Chapter 13: Project Management (PM)

OVERVIEW

Project management (PM) is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques in order to meet or exceed stakeholder requirements from a project. Meeting or exceeding stakeholder requirements means balancing competing demands among:

1. Scope, time, cost, quality, and other project objectives

2. Stakeholders ” customers ” with differing requirements

3. Identified requirements and unidentified requirements (expectations)

Knowledge about project management can be organized in many ways. In fact, the official Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) has identified 12 subsections (Duncan, 1994). They are:

1. Project management

2. The project context

3. The process of project management

4. Key integrative processes

5. Project scope management

6. Project time management

7. Project cost management

8. Project quality management

9. Project human resource management

10. Project communications management

11. Project risk management

12. Project procurement management

It is beyond the scope of this book to cover the entire discipline of project management. However, this chapter will address PM as it may be used in six sigma and design for six sigma (DFSS) initiatives within an organization. Towards that end, this chapter will discuss some of the basic concepts of project management and how the methodology of project management may be used.