The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) divides projects into five phases. Although the term 'phase' implies that they are carried out in chronological order, in practice they can be performed out of order. For example, when project changes occur the project manager would proceed back to the planning phase. For this reason they used to be called process … [Read more...]
Just like a surgeon is always monitoring the vital signs of their patient, project managers need to monitor their projects to make sure they do not veer off the plan. If the data ever shows that the project is deviating from the plan, swift action is usually the best medicine. Luckily, project management fundamentals provide plenty of assistance to project managers to … [Read more...]
The foundation for project management theory is called process groups. Although relegated to one of many project 'models' in the PMBOK version 7, it is a well established sequence of events which guides the project life cycle as a whole, as well as each iteration within the project. They are not project phases, although phases often result in the full cycle of … [Read more...]
Managing projects is like steering a ship. When the wind or sea conditions are rough, experienced helmsman use their keen sense of how the ship will react to keep it moving in the right direction. Because the ship doesn't react right away, the helmsman must anticipate the delay between turning the ship's wheel and the reaction of the ship. The destination is … [Read more...]
In the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) the process groups are the chronological phases that the project goes through, and the knowledge areas occur throughout any time during the process groups. The process groups are horizontal, and the knowledge areas are vertical. They are the core technical subject matter of the project management profession, … [Read more...]
Project Management is a unique field in that people generally don't choose it as an initial career path. They enter via the back door through a technical field, or they want to learn project management theory with the goal of advancing into the role. For this reason, many people who practice project management are generally not well equipped with project management … [Read more...]
The first knowledge area within the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) is called Project Integration Management. Although most people forget about it after writing the PMP exam (because it is a unique knowledge area that underpins all of the other, more visible ones), this knowledge area is in fact the one most utilized on a day-to-day basis by … [Read more...]
Many project managers have executed the technical work to perfection only to find out that stakeholders were not satisfied because communication was poor. Thus, project communication is sometimes more important than the technical work. Of course, the project manager needs to communicate when unexpected events occur. That's the domain of project risk … [Read more...]
Many documents are created in the profession of project management. Some of these are critical to the successful completion of the project, and others are merely intended for organizing the work flow. But the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) outlines many documents that have an integral place within the structure of project management, and the following list … [Read more...]
The foundation for project management theory is called process groups. But although it sounds complicated, process groups are simply phases that each project goes through. The five process groups are: Project Initiation Project Planning Project Execution Monitoring & Controlling Project Closing They all occur in chronological order except one. … [Read more...]
