PMBOK Guide, Third Edition – Is more really better
A Review by R. Max Wideman – Part 1
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A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Third Edition,
is copyright by the Project Management Institute, PA, USA, 2004.
It has been distributed on a CD free of charge to members of the Institute
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Executive Summary项目管理者联盟文章
The Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge is the Project Management Institute's flagship document upon which is based its accreditation, certification, and training programs. It underpins a major part of the Institute's products and marketing. The existence of a documented body of knowledge in project management is also the foundation of its success in recent years and a credible and supportable update is therefore critical to the Institute's continued success. So this review has been undertaken from the perspective of the potential reaction from experienced project managers, and the credibility and lucidity with which the latest update can be presented to students of project management.项目经理博客
In this review we have found much that we liked, but also areas that could and should be improved. We present it in three parts: Part 1 takes a broader view of the document providing a General Introduction and a description of the Guide Structure followed by What we liked, the Downside, and Missed Opportunities that should be of serious concern. Part 2 provides more detail with respect to Sections I and II contained within the document. It too is divided into What we liked and the Downside. Part 3 deals similarly with Section III. For purposes of brevity, this Executive Summary touches only on the highlights.talent.mypm.net
What we liked项目管理者联盟文章
This version is more readable than its predecessor and is more consistent in the manner of presentation.
Almost all section and subsection headings are defined in the Guide's Glossary.
The Glossary has been carefully edited for consistency of language and relevance to the text. That is, it is specific to the Guide and its philosophy.
Downsideblog.mypm.net
The Guide takes a complex systems view of project management and includes a process flow diagram for each knowledge area. Not everyone will be comfortable with this form of presentation and the diagrams appear to be overly complex and do not necessarily reflect "most projects most of the time".1
The number of processes has been increased and several of them have been changed and/or relabeled. Further, their content has been significantly revised from the previous version of the Guide representing a wholesale change that may or may not be justified
Of the knowledge areas, the distinction between the "Core Processes", i.e. scope, quality, time and cost, and the "Facilitating Processes", i.e. risk, human resources, procurement and communications, identified in the 2000 Guide, has been removed. This is regrettable because these groups are two quite different types of essential project management activities.
Missed Opportunities项目管理者联盟
The update teams and their leaders appear to have overlooked the fundamental importance of a properly structured project life span (project life cycle) essential for executive corporate control.
Instead, major focus has been placed on the newly defined Project Management Process Groups, placing them in a separate Section described as "The Standard for Project Management of a Project". Unfortunately the labeling of these Process Groups in previous editions of the Guide has created great confusion in the market place, because they have been mistaken for the project life span. We think that these project management process groups have much in common with standard operational management control so that re-labeling could have gone a long way to remove the misinterpretation.
The subject of project scope management has been improved but still results in misunderstanding and inconsistency in the Guide.
The knowledge area chapters could have been reordered into their logical evolution in the project life span, thus giving the subject of project quality management its proper structure and visibility in the management of projects.
These and other matters are described in the presentations that follow. In our view, the document requires significant attention before being adopted as the latest project management standard. As an aside, it is our view that when a model for regular use becomes too complex or too uncertain to be comprehended by those for whom it is designed, i.e. the average project manager, then it is time to change it. For promulgation as a "standard" such as this, all processes should be simple, reliable and defensible. Anything less could not only damage the reputation of the Guide and the Institute's reputation but even the discipline of project management itself.项目管理者联盟
General Introductiontraining.mypm.net
The Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, now in its third edition, is the Project Management Institute's ("PMI") flagship document. On it is based PMI's very successful Project Management Professional ("PMP") certification program and associated training and accreditation programs. This Guide has been developed by a large group of PMI volunteer members, in this latest case well over 200, who have an interest in this aspect of PMI's activities. It is issued as an American National Standard.training.mypm.net
Notwithstanding, PMI is careful to note that while "it administers the process and establishes rules to promote fairness in the development of consensus, it does not write the document and it does not independently test, evaluate, or verify the accuracy or completeness of any information or the soundness of any judgments contained in its standards and guideline publications."2 And further, wisely disclaims any liability for "use of application, or reliance on this document."3 In short, buyer beware!
The previous edition was issued in 2000, and this latest effort has clearly involved a substantial number of volunteer hours. The result has produced a doubling of the number of pages from around 200 to nearly 400. The question is: Does that represent an improvement and does it make sense? The answer is, of course, that there is good stuff and not-so-good stuff, but there are also some serious disappointments. Others may not agree exactly with our findings, but if this leads to constructive discussions and an improved document, everyone will benefit.项目管理者联盟
In the following pages we will first take an overall perspective and subsequently examine the individual sections in more detail. 转自项目管理者联盟
Guide Structure项目管理者联盟
Like its 2000 predecessor, the Guide is divided into sections now consisting of five as follows: The Project Management Framework; The Standard for Project Management of a Project; The Project Management Knowledge Areas; Appendices; and Glossary. Each section consists of one or more chapters. The second section has taken the previous Project Management Processes chapter and singled out these processes for special attention. As before, the largest section is The Project Management Knowledge Areas, which retain the same chapter numbering and, like its predecessor, the Guide is heavily systems-based following an input-process-output pattern.项目管理者联盟
"The primary purpose of the PMBOK® Guide is to identify that subset of the Project Management Body of Knowledge that is generally recognized as good practice . . . [and] . . . means that the knowledge and practices described are applicable to most projects most of the time, and that there is widespread consensus about their value and usefulness."4 However, the text is presented in language that suggests a description of current practices, i.e. what is done, rather than as a standard conveying to members what should be done.项目管理培训
Given that information technology (IT) and administrative type project people now form a majority group within PMI, it would not be surprising to learn that a majority of these same people were also represented on the Guide's contributing team. In any case, the reader of previous versions will observe a significant tilt towards these areas of project management application in both concepts and language. Reflecting this, a flow diagram has been provided at the beginning of each knowledge area chapter. 项目管理者联盟
IT people, and business analysts in particular, will be especially comfortable with this form of representation, even though each diagram carefully notes that "Not all process interactions and data flow among the processes are shown". Another indicator is the introduction of the term "assets", or more particularly "Organizational Process Assets". This is defined in the Glossary as including "formal and informal plans, policies, procedures, and guidelines. The process assets also include the organizations' knowledge bases such as lessons learned and historical information."5 In other words, it denotes the supporting paperwork. 项目经理圈子
The question is, will project managers in fields other than IT be comfortable with these types of innovation?项目管理者联盟
What we liked
In this latest Guide we feel that its authors have made the document much more readable with plenty of really good illustrative text with more detail. However, it also means far more to read. They have also made a sincere attempt to "normalize" the text especially amongst the nine knowledge area chapters. This means that there is more uniformity in approach, clarity in use of terminology, and consistency in presentation, even if that is not necessarily true of the content. talent.mypm.net
In support of this, the authors have completely rewritten the Glossary to reflect the same approach and to define all of the Guide's labels attached to every numbered article in the text. This clarity and consistency significantly improves the reader's ability to understand the import of all the process labels especially those that have been introduced or changed. That means that the Glossary is now specific to the Guide, rather than general, so perhaps this will remove at least some of the controversy over terminology that presently exists in the project management marketplace.转自项目管理者联盟
Someone, somewhere, has done a good job of editing a difficult document! In it there is much to be welcomed, but there are also disappointments.项目管理培训
Downsideblog.mypm.net
With the complicated systems view now adopted throughout the document, one has to ask whether this format is still suitable as a basis for project management learning, and/or as a general project management standard. Since most outputs reappear as inputs elsewhere, and the descriptions reappear accordingly, this leads to extra verbiage and the danger of conflicting information. A similar problem exists with outputs having the same name but generated from different sets of inputs.club.mypm.net
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