Do We Follow Any Sequence Of Processes In Project Management As Per PMBOK

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A project is progressively elaborated, planning is iterative and the project management plan is constantly revised through the project life cycle. The problem many Project managers have is that they never revisit the assumptions they use during initial planning, not taking the ownership and accountability for not doing their job.

Assumptions can be used in almost every PM process, considering all the possible risks. It just seemed to me that certain documents have specific requirements to be approved in the planning stage which include the use of specified inputs to accomplish that goal. The activity resource requirements you establish as part of Time Management are not actually needed to plan how you will manage the HR functions. The actual acquisition of the project team (after Plan HR is done) also does not necessarily need the detailed activity resource requirements. What is required at that time is, the count and skill-set of resources you need, to start the acquisition and hiring process, followed by refining the staffing plan. Almost all the processes or knowledge areas need to be visited again and again during the project life cycle depending upon the situations. Any change in process or knowledge area may require attention so is very important to visit all the processes from time to time or need basis for progressive elaboration. Estimating resource requirements include the qualification and skills of resources required for the project while activity resource requirements as an output of Time Management process could mean the time estimates for each of the activities.

One of the most common interpretation mistakes is trying to find ambiguous sequence for PMBOK processes, but you can only do that during the first stages of the project life cycle. As most of the processes are iterative, so it will back and forth multiple times. For example you will make a first version of the HR plan and you will improve it with future outputs from other processes. The key is iteration in PM process is progressive elaboration, or reviewing, extending, improving and adapting your PM processes throughout the life of the project. The key is that you should address all the PMBOK Knowledge Area processes. It is recommended to address a PM process proactively, otherwise you have to address it reactively when you need it, resulting in less chance of success.

The resource calendar as an input to Estimate Activity Resources needs to have resources required role wise for example 1 Project manager, 2 BAs, 4 Testers, 1 Analyst and a Technical lead to estimate the effort to complete the activity. The significance of resource calendar differs in the Executing process where it is updated for the name, experience, and availability of the resource in the Acquire project team process. Obviously there should have been a process to identify the resources role wise in Project Time management Knowledge Area. The inputs & outputs are not similar to process or product oriented activities defined or regulated. Input to Human Resource Plan is not created until the output of project team which creates resources calendar is ready. In other words, the priorities & logical relationship between elements within the scope dictate the sequence or right time of activities. The sequence in PMBOK is defined by the project life cycle you will use to perform the project work. Other mistake is when people mix process that belongs to different process group.

PMBOK is a guide of what one must cover and accomplish as project managers. At the same time, the managers should use their own discretion considering all the restrictions and need of an hour.

 

 

 

 

About Aditi Malhotra

Aditi Malhotra is the Content Marketing Manager at Whizlabs. Having a Master in Journalism and Mass Communication, she helps businesses stop playing around with Content Marketing and start seeing tangible ROI. A writer by day and a reader by night, she is a fine blend of both reality and fantasy. Apart from her professional commitments, she is also endearing to publish a book authored by her very soon.

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