(^112) 97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know
Don’t Fall into
the “Not Invented
Here” Syndrome
Dr. Paul Giammalvo, CDT, CCE, MScPM
Jakarta, Indonesia
PRojECT MAnAgEMEnT is nothing more than a set of processes, and when
integrated and combined, these processes result in a methodology. And those
processes/methodologies have nearly unlimited application.
There are five sets or groups of processes associated with project management:
• Initiation. Those processes that authorize or recognize that a project
exists.
• Planning. Those processes that enable us to identify what needs to be
done and how to go about doing it.
• Executing. The actual execution of processes identified in the planning
phase to produce results.
• Monitoring and Controlling. Those processes where we assess whether
the project is progressing in accordance with the plan.
• Closing. Those processes that identify whether what we did was done
on time, within the allocated budget, and in substantial conformance to
the specifications so that the project achieved the results for which it was
undertaken.The information technology sector has been particularly reluctant to look at
what others are doing in project management. It doesn’t appear to adapt or
adopt “best practices” from those sectors that are more advanced or mature in
order to increase the success rate of IT projects.
The two great sectors to use as benchmarks are medicine and commercial air-
craft piloting. Why? Because both medicine and commercial airline piloting
embody project management into their delivery systems. For medicine it is
each operation or procedure, and for commercial airline piloting it is each