Project Management: Tools and Techniques for Today's ILS Professional

Citation

Le Good, A. (2008), "Project Management: Tools and Techniques for Today's ILS Professional", Library Management, Vol. 29 No. 8/9, pp. 800-801. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120810917459

I've been training people to manage projects for a dozen years now. I don't come from a traditional project management background (engineering or computing), I don't manage traditional projects and the people I train have much the same pedigree.

I've read or skimmed any number of books on the subject and am often disappointed with their technical orientation. So the idea of a book on project management aimed at a professional group not traditionally regarded as practitioners of project management appealed to me. Especially as many of my training participants work in academic or municipal libraries.

Project management has rapidly become an essential tool for virtually anyone in the workforce, so learning resources which are accessible, simple enough for the novice and yet cover the project management essentials are highly prized and yet extremely rare, so I was looking forward to reviewing this title.

If you work in libraries and you are involved in complex projects then this may be a good book to consult. It has a (mostly) logical sequence, some templates you can use and is peppered with examples of projects that occur in libraries on a regular basis, perhaps a few too many examples!

However, if you are new to projects or work on simple projects, then this probably isn't the best book to start with. By page six the author is introducing complexities which the average project manager wont need to know, which have the potential to confuse and intimidate. This approach is continued throughout the book and even the examples are about complex and impressive projects which may lead the novice to doubt they are even working on a real project at all.

The aim of a learning resource should always be to simplify complex issues and invite participation from the reader. In the case of a complex art form like project management the best approach would be to start with the basics and lead on to the higher order functions. Perhaps the book should have a fundamentals and masterclass section to help the reader. For many readers, a basic introduction to the methodology and tools would be enough to assist with their projects.

One minor issue is that the book has a UK base and while I'm, confident the UK based projects are applicable everywhere, even in Australia, the pages devoted to the legal side of projects and the references to overseeing bodies are irrelevant and perhaps should be specifically targeted for the country it is reproduced in.

In addition, some of the terminology seems to be different. This is not unexpected as most of the project books I've read seem to major in inventing a new set of jargon. But when the project brief is what I'd normally refer to as a project proposal and the project specification seems to be what I'd call a brief, I just get more and more confused!

Perhaps the most disturbing thing about the book for me was the number of un‐referenced theories scattered throughout its pages, such as Tuckman's Model of Group Dynamics, the Thomas‐Kilmann Conflict Resolution model and the adaptation of Elizabeth Kubler Ross's model of death and dying (commonly referred to in change management) and possibly many others. Unforgivable for a book aimed at ILS professionals.

There were some interesting highlights, such as the discussion on the various types of project and work effort calculation, a discussion of working across cultures and working in “virtual” teams (not to mention the discussion on the un‐referenced material cited above), but these were more curios for me rather than essentials required to be a project manager. The author has an impressive knowledge of project management and has been involved in a wide range of complex projects.

In summary, if you are a seasoned project manager, stepping up to larger projects within the library environment, then this book will add some value, however, if you are beginning the journey into project management then avoid this book as it will probably intimidate you and cause you to believe that project management is just too hard to be of any use. Granted, project management can be complex, but it doesn't have to be. There are better introductions to this topic on your shelves and in your catalogues (although they are not library‐centric).