Book Review: Managing Project Uncertainty

Each month the people at Project Management Tipoffs (brought to you by Arras People) review a book in the Project Management realm and post the review to their site. I’ve worked with them to bring their reviews to our readers as well. “Managing Project Uncertainty” by David Cleden, was the subject for their June 2009 review post.

According to their reviewer, this book is simple and useful to project managers in the way it breaks down and presents helpful PM information. Please read on…

Managing Project Uncertainty (by David Cleden)

Few quotes from Managing Project Uncertainty resonate nearly as well with the project manager as Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke’s ‘No plan survives contact with the enemy’ (pg. 28). Author Cleden surmises that von Moltke’s statement ’sits at the heart of any strategy for managing uncertainty.’ In essence, Cleden is talking about projects as if he is talking about the future – no one knows what’s going to happen.

The book is simple in other ways, like breaking things down about project uncertainty in relatable and easily-understood ways. Many readers will find figures like the Four Quadrants model a useful tool in identifying what you do and don’t know. There are also useful tables, including the flawless Hallmarks of Effective Decision-Making, and the book’s focus on the types of variables involved in managing uncertainty is detailed, thorough and open. Most importantly, Cleden is successful in implying that uncertainty arises on the project scene because today’s static world (when the project is planned) will not remain so (when the project is being carried out). You know the London 2012 Olympics needs certain facilities; what you don’t know are the uncontrollable variables (Political? Economic? Environmental?) that are going to wreak havoc on the effective delivery of those facilities. Those who planned to sell their property within the last year that have been left wishing they’d acted a year earlier are nodding their heads right now.

Cleden will leave you with a sound understanding about the traits, tendencies, timing and tenacity of uncertainty in projects. He is also adept at identifying certain methods that try to contain the uncertainty, and why some prove more successful than others. Those who expect risk management to be the be-all, end-all for uncertainty solutions will be in for a rude awakening. While you can’t always anticipate uncertainty, let alone the ultimate degree of difficulty it creates in your project, you can adapt, especially in a world of cost-effective budget management. Moreover, it might also be – in addition to being a good alternative title – the best glass half-full way of approaching uncertainty: “Managing Project Adaptability.

More information and review text about Mr. Cleden’s book, as well ordering information, is available at Gower Publishing.

Related posts:

1. Book Review: Project Governance
2. Book Review – The Lazy Project Manager
3. Book review: PMP: Project Management Professional Exam Review Guide
4. Managing Issues and Risks on a Project
5. Closing Out the Project – Part 3