The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to project management:
Project management – discipline of planning, organizing, securing, managing, leading, and controlling resources to achieve specific goals. A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end (usually time-constrained, and often constrained by funding or deliverables), undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives,*The Definitive Guide to Project Management. Nokes, Sebastian. 2nd Ed.n. London (Financial Times / Prentice Hall): 2007. typically to bring about beneficial change or added value. The temporary nature of projects stands in contrast with ongoing business operations.Paul C. Dinsmore et al (2005) The right projects done right! John Wiley and Sons, 2005. . p.35 and further.
What type of thing is project management?
Project management can be described as all of the following: Management – in business and human organization activity is simply the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals. Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Management process – is a process of planning and controlling the performance or execution of any type of activity. Process – ongoing collection of activities, with inputs, outputs and the energy required to transform inputs to outputs. Project – A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.Project Management Institute (2004). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge: PMBOK Guide. 3rd Edition. Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, Project Management Institute, p. 5.
Branches of project management
Project portfolio management Program management Project risk management Project workforce management
Project management by domain
Construction project management concepts Construction – in the fields of architecture and civil engineering, is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of multitasking. Normally the job is managed by the project manager and supervised by the construction manager, design engineer, construction engineer or project architect. Construction management Architectural engineering Virtual design and construction – (VDC) is the use of integrated multi-disciplinary performance models of design-construction projects, including the Product (i.e., facilities), Work Processes and Organization of the design - construction - operation team in order to support explicit and public business objectives. Software project management concepts Software engineering – is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software.“IEEE Standard Glossary of Software Engineering Terminology,” IEEE std 610.12-1990, 1990, quoted at the beginning of Chapter 1: Introduction to the guide Software development Agile software development – is a set of principles about how software should be developed based on a rapidly iterative agile way of working in contrast to many previous software development methodologies.Peter Schuh (2005). Integrating Agile Development in the Real World. ebrary, Inc. p.2. Capability Maturity Model – (CMM) in software engineering is a model of the maturity of the capability of certain business processes. A maturity model can be described as a structured collection of elements that describe certain aspects of maturity in an organization, and aids in the definition and understanding of an organization's processes. Dynamic Systems Development Method – (DSDM) is a software development methodology originally based upon the Rapid Application Development methodology. DSDM is an iterative and incremental approach that emphasizes continuous user involvement. Unified Process – The Unified process is a popular iterative and incremental software development process framework. The best-known and extensively documented refinement of the Unified Process is the Rational Unified Process (RUP).
Types of projects
Mega project – is an extremely large-scale investment project. Expansion projects – Expansion of current operations or undertakings. Strategic projects R&D projects Customer projects Continuity projects Improvement projects
Project management approaches Agile management Cadence project management methodology; other than a standard - the methodology is flexible and adaptable to the size, risk, and complexity of projects; recommends when and how to use which tools; is adaptable to company, institution, or sector. Critical chain project management (CCPM) – method of planning and managing projects that puts more emphasis on the resources required to execute project tasks. Event chain methodology – is an uncertainty modeling and schedule network analysis technique that is focused on identifying and managing events and event chains that affect project schedules. Extreme project management (XPM) – refers to a method of managing very complex and very uncertain projects. Lean project management - Lean concepts in a project management context. PMI (Project Management Institute) – project management standards and certification. IPMA (International Project Management Association) – project management standards, guidelines and certification. PRINCE2 – project management methodology and certification. The planning, monitoring and control of all aspects of the project and the motivation of all those involved in it to achieve the project objectives on time and to the specified cost, quality and performance.The PRINCE2 Guide - A to Z . Process-based management
Related fields Industrial engineering Cost engineering Facilitation (business) Project management software Project management simulation Resource allocation Scientific management Systems engineering Total cost management Workflow management
Fields concerned primarily with projects
History of project management Timeline of project management AACE International A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge Booz Allen Hamilton Christopher Wren Critical Path Method Frederick Winslow Taylor Gantt chart Henri Fayol Henry Gantt – was an American mechanical engineer and management consultant, who developed the Gantt chart in the 1910s. Isambard Kingdom Brunel Karol Adamiecki Program Evaluation and Review Technique Project Management Institute Remington Rand Thomas Telford Trajan's Column Vitruvius Work breakdown structure
Project management processes
Project management processes in the PMI framework are organized into five process groups: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. Typical phases include: Initiation Planning and design Execution and construction Monitoring and controlling systems Completion
General project management concepts
Dependency in a project network is a link amongst a project's terminal elements. Duration of a project's terminal element is the number of calendar periods it takes from the time the execution of element starts to the moment it is completed. Float in a project network is the amount of time that a task in a project network can be delayed without causing a delay to subsequent tasks and or the project completion date. Hammock activity – is a schedule (project management) or project planning term for a grouping of subtasks that "hangs" between two end dates it is tied to. (Or the two end-events it is fixed to.) Product breakdown structure – (PBS) in project management is an exhaustive, hierarchical tree structure of components that make up an item, arranged in whole-part relationship. Product description – in project management is a structured format of presenting information about a project product Project Management Triangle – is a model of the constraints of project management. Resources in project management terminology are required to carry out the project tasks. They can be people, equipment, facilities, funding, or anything else capable of definition (usually other than labour) required for the completion of a project activity. Scope of a project in project management is the sum total of all of its products and their requirements or features. Tasks in project management are activity that needs to be accomplished within a defined period of time. Time limit is a narrow field of time, or a particular point in time, by which an objective or task must be accomplished. Work in project management is the amount of effort applied to produce a deliverable or to accomplish a task (a terminal element). Vertical slice – is a type of milestone, benchmark, or deadline, with emphasis on demonstrating progress across all components of a project. Work package – is a subset of a project that can be assigned to a specific party for execution. Because of the similarity, work packages are often misidentified as projects. Workstream – is a set of associated activities, focused around a particular scope that follow a path from initiation to completion.
Project management procedures Aggregate planning – is an operational activity which does an aggregate plan for the production process, in advance of 2 to 18 months, to give an idea to management as to what quantity of materials and other resources are to be procured and when, so that the total cost of operations of the organization is kept to the minimum over that period. Allocation – is the assignment of available resources in an economic way. Budgeting Budget – generally refers to a list of all planned expenses and revenues. Budgeted cost of work performed – (BCWP) measures the budgeted cost of work that has actually been performed, rather than the cost of work scheduled. Budgeted cost of work scheduled – (BCWS) the approved budget that has been allocated to complete a scheduled task (or Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) component) during a specific time period. Constructability – is a project management technique to review the construction processes from start to finish during pre-construction phase. It will identify obstacles before a project is actually built to reduce or prevent error, delays, and cost overrun. Cost engineering – is the area of engineering practice where engineering judgment and experience are used in the application of scientific principles and techniques to problems of cost estimating, cost control, business planning and management science, profitability analysis, project management, and planning and scheduling."AACE International's Recommended Practice 11R-88, Required Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering, provides some answers which are excerpted here. Beyond being a guiding document for AACE International’s education and certification developments, 11R-88 is an excellent reference for industry core competency and career model development. Critical path method – (CPM) is a mathematically based modeling technique for scheduling a set of project activities, used in project management. Earned value management – (EVM) is a project management technique for measuring project progress in an objective manner, with a combination of measuring scope, schedule, and cost in a single integrated system. Earned schedule – (ES) is an extension to earned value management (EVM), which renames two traditional measures, to indicate clearly they are in units of currency or quantity, not time. Estimation in project management is the processes of making accurate estimates using the appropriate techniques. Graphical Evaluation and Review Technique (GERT) – is a network analysis technique that allows probabilistic treatment of both network logic and activity duration estimated.