If the task of optimizing activities arises, then the question of compliance with standards appears by itself. These are the direct needs of a business that actively applies project management methods. The project manager is just as interested in confirming his professional experience with colleagues and employers. He wants to prove his knowledge and skills as a professional PM and get a fee for them. In this regard, project management standards are very important. After all, based on them, you can carry out your work and prove your own professionalism.
Standards
Standards are considered norms and samples of objects that are comparable with other such phenomena. Also, the standard can be called a document, which indicates the established rules, norms and requirements that allow us to assess their compliance with labor activities. Only between the first and second definition is there an important difference. The first corresponds to the ideal, the second only contains recommendations on how to approach it.
For more than half a century, various design practices have been carried out in the world. Therefore, millions of procedures of this nature were carried out, including those where unique solutions to various problems were used. In this connection, a need arose to systematize this process, its generalization and unification. Therefore, over time, it has become a separate management industry, where various methodologies and standards for project management have arisen.
First, it was necessary to define general terminology and concepts, so that later it was possible to obtain and generalize the requirements for work and its quality. Various project management technologies were developed. Based on this, it is logical that there was a need to determine what qualities and skills are needed for the person who will be involved in project management, and what steps he must take to become a successful leader.
Types of standards
Thus, there was a need for the creation of institutions that study management in this area. At first, everything was carried out at the national level, and then went international. So, these institutes collected, accumulated and structured experience in order to understand exactly how to manage a project so that it gives a concrete result. To determine project management standards, best practices were analyzed and synthesized. To accomplish this, two managerial components were used: object and subjective. That is, individual projects and entire companies were considered together with the qualification requirements of project managers. Thus, methodological solutions arose that allowed:
- Definition and understanding of terminology, the subject of activity of this area and the role of all project participants.
- Ensuring the development of specialists and management who practice the project type of activity and improving the results and effectiveness of the following projects.
- During certification, first of all, assessment and confirmation of the qualifications of professionals is carried out, and secondly, the practices themselves used by these employees are already evaluated.
Project management standards can be divided into four types: international, national, industry and corporate.
PMI Institute and its standards
The development of project management technology began in America in the sixties. This was influenced by many factors, chief among which were the onset of the atomic era, competition with the USSR for space exploration and the creation of new defense strategies. There was a time of great changes, and the need to establish project management and create a universal model for this was simply undeniable. Therefore, in 1969, the United States created the first non-profit organization Project Management Institute, which was engaged in the development of standards. Project management based on the PMI standard is carried out worldwide and has more than three million professionals in this field.
So the main standard was created, based on management methods as a system of generalized experience of all successfully implemented projects that were regularly studied by the institute staff. This guide has become the national standard for project management in America. The productivity and success of this standard brought it from the national to the international level. Thus, at the moment, project management based on the PMI PMBOK standard is used by companies around the world. Moreover, new versions of this standard are constantly being developed, based on the regular generalization of best practices and theoretical knowledge.
Project Management Process Interaction Model
Project management theory formed the basis of PMBOK leadership. It is built on key aspects of the process model and it takes into account all phases of the project life cycle. In addition, it takes into account all functional areas of knowledge regarding control zones and their interactions on objects of research. An important place in the standard is occupied by the management plan. Before the first edition appeared, the institute had been collecting the necessary information and information for twenty years. And already in 1986, the PMI released the first guide based on its research, which is constantly being updated to reflect current trends. At the moment, there are already five different publications that successfully help business development and represent the US national project management standards.
ISO standard
Naturally, in the world there are many standards that have reached the world level. And each of them is in a fierce competition to gain a place as a leader in project management technologies. There is a constant development of the market of certification and consulting services. This indicates the prospects of this area. And the largest part of this market can be occupied by that corporation that will gain credibility at all levels - from professional to world. It will be she who will be engaged in the training and certification of professionals, eventually developing at their expense.
ISO (ISO) is the oldest and most powerful international organization engaged in the standardization of almost all areas of business and technology. Since it is the leader in standardization at the global level, it has the right to introduce any new standards into the overall system, which, in fact, is its main difference from other companies. It is able to provide itself with impeccable channels of promotion, since it helps with the bureaucratic side of almost all states. The fact is that the ISO 21500: 2012 project management standard issued by this company has every chance of leadership. This is the main project management guide in most of the world's countries.
Difference between ISO 21500: 2012 from PMBOK
ISO created the first management standard back in 2003. It contained basic guidelines that could ensure the quality of the project. Despite the company's plans for the mass distribution of the document, they did not materialize. Therefore, by 2012, ISO has developed a new document in collaboration with PMI. The project management standard has now become similar to its competitor in many aspects. This is mainly expressed in the preservation of the systematic nature and completeness of the product.
The main functions of this standard are as follows:
- highlighting the best ways to implement the project, regardless of its specification;
- drawing up a general picture that is understandable to all project participants, showing effective principles and management mechanisms;
- give a basis to improve design practice;
- It is a basis uniting standards of all levels in the field of project management.
It turns out that these two standards are extremely similar in content. The most complete analysis on account of the differences between the projects was made by the Polish scientist Stanislav Hashik, highlighting all the differences in the standardization of project management.
Standardization direction ICB IPMA
IPMA was founded in Switzerland in 1965. The main purpose of her education was to exchange experience between project managers from different countries. And in 1998, they established the concept of a certification system for professional employees in the field of projects. That is, this system should have received a standard, on the basis of which certification of competence of specialists would be carried out. Thus, the ICB standard was developed, based on accumulated experience and taking into account the national competency requirements of most European countries. At the same time, a four-level certification model was approved.
Unlike the international and corporate project management standards already described, ICB IPMA has taken as its basis the structuring of experience, knowledge and skills of leaders in the field of project management. Its main purpose is to establish international generally accepted requirements for the competence of PM specialists. At the moment, there is already a third edition, in which 46 elements are collected in three groups: technical, behavioral and consensual competence. The latter is expressed in the ability of the leader to build effective strategies with the participation of all interested parties.
A schematic eye-shaped symbol has also been developed. It lists all groups. The manual does not contain specific descriptions of the methods, processes or tools of management activities. But the methodology is indicated, how to properly approach knowledge, skills and communications. But with its help it is possible to determine how much the applicant for the role of the PM leader is ready to begin his duties and in what areas he still needs to develop.
From this it follows that these are diametrically different standards, and therefore approaches to certification differ. PMI certification allows you to get the title of PMP, and international project management standards are the same in this case. You can get a certificate in our country in the capital and in St. Petersburg. You need to go through three stages, namely: an interview, pass an exam and pass pre-qualification.
If we take into account the sensitive functioning of the system, in the case of the American method, the orientation goes to a single complex of knowledge and concepts. But IPMA evaluates the business and personal qualities of the applicant.
PRINCE 2 standard
Another national project management standard, PRINCE 2, has been developed in the UK and is currently in use worldwide. But he is not able to compete with the American leadership, since it is a private methodology for certain types of projects. It was based on a clear instruction, the implementation of which ensures the reliability of the effective implementation of the project. Despite the limited scope of the standard developed in England, it is still widely used. It is used in IT design, in the development and launch of new products on the market, in the housing sector, in engineering and in the public sector.
The methodology includes foundation sectors, plans, organization, quality and risks, among other things. When applying this standard of project management quality, it is necessary to constantly closely monitor certain sets of topics and follow the technology, which is very detailed and deeply described in the methodology. Constantly being tuned to the project environment, the generation of management products and their documentation. In total, seven principles, topics and processes are used. This allows you to achieve certain quality standards for project implementation. But there is also a drawback - there are no studies regarding the management of contact deliveries, by interested parties, and there are no other processes described in the American international project management standard.
The practice of selecting and sharing standards
There are also Russian national standards affecting project management. The fact is that many companies prefer to use foreign standards for certification and management of their projects. But at the same time, various GOSTs are developed both for individual companies and international standards.
As for the combination of standards, then in many cases one simply cannot do without it. So, for example, companies using English standards need an additional methodology similar to PMBOK. In turn, using only the American standard leads to a lack of localized methods. But ISO or its equivalent - the project management standard GOST R ISO 21500-2014 - is able to establish concise requirements, while not having adaptation to specific corporate requirements. In general, the application of any methodology requires adaptation to the managerial culture of the organization where it is used.
Conclusion
Having examined almost all the main international standards for project management, we can safely say that domestic standards are not applicable in practice without foreign additions. In turn, world standards require optimization and adjustment to the mentality and management system in our country. Thus, the only thing left to rely on is that soon we will have more developed domestic standards that can satisfy the needs of business and the sphere of project management. But until this happens, we have to combine different standards in the field of project management to get an effective result from the work of PM professionals.