BOOK REVIEW
Book Title: Project & Production Scheduling
Author: Quentin W. Fleming, John W. Bronn, and Gary C. Humphreys
Publisher: Probus Publishing Company, Chicago
List Price: $42.50, out of print, used $4.00+
Format: Hard Cover, 272 pages
Publication Date: 1987
ISBN: 0-917253-63-9
Reviewer: John William Jeter
Review Date: June 2026
Introduction
There are some rare business books that are classics and timeless. My interest in this book was because I have worked in Operations/Manufacturing most of my working life. Production scheduling is a recurring key element of my work environment. In aerospace and defense, we work by contracts. The program management of those contracts fits in very well with the field of project management. This book offered to provide insight on tools that would apply to both areas of scheduling.
The book is not played out like a fictional story like so many modern business books or classics like The Goal. It is structured more like a textbook, but it is written and structured in a way that flows logically and reads in an engaging manner. The authors provide interesting historical context on why the techniques they promote are effective and enduring. Enduring and classic are two words I associate with the book after completing it.
A textbook written in 1987 would seem irrelevant in our fast moving world, but one ends up with the sense that these authors did in fact identify what are essential tools and a very effective method for combining those tools no matter what decade since 1987 for the project or production need. They offer predictions on how personal computers and software will impact scheduling and project management. Those positions are very interesting to read knowing how it really turned out since 1987. I never read or was exposed to a specific text just on scheduling.
This book was a great choice, a classic in my view, and one of the most practical texts I have come across that augments the very tools I use at work and the guidance on scheduling techniques covered in the PMBOK guide.
Overview of Book’s Structure
The book structure supports the emphasis on the use of effective, enduring techniques in an approach to scheduling projects that the authors call the alternative scheduling method. Those key elements are Work Breakdown Structures, Networking, Resource Analysis & Leveling, Gantt charts, and Milestone charts. In the 254 pages and thirteen chapters of the book, there is an entire chapter dedicated to the Gantt and Milestone charts. Network diagramming receives the most attention in the book with five chapters. Each network chapter builds upon the other. Among these chapters you can see how the overall techniques of logic diagramming following a precedence diagram format for planning, scheduling, and managing the critical path have evolved and endured.
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How to cite this work: Jeter, J.W. (2025). Project & Production Scheduling, book review, PM World Journal, Vol. XV, Issue VIII, August. Available online at https://pmworldjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/pmwj167-Aug2026-Jeter-Project-Production-Scheduling-book-review.pdf
About the Reviewer
John W. Jeter, PMP
North Texas, USA
John W. Jeter is a PMI member since 2022, an active member of the PMI Dallas, TX chapter, and a PMP certification holder since 2023. He works for Raytheon Technologies as an Operations Manager in Microelectronics. He earned an MBA from the University of Dallas and undergraduate degrees from Virginia Military Institute. He served in the U.S. Army Infantry as an officer and then has been in manufacturing/operations management ever since in Forest Products and now Aerospace & Defense industries.
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