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About this lesson

A portion of the PMBOK® Guide is a standard for project management recognized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).  That portion is Part 2 of the document, The Standard for Management of a Project.

Quick reference

The Standard for Project Management of a Project

A portion of the PMBOK® Guide is a standard for project management. That portion is Part 2, The Standard for Project Management of a Project.

When to use

Although Part 2 is a standard, it is considered a guidance standard and not a mandatory standard or regulation. However, some companies or buying groups may impose portions of the standard on themselves or their suppliers. 

When preparing a high level project management methodology, Part 2 is a good reference.

Instructions

The PMBOK® Guide Part 2, The Standard for Project Management of a Project is a reference standard.  It contains the 49 best practice processes organized by process groups.  Each process is described with a brief paragraph stating the purpose, goal or benefit of the process followed by a list of the process inputs and outputs.  Part 2 does not contain any information concerning how a given process should be accomplished - that is in Part 1.  

The preceding chapters of the PMBOK® Guide were organized by knowledge area. These provided good insight into an area of project management activity. Part 2 is organized by process group.  It provides insight into the inter-relationship between processes across knowledge areas.   

When studying for the PMP® exam, I recommend studying the processes in both settings. Other modules in this course discuss the relationships between the processes for each process group and each knowledge area.

The Project Management Institute is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as a standards developer. 

PMBOK and PMP are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

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  • 00:05 Hi, this is Ray Sheen.
  • 00:06 Let's talk now about part two of the Project Management Body of Knowledge,
  • 00:10 the PMBOK Guide.
  • 00:11 This is the official standard for project management.
  • 00:16 The PMBOK Guide is a comprehensive book, combining both a standard and
  • 00:21 guidance sections on how to implement that standard.
  • 00:24 The guidance sections provide best practices in the forms of tools and
  • 00:27 techniques, to do the project management activities.
  • 00:31 The actual standard is found in Part 2, and
  • 00:33 contains the list of project management processes, with the inputs,
  • 00:37 and outputs, and elements of deliverables for each of the processes.
  • 00:42 Part 2 is organized by the project management process groups of Initiating,
  • 00:46 Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and the Closing Processes.
  • 00:51 I found that Part 2 is a concise study guide for reviewing the PMBOK processes.
  • 00:55 In particular, you can use it to link the inputs and
  • 00:58 outputs from processes, to understand the flow of management activities.
  • 01:03 You may be wondering who gives the Project Management Institute the right to create
  • 01:06 a standard.
  • 01:07 That they say applies to all projects in all industries.
  • 01:11 Well the answer to that is, the American National Standards Institute, ANSI.
  • 01:15 This agency has accredited PMI as a standards developer.
  • 01:19 That means PMI, has the authority to create standards and
  • 01:21 to issue standards in the area of project management.
  • 01:25 Let's be clear.
  • 01:26 PMBOK Guide Part 2 is a standard, but it is not a regulation.
  • 01:31 That means, it is considered to be a good practice, and organizations, and
  • 01:35 individuals would be wise to follow it, but it does not have the force of law.
  • 01:40 A company is not required to follow PMBOK Guide Part 2,
  • 01:43 unless they have a company policy that says they must.
  • 01:46 Or unless they are doing a project for a customer, who makes that part of
  • 01:50 the contractual obligation through the terms of the contract.
  • 01:53 The standard is independent of project type.
  • 01:56 By that I mean it's not just for product development projects, or
  • 01:59 facility projects, or IT projects.
  • 02:02 The majority of the standard has direct applicability to every project type.
  • 02:07 In fact I found it to be applicable in aerospace,
  • 02:11 high tech, consumer products, pharmaceuticals,
  • 02:14 medical devices, automotive, construction and industrial products.
  • 02:19 And I've used it with IT projects, new-product-development projects,
  • 02:23 process improvement projects and capital investment projects.
  • 02:27 Things that do vary by industry or project type, will be which of the list of tools and
  • 02:32 techniques to use.
  • 02:33 But these are not part of the Part 2 standards.
  • 02:36 Those are in the guidance portion of the PMBOK Guide.
  • 02:40 Also, depending upon the company's methodology,
  • 02:43 some of the processes may be done in a different sequence,
  • 02:47 than what is shown in the guidance portion of the PMBOK Guide.
  • 02:50 That's tailoring that is allowed, and in fact it's encouraged in the PMBOK Guide.
  • 02:56 But regardless of the sequence, the activity is still done.
  • 02:59 And it's the activity with the inputs and outputs, that is listed in Part 2,
  • 03:03 the standard not the sequence of activities.
  • 03:09 Although we often think of the PMBOK Guide as a reference
  • 03:12 book of best practices, and it is.
  • 03:14 It does include one section, Part 2, that is an official industry standard.

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PMI, PMP, CAPM and PMBOK are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

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