Project Management Principles for PMP Exam

Project Management
Principles
PMBOK GUIDE 7TH EDITION

Principles
•Principles serves as foundational guidelines
for strategy, decision making, and problem
solving.
•Professional standards and methodologies
are often based on principles.
•Principles for project management provide
guidance for the behavior of people
involved in projects

PMI Code of Ethics and
Professional Conduct
Principles can, but do not necessarily, reflect
morals.
A code of ethics is related to morals.
A code of ethics for a profession can be adopted
by an individual or profession to establish
expectations for moral conduct. PMI is based on
four values:
◦ Responsibility
◦ Respect
◦ Fairness
◦ Honesty

Project vs. General
Management Principles
Principles of project management can
also have areas of overlap with
general management principles
General
Management
Principles
Project
Management
Principles

12 Principles
1. Be a diligent, respectful, and
caring steward
2. Create a collaborative project
team environment
3. Effectively engage with
stakeholders
4. Focus on value
5. Recognize, evaluate, and respond
to system interactions
6. Demonstrate leadership behaviors

12 Principles
7. Tailor based on context
8. Build quality into processes
and deliverables
9. Navigate complexity
10. Optimize risk responses
11. Embrace adaptability and
resiliency
12. Enable change to achieve the
envisioned future state

Be A Diligent, Respectful,
and Caring Steward
STEWARDSHIP: “The act of taking care of or managing
something, for example property, an organization,
money or valuable objects.”
- https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/
Stewards act sensibly to carry out actions with
integrity, care, and trustworthiness while keeping
compliance with internal and external guidelines.
They demonstrate a broad commitment to
financial, social, and environmental impacts of the
projects they support.
Stewardship has responsibilities both within and
external to the company.

Stewardship includes:
◦ Integrity
◦ Stewards behave honestly and ethically
◦ Care
◦ Stewards are fiduciaries of the organizational matters
in their charge, and they diligently oversee them.
◦ Trustworthiness
◦ Stewards represent themselves, their roles, their
project team, and their authority accurately, both
inside and outside of the organization.
◦ Compliance
◦ Stewards comply with laws, rules, regulations, and
requirements.
A holistic view of stewardship considers
financial, social, technical, and sustainable
environmental awareness.
Be A Diligent, Respectful,
and Caring Steward

Create a collaborative project team
environment
TEAM
Projects are done by project teams.
Project teams are made up of people who have diverse
skills, knowledge, and experience.
Project teams that work collaboratively can finish a
shared objective more effectively and efficiently than
individuals working on their own.
Project teams work within organizational and
professional cultures and guidelines, often establishing
their own “local” culture.
A collaborative project team environment facilitates:
• Alignment with other organizational cultures and
guidelines,
• Individual and team learning and development, and
• Optimal contributions to deliver desired outcomes.

Project Teams will be affected by:
Team agreements.
◦ Team agreements represent a set of
behavioral parameters and
Organizational structures
◦ Project teams use, tailor, and implement
structures that help
Processes.
◦ Project teams define processes that enable
completion of tasks and work assignments.
environment

Transparency on roles and responsibilities can improve
team cultures.
Authority. The order of having the right, within a given
context, to make relevant decisions, establish or improve
procedures, apply project resources, expend funds, or give
approvals.
Accountability. The condition of being answerable for an
outcome. Accountability is not shared.
Responsibility. The condition of being obligated to do or
fulfill something. Responsibility can be shared.
A diverse project team can develop the project
atmosphere by bringing together different perspectives.
Teams should incorporate practice standards, ethical
codes, and other guidelines as part of the professional
work within the project team and the organization.
A collaborative project team environment promotes the
free exchange of information and individual knowledge.
environment

Effectively engage with
stakeholders
STAKEHOLDERS
Engage stakeholders proactively and to the
point needed to contribute to project success
and customer satisfaction.
Stakeholders impact projects, performance,
and outcomes.
Project teams work for other stakeholders by
engaging with them.
Stakeholder engagement proactively
improves value delivery.

Stakeholders can affect many aspects of a
project, including but not limited to:
◦ Scope/requirements
◦ Schedule
◦ Cost
◦ Project team
◦ Plans
◦ Outcomes
◦ Culture
◦ Benefits realization
◦ Risk
◦ Quality
◦ Success
stakeholders

Identifying, analyzing, and proactively engaging
with stakeholders from the start to the end of
the project
Project teams are a group of stakeholders.
Consist of defining how, when, how often, and
under what situations stakeholders want to be
and should be engaged.
This relies on interpersonal skills, including
taking initiative, integrity, honesty,
collaboration, respect, empathy, and
confidence.
Engagement helps project teams detect, collect,
and evaluate information, data, and opinions.
Project teams actively engage other
stakeholders throughout the project to
minimize potential negative impacts and
maximize positive impacts.
stakeholders

Focus on value
VALUE
Continually evaluate and adjust project alignment
to business objectives and intended benefits and
value.
Value is the ultimate indicator of project success.
Value can be realized throughout the project, at
the end of the project, or after the project is
complete.
Value, and the benefits that contribute to value,
can be defined in quantitative and/or qualitative
terms.
A focus on outcomes allows project teams to
support the intended benefits that lead to value
creation.
Project teams evaluate progress and adapt to
maximize the expected value.

Includes outcomes from the perspective of the
customer or end user, is the ultimate success
indicator and driver of projects.
A business case contains at least these
supporting and interrelated elements:
◦ Business need
◦ Project justification
◦ Business strategy
Value is the worth, importance, or usefulness of
something. Value is subjective, in the sense that
the same concept can have different values for
different people and organizations.
To support value realization from projects,
project teams shift focus from deliverables to
the intended outcomes. Doing so allows project
teams to deliver on the vision or purpose of the
project, rather than simply creating a specific
deliverable.
Focus on value

Recognize, evaluate, and respond to
system interactions
SYSTEMS THINKING
A system is a set of interacting and interdependent
components that function as a unified whole.
A project is a system of interdependent and interacting
domains of activity.
Recognize, evaluate, and respond to the dynamic
circumstances within and surrounding the project in a
holistic way to positively affect project performance.
Systems thinking entails taking a holistic view of how
project parts interact with each other and with
external systems.
Systems are constantly changing, requiring consistent
attention to internal and external conditions.
Being responsive to system interactions allows project
teams to leverage positive outcomes.

Project teams should acknowledge this holistic
view of a project, seeing the project as a system
with its own working parts.
A project works within other larger systems,
and a project deliverable may become part of a
larger system to realize benefits.
As projects unfold, internal and external
conditions are continuously changing. A single
change can create several impacts
Systems thinking also applies to how the
project team views itself and its interactions
within the project system.
The project system often brings together a
diverse project team engaged in working for a
common objective.
Recognize, evaluate, and respond
to system interactions

Demonstrate leadership
behaviors
LEADERSHIP
Demonstrate and adapt leadership behaviors to
support individual and team needs.
Effective leadership promotes project success and
contributes to positive project outcomes.
Any project team member can demonstrate
leadership behaviors.
Leadership is different than authority.
Effective leaders adapt their style to the situation.
Effective leaders recognize differences in motivation
among project team members.
Leaders demonstrate desired behavior in areas of
honesty, integrity, and ethical conduct.

On a high-performing project multiple people
may exhibit effective leadership skills including
the project
It is important to remember that more conflict
and misunderstanding can emerge when too
many participants attempt to employ project
influence in multiple, misaligned directions.
Leadership should not be confused with
authority. Authority is the right to exercise
power and control individuals.
It takes leadership to motivate a people toward
a common goal, inspire them to align their
individual interests in favor of collective effort,
and achieve success as a project team rather
than as individuals.
behaviors

Team members develops leadership wisdom by
adding or practicing a combination of various
skills or techniques, including but not limited to:
◦ Focusing a project team around agreed goals
◦ Articulating a motivating vision for the project
◦ Generating consensus on the best way forward
◦ Overcoming obstacles to project progress
◦ Negotiating and resolving conflict
◦ Adapting communication style and messaging to
stakeholders
◦ Coaching and mentoring fellow project team
members
◦ Having self-awareness of one’s own bias and
behaviors
◦ Managing and adapting to change during the
project
behaviors

Projects work best when leaders understand
what motivates people.
Project teams can flourish when project team
members use suitable leadership traits, skills,
and characteristics that match the specific needs
and expectations of stakeholders.
Effective leadership promotes project success
and contributes to positive project outcomes.
By mixing styles and leveraging motivators, any
project team member or stakeholder can
motivate or influence and in turn grow the
project team, regardless of role or position.
behaviors

Tailor based on context
Each project is unique.
Design the project development methods based
on the needs of the project and its objectives,
stakeholders, governance, and the environment.
Using “just enough” process to accomplish the
desired outcome while maximizing value,
managing cost, and enhancing speed.
Project success is based on adapting to the
unique context of the project
Tailoring the method is iterative, and therefore is
a continuous process throughout the project.
Project teams tailor the proper framework that
will enable the flexibility to consistently produce
positive outcomes.

Project teams discuss and decide on the
delivery approach and resources on a project-
by-project basis.
Tailoring the project approach to suit the
unique characteristics of the project and its
environment
A tailored project approach can produce
benefits, such as:
◦ Deeper commitment from project team
members
◦ Reduction in waste in terms of actions or
resources
◦ Customer-oriented focus
◦ More efficient use of project resources
Tailor based on context

Build quality into processes
and deliverables
QUALITY
Quality is about meeting the acceptance criteria
for deliverables.
Project quality is about satisfying stakeholders’
expectations and fulfilling project and product
requirements.
Stakeholders will have to maintain a focus on
quality that produces deliverables that meet
project objectives and align to the needs set
forth by stakeholders.
Project quality ensures processes are
appropriate and as effective as possible.

Quality may have several different
dimensions, including but not limited to the
following:
◦ Performance
◦ Conformity
◦ Reliability
◦ Resilience
◦ Satisfaction
◦ Efficiency
◦ Sustainability
Teams measure quality using metrics and
acceptance criteria’s.
The objective is to help ensure that what is
delivered meets the objectives of the
customer and other relevant stakeholders.
Build quality into processes
and deliverables

Navigate complexity
COMPLEXITY
Complexity is the outcome of human behavior, system
interactions, uncertainty, and ambiguity.
Complexity can arise at any point during the project.
Constantly evaluate and navigate project complexity so
that approaches and plans enable the project team to
successfully navigate the entire project.
Complexity can be introduced by events or conditions
Project teams can stay vigilant in identifying elements
of complexity and use a variety of methods to reduce
the amount or impact of complexity.
Project teams often cannot forecast complexity
emerging because it is the result of many conditions
and events.

Some of the more common sources of
complexity are:
◦ Human behavior
◦ System behavior
◦ Uncertainty and ambiguity
◦ Technological innovation
Being vigilant for indications of complexity
allows project teams to adapt their approaches
and plans to navigate potential disruption to
effective project delivery.
Navigate complexity

A risk is an uncertain event or condition
that, if it occurs, can have a positive or
negative effect on one or more objectives.
Risks can be positive (opportunities) or
negative (threats).
Project teams seek to maximize positive
risks (opportunities) and decrease
exposure to negative risks (threats).
Constantly evaluate exposure to risk, both
opportunities and threats, to maximize
positive impacts and minimize negative
impacts to the project and its outcomes.
Risks are addressed continually throughout
the project.
Optimize risk
responses

Optimize risk
responses
Risk responses should be:
◦ Appropriate for the significance of the risk,
◦ Cost effective,
◦ Realistic within the project context,
◦ Agreed to by relevant stakeholders, and
◦ Owned by a responsible person.
Project team members engage with relevant
stakeholders to understand their risk
appetite and risk thresholds.
An organization’s risk attitude, appetite, and
threshold influence how risk is addressed.

Adaptability is the ability to respond to
changing conditions.
Resiliency is the ability to absorb impacts and
to recover quickly from a setback or failure.
Build adaptability and resiliency into the
organization’s and project team’s approaches
A focus on outcomes rather than outputs
facilitates adaptability.
A project rarely performs exactly as initially
planned.
Projects are influenced by internal and
external factors—new requirements, issues,
stakeholder influences, among other
factors—which exist in a system of
interactions.
Embrace adaptability
and resiliency

In a project environment, capabilities that
support adaptability and resilience include:
◦ Short feedback loops to adapt quickly;
◦ Continuous learning and improvement;
◦ Regular inspection and adaptation
◦ Open and transparent planning that engages
stakeholders
◦ Small-scale prototypes and experiments
◦ Open organizational conversations
◦ Diverse project teams with broad skill sets,
cultures, and experience
◦ Understanding from past learning
and resiliency

and resiliency
Building adaptability and resiliency in a
project keeps project teams on track to the
desired outcome when internal and external
factors change, and it helps them recover
from setbacks.
These features also help project teams learn
and improve so that they can quickly recover
from failures or setbacks and continue
making progress toward delivering value.

Enable change to achieve
the envisioned future state
CHANGE
Prepare those impacted for the acceptance to go
from the current state to the intended future
state created by the project output.
A structured approach will helps individuals,
groups, and the organization transition from the
current state to a future desired state.
Change can originate from internal influences or
external sources.
Enabling change can be challenging as not all
stakeholders embrace change.
Attempting too much change in a short time can
lead to change fatigue and/or resistance.
Stakeholder engagement and motivational
approaches assist in change adoption.

Remaining relevant in today’s business
environment is a fundamental challenge for all
organizations.
Change in an organization can originate from
internal sources and external sources.
Enabling change in an organization can be
challenging.
Effective change management uses a
motivational strategy rather than a forceful
one.
Knowing and addressing the needs of
stakeholders to embrace change throughout
the project life cycle helps to integrate the
resulting change in the project work, making a
successful outcome more likely.
Enable change to achieve
the envisioned future state

Project Management Principles for PMP Exam

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