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The content of this plane requires input from many key project players having both technological and
project management performance responsibilities, especially for those activities affected by either a
technical or general management BOK. Since most proposed PMrBoKs contain no product technical or
technological knowledge entries, yet nevertheless always exist on any project; such entries need a
"home". Potential "political" considerations may also need a home. Plane C is the place for this content.
It may also be the home for supplementary material specific to a particular project that enlarges on
Plane B PMrBoK content, i.e. the plane for the product delivery system and its execution.
The need for extracting and incorporating elements of other BOKs having plane C attributes is often not
knowable at the outset and requires vigilance and inquiry on the part of the project manager. I suggest
that this identification or unearthing process and subsequent inclusion represents a major portion of the
integration efforts of the PM. Moreover, it is imperative that the PM spends sufficient time on this
integrating function if the project is to be well run and efficient. Indeed, managing the contents of this
plane C is often the most difficult part of a PM's job if the project is to be judged successful. This effort
is most intense in the conceptual stages(s) but often continues sporadically in the execution stage. A
review for adequacy for future stages can be profitably performed as the conceptual stage(s) and the
project effort turns to execution.
This challenge is further heightened by the fact that specific content from the general management,
technical or other BOKs varies according to a number of factors such as
- The nature, industry or sector of the project
- The specific product of the project
- The several phases and particularly the current phase of the project
- The execution strategy or plan selected for the project or phase
- The project location(s), and
- The characteristics of resources both needed and available
The collection, selection and insertion of this wide ranging and variable content, constituting the IMr or
SMrBoK I talked about in Part 1 of this paper, is usually an on-going process which needs review as the
project progresses through its life span. A peculiar feature of this plane is that
- Although largely project inherent rather than project management inherent, materials placed here
are generally useful as a "starter set" or checklist to initiate the extraction processes from the
other BoKs
- Responsibility for content selection, definition, extraction and control can be assigned to other
than the project manager as part of the project's scope of work
- The content is indicative and not prescriptive and may consist of several subsets based on the
industry or sector, and
- The needs are often only identified, initiated or generated as a result of the then current project
scope.
Clearly the content of Plane C is project specific, therefore I expect the
content(s) generated and
supported by professional organizations to be quite minimal, generalized and for guidance only. I have
tried to capture the essence of all of this in Table 1 below.
Table 1
Notes:
- Limited to the selected PMrBoK such as the PMI-PMBOK document
- Given and guided by the selected PMrBoK document such as the PMI-PMBOK document
- Almost fully project defined and uses multiple extracts to elaborate on planes A and B to
generate a full project technical discipline plane
- Execution strategy sensitive similar to c above
- Project specific, similar to c above
These interactions are graphically portrayed in Figure 7.
Figure 7: Relationships between PMrBoKs
Based on the above concepts, I have made a "first pass" at a set of comprehensive and supportable
content. This is set out in an outline structure complete with a reference number system for purposes of
discussion. For anyone who is interested in furthering these ideas, I shall be pleased to send them a
copy.
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How a PMrBoK might be Defined and Used
