Project Manager - Process Knowledge

In previous posts I explained my conceptual model of the project manager building blocks and have described the foundational building blocks of industry experience and organizational experience. In this post I will describe the first of the three project management-specific building blocks - process knowledge.

Anyone new to the project management field will begin developing project manager competencies in the process knowledge building block. The process knowledge competency is developed by identifying and understanding all of the processes used across a one or more project management methodologies. For instance, becoming familiar with the Project Management Institute's Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), reading project management textbooks, discovering project management tools and resources (ie projectmanagement.com and pmi.org), and other resources.

Understanding the common processes and tools successful project managers use is an important step in developing as a project manager. Although the project management field is fairly new, there is a growing body of best practices available and these best practices help a project manager understand and adopt proven project management practices.

In developing the process knowledge building block, a project manager becomes familiar with common and unique processes and tools and understands how they are applied to the project setting. While process knowledge building block is primarily developed when new to the project management field, a project manager should continually refine their process knowledge to discover new and changing tools and processes in order to improve their own project management practice.