Best Books for New Project Managers

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ByElizabeth Harrin Last updated: Books

Are you just starting out in project management? There are so many books out there. How do you know where to start?

In this video I share 3 books that are fantastic reads for new project managers. Under the video you’ll see details for each of the books.

These will all help you get a great starting point for how to manage a project.

The Project Management Book by Richard Newton

One day I hope to meet Richard! This is a very useful text for new project managers and those who are starting out managing projects in a more formal environment.

Even if you have “done” projects before, this book will give you some of the jargon and techniques to help you get started as a more formal project manager, without weighing you down in bureaucracy.

The book is organized in short chapters so it’s easy to read. A great handbook for getting started managing projects.

Project Management for Humans by Brett Harned

This is a very modern book with lots of references to working with clients, and digital examples. (As you would expect from Brett’s career experience in agencies and digital projects.)

A nicely put together, beautiful book that also covers soft skills that you need to be effective as a project manager.

Whether you work in digital or not, this is a good read that covers all the basics and then some. However, it is particularly applicable to project managers in a digital, web, software, design, and agency environment. Agile techniques are also covered.

Shortcuts to Success: Project Management in the World (2nd ed) by Elizabeth Harrin

Yes, this my book! I wrote it because it was the book I wish I had when I started managing projects.

The case studies also talk about how you can apply it, because there’s nothing worse than reading an interesting case study and then not knowing how you can use that information in your own project. Each short chapter has a case study and then the learnings.

I call it my mentor on the shelf, because the idea of it was to consolidate all the great war stories from project managers – the things mentors tell you so that you can draw your own conclusions and see how best to apply the ideas for yourself.

It’s also available by theme as smaller ebooks (available on Kindle) so you don’t have to buy the whole book if you are just interested in a particular topic. The sections available as ebooks are:

Read next: How to manage a project – an overview (but comprehensive) guide

If you are looking for some other suggestions for project management books to read, you can check these out:

Elizabeth Harrin wearing a pink scarf

Project manager, author, mentor

Elizabeth Harrin is a Fellow of the Association for Project Management in the UK. She holds degrees from the University of York and Roehampton University, and several project management certifications including APM PMQ. She first took her PRINCE2 Practitioner exam in 2004 and has worked extensively in project delivery for over 20 years.
Elizabeth is also the founder of the Project Management Rebels community, a mentoring group for professionals. She's written several books for project managers including Managing Multiple Projects.