Project Management
What is Project Management?
Project Management Body of Knowledge or PMBOK defines project management as “The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to meet the project requirements.”
Project management is a disciplined approach of initiating, planning, strategising, executing, monitoring and communicating, and providing final deliverables to client within a set timeline. Projects are aimed at producing value through products, services, or results.
Project management is time-bound in nature, where it has a start dan finish date, and therefore is only done within the duration of a project. The project management life cycle covers the following activities-
The PMI or Project Management Institute has identified ten areas of knowledge within project management. They include integration management, scope management, time management, cost management, quality management, stakeholder management, human resource management, communication management, risk management, and procurement management.
THE EVOLUTION OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT BODY OF KNOWLEDGE (PMBOK)
For decades now—since its inception as the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) in 1987—A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) has served as a reference to effectively manage “most projects most of the time”.
The PMBOK® Guide has provided the foundation for the science of project management, enabling us as practitioners to practice the art. The PMBOK® Guide—which was always intended to be adapted to the project and situation at hand—has evolved and adapted over the years to include advances in core processes. The first PMBOK® Guide published in 1996. Each successive edition was released to surpass the previous version incorporating new best practices and standards of project management.
This continuous learning has allowed both The Standard for Project Management and the PMBOK® Guide to evolve and adapt to support the growth of project management as a discipline, as well as changes in how project management is applied. Like previous editions of the PMBOK® Guide, the seventh edition recognizes that the project delivery landscape continues to evolve and adapt and that the pace of change is accelerating. New technologies as well as the need for organizational agility have introduced new project team structures and project/product delivery methods with a stronger focus on outcomes rather than deliverables.
These changes, as well as other factors, have created the opportunity—and even the imperative—to update the resources we rely upon as practitioners of project management. Consequently, several teams of volunteers and PMI staff have formed to define and develop the next generation of The Standard for Project Management and associated PMBOK® Guide.
PMBOK® Guide Version 2 [2000]
The upgraded version of PMBOK Guide i.e. 2nd edition was launched in 2000. This edition includes knowledge and practices that were commonly accepted in the field of project management that were proven valuable and useful to most projects. The PMBOK® Guide Version 2 also reflected the growth of the project management and removed the errors in the previous edition.
PMBOK® Guide Version 3 [2004]
After releasing the PMBOK® Guide 2nd Edition, PMI received thousands of suggestions for improvements of the PMBOK® Guide. The PMI’s editorial committee reviewed those suggestions and tried to integrate the recommendations into the next version of PMBOK® Guide and released the third edition in 2004. The project management practices included in the 3rd edition of PMBOK® Guide would be useful to most projects.
PMBOK® Guide Version 4 [2009]
The fourth edition of PMBOK was launched after the five years of publication of its preceding version. In this edition, the content of the PMBOK® Guide was edited to make it more consistent and accessible. The clear distinction between the project documents and project management plan was made. The “triple constraints” of project management were expanded to six as scope, schedule, quality, resources, risk and budget.
PMBOK® Guide Version 5 [2013]
The 5th version of the PMBOK® Guide was released in 2013. Considering the suggestions and recommendations, PMI made changes in PMBOK Guide 4th Edition and the 5th edition represents PMI’s continual efforts to upgrade and update the body of knowledge.
PMBOK® Guide 6 [2017]
The PMBOK® Guide 6 was published in July, 2017. This edition incorporated Agile in its module as Agile has become one of the fastest growing methodologies in the recent years. In this edition, there are some minor changes in the process groups, processes and naming of the PMBOK® Guide methodology.
PMBOK® Guide 7 [2021]
Over the past few years, emerging technology, new approaches, and rapid market changes GLOBAL Standard disrupted our ways of working, driving the project management profession to evolve. Each industry, organisation and project face unique challenges, and team members must adapt their approaches to successfully manage projects and deliver results.
With this in mind, the Guide to the project management Body of Knowledge Seventh Edition takes a deeper look into the fundamental concepts and constructs of the profession. It presents 12 principles of project management and eight project performance domains that are critical for effectively delivering project outcomes.
Roles In Project Management
To meet the project objectives, you will need the right people on board and provide them a clear understanding of their roles. The key people are as follows-
- Project Sponsor, who champions the project at the highest level in the organisation and remove the organisational barriers that could hinder the attainment of project objectives. He or she must have the clout to communicate effectively with the key stakeholders, provide necessary resources, and approve or reject outcomes.
- Project manager determines, with input from the sponsor and stakeholders, the project’s objectives and scope, and which activities will deliver the desired results. He or she plans and schedules tasks, oversees day-to-day execution, and monitors progress. The project manager also need to evaluate the project performance, bring the project to a close, and capture lessons learned.
- Team Leader reports directly to the project manager. He or she provides direction to the team members but must also do a share of the work, particularly in areas where he has special competence. As a team leader, he or she need to draw attention to actions that must be taken, help team members maximise their potential, and achieve agreed-upon team goals.
- Team members contribute to the team’s work and do their share as assigned. To accomplish their work, they are required to be proficient not only in the technical skills of their respective disciplines but also need to have skills in problem solving, organising, communication, and interpersonal relationship.
- Some projects have a steering committee, which consists of the sponsor and all key stakeholders. The committee’s role is to approve the charter, secure resources, and adjudicate all requests to change key project elements, such as deliverables, the schedule, and the budget.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT vs PROGRAM MANAGEMENT vs PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
There are three P’s of project management: Projects, Programs, and Portfolios. The major differences is in the manner that they are aligned with or driven by organizational strategies. Conversely, 3P’s contributes the different ways to achieve the strategic goals.
What is Portfolio Management?
According to PMBOK Guide, by PMI, Portfolio Management aligns with organizational strategies by selecting the right programs or projects, prioritizing the work, and providing the needed resources. Portfolio management provides a big picture of the organization projects and programs and support the managers to analyses and make the right decisions.
What is Program Management?
Program management is the process of analysing and managing a group of related projects to define the right strategy, ensuring that projects are aligned with the business strategy, as the strategy changes. Program management allows organizations to have the ability to align multiple projects for optimized or integrated costs, schedule, effort, and benefits. It helps the manager to determine the optimal approach for managing project interdependencies that includes; managing activities like resolving resource constraints and/or conflicts that affect multiple projects within the program; aligning organizational/strategic direction that affects the project and program goals and objectives; and, resolving issues and change management within a shared governance structure.
What is Project Management?
The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines Project, as a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. An organization has many projects ongoing at some time, with different individual needs and goals.
Project management is the application of the process, planning, knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives.
In Summary
A project is focused on creating a unique product, service, or result. A program is a collection of projects that need to be managed and coordinated together. And, a portfolio is a collection of projects and programs that are managed as a group to achieve strategic goals and a business value.
PROJECT LESSONS LEARNED
Lessons learned are the documented information that reflects both the positive and negative experiences of a project.
Capturing lessons learned should be an on-going effort throughout the life of the project. Lessons learned can be used to prepare for current projects or for identifying project management process improvements by learning from project failures as well as project successes. Learning from project failures will prevent us from repeating similar situations while learning from project successes will provide us opportunities to implement good processes and practices to successfully complete existing and future work.
Recommended article
Rowe, S. F. & Sikes, S. (2006). Lessons learned: taking it to the next level. Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2006—North America, Seattle, WA. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
Training and Certification in Project Management
PM Training
The aim of training in project management is to equip the participant with the skills to ensure their projects are completed on time and on budget and according to expectations. The participant will gain a strong working knowledge of project management and be able to immediately use that knowledge to effectively manage projects. Taking a project management course not only benefits you, but it also has the ability to benefit the people you lead. You will be better organised, giving your teammates a clearer path to success.
MAPMA offers two types of project management courses-
- Training for ‘hard’ skills – Examples of hard skill trainings are developing a project management plan, project scheduling, project budget, project risk register, etc
- Training for ‘soft’ skills – Examples of soft skill trainings are organisational and leadership skills, interpersonal skills, communication skills, etc.
PM Certification
The aim of a project management certification is to validate that a person has the minimum level of competence in applying the tools and techniques, and best practices to handle the day-to-day challenges of project management and to increase the likelihood of a project being successful. There are several different project management certifications that professionals can earn from project management institutes and associations.
MAPMA offers a project management certification scheme that is based on JKR Standard of Certification which adopted the standards of Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM).
Express Your Interest in Project Management Certification
Please complete the following form to express interest in attending one of our upcoming Training and Certification events. Based on demand, we will do our best to accommodate interested parties with the most convenient schedules possible.