Project management types

Project management can apply to any project, but it is often tailored to accommodate the specific needs of different and highly specialized industries. For example, the construction industry, which focuses on the delivery of things like buildings, roads, and bridges, has developed its own specialized form of project management that it refers to as construction project management and in which project managers can become trained and certified. The information technology industry has also evolved to develop its own form of project management that is referred to as IT project management and which specializes in the delivery of technical assets and services that are required to pass through various lifecycle phases such as planning, design, development, testing, and deployment. Biotechnology project management focuses on the intricacies of biotechnology research and development. Localization project management includes many standard project management practices even though many consider this type of management to be a very different discipline. It focuses on three important goals: time, quality and budget. Successful projects are completed on schedule, within budget, and according to previously agreed quality standards.

For each type of project management, project managers develop and utilize repeatable templates that are specific to the industry they're dealing with. This allows project plans to become very thorough and highly repeatable, with the specific intent to increase quality, lower delivery costs, and lower time to deliver project results.

Project management success criteria

There is a tendency to confuse the project success with project management success. They are two different things. Project management success criteria is different from project success criteria. The project management is said to be successful if the given project is completed within the agreed upon time, met the agreed upon scope and within the agreed upon budget. Meanwhile, a project is said to be successful, when it succeeds in achieving the expected business case.

Risk management

An example of the Risk Register that includes 4 steps: Identify, Analyze, Plan Response, Monitor and Control.

There are also international standards. Risk management applies proactive identification of future problems and understanding of their consequences allowing predictive decisions about projects.

Work breakdown structure

The work breakdown structure (WBS) is a tree structure that shows a subdivision of the activities required to achieve an objective—for example a program, project, and contract. The WBS may be hardware-, product-, service-, or process-oriented

The work breakdown structure provides a common framework for the natural development of the overall planning and control of a contract and is the basis for dividing work into definable increments from which the statement of work can be developed and technical, schedule, cost, and labor hour reporting can be established. The work breakdown structure can be displayed in two forms, as a table with subdivision of tasks or as an organisational chart whose lowest nodes are referred to as "work packages".

It is an essential element in assessing the quality of a plan, and an initial element used during the planning of the project. For example, a WBS is used when the project is scheduled, so that the use of work packages can be recorded and tracked.

International standards

There have been several attempts to develop project management standards, such as:

• ISO 21500:2012 – Guidance on project management. This is the first project management ISO.

• ISO 31000:2009 – Risk management. Risk management is 1 of the 10 knowledge areas of either ISO 21500 or PMBoK5 concept of project management.

• ISO/IEC/IEEE 16326:2009 – Systems and Software Engineering—Life Cycle Processes—Project Management

• Capability Maturity Model from the Software Engineering Institute.

• GAPPS, Global Alliance for Project Performance Standards – an open source standard describing COMPETENCIES for project and program managers.

• A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge from the Project Management Institute (PMI)

• HERMES method, Swiss general project management method, selected for use in Luxembourg and international organizations.

• The ISO standards ISO 9000, a family of standards for quality management systems, and the ISO 10006:2003, for Quality management systems and guidelines for quality management in projects.

• PRINCE2 (Projects in Controlled Environments).

• Association for Project Management Body of Knowledge

• Team Software Process (TSP) from the Software Engineering Institute.

• Total Cost Management Framework, AACE International's Methodology for Integrated Portfolio, Program and Project Management.

• V-Model, an original systems development method.

• The logical framework approach, which is popular in international development organizations.

• Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM) has 4 levels of certification; CPPP, CPPM, CPPD & CPPE for Certified Practicing Project Partner, Manager, Director and Executive.

Project portfolio management

An increasing number of organizations are using what is referred to as project portfolio management (PPM) as a means of selecting the right projects and then using project management techniques as the means for delivering the outcomes in the form of benefits to the performing private or not-for-profit organization. PPM is usually performed by a dedicated team of managers organized by within a Project Management Office (PMO), usually based within the organization.

Project management software

Project management software is software used to help plan, organize, and manage resource pools, develop resource estimates and implement plans. Depending on the sophistication of the software, functionality may include estimation and planning, scheduling, cost control and budget management, resource allocation, collaboration software, communication, decision-making, workflow, risk, quality, documentation and/or administration systems.

Virtual project management

Virtual program management (VPM) is management of a project done by a virtual team, though it rarely may refer to a project implementing a virtual environment It is noted that managing a virtual project is fundamentally different from managing traditional projects, combining concerns of telecommuting and global collaboration (culture, timezones, language).