Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager by Kogon, Blakemore, and Wood (2015)

“No Project Management Training? No Problem!”

Like many employee’s in contemporary workplaces, instructional designers are responsible for effectively managing projects to ensure that a high-quality product built using available resources efficiently is delivered within the established time frame.

One of the main issues that instructional designers face in coordinating these projects is a lack of formal training; in other words, operating at “unofficial” project managers while facing very “official” duties and responsibilities.

Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager distills the concepts and theories behind project management into practical guides for managing the people and processes that make projects successful.

The book begins with a detailed explanation of the Four Foundational Behaviors that assist project managers with coordinating the people on their teams or in their work group.

The majority of content is spent exploring each of the Five Process Groups with a smattering of helpful tips as well as the logic behind them. The process groups include: (1) Initiate, (2) Plan, (3) Execute, (4) Monitor and Control, and (5) Close.

As an “unoffiical project manager” who has juggled multiple simultaneous instructional design projects, Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager has been a fantastic aid in helping me to organize and plan my projects.

The focus on practical application for the novice makes it approachable, easy to read, and quickly applicable. The integration of Project Management Professional (PMP) terms and concepts equips me with the vocabulary I need to dive into the world of project managers.