When you improve your skills as a project manager, you are not only a valuable asset to your team. You are also listing yourself up to be quality material for senior management.
It is therefore beneficial to both you and your career that, as a personal development skill, you come to know how to be a good project manager. Of course, to do this, you must widen your knowledge of project management.
In this article, we have enlisted some project management books to enable achieving this goal. These project management books were selected based on project management team recommendations. If you are a beginner or you have some knowledge of project management, then this list is a good place to pick up from.
8 Project Management Books for You to Read
The books highlighted in this article include –
- A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
- Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager
- Project Management: Absolute Beginner’s Guide
- Making Things Happen: Mastering Project management
- Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling
- Project Management for Non-Project Managers
- Strategic Project Management Made Simple
- Project Management Jumpstart
1. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) is regarded by many as the bible of project management. This 800-page book is written for those who desire to earn the prestigious PMP certification.
PMBOK Guide is more than just a study manual or a textbook guide for those who aim to be project managers. The Project Management Institute had more in mind when they wrote and published this book. PMBOK Guide serves as a reference point for project managers at all levels of their careers.
This project management book is the ultimate authority on project management, so if you want to chase a career in project management or you want to improve your project management skills, then A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge is your starting point.
2. Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager
Unlike other project management books that tend to the interest of those who are seeking a career in project management, Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager helps those who do not seek careers in project management with project management skills. This book specifically tells informal leaders how they can organize and coordinate their initiatives.
The project management blueprint illustrates the five stages of the organizing and coordination process with diagrams, examples, and lists. By doing this, it serves as a proper manual for informal leaders. To get your copy of this book, click the link provided below.
3. Project Management: Absolute Beginner’s Guide
This book is one of the project management books that help beginners to find their feet when it comes to project management. It can be used as a partner to A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge or as a standalone book. Whichever way you decide to use this book, it covers the essential areas of project management and also has a special chapter that assists users with useful instructions on how to pass the PMP exam.
As a newcomer to the project management game, this book can be well relied on for the essential basics of project management. The Project Management: Absolute Beginner’s Guide was written by Gregory M Horine, with 25 years of experience in senior project management.
4. Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management
Scott Berkun, an experienced IT project manager at Microsoft, wrote this project management book as a series of personal essays. This book gives written guidelines on effective project management strategies as well as philosophies. Making Things Happen is viewed by many critics and followers as the antithesis of the PMBOK guide. Scott Berkun related the concepts found in the book to the experiences he had when developing Internet Explorer.
It is a valuable and recommended book amongst many project management books. To get this book, click the link provided here:
5. Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling
Harold Kerzner is the author of this project management book. He wrote many academic papers on project management. As a professor, there’s no one better suited to teach the concepts involved. This book is specifically written for students and beginners. This comes as no surprise when you consider Harold Kerzner’s background. The latest edition of this book is to be read with the PMBOK guide. It also has many PMP exam tips and practice questions.
6. Project Management for Non-Project Managers
Just like the absolute beginner’s guide by Gregory M Horine, this is another one of the project management books that are written for those who have little to no knowledge about project management.
Project Management for Non-Project Managers explains key topics in a way that is easily understandable and it encourages beginners to engage the process head-on, while it acts as a guide to project management basics. The basics are regarded as the most essential, and Jack Ferraro does not fail to highlight that in this book.
7. Strategic Project Management Made Simple
Terry Schmidt has an MBA from Harvard Business School. In his Strategic Project Management Made Simple, he highlights that the biggest issue that many project managers face is not in devising strategies but in implementing these strategies. He claims that this is the basic reason why many solid-looking strategies fail.
Schmidt is a leader and strategy consultant, therefore it is no surprise that this book engages these problems in project management and steps to solve these problems. By structuring the process around four questions, Terry Schmidt achieves this aim.
8. Project Management Jumpstart
This is another one of the many project management books that focus on the basics of project management and how to apply them in real-life situations. The author, Kim Heldman has written many PMP exam textbooks. her ability to explain concepts in understandable terms is validated in this book as she explains complex concepts in clear terms.
The latest edition of Project Management Jumpstart talks about different project management methods and study questions. It is an important one to read if you are getting involved in project management. To get this book click the link provided here:
Conclusion
Irrespective of the reason you want to get involved with project management, be it personal interest or a sudden redirection in your career path, there exist various helpful tools to attain your goals. You must get familiar with the most popular methods as you learn how to be a project manager. mproving your skill set and expanding your knowledge is essential, as project management involves managing people more than tasks. Becoming an expert in this field might take time irrespective of your background and experience. So take your time, read books, and you will achieve your goal.
