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Project Management: Definition and Explanation

What is Project Management?

We already saw what a Project is, now let us see what Project Management is

PMBOK defines Project Management as “It is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements.” 

Some others define it as “application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to increase the likelihood of project’s success.”

Project Management is both a Science and an Art.

Project Management as an ART – Many times in projects, the various issues, risks, escalations, planning, resource decisions are handled based on the experience, skills and knowledge of the project manager. There are no generic plan of actions that can be used across the projects, and things had to be handled properly based on the situation.

Project Management as a Science – There are many time tested principles, and readily available tools and techniques that can be used across projects without hesitation. For example, Earn Value Management (EVM) in budgeting, Different types of contracts and their calculations in Procurement, calculation of Net Present Value(NPV), Return on Investment(ROI) etc during project selection etc. These are based on mathematical principles and has little to do with the inherent capabilities on the project manager.

PMBOK 6th Edition defines or breaks down Project Management into a total

  • 49 processes
  • 5 process groups
  • 10 knowledge areas

Check about Program and Portolio.

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