Project Management Fundamentals and Organizational Environment
Domain 2 tests whether you can define a project precisely, separate it from operations, program, and portfolio, and read an organizational chart to determine how much authority a project manager actually holds. Items often present a short organizational scenario and ask which structure or PMO type it describes, or ask where a given input belongs: enterprise environmental factors or organizational process assets.
Project, program, portfolio
- A project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result; it is progressively elaborated.
- Operations are ongoing and repetitive; projects end.
- A program (项目集) is a group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits not available from managing them separately.
- A portfolio (项目组合) is a collection of projects, programs, and operations that support a strategic objective. Components need not be interdependent; the emphasis is on prioritisation and resource allocation.
- Project governance sets decision rights, stage gates, and escalation paths above the project manager.
Process groups and knowledge areas
- The five process groups are initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. Monitoring and controlling spans the whole lifecycle.
- These cross the ten knowledge areas to form the classic matrix; each process has inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs.
- Do not confuse the project lifecycle (phases ending in a stage gate) with the product lifecycle (which outlives the project).
Organization type and PMO
- Functional: the project manager coordinates and has little authority; the functional manager controls budget and staff.
- Projectized: the project manager has full authority over budget, staff, and priorities.
- Matrix runs weak, balanced, and strong. In a strong matrix the project manager is full-time, controls the budget, and has moderate-to-high authority, while the functional manager owns technical standards.
- PMO types: supportive (templates, advice), controlling (compliance required), directive (directly manages projects).
- Enterprise environmental factors (EEF) are conditions you generally cannot change: culture, infrastructure, market conditions, laws, existing systems. Organizational process assets (OPA) are things you reuse: processes, policies, templates, historical data, lessons-learned repositories.
Worked example
A project manager is assigned full-time from the engineering department, reports to a program manager, approves the schedule and budget, and draws staff from engineering, finance, and a vendor, while the engineering manager still sets coding standards. The project manager's full-time status and budget control make this a strong matrix, not a balanced one. If the project manager only coordinated and the functional manager approved all resource assignments, it would be a weak matrix.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating portfolio components as necessarily related.
- Assuming a directive PMO only advises; it manages the project.
- Classifying templates and lessons-learned databases as EEF.
- Assuming matrix structures remove the functional manager's technical authority.