Why I Wrote This Book

I believe a number of professionals and practitioners are looking for some help. I am trying to fill their needs with this book. When scheduled training is not available or practical, my book can help. It is written to be studied. It is written to guide you as you learn about and practice effective project management. It is written to be a self-paced resource, one that will immerse you in managing a project for a simulated company. Let it work with you through the entire project life cycle.

On a more altruistic level, I have four reasons for writing this sixth edition:

• I've learned a lot about contemporary project management since the publication of EPM5e in August of 2009. Experience with my clients has made me rethink how we should explain the ever-changing discipline of project management and how we should approach the education and training of project managers. EPM5e did a good job of that. However, there is much more to be said, and EPM6e fills that gap.
• To come to the rescue of the discipline of project management. I believe that it is seriously out of alignment with the needs of our businesses. Project managers are trapped and need some alternatives and a working knowledge of their use. The high failure rates of projects are evidence of that misalignment. The problem is that project management is the hammer, and all projects are seen as nails. This is a one-size-fits-all approach to project management, and it simply doesn't work. The nature and characteristics of the project must dictate the type of management approach to be taken. Anything short of that will fail. As I have already shown, projects have fundamentally changed, but our approach to managing them has not changed much. We need a more robust approach to project management — one that recognizes the project environment and adapts accordingly.
• To further document Adaptive Project Framework (APF). APF is really a hybrid that takes the best from TPM and xPM. It is an agile approach that works for all types of projects rather than just for software development projects as do most other agile approaches. It breaches the gap between projects with a clearly defined goal and solution and projects where the goal and the solution are not clearly defined. The work that I report here is a work in progress. APF has been adopted as the de facto agile model for several large and small companies. By putting it before my colleagues, I expect that others will contribute to its further maturation and application.
• My continual challenge to offer a practical how-to guide for project managers in the management of all of their projects. My style is applications-oriented. While the book is based on sound concepts and principles of project management, it is by no means a theoretical treatise. It is written from the perspective of the practicing project manager — me. I offer it to you to be your companion and to be used.

EPM6e, like all of its previous editions, was written for three distinct markets: the education market, the training market, and the professional reference market. It has been successful in all three. In this respect it occupies a unique position in the literature of project management.

Education Market

Nearly 100 educators from colleges and universities all over the world have requested the EPM5e Discussion Question Answer File, so I know that at least that many educational organizations have adopted EPM5e. In fact, I have maintained a database of all those faculty and institutions that have adopted the EPM materials. That database numbers more than 250 adopters. A number of educators have shared their experiences with me. To them I owe a debt of gratitude. I've tried to incorporate their suggestions as best I can. The resulting book is much better for their inputs. On the EPM6e website (www.wiley.com/go/epm6e) are files containing a set of slides for each chapter and a collection of class, team, and individual exercises I have used and recommend to you. These are comprehensive and may be modified to meet your specific needs. I encourage you to use them and adapt them to your training and education environment. If you have a need for other training materials to support your project management or business analyst curriculum, please contact me at [email protected].

Training Market

In addition to many adoptions in the higher education market, EPM5e is also used in many training programs and corporate universities. EPM6e will continue to serve that market. All of the instructional materials available to the educator apply equally well to the trainer. I have successfully offered a number of variations of the EPM6e content in training programs of all lengths and configurations. I would be happy to share my experiences with any interested parties. You may reach me at [email protected].

Professional Market

Originally the EPM series was written for the practicing professional. I have tried to maintain my allegiance to those professionals in the trenches who are trying to master a complex and ever-changing world of projects. They need answers, and I believe EPM6e provides those answers. If I can be of any help or give you any advice on your particular project management challenges, please contact me at [email protected].