Review By: Rick Craig
07/09/2010When I agreed to review this book I thought it was going to be a book on how to manage project risk and indeed it is, but it also does a fine job of addressing other project issues such as planning and estimation. The book is structured after A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge from the Project Management Institute, which is the professional society for project managers. There are several things that I like about this book. First of all, it is very readable. I read the entire book in one sitting (on a flight from Tampa to San Jose). How often can you sit down and read an entire technical or management book all at once without taking at least one little nap? Mr. Kendrick has made great use of illustrations such as process charts, Ishikawa (fishbone) diagrams, decision trees, etc. The illustrations are not unnecessarily complex, yet they are still relevant to the discussions in the book. Metrics, an essential subject when discussing risk are addressed at all levels throughout the book. One especially endearing part of the book is the use of a continuing example from start to finish. But rather than choosing a software project as you might expect, Tom has used the historical example of the building of the Panama Canal. At the end of each chapter, he describes positive and/or negative examples of project management/risk management used during the building of the Panama Canal. I found myself looking forward to the concluding remarks at the end of the chapter, just so I could learn what they did/did not do and how Tom would relate it to Risk Management.

The first half or so of the book deals with Risk Identification and Project/Risk planning. The second half of the book focuses more on the assessment and management of risk. Again, the assessment methods espoused in the book are intuitive and useful.

Chapter 1: Why Project Risk Management?
Chapter 2: Planning for Risk Management
Chapter 3: Identifying Project Scope Risk
Chapter 4: Identifying Project Schedule Risk
Chapter 5: Identifying Project Resource Risk
'Chapter 6: Managing Project constraints and Documenting Risks
Chapter 7: Quantifying and Analyzing Activity Risks
Chapter 8: Managing Activity Risks
Chapter 9: Quantifying and Analyzing Project Risk
Chapter 10: Managing Project Risk
Chapter 11: Monitoring and Controlling Risky Projects
Chapter 12: Closing Projects
Chapter 13: Conclusion

I highly recommend this book to project managers, especially those with less experience. Experienced project managers may find the book fairly basic, but I still think it’s a worthwhile read. All readers will find themselves frequently saying "Well that makes sense..." which is, at the end of the day, a pretty good recommendation.