Office 2007 Enterprise blog a-jobsblog-book-club

If Oprah can do it, so can we!
Recently a Microsoft Senior Program Manager, Steve Ball, selected a book he thought a college hire from his team would enjoy: The Art of Project Management by Scott Berkun. The first edition came out in April 2005 and has received numerous positive reviews.
I figure it’s the holiday season and if there’s someone on your shopping list that would enjoy a pretty light but informative book about Program/Project Management, here’s another solid recommendation. In Steve’s own words:
My favorite book is The Art of Project Management. [The author] Scott was a respected Usability Engineer and PM at Microsoft from 1994-2003, and he is now retired, writing, and consulting on project management. Here is a quick summary of my own experience with this book
It is down to earth and humorous vs. the other dry or overly-glamorous books about working at Microsoft or other hyper-clinical Project Management snooze-fests.
It provides both principles and practical examples that can be applied immediately without having to learn the PM ropes by trial and error.
The book is easy to read because it is conversational and componentized – you can skip directly to the chapter that interests you,Microsoft Office Home And Student 2010, to either read deeply or simply skim – either way, you’ll get value from every paragraph without having to read the book cover-to-cover.Having worked with Scott on Windows over a couple of releases,Windows 7 Ultimate, I’ve seen many of his anecdotes and advice play out first hand -- he has both practical experience and a unique way of transmitting those experiences in a way that delivers what I consider to be a concentrated “PM 101” for new or aspiring Program Managers.
In summary, I view this book as a mini-pep talk that demystifies the PM role and challenges while providing a jumpstart for new PMs. It is not Microsoft-specific (which is partially why he and his publisher chose the title ‘Project Management’ instead of ‘Program Management’) but it still applies 100% to the PM role at Microsoft.
Of course,Office 2007 Enterprise, there is really no such thing as a ‘cookbook’ for success,Genuine Windows 7, but in my own experience,Office Professional Plus 2007 Key, this book can save a new PM months, maybe even years, of random trial and error on ‘getting stuff done’ at Microsoft if they read this first.” How about you loyal jobsblog readers? Have you recently found helpful books for Program Management that you’d like to share with others?