The Lazy Project Manager: How to be twice as productive and still leave the office early Paperback – January 1, 2010

"All projects are thick at one end, much, much thinner in the middle, and then thick again at the far end," according to Peter Taylor in this book. Thus projects are the inverse of brontosauruses, which are thin at both ends and thick in the middle. Most of the book is structured around this idea of what you need to do at the beginning of a project, what you need to do in the middle, and what you need to do at the end.The author is happy to dispense some Machiavellian advice: "It's important to let everyone know that you have arrived and that you demand that things are done your way, the right way," and "A good way to gain the upper hand is to ensure that the people...who may give you some problems have deliverables very early on in the project." This advice is good advice, even if expressed in a somewhat blunt manner.The book is short and entertaining, but it does contain a lot of practical wisdom on project management, particularly in the chapters on "Quick Tips to Productive Lazy Heaven" and "Even Quicker Tips for the Really Lazy". You could get much of the productive value from the book just by reading those chapters, but then you would miss out on the author's witticisms and strange and wonderful stories.

This is an excellent read on how to make our jobs easier as PM's. It is written with a sense of humor and humility that made it easy for me to engage and learn. Peter pairs advice with real life experiences to make understanding how you can have a positive impact on the projects you manage, all while doing less work. If you have ever had to defend, or wondered yourself about, the value of thoughtful planning, warm and fuzzy team building, or the need to communicate to stakeholders, you will find examples of what goes well when done properly and doesn't go so well when missed in The Lazy Project Manager. Let the experiences of Peter and his past colleagues entertain and educate you.As an added bonus, you'll get a quick and easy test you can apply to your sponsors, coworkers, and friends to determine who the psychopaths are. I am happy to report that none of my friends that responded on Facebook are psychopaths.

It's is a pleasure to have read Peter Taylor's deeply experienced perspective on Project Management. The book is a delight and it's focus on "blocking and tackling" is refreshing. The lessons learned here form an excellent checklist that every project manager should commit to memory.

A tiny book of home spun, in-the-trenches wisdom from a project manager that's clearly experienced the trials and tribulations of many development cycles. For those familiar with routine issues faced by projects, Taylor's stories and advice will ring true in a concise, practical manner you'll want to pass around the office.

Peter Taylor certainly has a knack for writing in an informative, yet light hearted way. He certainly has the heart of a teacher.The information was organized well.The points were summarized well.The advice was practical for anybody in management (not just project management).Well done.

The Lazy Project Manager is a very quick and easy read. With 25+ years experience as a project manager, I am always looking for project management insights that can be applied in a practical manner and this book was right on target. I am a true believer that the difference between a successful project and a challenged project is the practical application of the "critical few best practices". This book touches on many of these best practices, then supports them with interesting and funny analogies and examples.Looking forward to reading Peter's next book.Steve Hart, PMP@PMFoundations on Twitter

This is a great book and a great podcast. Putting your effort into the planning as a PM makes the rest of the project stages easy. The approach works if you are willing to commit the time on the front-end of a project to set expectations and plan appropriately.

I am a professional with experience of many 'projects' without them actually being called that. I won a contract with "Project Manager" in the title and specific accountability for the planning and administration of other team members. I wanted an initial 'high level overview' of the role before starting on a more formal and technical study. This book did the job perfectly.

This book is a quick read and brings some humour and perspective to Project Managers who may be struggling to find time in their busy day to day lives. The word lazy is somewhat tongue in cheek and could basically be replaced with "effective" i.e. how to become a more effective PM. The name of the game here is being able to filter, prioritise and delegate your work/time. It contains some historical references and humorous anecdotes which makes it more accessible and easier to read than other heavyweight/official PM guides. To this extent it does offer an element of light relief if you are close to burnout or suffering from a lot of pressure, again helping PM's regain an element of perspective.In summary, it's OK as a light read but I would ultimately recommend 7 habits of highly effective people by Covey as a more comprehensive/complete work in this sort of space.

An enjoyable light read with some valid points. Sometimes you want more detail of quite how to achieve some of these things. Now it would have been clever for Amazon to then have ready some books by Peter Taylor that do go into that level of detail. Unfortunately not another Peter Taylor book is listed under Kindle and here am I ready to actually spend some money...Dear Amazon, please get your marketing sorted out. If you are offering good books for nothing then you should have others ready to sell as a follow-up profit making line. Until this particular book the only new, free Kindle publications I have found have been pure dross, not inspiring me to spend any money at all.

Fans of the Four Hour Work Week and the 80/20 rule will probably recognise some of the influences on this short likeable book. There's something for anyone who has to regularly manage projects here. Experienced project managers may find themselves looking at projects in a new way, while newbies will find a few handy tips.Particularly liked the condensed summary (and even more condensed summary of the summary!)The only annoying thing were the footnotes. While they were probably fine in the printed edition, they interupted the flow of the book a little.All in all, a great read and a fantastic freebie.

This book tells you how to be lazy by focusing and working hard on the 20% that really matters in a project. It shows that as a project manager, you do not necessarily have all the knowledge and skills but you should instead leverage your team to get things done. The book is full of anecdotes and useful charts which came out great on the Kindle. It's an enjoying read and suitable for people who are looking to get things done efficiently and effectively.I read this both on the Kindle and Kindle Android application and one small complaint is that this book uses many bullet points and indents which looked OK on the Kindle but not so great on the Android app.

Bought this book when it was released, excellent resentation on thinking through your project management. One I recommend to anyone in project management, be they new or long in the tooth you will find something new to think about and improve your project management.Nigel CreaserThe Sunday Lunch Project Manager