P2M - Japan's Project and Programme Management

P2M is Japan’s Project and Programme management framework.

It’s growing in popularity in Japan, and is of increasing interest to the international PM community for what it can teach us.

I find it interesting that this framework has a much more specific focus on stakeholder and value management that the PMI framework. I have listed their "Individual Management Areas" below to give you a taste of this alternative approach.

If you are interested in learning more here are a few key links.

• PMAJ – Project Management Association of Japan (P2M homepage)
• The P2M introductory handbook (PDF)
  
  
  
  

Project Management
Business Analyst

PMBOK Fourth Edition open for review

PMI is asking for feedback on version 4 of the PMBOK. From what I have read it's an incremental change.

You can read and comment yourself at PMI.org.

At the very least you can pre-read the next version (in draft format) and see where things are heading for PMPs.

Comments are being accepted until 22 March 08.

Project Management
Business Analyst

DoD PMBOK

Glenn Alleman has a great blog - Herding Cats, and its a beauty of a project management site. He works in the aerospace industry so you get some good perspectives from the heavy end of the project management spectrum.

I mention him here because he points us to an excellent resource; The US DoD version of a PMBOK. You can download it here.

Project Management
Business Analyst

Two For One; Harrin on PM Models

If you are thinking about Project Management Certification or are wondering which project management framework is best for you and your project there are two main models to choose from; PMBOK and PRINCE2.

They both have their strengths and weaknesses, and yes, I have written about them before.

This week fellow PM blogger and author Elizabeth Harrin writes on combining PMBOK and PRINCE2 at Projects @ Work in an article called Two for One.

Her views match mine; that PRINCE2 is not a bad model if you want support from a defined process, but you need to understand it well and customise it to your own project's requirements. A warning though; process goes some way to managing quality but process alone can't ensure project success.

For that you need to turn to the people on your team; make sure they have the knowledge, skills and motivation to deliver your project, and that's where PMI's PMBOK comes in. PMI's a knowledge based framework, rather than a process oriented one. It's approach is that you get talented people and train them in the skills. Then you sick them onto projects.

Rounding up Elizabeth's article; An overall knowledge of the PRINCE2 process will complement the knowledge based PMBOK. In the case of project management two frameworks is better than one.

Elizabeth Harrin, Two for One, Projects @ Work, 27/09/2007

Project Management
Business Analyst

The shortcomings of the PMBOK and BABOK

If you read the article I linked to in my last post you read that Peter Morris thinks the PMBOK is too limited and that a more holistic framework of managing projects for success is required.

He believes the body of knowledge must go beyond the pure PM techniques and include what is necessary for success for it to be a truly useful PMBOK.

Extending the idea further for business analysts;
Is the IIBA making a mistake by constraining the BABOK to what is unique about the role. Is it unique anyway - see the SWEBOK as an example of overlap. Shouldn't the IIBA work out what the key success criteria are for BAs and make that the foundation of the BABOK?

Project Management
Business Analyst

Is PRINCE2 better than PMBOK?

Is PRINCE2 better than PMBOK? Max Wideman, former president and chairman on the PMI, has compared these two leading project management frameworks.

His bottom line assessment is that PRINCE2 and the PMBOK suit different purposes. PRINCE2 is a useful guidebook for managing a project. It provides a process and framework to operate a project. The PMBOK is a good framework for learning about projects and provides a foundation for dealing with a diverse range of project types. Both frameworks have assumptions and implications inherent to them that bring particular strengths and weaknesses.

At the end of the day Max suggests they are complementary, and if you have studied (and used) both you will know more than if you have studied (and used) only one.

Max’s article is here – well worth a read for anyone considering Project Management certification.

Project Management
Business Analyst