Is that a word, or am I stuck on the use of acronyms for texting my friends? No, actually, it's a phrase used extensively in the Project Management industry. It stands for "Project Management Body Of Knowledge". It's a standard (ANSI, IEEE) established by the Project Management Institute (PMI) and is internationally recognized set of processes for managing a project. Very similar to the SDLC process that I wrote about here.
The PMBOK is utilized by many major organizations, such as Boeing Aircraft, Fujitsu, and thousands of others. Just like the Software Development Life Cycle, the PMBOK defines a set of steps that need to be followed for insuring that a project is clearly defined, managed, and completed.
Why Use PMBOK?
Now just why would someone, or a team, want to utilize the steps defined in PMBOK? Here are some good reasons:
- It is an established and widely accepted standard. Meaning that you would be following the best and proven course of action toward having a successful project.
- It provides a path and course to follow from beginning to end. This helps to prevent not identifying expectations, requirements, or issues that could affect a timely delivery of a project.
- It not only identifies the steps, but also the level of knowledge needed for the project, and the types of tools that should be in place for managing the project.
- It provides a method for wrapping your arms around a project and clearly identifying the scope, the requirements, the timeframes, resources, and the associated costs.
Why Not Use PMBOK?Overkill is the biggest reason. If your project is only a week worth of work, why spend an additional week laying it out under the PMBOK standards? If all you need to do is hang a picture on the wall, you don't drag in the 200 pound tool rack on wheels! But knowing where to draw the line is where experience and skill comes into play.
What if your project requires several developers and will last 3 months? Would it be wise to follow PMBOK for the project? Absolutely! However, you would want to adapt the process to the scope of the project. An additional week of project management for such a project could end up saving you and your customer weeks or even a month or more of resources and expense.
The PMBOK Process
So just what are the steps involved with using PMBOK? Here's a brief overview:
- Initiating:
- Approval for the project.
- Get commitment from the customer and your team.
- Define the overall direction and gather requirements.
- Secure the necessary resources for the duration of the project.
- Validate that the project conforms to the customer's business.
- Planning
- Define the project scope - specifications.
- Define the objectives and deliverables - specifications.
- Create the project schedule and allocate the resources.
- Establish a method for sharing information throughout the project.
- Define all the required steps and activities for accomplishing the project.
- Sequence the defined steps and activities - Project plan.
- Estimate the total effort required.
- Define the potential risks and possible risk avoidance processes.
- Define the estimated costs involved.
- Obtain funding for the project.
- Execution
- Coordinate the resources and activities.
- Coordinate the Quality Assurance.
- Communicate status to all involved parties as needed.
- Stick with the plan!
- Monitor & Control
- Manage the team and the customer.
- Measure the progress, maintain motivation.
- Respond to issues, take corrective measures, escalate, and resolve.
- Communicate, communicate, communicate!
- Manage the risks.
- Completion
- Complete the defined activities.
- Gather results, compare against initial plan.
- Appraise performance of resources. Note for future projects.
- Close and deliver the project.
This is not completely a top down sequence of processes. The Execution and Monitor & Control processes continue to work with each other through the duration of the project. If a Change Request comes in, or there is a change in the business requirements (new management?), then you might even need to go all the way back to the Planning phase and readjust the plan, resources, and costs.
How Does This Apply to FileMaker Projects?FileMaker used to be identified as a easy to use, rapid development, database program. Well, okay, it still is! However, ever since version 7, FileMaker has become more of a serious software application development tool. As such, it is often utilized for developing very sophisticated and complex business applications. These projects can take many months and multiple resources to complete. I've personally have worked a FileMaker project that required 3-4 developers, a project manager, QA Tester, and an artist. Needless to say, similar steps to the PMBOK were applied in that project, which contributed to a successful implementation.
Where Can You Get More Information?By doing a Google search on "PMBOK" or "PMI", you'll get a wealth of links. Most of these will point to the Project Management Institute (
www.pmi.org). You can also find books on
Amazon.com for PMBOK.
To be a successful FileMaker developer, you need to at least have a good understanding of how to manage and implement a complex FileMaker project. (Or any software development project, for that matter!) Using a SDLC or PMBOK guideline will go a long way toward helping you to have a successful project.
Feel free to leave me your comments on this topic, and thanks for reading.
Timothy Trimble
The ART of Software Development
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