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If you recognize the title it is because I just finished Visual Project Management by Mark J. Woeppel.
This Visual Project Management is unique, and it was created by Paul R. Williams PMP. It’s quite a light book. Williams has compiled a list that outlines all the visual elements you can use to enhance your project communication and report writing. He wrote, “Seeing is more then believing…Seeing is understanding.”
He has separated the visual and graphic tools that you have into three distinct categories.
Category 1. Category 1.
Mind Mapping
Process Mapping
Storyboarding
Root Cause Analysis
Diagramming, Charting, and Graphing
Drawing and sketching
Wireframes
Use Cases
Category 2. Category 2.
Analysis of Earned Valuation
Dashboards
Road maps
Kanban – Lean Concepts
Agile Concepts – Scrum
Infographics
Category #3. Visual Project Collaboration Tools
Project War Room
Project Science Fair (similar to an education fair, where large companies can host a fair with a booth dedicated to each project so employees are able learn more about the company’s initiatives).
Project Display Wall (for those with limited space in their warroom)
Project Flight Status Board (i.e. This table shows the status of a project in its current phase. It is also colour-coded to indicate its status.
Project Social Media (e.g. Collaboration tools
3D Project Environments (real or virtual, e.g. 3D printing and virtual, 2Life
Project Gamification
The rest of this review
This review is more of a Table of Contents review rather than a review. I have nothing to add. The book lists the tools, and then explains their purpose. It is a great way to increase team understanding, especially when data is complex.
This tool is illustrated with numerous screenshots and examples. Each section ends with additional reading and reference. This section provides valuable advice about dashboards and gives a detailed explanation on Earned Value.
It is great in that it combines all of the methods of using visuals for project management. I tried to think of any other things that the author might have forgotten. I was limited to visual recording of meetings. However, it could be argued that it isn’t a project management tool (but dashboards can be).
Although I agree that this would be a benefit to student project managers, it felt like I wasn’t being a rocket scientist.
Despite this, I don’t know of any other book which provides the tools to visualize project concepts as clearly and comprehensively. Many ideas are provided to help you present complex data better.