ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A modern-day sales expert cum philosopher, Jeffrey Gitomer, once said that the two most important things another person could give are time and attention. Researching and writing a book that covers the breadth of the U.S. government requires the contribution of time and attention by many individuals. We gratefully acknowledge the wellspring of information, candid discussion, and access to documents provided by so many dedicated federal employees and private sector personnel. We thank you for allowing us into your particular world of project management.

We wish to acknowledge Myra Strauss, editor extraordinaire. Thank you for many hours of thoughtful reading and edits, an open door policy, and tough criticism. We also wish to thank the Management Concepts staff and authors who supported our efforts.

We are greatly indebted to the Project Management Institute for providing us with excellent source material.

Finally, we simply could not have completed this book without our exceptional team of staff. We offer a special thanks to Julie Rodgers for holding down the fort and to Clare Skelly for her dogged determination in managing us through this effort. We also thank the entire Line of Sight team for providing us with many examples of inspired project management in the work they do each day with our clients. This was a team effort, and we thank the entire team for pushing us forward and covering our backs.