A couple having coffee and conversation one morning..."How do you run a project," she says.
He says, "What kind of project?"
Short pause; she says, "Well. Um. Any project... There must be some standards about running projects?"
A little frustrated, he replies, "What are you building? A house, a road, a bridge, a website?
Equally frustrated and a getting a bit tense, she says, "I'm not building anything. I just want to understand how to run a better project."
This conversation mirrors many conversations -- where two or more people look at the same thing but see something different. In this case one person sees the way a project is run as primarily dependent on the output (product) of the project. In other words a lot of variation from project to project related to the technical details. The other person sees the way projects are run as a type of management activity -- a lot of similarity from project to project unrelated to technical details.
Who's right?
Does project management look like this (Drawing A)?
Or like this (Drawing B)?
Obviously there are more project types than those shown but... you get the idea.
The answer to the question "Which one more closely mirrors the practice of project management?" is, in one sense, both and, in another, neither. Yes, dichotomies like this are common. This one, however, is relatively simple to clear up.
Drawing B is primarily depicting the importance of domain knowledge.
domain knowledge That knowledge which is specific to an application, as distinguished from general strategic or control knowledge that is independent of the details of any particular application. For example, data about the flight routes covered by a particular airline is domain knowledge, unlike search algorithms that might be used to locate the cheapest entry. ~ JOHN DAINTITH. "domain knowledge." A Dictionary of Computing. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 6 Jun. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.
Drawing B implies that there is little or no overlap - no common ground - between a construction project and a marketing project. It could be adjusted to show some overlap - an area of super-pink where all the circles converge (below). A lot of people see project management as one or the other of those domain specific models.
Drawing A depicts a different level of management -- an uber-management that applies to all projects. Drawing A also includes the concept of domain knowledge as different types of projects, based on domain knowledge, are included as sub-sets. However, Drawing A infers there is a broader, more general type of knowledge that applies to all projects regardless of domain - the blue area outside the domain of any specific project.
So, is managing a project to construct a bridge along an interstate highway the same as managing a project to bring a new type of aircraft into production or managing a project to produce a new pharmaceutical?
If the goal is a successful project, the answer is both "Yes," and "No."
Another dichotomy!
OK: Actually it's the same dichotomy put in slightly different terms -- and adding "successful."
Why add "successful?"
Because almost anyone, with or without knowledge or experience, can manage a project unsuccessfully.
Project Management - The Uber-Management
The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines project management this way, “The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements." Details are spelled out in the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK), currently going into its fourth edition. While there are other project management methodologies, this one is generally accepted and used as the standard here.
Some take issue with the PMI definition as being overly "scientific" but it still remains as a good, working definition describing the boundaries of project management. While there is no specific domain knowledge called out in the definition, it could be useful to assume that "knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques" include expertise specific to the domain of a particular project. However, there is a distinction and a difference between what is "project management" and what might be called "expertise management" or "domain management."
Domain Management - Expertise
There are a number of specific knowledge areas, skills, tools, and techniques required to manage a pharmaceutical lab, for example. Even though someone is highly skilled in management -- say in retail stores -- no one would assume they could successfully manage the pharmaceutical lab without experience. They might do considerably better than someone with no management experience at all but another person with less management experience who does have a pharmaceutical background will probably do better.
This seems rather intuitive -- because it is intuitive. However, many people fail to recognize that project management is distinct from management in general and a separate field of specialization. In other words, project management is not included in their intuitive paradigm or comparison model. It should be.
Integration
While the laboratory manager cited above may be awesome with the operations side of the business, that does not mean they are capable of successfully managing projects. Project management has a set of knowledge areas, skills, tools, and techniques separate and distinct from laboratory management, retail management, or any other management domain.
There are overlaps but these overlaps are essentially on the same order of magnitude mentioned in the example above -- that a retail manager might do a better job as laboratory manager than someone with no management experience at all but it will be very difficult to succeed until the requisite experience is gained. This is the case with project management as well.
A certified (professional) project manager from any domain will do a better job at managing a project in a different domain than someone with no project management experience at all -- but, will still struggle to be successful until the specialized domain experience is gained.
A certified (professional) project manager with less overall project management experience who does have specific domain management experience will probably do a better job than a more experienced project manager lacking the domain management background.
An experienced domain manager with no project management credentials or experience will, most likely, do poorest of all.
In this case, a "certified (professional) project manager" refers specifically to the certification credential from PMI - the Project Management Professional (PMP) designation. Since PMI is the standard in this article, a word about the PMP credential is appropriate.
Attaining the PMP designation requires not only vast knowledge as proven by testing but also years of proven experience. "Book knowledge" as well as verifiable hands-on experience are required. It's not easy and many people fail to achieve it. Bottom line: Recent studies indicate that in projects completed successfully, the vast majority are led by a certified project manager.
Wrap It Up
Back to the intuitive side of this discussion: No one feels comfortable about having a project manager in charge of developing the next great cancer treatment who has only managed highway construction projects in the past and who has no pharmaceutical research background. Where it becomes less intuitive is when the domain management experience is driven down to an absurd level of granularity.
For example, "Project manager needed with experience managing left-handed Java developers in an underwater environment and a background in bakery products containing cinnamon and sesame seeds fired in wood-fueled ovens outdoors at night in the mountains."
That's taking it a bit too far. There's a difference between domain knowledge boundaries and hair splitting. The example above is admittedly absurd but, unfortunately not too far from the truth. Many organization put more emphasis on subterranean levels of domain expertise than on project management expertise -- to their detriment.
There are two important, high-level types of domain knowledge. One involves the line of business and the other relates to the development work planned (technical domain knowledge). It's probably most important for project managers to have experience in the line of business (managing projects for bakeries, for example) so as to understand the business domain, its sub-domains, and business needs.
Expertise in the specific programming language (Java) or other techniques used by the developers is of secondary or tertiary importance to the project manager. That level of technical domain knowledge is of primary importance in choosing a team lead, technical lead, or lead developer. That said, a certified project manager with line-of-business domain knowledge (bakeries) who also has technical domain knowledge (Java development) is probably most likely to be successful.
To answer the ladies question at the beginning of this article, "Yes, there is a standard body of knowledge for project managers." It's more a toolbox of best practices that requires experience to utilize effectively. In other words, it's not one-size-fits-all and it's not paint-by-numbers. Successful project managers are familiar with and experienced in using all the tools in the box and, most importantly, have the wisdom and experience to select the correct tool or tools for the job at hand.
In response to the gentleman's questions at the beginning of this article, "Yes, it does matter what is being built but it takes more than domain knowledge to successfully manage projects." As one wag put it, "If all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail." Domain knowledge is extremely useful but successful projects are about more than domain knowledge -- technical or line-of-business.
Finally, here's a look at Drawing C -- something more like what project managers do in the real world.
Drawing C implies there is domain management knowledge outside the realm of any specific project. It also implies the same about project management knowledge. For any specific project, there is a sub-set of both project management knowledge and domain management knowledge involved.
For successful projects, balance is needed between project management and domain management... With the caveat that significant project management expertise is always required for success. The level of project management expertise may be tempered by the need for domain management experience but project management experience remains the prime indicator of potential success.
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