PREFACE
When the lunar module Eagle landed in the Sea of Tranquility at 13 hours, 19 minutes, 39.9 seconds Eastern Standard Time on July 20, 1969, the event was hailed as one of history’s major milestones. It was also one of the most fascinating and significant spin-offs of the U.S. space program and was the development of flexible yet precise organizational structures, forms, and tools that allowed people to work together to reach challenging goals. Out of that grew the modern concept of project management.
Since the Apollo days, project management, applicable both to individual endeavors and to a series of projects called programs, has been applied to many new fields of activity. With the trend toward accelerated change, the scope of project management has expanded from construction projects and aerospace to encompass organizational change, research and development (R&D) projects, high-tech product development, banking and finance, nonprofit services, environmental remediation—in fact, just about every field of human endeavor.
When it first appeared in 1993, this handbook was a major contribution to the field, pulling together expert practitioners to share their advice on topics such as designing adequate organizational structures, generating and maintaining teamwork, and managing the project life cycle. The second edition, released in 2005, was designed to complement and supplement the Project Management Institute’s Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), third edition, and to provide supporting materials for those preparing to take the certification exam or working to maintain their certification. We have retained this feature, though the last two editions, updating the chapters in Section One to the new standard, the PMBOK® Guide, fifth edition, in this book.
As in previous editions, we have retained many of the original authors, keeping those chapters that stand as classics in the field. However, with the pace of change, we have also eliminated a few chapters that had become dated in order to include new developments in the discipline. As a brief overview, the fourth edition changes comprise the following:
• One hundred percent of the chapters have had editorial revisions.
• All of the chapters that repeat in this edition have been updated, either by the author or by another expert in the field.
• Four chapters have been deleted, either because they were no longer relevant or because we chose to replace them to improve coverage of the topic.
• Four chapters are by new authors, replacing chapters on the same topics with updated content and a fresh voice.
• Eleven chapters are on new topics by new authors, covering stakeholder management to sustainability, agile project management to project management in healthcare, closing processes, and everything in between.
• And, of course, it is all, to the best of our knowledge, in line with the fifth edition of the PMBOK® Guide.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
Students who are taking introductory courses in project management as part of a degree in another field (for example, engineering, information technology, business administration, manufacturing or production management, construction management, and so on), or who are studying for degrees in the field of project management, will find the book invaluable. As a complementary and supplementary text, the handbook does not contain materials already published in the PMBOK® Guide, but it is designed to help those studying project management understand and integrate the materials contained in that standard, as well as project management concepts and issues that currently are not included in the PMBOK® Guide.
The book targets a broad audience, including not only the traditional project management faithfuls, but also professionals involved in organizational development, research, and other associated fields. The book provides a ready reference for anyone involved in project tasks, including upper management executives, project sponsors, project managers, functional managers, and team members. It addresses those working in any of the major program- and project-oriented industries, such as defense, construction, architecture, engineering, product development, systems development, R&D, education, and community development. Whether you are preparing for advancement in the project management field through certification or by completing university courses in the field, this handbook will be a valuable reference. For those using the book in a classroom setting, discussion questions provided at the end of each chapter help students and peers initiate fruitful discussions about concepts, problems, and ideas in their chosen field.
Organization of the Handbook
Section One: The Project Management Body of Knowledge: Comprehension and Practice
This section is designed specifically to aid the reader in learning the basics of project management and in preparing for taking the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification exam. Chapters 3 through 17, in fact, correspond to chapters of the PMBOK® Guide, fifth edition, that are tested on the PMP exam. This section includes the fundamental knowledge areas and describes the processes required to ensure that projects are brought to successful completion.
The organization of the book is specifically designed to raise interest and to lead readers to further analysis of the project management field. Those preparing for certification are generally studying the field of project management for the first time. Thus, Section One introduces the student to the basic accepted practices and principles of project management, as practiced within the project. Note that the PMBOK® Guide does not deal with, and the PMP certification process does not test, concepts of project management that extend beyond the bounds of the individual project. Yet the project manager must survive and thrive within highly competitive business organizations, interacting with other organizations both within their employer’s organization and from other organizations that have an interest or stake in the project. It is anticipated that as students work through the materials in the first section, they will be generating questions concerning these other aspects of project management that clearly fall outside the individual project (for example, the individual’s career potential, the expected contributions of projects to the organization, the requirements to manage multiple projects simultaneously, leadership concepts that cut across organizational lines, management of the power structures and conflicts that typically surround projects, and the interaction of the projects with other major departments of the organization, such as accounting, finance, and other groups being affected by the results of the project). These broader issues are explored in Sections Two through Five of the handbook.
Section Two: The Profession of Project Management
Section Two covers the field of project management as a rapidly growing profession that is being supported and developed by a number of professional organizations, particularly in the United States, Europe, and Australia. This section documents the growth and creation of the profession, identifies the major professional organizations contributing to its development, discusses the status of this new profession with a global perspective, and reviews the impact of this professionalizing process on the practitioner of project management and on the supporting organizations. Ethics, professionalism, and career development are the primary topics covered in this section.
Section Three: Organizational Issues in Project Management
Even a certified professional cannot escape the realities of organizational life, and increasingly, the role of the project manager catapults the individual out of the single-project milieu and into organizational issues: multiple projects, programs, performance measurement, portfolio selection and management, enterprise systems, organizational culture and structure, and alignment with strategy. These areas have become crucial issues in project management. Top professionals and academics with specific expertise in these areas have been sought out to provide tutorials on these topics in Section Three.
Section Four: Issues, Ideas, and Methods in Project Management Practice
Politics, new methodologies and organizational structures, globally diverse teams, breakthrough technologies, Agile, and sustainability—Section Four brings together writers on some of the leading-edge topics in project management. One thing that is certain about project management: it is not going to remain static for another ten years or even ten months. The chapters in this section provide a glimpse of where the discipline and the organizations in which it is practiced may be heading.
Section Five: Industry Applications of Project Management
With the growth of project management in all industry sectors, this section of the book could be one hundred chapters long; it was difficult to limit it to a handful of industries. As professionals, the students will need to understand how the basic accepted concepts of project management must be adapted to the environments found in different industries and professions. Section Five identifies a number of specific industries, technologies, and specialty areas in which project management is widely used and recognized, and examines the differing priorities of the project manager in each of these different venues. The overall thrust of this section is to demonstrate that the basic concepts of project management apply universally across these venues, even though the specific concepts and ideas may have different priorities and influences on project management practices in each venue. New to this section in the fourth edition are chapters on project management in healthcare, marketing, financial services, and infrastructure development.
About the Contributors
Finally, biographical information on all the contributing authors can be found at the end of the handbook. Some of the authors have provided email addresses or website URLs to encourage the interested student to ask questions, learn more, and engage in the kind of dialogue that spurs this fascinating discipline to growth and change.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In completing this project, we drew upon the knowledge, comprehension, patience, and diligence of many people. In particular, we would like to thank our AMACOM editor, Robert Nirkind, for his encouragement and patience.
Thanks are also due to our own companies, DinsmoreCompass and PM Solutions, for making it possible for us to work on this book, and the families and friends who put up with our schedules over the course of the past year.
Most of all, we want to thank the authors who contributed so much of their time and talent to this project, as well as the contributors to previous editions, who laid the groundwork for this updated version. A special word of thanks is due to Paul Lombard, PMP, of the PM College who assisted in updating two chapters in addition to his own.
Finally, we would be remiss if we did not express our appreciation of the Project Management Institute for its work in developing and maintaining the project management standards that form the basis of our profession.
—PAUL C. DINSMORE, PMP,
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
—JEANNETTE CABANIS-BREWIN,
CULLOWHEE, NORTH CAROLINA