Andrew Stellman and Jennifer Greene, the authors of Applied Software Project Management set themselves the task of finding out why almost every software project failed in the same fashion. They spent years researching how to change the way to manage software projects so that those projects would succeed. As Jennifer Greene points out "We know that many software projects fail the same way. But instead of taking that as a call to arms, a rallying cry to avoid the common pitfalls and well-understood problems, a lot of software developers and managers take comfort in the fact that they're surrounded by lots of other failing projects!" | "They feel like it's not possible to succeed, like these traps are so common because it's impossible to avoid them," says Andrew Stellman.

Well, from the very introduction of this book I was intrigued ... the heading "Tell everyone the truth all the time" caught my eye straight away ... as did the explanation underneath that reflected on the fact that if the project is built upon transparency (i.e. the truth is always known) then nothing will be "hidden" and there should be no surprizes. What a great premise to base project management on.

As you know, I always like to browse the Chapter headings, but funnily enough it is the sub headings that caught my attention, very much like the "Website Cookbook" review ... Let's take a look at those "Introduction" headings:

• Tell Everyone the truth all the time
• Trust your team
• Review Everything, Test Everything
• All software engineers are created equal
• Doing the project right is most efficient
• Part 1: Tools and Techniques
• Part 2: Using Project Management effectively

The geek in me found this book compelling reading. I loved the sections on "buffers" and "estimating". I found the text easy to read and the spattering of graphs and code snippets a great source for referral. Most technical Project Management books are very dry and drawn out. Not this one ... plain english, crafted examples and lots of good sense make the book a worthwhile addition to any project manager's (newbie or experienced) library.

I don't like every book I read but I do tend to review books I like. This book gets a definite thumbs up from me ... It makes project management look easy.