I've been thinking about something in recent weeks. I've been thinking about how many Project Management classes I've been to with an instructor who says something like, "I'm teaching you the PMBOK, but the PMBOK isn't how you do things in the real world."
Why is that? Why is it that we glorify the PMBOK as the PM bible, but isolate it as a theoretical exercise instead of a meaningful text to help us in day-to-day activities? If the practical value of the PMBOK is that low, why is it valued as the standard for disciplined Project Management practices? Or, conversely, if it is the standard for disciplined PM practices, why do people regard it as a theoretical text with limited real world applications? You can't have it both ways.
I have been thinking that the failing of the PMBOK is in how to operationalize the practices it prescribes. Let me take a moment to describe what I mean. Project Management is like writing code, programming. You can read all the books in the world about how to program in Visual Basic, but they won't mean anything until you actually sit down and develop your first Hello World. Similarly, the PMBOK is like a book on programming in VB. It will give you the tools to do the job, but it is the application of that knowledge that brings the experience, and that is where the difference lies.
The PMBOK by itself can create a dangerous Project Manager. You will have the tools to perform the work, but lack the experience of applying the tools. It is only through both a careful understanding of the processes AND the experience of applying those processes that a Project Manager has an opportunity to be successful.
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