A User's Manual to the PMBOK Guide, Fifth Edition

Chapter 1

Introduction

TOPICS COVERED

About This Book

Project Management Process Groups

Project Management Knowledge Areas

About This Book

This book is designed to help make the A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)—Fifth Edition more accessible to project managers. The PMBOK® Guide is a standard, therefore it defines what is considered to be a good practice on most projects most of the time. Notice it does not define best practices, it defines good practices. Best practices tend to be industry and organization specific. Because the PMBOK® Guide is a standard, it is not descriptive. In other words, it doesn’t tell you how to implement those practices, it merely identifies them.

The PMBOK® Guide also promotes a common vocabulary for project management, thereby enabling effective communication about project management between project managers, their sponsors, and their team members.

Many project managers, PMOs, and organizations mistake the PMBOK® Guide as a project management methodology. It is not. A project management methodology is a set of practices, policies, procedures, guidelines, tools, techniques, and so forth that are used to manage projects. This book is not a methodology. This book takes the information in the PMBOK® Guide and describes it in easily understandable language and explains how to apply the various tools and techniques. In short, it makes the PMBOK® Guide easier to understand and helps you implement the practices described therein. ...