Section III - The Project Management Knowledge Areas
What We Liked
In Chapter 4, subsection 4.5, we were pleased to see a somewhat greater focus on managing the work of actually creating the product of the project than was the case in the previous Guide.[1]
Chapter 5, Project Scope Management, makes a sincere attempt to elaborate the distinction
between "project scope" and "product scope", but subsequent text appears to confuse
the two. So, as we mentioned under Missed Opportunities and
explain in the Downside below, it doesn't quite make the
grade.
We think that the elaboration of the work breakdown technique, subsection 5.3,[2] will be more valuable than the earlier Guide's description. Chapter 6, Project Time Management, the second longest in the Guide, is a solid chapter, as in general are Chapter 7, Project Cost Management; Chapter 9, Project Human Resource Management; Chapter 10, Project Communications Management; and Chapter 11, Project Risk Management. These are, after all, well-traveled topics but each chapter has been enhanced by the addition of explanations and examples.
Chapter 12 starts out with a good explanation of the special nature of Project Procurement Management, the importance of rigor in dealing with legal documents and how that affects associated project activities.[3] We particularly liked the observation "... most of the discussion in this chapter is equally applicable to non-contractual formal agreements entered into with other units of the project team's organizations."[4] Indeed, many of the principles should be extended to the commitments of the project team members to the project and the project team as a whole to the project's sponsor!
We certainly liked the way each chapter is thoroughly supported by corresponding definitions in the Glossary. We had to refer to it many times to clarify our understanding of the new and changed labels introduced, as well as some of the new terms introduced such as "Influencer"[5] and "Organizational Process Assets".[6]
1. Ibid pp94-98
2. Ibid p112
3. Ibid pp270-271
4. Ibid p271
5. Ibid p26
6. Ibid p40
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Recap
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