The best Project Management books to read in 2023
As a Project Manager, you continuously upgrade your knowledge while taking the lead.
With the constant technological advance and the different perspectives on work methods, you must keep up with the latest Project Management updates.
While improving yourself professionally, you can pass that mindset on to your team. You may have already experienced many teachings, such as an academic journey, seminars, and summits, but knowledge is updated daily.
It would be best if learning becomes your weekly routine, especially as a Project Manager.
There are books filled with crucial information that would be the ultimate tool. You should surround yourself with the books that will give you the upper hand as a Project Manager and with the projects in the present and future.
With that in mind, this article will present you with a must-read list of the best Project Management books. Through the synopsis of each book, you’ll discover which is the right one for you.
The 28 best Project Management books
1. Project Management Absolute Beginner’s Guide by Greg Horine
This guide demonstrates how you can be a Project Manager without having never done that before.
This beginner’s guide shows you how to manage your team, a budget, everyone’s schedule and how to properly track their progress.
You also looks at many Project Management techniques, such as traditional, agile, and hybrid.
2. Be Fast or Be Gone: Racing the Clock with Critical Chain Project Management by Andreas Scherer
This book tells you about critical chain Project Management, primarily used by big companies worldwide.
This elaborates on the concept of crucial monitoring resources and prioritizing tasks that need those same elements.
Improve your management skills by reading our blog about the best prioritization techniques.
3. The Blueprint: 6 Practical Steps to Lift Your Leadership to New Heights by Douglas R. Conant
According to the author, this book makes you embark on a self-reflection journey regarding your work method through these six steps:
Reach High – Envision; Dig Deep – Reflect; Lay the Groundwork – Study; Design – Plan; Build – Practice; Reinforce – Improve.
4. Product-Led Growth: How to Build a Product That Sells Itself by Wes Bush
Through this book, you’ll be able to improve your product and service as a Project Manager.
Its primary focus is to retain the value of focus vs. effort and acquire clients much faster and more definitively.
5. Doing Agile Right: Transformation Without Chaos by Darrell Rigby, Sarah Elk and Steve Berez
For this book, the authors spared no expense to shine a light on the agile method.
Their goal is to explain, in an explicit fashion, the advantages of agile for any given project, all teams created, and the work quality itself.
6. Driving Digital Strategy: A Guide to Reimagining Your Business by Sunil Gupta
The author demonstrates how you improve your project through a digital strategy.
He explores many features, mainly the business model, customers, and the company itself.
7. Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager by Kory Kogon, Suzette Blakemore and James Wood
This book is perfect for those who were not trained for the Project Manager job but are doing it in every project.
This guides you into the job’s requirements and how you can excel at them.
8. What the Heck Is EOS?: A Complete Guide for Employees in Companies Running on EOS by Gino Wickman
This book is highly recommended if you use the EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) in your company.
You’ll get to discover all about this concept, what’s an operating system and why your company has established it. You’ll see its advantages and the impact on you as a Project Manager.
9. The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
This book puts into perspective the reality of the elements that you need to succeed in your projects.
You’ll be able to shy away from all the constant distractions tempting you throughout the day and be ready to focus on improving your project.
Transform your way of strategic thinking and learn to focus on what matters.
10. Advanced Multi-Project Management: Achieving Outstanding Speed and Results with Predictability by Gerald I. Kendall and Kathleen M. Austin
This is one of the best Project Management books, especially when managing multiple projects. It’s the ultimate tool for you to perfect your role as a Project Manager.
The authors approach multi-Project Management, which could be the solution to ensure that you succeed in your projects.
When looking for consistency and results in a quick and effective way, you can’t lose the opportunity of learning from this book.
11. Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management by Scott Berkun
Scott Berkun explores the concept of Project Management through new ways of thinking that will improve your work method.
Through its reading, you’ll develop skills that can help you significantly, such as outstanding leadership, creativity, making it to deadlines, and readiness if things don’t work out.
12. Agile Project Management with Scrum by Ken Schwaber
Through exciting case studies, Ken Schwaber demonstrates the impact of scrum in agile Project Management.
Discussing the good and the bad of this concept, the book can introduce you to an improvement in Project Management.
Allow yourself to be better by embracing scrum into your journey.
13. Epiphanized: A Novel on Unifying Theory of Constraints, Lean, and Six Sigma, Second Edition by Bruce Nelson and Bob Sproull
This is one of the best Project Management books because it takes on a fresh approach to the concept of improvement methodology, joining the forces of the theory of constraints with lean and six sigma.
While these last two are the opposite in balance, the authors wrote a detailed book on how to take advantage of each of these methods.
Through the usage of the best of each other, ultimately, there will be substantial growth in your projects.
14. The Lazy Project Manager: How to be twice as productive and still leave the office early by Peter Taylor
The Lazy Project Manager book confirms how the word “focus” is essential for every project you may have.
Peter Taylor wanted to demonstrate that the lazy Project Manager can succeed if he only adjusts his professional life according to the advice displayed in the chapters.
You’ll get expert tips on improving your project while being a “lazy” Project Manager.
15. The Agile Mind-Set: Making Agile Processes Work by Gil Broza
The Agile Mind-set is one of the best Project Management books for those who find Agile hard to implement in their work method.
The author intends for you to get comfortable with this concept, what it entails, its impact on your way of working, and the project itself.
Invest in Agile Processes and learn how to work and plan better.
16. Project Management Case Studies by Harold Kerzner
This book features case studies that are extremely helpful for you to fully comprehend the role of a Project Manager in a company in the context of a project.
Harold Kerzner also approaches indicators that are crucial to a company, such as risk management, crisis plans, innovation techniques, and many more.
Read our blog and learn how to lead a team effectively.
17. Project Management for Non-Project Managers by Jack Ferraro
The author’s goal is to pass on the knowledge that will be life-changing for every Project Manager or for someone that aspires to be just that. Through his narrative, you’ll get to be inside his mind and learn from the absolute best how to improve your soft and hard skills as a manager.
You’ll also get to explore his step-by-step techniques as well as impressive methods that you can take on.
18. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) by Project Management Institute
This book is sacred for every active Project Manager. This famous guide allows you to reflect on what you’re precisely doing right now regarding your role and methodology.
Upon reading, you’ll find many other techniques and methods available for you to explore, with the goal of developing your project further.
19. Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland
According to Jeff Sutherland, there’s almost a magic sense about Scrum in the way it has transformed project methodology.
With a firm belief in this notion, the book demonstrates its concept and what it has done to the extreme growth of productivity and perfection of the management process.
20. Strategic Project Management Made Simple: Practical Tools for Leaders and Teams by Terry Schmidt
This book is the perfect answer to the question – “Why has my project failed?”.
Some companies and projects like to stick to traditional values and plans, which are more likely to decline due to their old features.
With that in mind, the authors intend to help companies and projects worldwide by renovating techniques for their managers and teams.
21. Rescue the Problem Project: A Complete Guide to Identifying, Preventing, and Recovering from Project Failure by Todd Williams
This complete guide helps you understand new techniques to establish in your work method, thinking ahead at every step.
You’ll be able to improve your manner of tracking your and your team’s progress and decide what’s best to do according to the results.
TIP: Read our blog if you want to how to measure a team’s productivity.
22. Project Management for Humans: Helping People Get Things Done by Brett Harned
Ultimately, this book helps you better integrate a Project Manager’s personality traits. As you have already seen, the selection of methods is continuously growing as we speak, but it’s also essential to develop psychological features to succeed.
Brett Harned wants to instruct you on becoming more communicative and present so that you’re ready to take on significant challenges.
23. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by Dave Allen
Dave Allen wants to give you the opportunity of being productive and getting tasks done, but also with the possibility of relaxing ahead.
Productivity and stress shouldn’t hold hands, so this book aims to teach you how to prioritize tasks in your project correctly.
Through this reading, you’ll learn how to delegate, review and plan tasks and/or actions within every given project.
Do you want to increase your productivity? Then you need to know our list of the best productivity books.
24. Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling by Harold Kerzner
This book is the ultimate tool to improve your planning, scheduling, and controlling skills as a Project Manager overviewing any project.
In this book, you’ll find many industry case studies that will serve as an example for you to follow to develop your own projects.
25. Guide to Project Management: Getting It Right and Achieving Lasting Benefit by Paul Roberts
Every project aims to implement something better than the last, to surpass what was achieved initially. But the truth is sometimes; those projects end up dying due to a lot of internal and external factors.
Through this Project Management book, you’ll be able to master the art of organization as a Project Manager. The main goal is to get your project to a safe zone and to implement it fully in your company.
26. Brilliant Project Management: What the best Project Manager know, do and say by Stephen Barker and Rob Cole
Each project has its fair share of significance, meaning that the Project Manager shares a long work ahead, either performing the tasks or monitoring teams.
However, the stress that you may experience while managing these projects shouldn’t bring you down because projects may work just like you wanted in the first place.
This book teaches you to do just that, ensuring that your project sees the light of day. Delight yourself on new methods and techniques that could change your project’s longevity.
27. Project Management Lite: Just Enough to Get the Job Done…Nothing More by Juana Clark Craig
As the book title suggests, the point is to excel at being a Project Manager, but without all the technical worries it entails most of the time.
To eliminate unnecessary theories that may be too heavy for you to invest in, this book tells you all about worksheet samples and checklists that could be most useful to your daily life.
28. Project Management JumpStart by Kim Heldman
The goal of this book is to teach you everything you need to know to be the best Project Manager.
Invest your time in practical examples, case studies, and new management methods that could be inspiring to improve your work quality.
Conclusion
As you have had the opportunity to scroll through this must-read list of the best Project Management books, you can conclude that there are so many ways to learn. Maybe one book stood out from the others, or there’s a selection of books you need.
It’s great that you open yourself to many work methods because there will always be a time when you’ll want to change things, or sometimes the way you were working before is not functional anymore.
Either way, it’s great to stay proactive and to look for knowledge that will be advantageous in your professional life and future endeavors.
You might be interested in:
Best Project Management Books You Should Read in 2023
Project management is critical for the success of an organization. With the growing competition across organizations, there has been an increase in the demand for project managers to oversee projects right from its conception to completion. A good project manager needs to be a strong leader, an effective communicator and well-versed in the latest project management methodologies and principles. Whether you are just starting your career as a project manager or have decades of experience under your belt, here is a list of the top ten best project management books (from beginner to advanced) to help you level up your skills.
10 Best Project Management Books
Author: Greg Horine
Level: Beginner
This book is one of the most popular beginner books on project management. It covers all the major concepts of project management that every project manager should master - from planning and control to getting started with agile project management. The 4th edition of the book has also been updated with all the newest and most popular web-project management tools to get you ready for the latest PMP Certification Exam.
Author: Andreas Scherer
Level: Beginner
If you like reading fictional novels, this book on project management is the perfect one for you! The book explains Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) through two characters - Mike Knight and his son, Tim. When Tim gets diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer, Mike quits his job to help a pharmaceutical company bring cancer's only known solution to the market faster using CCPM. The best part about this book is that it makes a complex topic like CCPM more interesting and approachable for a project manager who is just starting.
Author: Jack Ferraro
Level: Beginner
This book is exactly how the title describes it - a project management book for non-project managers. As a functional manager, you could already be implementing project management principles in your work without even realizing it. This book encourages all functional managers to jump into the project management space by arming them with the most critical project management skills such as work breakdown structures, risk management methods, performance reports, business analysis techniques, and program sequencing techniques.
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Author: Harold Kerzner
Level: Intermediate
This is one of the best project management books containing case studies from Disney, Airbus, Motorola, The Olympics and much more. Since case studies are essential for project managers, this book will give you a unique opportunity to experience project management in action for some of the high-profile companies around the world. This fifth edition of the book also focuses on Agile and Scrum methodologies and supports preparation for the latest PMP Certification Exam.
Author: Scott Berkun
Level: Intermediate
This book is especially useful for project managers in the software industry. It is based on the author’s years of experience as a project manager for Internet Explorer, Windows and MSN. It doesn't cite specific methods for managing projects, but focuses more on the philosophy and strategy of good project management. Some of the topics in this book include - “How not to annoy people”, “How to make things happen”, “Making good decisions” and “What to do when things go wrong”. It is an interesting book that will serve you well on your current projects and on future ones.
Author: Ken Schwaber
Level: Intermediate
Written by Scrum himself's co-creator, this book provides an introduction to all the rules and principles of Scrum using easy, straightforward examples.You will learn how to scale projects and solve complex projects using Scrum, set up a Scrum team, setup artifacts and ceremonies, and other key Scrum principles. You will also learn about the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) which describes the best practices in developing software.
Author: Bob Sproull and Bruce Nelson
Level: Advanced
This book provides a comprehensive view of how project managers can use Theory of Constraints (TOC) to increase an organization's overall productivity.It also offers essential insights on how to implement TOC, Lean, and Six Sigma methodologies to produce even greater results. The book is divided into two parts - Part One covers the core concepts of TOC, Lean and Six Sigma methodologies; Part Two provides a more in-depth explanation to each of these core concepts for those who want to explore them in detail.
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Author: Peter Taylor
Level: Advanced
This book also sheds light on the importance of using TOC, Lean and Six Sigma methodologies to achieve better results. It focuses on advanced project management techniques and skills to achieve superior on-time delivery along with unprecedented levels of profitability. It also includes the famous Pareto principle or the 80/20 rule which specifies that 80% of consequences come from 20% of the causes.
Author: Gil Broza
Level: Advanced
This book gives an introduction to using the Agile mindset in project management. It provides important insights on the best practices and tools for Agile and how you can make them work for your team. You will also learn about the four foundational values of Agile - putting people before product and processes, adaptation, early and frequent value delivery, and customer collaboration.
Author: Gerald I. Kendall, PMP and Kathleen M. Austin
Level: Advanced
This book provides an advanced multi-project management approach for completing projects faster and increasing the number of projects executed using the same resources. It also addresses the key issues that senior project managers have with implementing the right projects at the right time. You will learn how to control the flow of active projects, implement a strategic buffer, enable faster execution and recover lost projects.
Enroll in our PMP Certification Course today and develop a strong foundation in the principles of project management.
My top 10 book recommendations on Leadership & Management
Below are my top ten books that I recommend in the field of leadership and management.They are a mix of practical tools as well as insights behind great leadership. All of them have greatly helped me personally.
Let me know if you have any questions on them. What are your favourite books on the topic? I’d love to hear from you.
Bill George – True North
This is a great book on the foundation of leadership, on finding your compass and the personal guiding star, the true north. Leadership expert and former Medtronic CEO Bill George takes you on a journey to discover your own true north which is the basis for consistent decision making and creating a vision. Ken Blanchard – The One Minute Manager
This is a classic. Three principles, all of which can be implemented in one minute per day. A fast read but very powerful – it changed my approach in dealing with the members on my team. Richard Templar – The Rules of Management
A very practical book with selected tools. Highly practical and easy to read in bite sized one-page tips. From the “Rules of Work” series. David Sibbett – Visual Leaders
David Sibbett has done great work in the field of graphic facilitation. This book highlights how the modern leader can you visualisation for clarifying strategy, running great and engaging meetings and much more. A fresh approach to leadership tools. Marcus Buckingham – The one thing you need to know…
This is one of the best, insightful and practical books on management and leadership, and also on the difference between the two. A lot has been written on this, often with the tone: We are over-managed and under-led. Buckingham does not go into this direction but highlights that management and leadership are two distinct and equally important functions in an organization. Stephen Covey – The seven habits of highly effective people
The leadership classic and one of the books with the most misleading titles ever written. If you don’t know this book you might assume this is a productivity book. Far from it. Steven Covey has distilled 7 habits that we all can integrate into our lifes, in order to lead others and ourselves. This book has changed the lives of many people, including my own. Tom Rath – Strengthfinder 2.0
There are plenty of personality tests out there. The strengthfinder is one of the well-researched ones, drawing on the deep knowledge of the Gallup organisation. Buying this book allows you to take the online test which will highlight your unique strengths – and what strengths others might have. a big leadership insight. Henry Mintzberg – Mintzberg on Management
Henry Mintzberg is one of the more vocal of. Known for his criticism of MBA programs he has written several highly enlightening books. This classic summarizes his views on management. James Kouzes, Barry Posner – The Leadership Challenge
Another classic, now in its 5th edition. Full of practical advice on the topic of leadership it is one of go-to books recommended by most authors and leaders. It explains how great leaders “get people moving”. Carol Kinsey Goman – The Silent Language of Leaders
This is a book on a different side of leadership. How does body language affect the success of a leader? What are the silent and nonverbal signs of leadership? Especially if you are already versed in the “active” side of leadership (creating a vision etc.) this book will be a great addition to your leadership perspective and “toolbox”.
The above book links will point you to where you can directly order these books via amazon with free shipping also to continental Europe. They are affiliate links.
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