Expansion of the Term Project Management
Today we find that two other areas of study are becoming familiar, namely, "Program Management" and "Portfolio Management" and in an attempt to "bring these into the fold", so to speak, these areas are also included under the group heading of "Project Management". No doubt there are good political reasons for doing so, but it does leave us with a clear conflict of logic as things stand.
Either we should find a new name to distinguish between the collective grouping of the three areas together and that of managing a single project; or we should redefine the meaning of "Project Management". Obviously the latter is the easier route.
Moreover, the practices of Project Portfolio Management (PPfM), Project Program Management (PPgM) together with Single Project Management (SPM) are all sufficiently well understood to recognize each in their own right. That is to say, to recognize each as a separate discipline.[5]
Therefore, my proposed re-definition of project management is as follows:[6]
"Project management, in its broadest sense, is the totality of managing projects throughout an organization and at all its management levels. That is, it encompasses Project Portfolio Management (PPfM), Project Program Management (PPgM) and Single Project Management (SPM)."
This change is needed not because of preference, but because of logic and clarity.
But that's not the only problem.
5. As an example, the profession of "Engineering" encompasses a variety of "disciplines" such as civil engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and so on. The efforts of the Definition of the Practice of Professional Engineering folks at www.peo.on.ca/index.php/ci_id/25827/la_id/1.htm have a similar problem.
6. Wideman, R. M., unpublished research paper, 2015
|
Introduction
