Comparing PMBOK ® Guide 4th Edition, PMBOK ® Guide 5th Edition, and ISO 21500

STS, a Swiss company specialized in Project Management training, launches an interesting comparative study between PMBOK® Guide 4th Edition, PMBOK® Guide 5th Edition, and ISO 21500.

For further information, please press here.

Launching of conclusions of the Survey performed in Spain about the knowledge of ISO 21500 Regulation and the interest that might arouse the development of a Guide for its implementation.

The summary of the conclusions obtained through this survey, performed till 31.07.2012, is as follows:

1. The responses obtained have a significant weight, for most of them have been given by people who have a long experience (more than 10 years) and dedicate their daily work to project management, and, additionally, most of those people have a certification or degree in Project Management, which provides our work with a “critical” value.

2.  Responses come from personnel from prominent companies or organizations, most of them with more than 1000 employees, IT & Communication as the outstanding sector. This aspect provides the obtained responses with a “formal nature”, for most big companies work with established procedures or standards inside their different departments. Otherwise, the fact of not counting with a significant presence of small companies makes us a little blind in our intention of elaborating a really universal guide.

3. The trend is that companies will tend to professionalize Project management inside their organizations, for nowadays there is less resistance against that, and, in addition, we have a nice percentage of them working under a formal framework. The quantity of PMO is still low and interest in creating them is scarce, so a possible objective or contribution of a Guide oriented to PMOs could be steered towards this aspect.   

4. The ISO 9001 is the most popular of regulations, having also a prominent seniority, and it will make easier the comprehension of  ISO 21500 Guides. Taking on account that the first motivation seems to be the recognition of the company rather than the continual improvement, we might think of a factor to help the organizations that are developing a Project management based in ISO 21500 to stand out (attractive), and maybe that factor should be based in the main benefits obtained from ISO 9001: costumer´s satisfaction and standardization of processes.

5. ISO 21500 regulation is known by nearly half of the survey responders, a number that becomes important, taking on account it is still a not very well known regulation, and has not become effective yet.

6.  It might be considered important to highlight at a certain point of the Guide which is the main contribution of ISO 21500 to Project management, for, though many people think it is a consolidation of Frameworks, a good amount of other people do not see clearly the contribution.

7. Though many people confirm the Non-certifiable condition of ISO 21500, another majority group, unaware of this aspect, thinks it should be so.

8. The making of both guides, one for PMs and another for PMOs, is a very well valued thing by the survey responders, so our effort  in such direction will be welcome, similarly as having an ISO, or specifically the ISO 9001, is understood as a help for implementation of ISO 21500.

For further information, you can consult the whole summary document through this link (Document available in Spanish). 

INTRODUCTION OF THE PROJECT CHARTER TO LATIN AMERICA

Last Saturday, 21st of July 2012, an online meeting between the representatives of ISO 21500 Regulation Analysis Group and representatives of Central America PMI Chapters was held as part of the activities of media diffusion of ISO 21500 Regulation´s Guidance for Implementation in developing organizations.

Thanks to the invitation issued by Gerardo Sierra and Felipe Nuñez, a Conference Call between Spain, Bolivia and Mexico could be held, and during it, María del Acebo Sánchez-Macián, who is, along with Mario Coquillat, coordinator of the ISO 21500 Regulation Analysis Group, offered an introduction to the Project Charter of such initiative, and asked the audience to collaborate in their project´s media diffusion.

Also, Cristian Soto (Volunteer from Bolivia) was appointed as the responsible for direct supervision of every action to be taken along with the representatives appointed by each of the Latin American PMI Chapters. 

For further information, please press here.

Combining the ISO 10006 and PMBOK (By Michael Stanleigh, CMC, CSP)

About the Author

Michael Stanleigh, CMC, CSP is the CEO of Business Improvement Architects. He works with executives and senior managers around the world to improve organizational performance by helping to define their strategic direction, increase leadership performance, create cultures that drive innovation and improve project and quality management. He has been instrumental in helping his clients increase productivity and profits with his innovative approaches and focus on quality.

For more information about this article, please contact Michael at mstanleigh@bia.ca

Introduction

The International Organization for Standardization released a new standard in the autumn of 2003.  Referred to as the, “ISO 10006:2003, Guidelines for Quality Management in Projects”, it is creating the next wave in our understanding of the management of projects and is of benefit to consider when planning projects.  This article intends to compare the two guidelines as follows and provide an interpretation for successful planning of projects.  It will look at:

·         How does the content of the ISO 10006 guideline compare to the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)?  

·         What is the importance of both guidelines to the on-going management of projects? 

·         What are the implications of these two guidelines on the management of all projects? 

·         What are the strategies required to implement the ISO 10006 and how is the ISO 10006 being applied in organizations?

Overview of the ISO 10006:2003 Standard

The IS0 10006 guideline outlines quality management principles and practices as they relate to the management of projects.  It provides the guidance on quality issues that impact projects.  It is applicable to projects of varying complexity, size and length.  The guidelines can be applied to projects managed by an individual or by a team or for a program (large project comprised of smaller but interrelated projects) or for a portfolio of projects.

Since the ISO 10006 is a guidance document, its intention is not for use in certification or registration purposes.   Its overall purpose is to create and maintain quality in projects through a systematic process that ensures:

§  Stated and implied needs of customers are understood and met.

§  Interested stakeholders needs are understood and evaluated.

§  The organization’s quality policy is incorporated into the management of projects.

What is the Project Management Institute (PMI)?

The Project Management Institute, or PMI as it is known, is the world’s leading not-for-profit professional association for project management dedicated to the advancement of the profession of project management. 

What is the PMBOK?

PMBOK is PMI’s Project Management Body of Knowledge.  It describes the sum of knowledge generally accepted within the profession of project management.  “Generally accepted” means that the knowledge and practices described are applicable to most projects, most of the time, and that there is widespread consensus about their value and usefulness.  The overall purpose of the PMBOK is to provide a common lexicon within the project management profession and practice for talking and writing about Project Management.  

Comparing the ISO 10006 Standard and the PMBOK

There is much discussion as to whether a project should follow the PMBOK or the ISO 10006 guidelines or both.  Through this comparison and interpretation of each of the major sections I will provide some answers to this question.

What is a Project?

The ISO 10006 definition of a project, although correct, is rather wordy.  The definition from PMBOK is more concise and to the point.  “Temporary,” according to PMBOK, means that there must be a start and finish date to the project.  As well, PMBOK includes the definition that “All projects deliver a product, service or other measurable end result.”  The ISO 10006 focuses on the process of getting to it.

ISO 10006 states…	PMBOK states…
What is a Project? -3.5 Unique process consisting of a set of co-ordinated and controlled activities with start and finish dates, undertaken to achieve an objective conforming to specific requirements, including constraints of time, cost and resources.	Section 1.2 A temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product or service.

The ISO 21500 Analysis Group has launched the project survey for Latin America.

The ISO 21500 Analysis Group has launched the project survey for Latin America.

The objective of this survey is to get the impressions that professionals with responsibility in project management have about this new standard, to further analyze the results of this survey, which will later serve as input in the development of the "Guide Implementation of ISO 21500 in organizations ", Guide developed by the The ISO 21500 Analysis Group, integrated by volunteers from the Madrid (Spain), Peru and Bolivia Project Management Institute Chapters.

The deadline for answering this survey will be on Septembert 1^st  2012. All Latin American countries are invited to join us and promote the spread among professionals in project management and business stakeholders, in order to obtain interesting results by country.

To complete the survey project, launched specifically for Latin America, please press here:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GuiadeayudaparaimplementaciondelaISO21500enunaorganizacion

Analysis Group’s initiative Project Charter

The Analysis Group initiative, for the ISO 21500 implementation, has launched its Project Charter, which can be reviewed at the following link.

This project, developed by volunteers from PMI Madrid Spain Chapter, will try to create and promote, nationally and internationally, a Help Guide for the implementation of this standard in an organization.

Also, within the scope of the project, it has been developed a survey that will aim to get the impressions about ISO 21500, between professionals dedicated to Project Management. This survey will reveal the knowledge and interest that exists about this rule and how welcome could be this Help Guide in the future.

Please, do not hesitate to participate in this survey (available in Spanish), pressing the following link. This survey will be active until July 22 nd, 2012.

Thank you very much to all in advance.

A comment to PMI based on comparison of ISO 21500 and PMBOK® Guide 5th Edition Draft Versions

Answer from PMI is attached related to a comment from Mario Coquillat (from ISO 21500 analysis project) to version 5 of PMBOK (made during Exposure Draft process)


Your Recommendation"Lessons learned" term is increased from version 4 (54 times) to version 5 (61 times) so is getting more important every time. A new process ("Collect Lessons Learned") must be included to define methodology because more and more praticioners say that knowledge is the most important project resource and thus it deserves to be treated as separate subject in the discipline of project management. Because it´s about all knowledge areas it must be included in integration (4.7)


Your JustificationThis new process is considered in ISO 21500 draft so PMBOK v5 must include it to be according to new ISO project management standard. I worked in this topic for last three years and there are no tools & techniques defined,so for example I created a methodology based on PMI risk methodology which I want to share with PMI (through publish an article through PMI Virtual Library and Project Management Journal). Probably, same situation about other praticioners because of lack of guidance in this issue.


Our vote on your recommendation: Deferred
Our justification: Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback on the exposure draft for the PMBOK® Guide—Fifth Edition. Recommendation DEFFERED – out of scope for current update committee project charter. Recommendation will be forwarded to next update committee for their consideration.