2. Project Management Methodologies

What are project management methodologies?

Project life cycle descriptions may very in the level of detail - some with highly detailed descriptions, added charts, forms and checklists, others may just provide elementary structures and consistency. HIghly detailed approaches are often called "project management methodologies" (PMBoK, 2000).

Major, worldwide project management methodologies are:

- Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK) by PMI (Project Management Institute: https://www.pmi.org/)

- Prince2 by PeopleCert (https://www.peoplecert.org/)

- IPMA by International Project Management Organisation (https://www.ipma.world/individuals/certification/)

All of these methodologies are global, provide complex certification and accreditation services for both waterfall and agile approach to managing projects. They are all recognised as de facto standards in the field of project management.

* This courses is based primarily on the approach of PMBoK. However, other methodologies and methods are introduced each time, the lecturer finds it useful and necessary.

TEST: Find out under which conditions may project managers get certified in each of the methodologies listed above. 

TEST: What kind of arguments would you take into consideration when choosing the right project management methodology for your organisation?

The PMBoK approach

In order to express the interactive nature of project management, the PMBoK describes project management as processes and their interactions. "Processes are series of actions bringing about a result and may generally fall into one of major categories:

1. Project management processes - describe, organize and complete the work on the project. These processes are applicable across disciplines in a variety of projects.

2. Product oriented processes - specify and create project´s product. These processes vary by application area.

Project oriented processes are in PMBoK organized into 5 process groups:

• initiating processes - authorisation of project/phase
• planning processes - definition of project´s goals, objectives and deliverables
• executing processes - coordinating people and other necessary resources
• controlling processes - monitoring and mesuring of project´s process, identification of variances, taking corrective measures
• closing processes - finalisation and acceptance

Across the project phases, the following management project knowledge areas are applied:

1. project integration management
2. project scope management
3. project time management
4. project cost management
5. project quality management
6. project human resources management
7. project communication management
8. project risk management
9. project procurement management