Chapter 3: Framework for Project Management
Learning Objectives
- Define key elements of the project management framework.
- Outline project processes and knowledge areas and demonstrate how project activities are mapped to these processes for successful project management.
- Examine the effectiveness of project management methodology.
- Discuss how organizations benefits from adopting those processes oriented toward customer satisfaction.
Many different professions contribute to the theory and practice of project management. Engineers and architects have been managing major projects since pre-history. Since approximately the 1960s, there have been efforts to professionalize the practice of project management as a specialization of its own. There are many active debates around this: Should project management be a profession in the same way as engineering, accounting, and medicine? These have professional associations that certify who is legally allowed to use the job title, and who can legally practice the profession. They also provide a level of assurance of quality and discipline members who behave inappropriately. Another ongoing debate is: How much industry knowledge is required of a seasoned project manager? How easily can a project manager from one industry, say, IT, transition to another industry such as public safety or law enforcement?
There are two major organizations with worldwide impact on the practice of project management: the Project Management Institute (PMI), with world headquarters in the United States, and the International Project Management Association (IPMA), with world headquarters in Switzerland. This textbook takes an approach that is closer to the PMI approach. More details are included in this chapter, along with a section on the project management office.
Project Management Institute Overview
Five volunteers founded the Project Management Institute (PMI) in 1969. Their initial goal was to establish an organization where members could share their experiences in project management and discuss issues. Today, PMI is a non-profit project management professional association and the most widely recognized organization in terms of promoting project management best practices. PMI was formed to serve the interests of the project management industry. The premise of PMI is that the tools and techniques of project management are common even among the widespread application of projects from the software to the construction industry. PMI first began offering the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification exam in 1984. Although it took a while for people to take notice, now more than 590,000 individuals around the world hold the PMP designation.
To help keep project management terms and concepts clear and consistent, PMI introduced – A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) in 1987. The most current version updated in 2013 is the fifth edition. At present, there are more than one million copies of th