Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

As introduction, I am a practicing PMP certified project manager. I use this system. The brilliant part is this book lays out a very simple matrix for tracking and reporting key project deliverables, identifying responsible parties, and reporting progress to higher management in a compact, executive-friendly format. After I read this book, I adopted the methodology because it saves me that most valuable resource -- time. The Excel templates are available for an additional fee, but I'm too damn cheap to buy them and good enough with Excel to make my own templates. I also created tabs for an action item list, a risk register, an issues list, a requirements list, a contact list,... you get the idea. These weren't even mentioned in the book. What I ended up with is a project notebook that is a one-stop-shop for everything but the meeting minutes. The system outlined in the book is good, but incomplete. The other key deficiency I learned to deal with is that every place I've been insists on a plan either in MS Project or Clarity/Open Workbench. Most places also have specific reporting requirements and their own formats for these reports. You either sell the boss on this system, or you conform to their ways and use this as your own personal backup. I'll give the boss some credit, as Clarity or Project Server will allow reporting capabilities that a simple Excel spreadsheet will not, but I personally don't like to enter the same information in two different places. It's extra work to keep several systems updated, but that's the way of the world. You can use this system, but you will either sell it to the key stakeholders or end up doing extra duty. I'm sort of new to this Amazon review thing, but if you want a copy of my consolidated project management Excel workbook, feel free to contact me. It's gratis. I'm all for extending best practices.