The project management field known an increasing interest in recent years depending on few essential elements:
- dynamic and global competitive environment;
- mobile, flexible and responsive organisations;
- organisational models based on autonomy and leadership;
- results oriented models;
- scarcity of resources and time.
The capability to manage these elements is a key factor to assure the success of the organisation and the project is a relevant tool to the aim. At the same time, the uniqueness of a project requires a specific management approach with continuous planning, implementation and control. The search for project management models has led the development of methods, tools and techniques that actually are the framework of project management.
Project Management is based on some general pillars:
- assuring consistency between project objectives and products keeping the commercial value of the project;
- monitoring the project implementation throughout the life-cycle;
- highlighting potential critical issues and rescheduling;
- properly defining roles and responsibilities.
The Project Management field has deeply evolved over time, in particular with regard to the increasing attention paid to a pre-planning activity (before the start-up phase), where to find information and economic analysis. The focus is on the definition of all the objectives related to the project, which must be linked to feasibility, sustainability and customer satisfaction.
Among the other elements that affect the Project Management trend, we can also recognise:
- the attention to stakeholders, who must be involved in the main decisions and activities, in order to assure the continuous compliance of the project with its requirements. In the fifth edition of PMBOK the related area was introduced;
- the attention to the “lessons learned” process, with the aim to gain practices which can be a benefit for current and future projects. In ISO 21500 there is an additional process called ‘Collect lessons learned’;
- the attention to consistency between strategic objectives and project objectives, and to the organizational level of the project (several models and standards focused on this aspect – OPM3, PgMP, PfMP, etc.)
Another relevant trend is the separation of Project Management from technical issues together to the awareness that sectors such as health, education, transport, leisure and advanced service benefit of effectiveness and competitiveness coming from Project Management. With this regard, the contribution of ISO 21500 was essential in order to overcome differences among international standard.
Maria Elena Nenni
Master in Project Management Scientific Coordinator
