Last week I had the great pleasure of meeting a legend in project management; Dennis Lock the author, lecturer and project management veteran with some 46 years experience.
Dennis’ project management career started in 1958 as a project engineer working in the hearing aids and potentiometers field, from there he went on to work in the research laboratories, primarily working on defence projects. 1963 saw a move into aviation as a Contracts Control Manager (later books included Aviation Project Management and Managing Aviation Projects from Concept to Completion). It was in 1968 that Dennis first published “Project Management” which is now in its ninth edition and is still a firm favourite with students and practitioners alike. Dennis continued working as a project practitioner until 1997 before becoming a lecturer, first at the University of Surrey and later the University of Southampton, teaching both MSc and MBA project management modules. Throughout all his years in the field Dennis has authored, co-authored and edited over 20 project management and management titles.
I met Dennis because we will be working together over the course of 2011 on a new book for Gower publishing. Gower’s two large volumes – The Handbook of Project Management and The Handbook of Programme Management are the ultimate in reference books for project and programme management, great for dipping in and out of and an excellent resource for most training courses because they cover absolutely everything. Dennis and I will be co-editing the next volume, The Handbook of People in Project Management, which will provide good advice into the people aspects of projects/programmes and portfolios.
I think the timing is perfect to be turning our attention to best practice around the people management aspects of project management because the focus over the last few years has been very technical in terms of standards, methods and tools. We all know the statistics of project failure and how consistently the human elements feature in these lists so the time definitely feels right to be focusing a little more on the nuances of project management and what makes a great project manager. I’m certainly excited about being involved in this new project, a little daunted about the HUGE subject but I’ll be working with a real pro in Dennis. I’ll be bringing a few updates on how we’re getting on over the year and I’ll also be looking for authors for subjects within people and project management. If you have any recommendations for great authors you can contact me directly through the Camel.
Project Management from Dennis Lock was first published in 1968 and is now in its ninth edition, a testament to how good Dennis’ book is. You can buy it from Amazon now
To see other books from Dennis
