Two Project Managers on a tour of Milan is the fruit of both authors’ many years of experience with leading projects and their deep-rooted interest in the qualitative, methodological and interdisciplinary aspects of Project Management, and attests to the value of ongoing learning both as a life-long stimulus and professional necessity.To make their experiences in the field concretely transferable and, therefore, really useful, the authors have adopted an innovative approach in which the methodological, practical and metaphorical dimensions merge into a multi-faceted and original text, the aim being to convey the complexity of the experience while at the same time maintaining a strong focus on reader involvement and receptiveness. The lesson-stories are recounted over the course of an actual journey and consist of a series of episodes on the move: mini-tourist itineraries which enable the reader to explore Milan and collect the post-cards (fact-sheets) for each lesson at the same time.Following the knowledge area structure adopted in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) - Fifth Edition, the most authoritative text on the subject, each chapter of the book corresponds to the specific knowledge area indicated in the title, which provides the underlying theme for the stories recounted in the episodes.The book’s two narrative levels (Project Management and the tour of Milan) share a common characteristic: both are based on an objective account of the facts (the real-life project episode and the Milan tourist notes) to which a subjective element is added (the lessons learned of Project Management, the feelings generated by the city). In other words, the ups and downs of professional life are not merely itemised but are decoded along the way, not dramatised or declaimed but understated, pared down to their essential key elements.Who is the book aimed at? Principally:
university students, future managers, to prepare them for their imminent entry into the professional world by simulating probable career scenarios that sooner or later they will come up against;
aspiring managers, to provide them with an effective manual to consult when needed;
and lastly, those who occupy mid- to high-level positions within an organisation (project managers, managers, consultants, executives), to enable them to both compare their own professional experience with that of others and help junior staff develop their own skills and abilities.
And lastly, some practical notes.Each episode takes the form of a dialogue between the two authors (identified as PMHIM and PMHER simply in order to draw attention to their professional role - PM or Project Manager) and uses colloquial language and expressions. Parts of the narrative relating specifically to the Project Management discipline are shown in bold type to highlight their technical content. The tourist notes have been put in italics and are indented, so as to create a visible and not just conceptual parallel narrative.The lessons learned are placed at the end of each episode and take the form of easy-to-consult, detachable fact sheets. The layout followed is: title, what to do (the lesson description), options (not recommended), reason why, pros/cons, what’s involved.
