Hi, it's Margaret Maloney, and right now I would like to talk to you about deciphering the PMBOK guide, if I may say it that way. And here I am with my PMBOK. And you can see, look, all kinds of markers in there. So yes, I really do use it, but I couldn't use it until I learned how it worked, if I can say it that way. And something I want to say is that I think that learning, I can't, learning to speak PMBOK. Sometimes I even say PMBOKIAN and I mean that with every bit of respect because again look, I'm clearly using it but understanding how the PMBOK works. It feels, sometimes, like you're learning another language, and it doesn't matter whether you're reading the PMBOK in your native language. So I'm a native English speaker and I read a version of the PMBOK that's in English, and it still, at first, I felt like I was learning a new language. And that's why, together, we're going to decipher the PMBOK guide. It's the heart of running a project successfully. It's the heart of following the best practices that are brought to us by the Project Management Institute. And if you're a person whose working on the PMP, studying for your Project Management Professional and getting ready for that exam, so much of that exam is based on this guide that it is truly important that you really decipher the guide and understand how it works. And there's a key.
And that's what we're going to talk about. So let's talk about the key to the PMBOK guide. Before we dive in, let's just get our general understanding here. You'll, you've heard me say PMI, you already know PMI probably, but we still want to make sure, PMBOK and PMP.
So, the PMI is the Project Management Institute and they are the globally recognized professional organization, they support project management and
they are in over 250 countries, I couldn't even name them all. They probably have close to 300,000 members or even more right now, so I, don't take that as an exact number, I suppose you could look that up. I'm just sharing all that with you to let you know that they're big. And they are the champions of project management. And they help us by creating best practices for how to run projects. And they don't just sit somewhere in an office and make them up. They reach out to the project management community.
And one of the ways in which we understand these best practices is through what's called the PMBOK guide. But the proper name is the guide to the project management body of knowledge. It's just common to abbreviate it, because as you can tell saying the guide to the project management body of knowledge, that's a little bit of a mouthful, right? That's the process framework, and this is something really important.
The PMBOK guide is not a book of methodology. It's not these are the phases to use. It is about processes we should use to help run a project. Processes. And the PMBOK speaks in terms of major process groups. You'll see that in a minute as we continue on.
And, as you've already heard me say, the PMP, project management professional, and this is a professional designation that is administered by the Project Management Institute.
And in order to be able to legally and rightfully call yourself a PMP,
you need to apply for and take the exam that is administered by the Project Management Institute, and of course pass that exam. And then keep current on your education.
And they have something called PDUs, or professional development units. Which you maintain to show that you are keeping current in your profession, and I'm going to say that's, PDU is a topic for another day.
But the reason that PMP comes up here is, so often many of you who are seeking to understand this PMBOK guide. It could be because you are getting ready to prepare for the exam, for the PMP exam. And the PMP exam draws largely from the PMBOK guide. It could also be that you are just looking at the PMBOK guide and you want to be able to run projects using the best practice approach.
And you want to know what that means.
And that's why we're here right now, that's why you're with me right now is you know, as I said, to decipher, decipher this book, it's because once you do, it's going to make it so much easier for you. So with that thought in mind, let's look. Okay, so the PMBOK guide starts out with a couple of chapters, an introductory chapter, a chapter on project organizations, and then, chapter three, processes.
And, this is a book of process
In initiating, there are two processes.
And these two processes, which you're getting started here, are creating your charter and identifying your stake holders.
Planning, most of the processes that are in the guide to the project management body of knowledge, I'll say live here.
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