The Critical Path

by: Cynthia Dionisio, Co-leader PMBOK® Guide–Seventh Edition Development Team

Over the past few years we’ve seen the emergence of a broad range of approaches to project and product delivery with a stronger focus on outcomes rather than deliverables. These changes and more have created an opportunity to reconsider perspectives to help support the continued evolution of The Standard for Project Management.*

As part of the evolution of project and product delivery we have realized that a process-based approach to the Standard is not as useful as a principle-based approach. Thus, you will see a different standard than you have in previous editions. Rather than presenting Process Groups with processes, inputs, and outputs, this edition focuses on the core principles associated with project delivery.

In several workshops conducted around the world over the last year, the global project management community explored and identified underlying guiding principles for the practice of project delivery. A global community of over 70 practitioners used the results from these workshops and other sources to develop and/or provide feedback on drafts of the Standard as it evolved for this edition. Several development team members also posted to The Critical Path their reflections as the work progressed. The principle statements that emerged capture and summarize the generally accepted actions and behaviors of project management practice, as well as provide broad parameters within which project teams can operate and remain aligned with their intent.

The Standard also takes a systems view of project management. The new Value Delivery System section changes the perspective from one of simply managing projects, programs, and portfolios to one focused on the value chain that links those and other business capabilities to advancing organizational strategy, value, and business objectives. Projects enable realization of benefits to drive outcomes that ultimately deliver value to organizations and their stakeholders.

Help shape the next edition of The Standard for Project Management by providing feedback on the draft. The draft of the Standard will be available for comment 15 January – 14 February. Follow this link to contribute to this exciting update of the Standard.

*The Standard for Project Management is part of, but not the whole of, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide). Only the Standard is being exposed for public comment in alignment with PMI’s standards development procedures.

To better serve the ProjectManagement.com community as well as the PMI community as a whole, our Digital Experience team has launched a navigation change that is across all PMI branded sites.  This change gives a more streamlined navigation experience with access to all PMI brands via the 9 dot menu in the top left hand side of the navigation bar.  With this change the sites are now what we call “responsive”. We have done away with the standalone mobile version of the site and the desktop version will now transform to a mobile version, depending on the size of your browser window.  This responsiveness of the site will still allow you access to all aspects of the site regardless of the size of the window; nothing should be hidden off screen.  As with any changes, if you find anything that doesn’t look quite right, let us know!  [email protected]

by Dave Violette, PMP

Those engaged in the discipline of managing projects can attest to rapid changes in approaches, methods, and techniques being introduced. The global evolution of how project management (PM) is tackled has been significant, and the pace of change continues at a head-spinning rate. These changes have made it difficult to keep up with developments; and even more, challenges efforts to link existing PM standards to new approaches. No sooner is a standard updated than some new subsuming approach or technique is developed.

Standard setting organizations are now starting to embrace the concept of defining Principles to guide the fundamentals involved in the practice of managing projects and delivering outcomes. Unlike process or approach-centered standards, which lists a series of process recommendations to meet the challenges of effective PM, focusing on Principles provides broader and more adaptable delivery guidance.

My view of PM Principles is that they represent the fundamental essence or norms that guide behavior and thinking at all levels of managing projects. Adhering to Principles helps project managers deliver better outcomes. Principles provide guidance, without imposing uniform adherence to a set of prescriptive processes or approaches.

So, where does the value of following these Principles arise? A set of Principles are used for guidance, rather than dictating how decisions are made or appropriate approaches adopted. Principles remain solid, provide stability, and focus on adapting behavior and thinking in the rapidly changing world of PM. Principles capture and summarize concept(s), action(s), condition(s), or consideration(s) generally recognized as necessary for guiding or influencing PM delivery success.

An example of using a fundamental Principle could be around the proactive engagement with stakeholders. This type of Principle would guide the selection of the specific approach for effective identification of stakeholders—those who have significant influence on project delivery outcomes. It would also provide guidance for the selection of processes to allow for stakeholder interests, rights, and expectations to be understood at a level where stakeholders are effectively engaged. The approach or processes to use needs to be flexible and adaptable to the specific delivery/business environment, so as to effectively engage the stakeholders. Following a stakeholder engagement Principle versus being tied to specific processes, techniques, or tools outlined in process-centered standards would help to ensure effective stakeholder engagement happens. Principle-based decisions can allow for varying situational or environmental adjustments needed for that project.

A second example could be around a fundamental Principle of maintaining a focus on value. Realizing value is a key determinant for project delivery success, the organization either realizes intended value or it does not. An underlying tenet of this focus is continuous evaluation during project delivery considering both the benefits and the costs to realize them—this is Benefits Realization Management. Adhering to a value-focused principle helps the project team ensure alignment with the business objectives and intended outcomes rather than a specific deliverable or result. This sets up an approach where the outcomes help assure the expected benefits from the project work are realized and the intended value to the organization is achieved. In setting up the metrics for tracking project progress, the focus on the value principle requires a means to measure and evaluate whether the project remains on track to deliver the intended value. Each project is unique so no prescriptive metric or evaluation process can work in all cases. Following a value-focused principle though allows the project team to craft metrics and processes that work in their specific environment.

Principle-based standards offer greater flexibility within and adaptability to the project delivery environment. PM Principles guide the thinking and behavior of those engaged in the delivery of a project’s outcomes. Those involved in selecting and following an approach, method, or technique for delivering a specific type of project result can look at agnostic Principles to guide their thinking and behavior versus following a set of prescriptive approaches or processes that may not satisfy the unique challenges of a given project.

Appropriate Principles provide guidance without imposing uniform adherence to a set of prescriptive processes or approaches, whilst embracing differing organizational, cultural, and industrial environments. I firmly believe that standards based on Principles remain solid, provide stability, and focus on adapting behavior and thinking in the rapidly changing world of project management, and is the best approach for the future.

Today marks the launch of the ProjectManagement.com Community Ambassadors Program! This initiative will provide community members with additional support resources who facilitate and encourage constructive conversations as well as assist members in navigating the community. To learn more, read the initial program announcement here.

Emily Luijbregts and Andrew Craig will serve as ProjectManagement.com’s first Ambassadors! As active members of the community, Emily and Andrew have demonstrated great knowledge, professionalism, passion, and willingness to help fellow community members. Learn more about Emily & Andrew below - please connect with them and feel free to ask them for assistance in all things community and project management.

Emily has been working in Project Management for over 10 years. In this time, she has worked in a variety of project management methodologies, including waterfall, scrum, and agile, and she has been a strategic Project Manager, Coordinator, Facilitator, and Scrum Master. With a specialization in Communications, she ensures the team can remain on target and focused regardless of location and culture. She has worked extensively with colleagues on almost every continent and loves learning about other cultures and how we all communicate with each other.

Emily greatly enjoys being a part of PMI’s online community, as her busy schedule makes it difficult to stay active in her local Chapter. Offering opportunities for connection and a sense of community, ProjectManagement.com provides Project Managers with access to a wealth of knowledge at their fingertips. Emily loves that global viewpoints are represented within the community, and there is a diversity of experience and opinions. As a Community Ambassador, Emily hopes to help other Project Managers to learn and develop by encouraging collaboration and discussion and making everyone feel comfortable participating – whether they are new to the community or experienced professionals. 

Andrew Craig is a Consultant for North Highland Worldwide Consulting. As an Expert Practitioner in the Program and Project Management Office, he supports transformation initiatives and Community of Excellence development engagements. Andrew is a consummate professional and student of the profession with a passion for learning and bringing the best out of others.

Andrew’s style has largely been centered around inclusivity and collaboration, understanding that project management moves at the speed of decisions and without getting people together to have conversations, progress will be limited or veer off into an unexpected direction. Andrew has been successful in leading organizations to collectively, and effectively, make decisions and drive solutions forward to success.

ProjectManagement.com is a part of Andrew’s daily routine, as he starts his day browsing the site with a cup of coffee. Possessing the mindset that there is always something new to learn, Andrew enjoys interacting with fellow community members, sharing his thoughts, and gaining different insights. He loves that ProjectManagement.com exposes professionals to unique ideas and perspectives across a variety of industries and experience levels. As a Community Ambassador, Andrew seeks to encourage people to put themselves out there and become more engaged within the community. He is excited to continue learning about community members’ different ways of working and approaches to projects!

Season’s Greetings from all of us at PMI and ProjectManagement.com! As another year comes to a close, we wish everyone a wonderful holiday season, and Happy New Year! Looking ahead to 2020, there is so much to be excited about in PMI’s online community. Here’s a summary of what’s happening in your December Community News You Can Use:

Volunteer Opportunity: PMI is currently seeking volunteers to validate translations of the PMBOK® Guide – Seventh Edition! The PMBOK® Guide will be available in eleven languages, and volunteers are needed in order to ensure that the translations are accurate. Learn more here. Please note that this opportunity closes on 20 December 2019.

#GivingTuesday: On 3 December 2019, the PMI Educational Foundation hosted an open house on ProjectManagement.com to bring awareness to Project Management for Social Good. If you missed the PMIEF Open House and are interested in how you can use project management to make a difference, you may reference the articles and on-demand videos here.

Community Ambassadors Program: The Community Ambassadors Program was recently announced on ProjectManagement.com. The first group of Ambassadors, Emily Luijbregts and Andrew Craig, will start in the newly created Ambassadors role on 2 January 2020. To learn more, view the announcement here!

Standards Transformation Webinar: Learn more about the Standards Transformation and the PMBOK® Guide during a webinar with PMI’s Stephen Townsend on 22 January 2020. Register here!

Attend a Live Event in 2020: Save-the-date for two exciting PMI events: PMI® EMEA Congress 2020 and PMI® Global Conference 2020. PMI® EMEA Congress will be held 14-16 June in Prague, Czechia! And Global Conference will take place 17-19 October in Seattle, Washington, USA! Stay tuned to PMI.org for more information.

Change Management for Project Managers: Stephanie Jaeger outlines six simple steps for getting started with change management in her latest article.  

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to a member of the Community Engagement team – we’re happy to help you. As always, stay tuned to the Critical Path for your community news!