PMBOKTM History and Overview
Jim Owens PMP
In February 1968 a small group comprising Edward A. Engman, J. Gordon Davis, James R. Snyder and Eric Jenett (the only member without a middle name) met in New Orleans to discuss the possibility of forming an organisation dedicated to the discipline of project management.
Susan C. Gallagher later joined the group and together they founded the “Project Management Institute”, or PMI, as it is known today throughout the world, on October 9th 1969 in Atlanta Georgia, the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr, just seven weeks after the Eagle had landed in the Sea of Tranquillity, thanks to the Kennedy space program.
And from that first small step, PMI’s membership has continued to grow exponentially and today it boasts a global community approaching 250,000 professional members worldwide, and many of the project management tools, techniques and methods developed for the space program formed much of the project management body of knowledge that PMI adopted. So project management may not be rocket science, but it’s related to it.
In 1984 PMI held its first PMP (Project Management Professional) certification exam, resulting in 43 passes out of 55 applicants, as its membership passed five thousand. Today there are around 180,000 PMP’s in 175 countries, and the PMP, a rigorous, examination based certification, that itself holds an ISO 9001 Quality certification, has become the most sought after and highly valued project management credential in the world.
In 1986 PMI produced the first draft of a groundbreaking document that would assist members in studying for the PMP exam, but would also have an immeasurable impact on the way countless future projects would be managed. The document was called “A guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge” or “PMBOK” (pronounced Pim Bock, with a slight Scottish accent).
In 1991 the draft PMBOK became an ANSI standard. The first edition was published in 1994, then revised in 1996, as the membership passed seventy thousand. PMBOK 2000 was released in 1999 (no doubt to beat the Y2K bug) and the most recent version, PMBOK Third Edition, was published in 2004.
PMBOK divides a project into nine knowledge areas and five phases, simultaneously, as shown below.
|
Knowledge
Areas |
Initiation |
Planning |
Executing |
Monitoring & Controlling |
Closing |
|
Project Management Integration
|
Develop Project Charter
Develop Preliminary Project Scope Statement |
Develop Project Management Plan |
Direct and Manage Project Execution |
Monitor and Control Project Work
Integrated Change Control |
Close Project |
|
Project Scope Management
|
|
Scope Planning
Scope Definition
Create WBS |
|
Scope Verification
Scope Control |
|
|
Project Time Management
|
|
Activity Definition
Activity Sequencing
Activity Resource Estimating
Activity Duration Estimating
Schedule Development |
|
Schedule Control |
|
|
Project Cost Management
|
|
Cost Estimating
Cost Budgeting |
|
Cost Control |
|
|
Project Quality Management
|
|
Quality Planning |
Perform Quality Assurance |
Perform Quality Control |
|
|
Project Human Resource Management
|
|
Human Resource Planning |
Acquire Project Team
Develop Project Team |
Manage Project Team |
|
|
Project Communications Management
|
|
Communications Planning |
Information Distribution |
Performance Reporting
Manage Stakeholders |
|
|
Project Risk Management
|
|
Risk Management Planning
Risk Identification
Qualitative Risk Analysis
Quantative Risk Analysis
Risk Response Planning |
|
Risk Monitoring and Control |
|
|
Project Procurement Management
|
|
Plan Purchases and Acquisitions
Plan Contracting |
Request Seller Responses
Select Sellers |
Contract Administration |
Contract Closure |
The PMBOK has
- 5 Major Project Management processes,
- 9 knowledge Areas,
- 454 Key Definitions,
- 44 PM Sub Processes,
- 592 sets of Inputs, Outputs, Tools & Techniques
- 32 pages of glossary
The PMP exam:
4 Hour Test, 200 Questions
Estimated distribution of questions:
- 30% directly from the book
- 25% based on the book
- 35% practical experience/scenario
- 10% out of the blue
The main reasons for failing:
- Inadequate preparation,
- Poor training,
- Poor examination techniques, and
- Lack of commitment
To be continued...