What they say about the books ...

Money well spent!

Working in the industry as a digital projects management I can appreciate the thought and time that has gone into this book. The chapters are easy to follow and I have used some content and ideas to refine procedures within the projects I do.

This book is a must buy for anyone that carries out multimedia projects. Even if you only take a few things from the book, that makes it well worth the money!

Plus great web site to accompany the book.

A reader from the UK on Amazon
August 2004

Excellent guide to managing new media projects

These are an excellent and comprehensive set of books that any professional or lecturer involved in new media project management should have as their guide to successful projects. The transfer from one book (edition 2) to the two books has meant that a lot more in-depth information has been dealt with.

Book 1 'People & Processes' takes you through the various stages in a project: client requirements, understanding clients, contracts, team selection, copyright issues, multimedia elements, interface design, testing, localization and a very good new section on 'managing small, quick projects'.

Book 2 'Technical Issues' is not just lessons in file formats and authoring, but helps project managers to understand what is involved in producing and delivering the different media elements and current key technical terms.

Most Multimedia books I have used tend to talk about project lifecycles and processes in the strictest sense but miss out the actual reality - that these are not cut and dried processes. These books explain that the new media industry is still defining a standard for project processes. This will help professionals to understand that the industry consists of people with a myriad of skills, what these involve and their working methods. By doing so it gives advice on how to manage teams with these diverse backgrounds.

As a lecturer in Multimedia I use various sources for research information and have found that these books don't just give the theoretical facts of how things should be done, but how they should realistically be done. Having also used the 2nd edition, I have found these books to be an invaluable source that I will continue to buy.

Loraine Johnston from Scotland
March 2003

Clear, contemporary, cuts the crap - great textbook

We used this book as textbook for a European course in Multimedia Production: it is clear, up to date and doesn't contain the usual geeky jargon. Written by people who know about production, and how to pass on that knowledge to others. Good practical exercises too.

Bristol UK
March 1999

Very practical, realistic book

I teach Multimedia Project Management in a Multimedia Design Masters Program at Laval University, Quebec City, Canada.

For the two years which I gave the course, I have used Managing Multimedia as the main reference.

I was pleased to discover the book. Students also find the book very relevant.

Martin Boucher from Montreal, Canada
May 2001

Excellent resource for Multimedia Professionals

I am a student studying Bachelor of Multimedia and I found this book to be extremely helpful in my course - especially when it came to managing and conducting my student projects at university (with real life clients, external to the uni).

This book teaches you how to effectively elicit the product requirements from your client; it gives information on contractual issues for proposals and development agreements; it advises how to assemble the most effective team for a project and team management principles; it discusses Intellectual Property and Copyright, important issues for this industry; it covers management of the other phases of a multimedia project - design, production, integration and testing... and gives advice so you don't fall in the traps that so many other projects have like requirements creep, blowing the budget, missing the deadline...

You really need to plan your multimedia projects if you want to create quality products (whether is be a web site or CD-ROM) - and this book will help you plan and control your projects.
Project management is -big- money. If you want a book about how to be a professional multimedia project manager, then this book is for you.

Mali K from Brisbane, Australia
June 2000

Excellent overview

This book provides an excellent overview into project management of multimedia projects. It covers such topics as general project management strategy, scoping a project, contractual issues, selecting the team, team management, agreeing the content, copyright, and marketing, in each case relating the discussion directly to the special issues that arise in multimedia management. The book also provides an introduction to technical topics such as interface design, audio assets, video assets, graphical assets, and testing. The accompanying CD-ROM is well-done, containing useful supplemental material such as interactive forms for various stages of project management that can be used as is or edited.

One of the book's authors obviously has a strong connection to audio production, and the chapter on audio assets gives a very in-depth introduction into what kinds of things an audio engineer is capable of doing and is supposed to do. I have been looking for a general introduction to sound editing, and this is the best that I have been able to find so far, but I didn't expect to find it in a book about general multimedia management. The accompanying CD also contains audio samples for listening and editing practice, as noted in the book. I found these samples also quite useful.

Erika Mitchell from E. Calais, VT USA
April 2002

... it provides a very good logic sequence of events which enables the user to plan and organise a multimedia project ... lots of useful information on copyright which is always a contentious issue in any country! Using a browser for the CD is very innovative and the CD complements the text very well.

Richard Elliott
Head of Learning Technologies
UNITEC Institute of Technology Auckland New Zealand
April 1997

A rare combination of breadth and depth of information, all in one book, and written in English!! ... a balance of enough technical information to answer a wide range of queries yet punchy enough to retain your interest ... a must for budding and existing multimedia team members alike.

Alison Read
Multimedia Project Manager - Omega Performance
November 1996

Elaine England and Andy Finney have produced an absolutely splendid tome for the multimedia professional. Called Managing Multimedia, this 340-page book is an absolute must for the multimedia developer/project manager. Beautifully published by Addison Wesley Longman and complete with the obligatory CD-ROM inside the back cover, it leads the reader through complete practical tasks to convert the theory of multimedia management into practice.

The authors are also offering one, two and three-day training courses based on the book. These can be tailor-made from modules for in-company use if necessary.

The authors are well qualified: Elaine England is a multimedia consultant with wide project management and production experience. Andy Finney has been producing interactive video and multimedia since the early '80s. He goes back to the ill-fated BBC Domesday Project and was a senior producer for the MultiMedia Corporation. He left them in February 1995 and ... is now running The Independent Multimedia Company Ltd, a multimedia consultancy and development company he has set up in conjunction with colleagues from the television facilities business.

John Barker
Editor 'Inside Multimedia'
December 1996

To me books are like people. Some you meet at a party and after five minutes you have discovered the total extent of your conversation is how you both don't know how to get to Sidcup (east of Java, west of Des Moines - Ed) and in rising panic you start checking your watch and muttering about making a move.

But sometimes, if you get really lucky you meet someone whose warmth and sincerity makes you realise that they will become a real friend. Someone who you know will be generous with their knowledge, who you can turn to for good advice and wisdom but most importantly who will boost your confidence and is fun to be with.

Well I got lucky, the book 'Managing Multimedia' by Elaine England and Andy Finney is my new best friend. It is a sheer delight to find such a well written, well designed book. It now lives on my shelf within arms reach and I know it will get very dog eared through use.

This is obviously the book to read if you are thinking of getting involved with producing Multimedia. However, I would recommend it for a much wider audience and in particular for us FOCAL folk. Although Multimedia publishing has been going through troubled times, no one should doubt that it will become an important source of income for us. To understand your customers you not only need to know the production process they are going through but also their organisation and mind set.

I think it is particularly strong on how a team is drawn together from different backgrounds and how its members can find ways to work together. As the world shifts and there is more convergence between media this is a situation in which we will all find ourselves. Suddenly we will find ourselves employing or working with computer programmers, digital artists and learning new skills we can still only dream about.

I could go on pointing out this book's excellent features but really the bottom line is that if you want an instant and accurate insight into multimedia production this is for you and you may even find yourselves feeling sympathetic when your client tells you about their problematic bug fixes. ( ... sounds painful to me!)

Maggi Cook
Freelance archival film researcher writing in FOCAL INTERNATIONAL, the journal of the Federation of Commercial Audio-Visual Libraries.
April 1997

If you're producing multimedia training products, you get best results by using open learning methods, so that learners put theory into practice by working on real tasks as they learn. If you're learning how to manage the process of producing multimedia training products, this book works in the same way. It is based on open learning principles, with a strong emphasis on converting theory into practice. It follows the life cycle of a product, but is highly modular.

The authors take the supplier's viewpoint - that of the company which has been commissioned by a corporate client to produce a multimedia product on their client's behalf. But you would also learn much if you came from the client's point of view - it is increasingly important to educate those who manage the client-supplier role when buying in services. Thought must be given to defining the roles of client, project managers, suppliers and other key players - projects which fail often do so because of confused communications between people.

The book includes models for agreeing how the client and supplier will work together. I was pleased to see the emphasis given to copyright issues, costing of rights and clearances, and testing of the product during all it's phases - all areas which need to have a higher place on the agenda when planning a multimedia project. Managing Multimedia is actually a course employing multimedia itself.

Additionally, the authors offer one, two and three-day training courses based on the book, which can be tailored for in-company use. Aimed at managers of multimedia contracts, some parts are suitable for experienced practioners, even Directors would benefit from reading parts of the book. Anyone not involved at practioner level would especially benefit from appreciating how small, last-minute changes have enormous impact on timescales and/or budgets.

Multimedia projects are notoriously difficult to keep within time and budget, because there are so many variables. This book analyses all the variables within multimedia projects, from clients to techniques, team members to applying project management principles

Managing Multimedia is extremely well-written, comprehensive, thought-provoking and offers sensible advice. Managers on either side of the client-supplier relationship will find it valuable.

Anne Marples
Learning Design Unit UK Department of Education and Employment
September 1996