Understanding the PMBOK Guide

Project management is a practical knowledge; how can a theoretical text help us improve our project management?

That is a common question. The answer is simple: theories are made to be used in practice and most of the improvements we have had in the history of human beings is because of this. Besides that, the PMBOK Guide is not even a real theoretical text! PMBOK Guide is an organized collection of best practices. It is experiences of many of the finest project managers, organized in a single package. Had you ever wished you could sit down and listen to the experiences and opinions of best project managers for hours? Then you can enjoy the PMBOK Guide.

1. Introduction
   1. The Real Nature of the PMBOK Guide
   2. History of the PMBOK Guide
   3. PMI Certificates
   4. What is a Project?
   5. What is Project Management?
2. Processes
   1. The Concept of the Processes
   2. The Relationship Among Processes
   3. Processes as Sets of Tasks
   4. Organizing the Processes
3. The Process Groups
   1. Knowing the Process Groups
   2. The Planning Concept
   3. The Executing Concept
   4. The Initiating Concept
   5. The Monitoring and Controlling Concept
   6. The Rolling-Wave Planning
   7. The Project Phases
4. The Knowledge Areas
   1. Knowing the Knowledge Areas
   2. What Happens in Each Knowledge Area
   3. The Project Integration Management Knowledge Area
   4. The Project Scope Management Knowledge Area
   5. The Time Management Knowledge Area
   6. The Cost Management Knowledge Area
   7. The Quality Management Knowledge Area
   8. The Human Resource Management Knowledge Area
   9. The Communications Knowledge Area
   10. The Risk Knowledge Area
   11. The Procurement Knowledge Area
5. Where to Go from Here
6. References