I've put off working on this book for nearly two years now in hopes of finding a large block of time where I could sit down and just write the whole thing. I think I had a good reason—if you view project management as a series of interconnected processes (and I do), it's hard to describe just one piece of the puzzle completely and accurately.

But after two years, reality has finally set in—I'm not going to find the large block of time that I want. If I'm going to do this at all, I'm going to have to do it piecemeal.

There are two main problems with writing this book piecemeal:

• Rework — the first sections that I "complete" may need to be modified as later items are completed. To help readers follow the changes, each section will be dated.
• I may not be able to specify cross-references accurately. For example, if I want to refer to a figure in chapter 3, but chapter 3 hasn't been written yet, how can I know for sure if it will be figure 3.1 or figure 3.7? To get around this, I'll number figures sequentially as I develop them. If I haven't developed the figure yet, I'll call it 3.x.

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These materials may not be sold directly or indirectly, nor may they be included in any document that is for sale. Participant handouts used in training programs are considered documents for sale. These materials may not be edited nor their content modified in any way without the explicit written permission of the copyright holder. Portions of these materials are copyright 1996 the Project Management Institute, Inc. and are used with permission. The remainder of the document is copyright 2002 Project Management Partners; all rights reserved.

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