Making Things Happen by Scott Berkun

I basically picked it up Scott Berkun's Making Things Happen because I enjoy Scott's blog, and some other writers had good things to say about the book. When I started reading I couldn't understand the hype. How did this get a second edition?

After a while, I realized the book shouldn't be read cover to cover. Or, rather, that's only part of its value.

It has a second use as a desk reference for all those problems that a project manager or team lead might run into, almost like an encyclopedia. He covers items big and small, over an extremely wide range, such as:

• What's the best way to run a meeting?
• What should you do if you've tried everything and you can't get someone to respond to your request?
• How can you improve your decision making?
• What's the best course of action if you're the new PM on a project and the Coder Who Knows Everything seems disrespectful of you?
• What options do you have if higher-ups require the team to follow processes that you disagree with or the team hates?
• Are work politics evil?

I particularly enjoyed Scott's war stories from his time working on Microsoft Explorer. He didn't really start rolling those out until a third into the book, and that may have contributed to my initial ambivalence about it.

In the end, the breadth of the material, delivered succinctly but with personality, impressed me. The book offers a comprehensive list of real-life issues and strategies.

New managers could read the whole thing and use it as an initial template, weeding out what doesn't work for them. More experienced managers can dip into it when needing guidance on a particularly thorny project.

Making It Happen is a practical guide for project success.