Figure 8.1: What is a process?

Methodologies impose a disciplined process on the project life cycle with the aim of making the execution and completion more predictable and more efficient. This is done by developing a detailed project framework with a strong emphasis on other project areas such as planning, design, procurement, finance, acceptance testing, and so on (see Figure 8.2).

Figure 8.2: Effect of processes on a project.

What Core Processes Are Available?

Core processes are typically those key processes that transform what the company does into valuable outputs for its client. Without these key process areas in place, projects would struggle to meet their schedules. Table 8.1 lists those key processes, which any company should consider using.

Table 8.1: Key process areas

Decide which processes you need on the project. You could use either all of them or only a selected few. However, they need to be available and ready to execute when a project manager wants them. Companies that are ISO certified or regulated by groups such as the FDA or CMM often have their processes in place, which implies that these companies have defined key processes across the organization and their staff are familiar with them.

Project management processes have been around for years, but have never been fully integrated into the project management space or ecosystem. Recently, processes have been reemphasized through changing technology and commercially available methodologies that necessitate leveraging all processes, which were possibly never fully used before. However, organizations have been slow to adopt them because most off-the-shelf processes are too generic to work effectively.