Book Review: Managing Interactive Media Projects

I don’t usually read or review textbooks, but this title authored by Tim Frick of Mightybytes is an exception. Why? This is a book written by an active practitioner who also happens to teach at Columbia College in Chicago. So it is a book for anyone tasked with managing an interactive media project for a company.  Since most companies have  at least one interactive media project on deck, then this is a book that deserves wide readership.

One of the foundation skills to running any kind of a successful business is the ability to manage everyone’s expectations - internally and externally with clients and vendors. An extraordinary number of missteps in project execution have their foundation in this issue - who’s on first? what is the task? why are we doing this?when is the deadline? how much will be done by that time?

Tim takes the reader completely through the process of managing an interactive project from initial conception through the execution and launch of the completed project. Along the way, there are literally pages and pages of step-by-step examples, cautionary tales, check lists, case studies, Q & A guidelines, templates, and helpful exercises. In short, you could literally hand this book to a newbie tasked with this type of project and say, “start on page one and follow the steps in the book.”

Most of us assume previous knowledge when we try to teach something. Tim Frick does not do this. It’s clear from this book that not only does he understand how to create process, he knows how to teach it. One can imagine him in front of one of his classes at Columbia College getting his students excited about managing their own projects.

It is clear from the design of the book, complete with coffee cup ring motif, that Tim’s book designer understands how to balance text, photos and graphics to create forward motion. An outstanding index is also included at the end of the book as well as a CD-ROM with handouts, document templates and helpful PDF samples of things like proposals and RFPs.

This book is an extraordinary value. Buy the book at Amazon. Read more about Tim and Mightybytes.

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