The Six Step Guide to Practical Project Management e-Book

MindGenius is a mind mapping software that enables users to capture their ideas, visualize information, plan projects and manage tasks. It is a downloadable product that runs on the latest Windows OS as well as a version that runs on the iPad. It is a business-class project planning tool for individuals and organizations whose pricing is based on a perpetual licensing model. It helps users increase their effectiveness by enabling them to organize work, projects and ideas. It integrates with Microsoft Office, Outlook and Project. Users can learn more about the product through their site or by visiting their Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or YouTube page.

Free Project Management e-Book

MindGenius offers a free e-Book titled The Six Step Guide to Practical Project Management. It is a 28-page PDF file that provides readers the basics of managing projects, whether they have been adequately trained or not. It details a simplified process based on professional PM processes that ensures readers are still aware of the vital principles and practices, even in its simplified form. With a quick and easy guide, they will be able to meet the deadlines, stay within budget, and deliver the benefits for their organization.

Practical Project Management for Everyone

The Six Step Guide is for project professionals of all levels. It provides accidental project managers an easy-to-follow guide that covers the basics of delivering projects successfully. It is for a business owner or senior manager that wants to establish a standard and consistent PM practice within a company for a team of new project professionals or non-PM trained managers. It is also another tool for experienced project managers who can utilize this simplified process for particular requirements and environment that calls for this type of management.

Content, Approach, Style

The Six Step Guide to Practical Project Management discuss in detail the six steps for running a project. It is ideal to use with the MindGenius software, together with the free templates for each of the steps while following the guide. The first step instructs the reader to discover and understand, first and foremost, why the project exists, and what are its objectives. The next step tells the readers to identify the stakeholders and gather the requirements. The third step is the creation of the scope document and the importance of getting an agreement of the scope. According to a side note in the e-book, 41 percent of projects fail due to changes in scope mid-project.

The next steps are scheduling the tasks, managing the work up to project completion, and lastly, documenting lessons learned to identify places for improvement. For every step, principles and definitions are given. Bullet points are used to get important ideas across quickly, and also making them easy to remember. Some examples are given by other professionals based on their real-life experience. Images of MindGenius templates are also shown, reminding the reader that the guide is best used together with the mind mapping software.

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Dr. Andrew Makar, PMP, stated that this Practical Project Management guide provides helpful, real-world guidance. Especially for organizations that deliver projects everyday but do not have certified project managers, what they do not need are overly complex or intimidating processes. Also, communications and common sense are just as vital as PM processes, tools and techniques. Thus, a simplified guide can help these teams get started immediately, since they still have projects to deliver.

Derek Jack stated that by following all the steps in the guide, projects do much more than just cross the finish line.

Books that Complement

Project Management ToolBox, 2nd Edition, covers extensively the different tools and techniques of project management that helps readers meet goals in every situation.

Kory Kogon’s Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager provides practical and effective PM practices, especially for employees expected to but not trained to manage projects.

Project Management for Small Projects by Sandra Rowe is an excellent reference for handling the challenges unique to small projects.