Project Management Theory and Practice

Project management is truly an art‑seeking science with complex processes balancing project output objectives against restraints of time, budget, human resources, quality, and customer satisfaction. Achieving this balance requires skill, experience, and a host of supporting tools and techniques. Project Management Theory and Practice, Fourth Edition, explores the project delivery process through an examination of multiple strategies. Its core material reflects the traditional model approach to the life cycle; however, it also highlights common usage errors and reality gaps. This book describes the full life cycle of common processes and tools every project manager needs to understand.

This fourth edition features a contemporary perspective on project management, explores future needs, and discusses new directions in the project management model. This textbook introduces new processes and aims to address known gaps in current methodologies and outlines logical future directions. Given the current success rates for projects, a serious project manager must be prepared to make significant changes to the existing toolset and related processes. This book aims to raise awareness of these needs and encourages examination of the shortcomings in current models.

This textbook emphasizes that, beyond the theoretical aspects of project planning and control, effective management is fundamentally a human activity. While processes and tools serve as supports for human decision‑making, they primarily help define the project’s objectives and later aid decision‑makers in determining the execution plan. This textbook emphasizes how to transform a project vision into a format that is suitable for execution. It also emphasizes a life cycle perspective along with the essential mechanics needed to develop the projects. The book’s case study examples have been classroom evaluated with students and professionals to ensure they are effective and relevant.

Gary L. Richarson retired from the University of Houston, College of Technology's graduate project management program as the PMI Houston Endowed Professor. During his tenure, he taught PMP certification and project-related programs for the university, plus external organizations. He also taught various project management programs to international audiences in Finland, Russia, Iraq, China, and South America. He previously held professional certifications as a Professional Engineer (PE), Project Management Professional (PMP), and Certification in Earned Value Management (EVM). During his various academic stints, he produced thirteen professional texts and numerous articles on general topics associated with project management and Information Technology.

Brad M. Jackson is co-founder and CEO of cordin8, llc. The company’s strategy execution platform, cordin8, is based on his vision of an “organizational operating system” and “digital group memory” that he described in a 1996 paper, “The Dynamic, Re-configurable Organization of 2025: Mastering the Interplay Between Information Technology and Organizational Design” and “cordin8: The Organizational Operating System”. He has spent over thirty-five years researching, designing, and developing collaborative technology solutions and creating “digital teaming and governing” practices to improve organizational performance. Along with Gary Richardson, they published, Digital Office Complex: Reengineering Vision Delivery by Transforming Teaming (CRC Press, 2024). He has worked with global clients in oil and gas, insurance, consulting, and telecommunications industries.