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 enlarge | Author: Project Management Institute
Publisher: Project Management Institute
Category: Book
List Price: $49.95
Buy New: $31.29
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Avg. Customer Rating:  123 reviews
Sales Rank: 85
Media: Paperback
Edition: 3
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 380
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 11 x 8.3 x 0.9
ISBN: 193069945X
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.404
EAN: 9781930699458
ASIN: 193069945X
Publication Date: November 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Difficult and incomprehensible August 1, 2008
I was required to purchase this book as a part of a class for my master's degree. While I am not a project manager nor do I have a desire to become one, this was a required course. After reading this book over and over again, I realized that I was getting very little useful information out of it. The book does have a good amount of knowledge to transfer, but it is extremely difficult to read. The index is horrible to be point of being nearly useless.
Not as expected July 31, 2008
The title for the book is too much for what you can find inside. They cared much more about the definitions than the actions. It's not really a "guide" when you can't find in few words what are you looking for.
 A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Third Edition (PMBOK Guides) July 29, 2008
The book is good and provides you enough information regarding PM, but as it is not written by "professional authors" who are used to writting books, it has its limitations. But this book is one of its kind in the market!
 A vital reference, for what it is. July 28, 2008
Anyone who thinks they will learn how to manage projects reading the PMBOK doesn't understand what this book is about--it's a reference, not an instruction guide. I contstantly pick up this guide to remind myself of the details it contains: What are the best practices for each stage of a project. What are the best inputs and outputs for PM deliverables? Having said that, it is badly written! Its focus on process overlooks the value of good communications and people skills in project management. The PMBOK is particularly weak in the up front analysis that belongs to project initiation. While it admits that there is a need for building a business case for a project, it offers little or no assistance in this matter. It picks up, instead, at the moment a charter needs to be published. Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel that the needs assessment and ROI analysis are key skills for any project manager and I miss these tools in the PMBOK. Another weakness is in stakeholder analysis. Not enough guidance is provided in this area. In short, the PMBOK is great on process and best practices, but weak on communications, stakeholder management, and making business cases before projects are launched.
 ...worth more than what its weight in uranium or plutonium can destroy through nuclear fission and/or fusion... July 18, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
PMBOK Review
PMBOK to me is worth more than what its weight in uranium or plutonium can destroy through nuclear fission and/or fusion.
PMBOK appears to have been developed through valuable contribution of practicing project managers and its usefulness is beyond my challenge.
I recommend PMI to send a complimentary copy of PMBOK to the trustees of Norway's Svalbard Global Seed Doomsday Vault that stores seed samples from around the globe to shield them from man-made and natural disasters for the use of future generations if almost all or majority of the mankind is destroyed due to man-made and/or natural disasters.
This would help the future generations to avoid wastages of resources to the maximum possible extent that the past and current project managers have incurred so far to learn lessons as provided in PMBOK.
PMBOK carries an American National Standard logo ANSI/PMI 99-001-2004, however, is not without notable flaws. It could easily attract criticism, especially from the academicians like me.
While PMBOK is useful in learning how to manage a project more effectively and more efficiently, it contains errors. PMBOK could be made much more readable and user friendly by subjecting it to a good editing, especially by some editor who may have edited reputed project management or management textbooks.
My major dissatisfaction emanates from the use of same or similar terms in the definitions of the terms they are defining. A definition of "definition" if defined as "definition" is perfect in one sense but is improper because it fails to define the term "definition" because the reader unsure of the term definition remains so even after reading such definition. The definition of "definition" would be useful if the definition avoids the use of terms like: definition or defining.
I would like a good editor to edit PMBOK and review definitions of all the terms from this point of view.
PMBOK is a 5-star book from the point of view of usefulness, 4-star from the point of view of editing, yet a 5-star book to me from overall point of view.
Dr. Sunil G Samanta, PMP
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