager. To find out why, click on read more.

In your quest to achieve the PMP certification, you will encounter many books which promise to help you pass the exam on the first try. One such book is O'Reilly's Head First PMP, 2nd Edition, a book which might seem unusual to many learning to become certified project managers. I've used this book myself to get my PMP certification and, after passing the exam, I would like to share the experience I had with it.

Project management literature is often very theoretical, dry and bores its readers very easily. Very few books are written in a direct, human tone which manages to capture attention until the end. "The Project Manager - Mastering the Art of Delivery", by Richard Newton, is one of these few positive examples. The book has a certain elegance about it, starting with its simple design, continuing with its content and the way the author communicates with his readers. Plus, it features some very thought provoking ideas.