Meet the Players of Projectland
Author: Dawn Mahan, PMP
Publisher: Project Gurus Press
Pages: 172
Edition: First
Authors Social Pages:
Book Cost/Purchase Price:
Amazon: $24.99 (Paperback) & $9.99 (Kindle)
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Overview of Meet the Players in Projectland
This book on projectland is not your typical book on project management.
It is a guide for stakeholder management. A way to look around and understand who is who “in the zoo”.
Dawn take you through from inspiration for projectland to how she has applied it to her projects. She explains it in a way that you too can apply her concepts and understand each of your stakeholders in an easy to remember way.
Below, I will dive into more details of this book and give you my final recommendation on who should read it and give it my overall rating.
Scope of the Meet The Players in Projectland
Within the introduction, Dawn sets the stage for what this book is about.
Projects fail.
And they fail due to people.
It’s not the program and tools you use or the processes within your organization. It is your people that gets the work done, can ensure the project succeeds or fails, or can sabotage the project (pg. xxv).
And this emphasis on “People” is the what the book focuses on addressing.
We Meet the Players in Projectland within Four Sections:
- Section One: Welcome to the Jungle
- Section Two: Meet the Players
- Section Three: Get ‘Em on Board & Read to Rumble
- Section Four: Bonus Content
- What is a Project? What is Not?
- Welcome to Projectland
- Is Project Management Just Like Management?
- Who’s Who in Projectland
- I’m the Sponsor, Hear me Roar
- The Steering Team is Not a Committee: Eagles, Whales, & Owls, Oh My!
- The Project Manager: Not Quite the King (or Queen!) of the Jungle, But Awfully Close.
- The Dream team: The Fast, The Strong, & the Furiously Fun
- Three Surprising Kinds of Stakeholder
Section three is a deeper analysis on stakeholder management, from recruitment through team development, this section addresses it all:
- Love the Creatures You’re With
- What to Do About Stakeholders, Especially the Difficult Ones
- Get Ready for the Storm: Teaming is a Process too
- Your Secret Weapon to Get the Players Rowing in the Same Direction
- Your Secret Weapon Part Two: When Part One Just Isn’t Enough
What I Enjoyed About Meet The Players of Projectland
My favorite part about Meet the Players of Projectland is the simplistic, yet informational tone it has throughout the chapters.
Each chapter feeds upon the others, providing a whole picture of how to not just manage, but understand each of your stakeholders.
From the beginning, Dawn even simplifies the definition of Stakeholders.
PMI defines stakeholders as: “An individual group, or organization that may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project, program, or portfolio.”
She sets it at the simplistic definition of: “Stakeholders can love your project, hate your project, or be somewhere in between”.
From this point on, she aligns the animals for each stakeholder to align towards this love, hate, and everything in between. She uses animals such as the Lion, Tiger, Eagle, Whale, Owl, and more to give you the ideal personality you will deal with in your projects.
And as I read each one, I couldn’t help laughing while picturing which of my current stakeholders aligned to each of these animals.
Her section on “Get ’em on board and ready to rumble” is a clear lessons learned from her successful career in the field.
Chapter 12, she discussed the Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning phases of Tuckman’s Ladder. A concept I truly believe in, she presents the information in a real-world example – showing the true power of how to work through the process.
The last aspect I liked about this book (I know, it was a lot) was the free resources provided through a link that you can find in the book. Not going to say where – you just have to get the book to not just get the resources, but understand what you are looking at!
What I Didn’t Enjoy About/Recommend for Meet the Players in Projectland:
This one was hard. This book is actually really good.
The flow is right. It’s not too long. Each chapter can be read easily in one sitting. This include reflecting on the questions at the end of each Chapter.
This is knickpicking, but if there was anything to improve within this book it would be Appendix D. The little card descriptions for each animal would go perfect in each chapter as each animal is described.
I always liked the quick reference card before going into the details. Keeping Appendix D is great for a consolidation, but simply putting them within the chapters would be, in my mind, highly effective.
Who is Meet The Players in Projectland For?
This book is definetly for either post PMP or career professionals within the Project Management field.
This book is first hand knowledge of a career project manager giving her advice on managing projects and stakeholders. And it would not be a “PMP Studying” type book.
Overall Rating:
About the Author
Dawn Mahan
Dawn is the founders of PMOtraining, LLC, an international speaker, and PMI-certified leader with global experience. She invented the ProjectFlo® Process Learning System and works with various leaders and project managers. Her work with YearUp has been featured in major financial publications.
A published poet in high school, Dawn later pursued STEM before returning to writing. She co-authored a project management blog under the alias FemPM. In 2009, she started her own firm and has since received recognition for her expertise in project management, including creating content for Udemy.
Dawn is involved in charitable work, including building houses in Cambodia and supporting the American Lung Association. She splits her time between Hawaii, Pennsylvania, and the Florida Keys when not working.
Link to Author Website:
Dawn has: https://www.pmotraining.com/
This website allows you to search Dawns:
- Coaching
- Consulting
- Training
- App
The Risk Blog
Thank you for checking out this book review for: Meet The Players in Projectland.
I highly recommend you pick up this book, take notes, and apply some of its contents in your daily life and projects!
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