The 10 Hour Project Manager

Well, it's been a busy few weeks and today I am getting around to finalizing my new reference book that will soon be released. It's entitled 'The 10 Hour Project Manager' and the premise is how to run successful projects by working smart, instead of hard. The book comes from spending many years running large projects for all sorts of companies. One thing I've noticed over the years is just how many hours the average Project Manager spends running around chasing things on projects, often unnecessarily. The book sets out to show how, with a little effort upfront, you can run a successful project on about 10 hours work a week, instead of the usual 45-50 hours that so many Project Managers work. I've had feedback from several previewers and the premise sounds good!

So, what's it all about? Here's a preview of the contents:

1. Concepts / A brief introduction to Project Management
2. Who's Who? - Know the project players
3. Risks Management - Ignore this at your own peril
4. Chess Playing - You don't get to be the king or the queen
5. Project Lifecycle - From dawn 'til dusk
6. Communications & Reporting - Too little or too much?
7. How to become an accomplished PM - The little things that make a big difference
8. Real life examples
9. A consolidated list of do's and don'ts

And as the Introduction says:

Who's this book for? Most likely you are someone who has been managing projects for a few years, in a variety of different situations. Maybe you're a consultant that wanders from project to project, or an employee that gets passed from pillar to post depending on the hot topic of the month. Either way, you're not fresh out of school and you've seen a scary thing or two happen during project implementations. What you're really looking for are some words of wisdom or a guide you can frequently refer to that will enable you to manage your projects more efficiently and cut down your work weeks to something more sustainable. You would actually like to spend some quality time somewhere outside the confines of your office.


The objective of this book is to enable the reader to successfully manage nearly every project they will ever be presented with in less than 10 hours a week. That’s only 2 hours a day! Okay, when you've finished the laughing read on. This is actually what we are aiming for. I have managed successful projects in many companies, in many countries, in many situations, and nearly without fail have only paid very close attention to the management of that project for about 10 hrs a week, over the majority of the project lifecycle. In some cases, it was even less! But please don't tell anyone, after all what will all our employers have to say? And besides which, what would you all do with all the extra hours you will free up? Well, that's a topic for another day!

I'll be writing more about this book as it gets closer to print. But in the meantime, drop me an email if it sounds  like something you'd be interested in reading.