The 10 Knowledge Areas in Project Management

Good project management depends on planning, communication, and handling tasks well. Do you know the main areas of project management and how they fit together?

These 10 project management areas will give you the important skills and knowledge you need to run projects smoothly, keep your stakeholders happy, and deal with fewer problems.

"Mastering the knowledge areas of project management is like building a strong foundation—each element, from scope to risk, ensures that every project stands tall, resilient, and ready to succeed."

1. Project Integration Management

Project Integration Management is about ensuring that all aspects of the project work together. It involves making decisions and trade-offs among competing objectives and integrating all processes to meet project goals. Key processes include:

• Developing the project charter
• Creating the project management plan
• Directing and managing project work
• Monitoring and controlling project work
• Performing integrated change control
• Closing the project or phase

2. Project Scope Management

Project scope management involves ensuring the project includes all the necessary work and only the necessary work to complete the project successfully. The key processes include:

• Plan scope management
• Collect requirements
• Define scope
• Create the work breakdown structure (WBS)
• Validate scope
• Control scope

3. Project Schedule Management

Project schedule management ensures the timely completion of a project. This knowledge area involves defining activities, sequencing them, estimating resources, and developing the project schedule. Key processes include:

• Plan schedule management
• Define activities
• Sequence activities
• Estimate activity durations
• Develop the schedule
• Control the schedule

4. Project Cost Management

Project cost management deals with planning, estimating, budgeting, financing, funding, managing, and controlling costs to ensure the project can be completed within the approved budget. The key processes are:

• Plan cost management
• Estimate costs
• Determine budget
• Control costs

5. Project Quality Management

Project quality management ensures the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken. It includes both the quality of the product and the processes used to manage the project. Major processes include:

• Plan quality management
• Manage quality
• Control quality

6. Project Resource Management

This knowledge area involves managing the human and physical resources necessary to complete the project. It focuses on the acquisition, development, and management of the project team as well as physical resources. Key processes include:

• Plan resource management
• Estimate activity resources
• Acquire resources
• Develop team
• Manage team
• Control resources

7. Project Communications Management

Effective communication is critical to project success. Project communications management ensures that timely and appropriate planning, collection, creation, distribution, storage, retrieval, and disposition of project information occur. Key processes are:

• Plan communications management
• Manage communications
• Monitor communications

8. Project Risk Management

Project risk management deals with identifying, analyzing, and responding to project risks. This ensures that risks are proactively managed to minimize their impact. The main processes include:

• Plan risk management
• Identify risks
• Perform qualitative risk analysis
• Perform quantitative risk analysis
• Plan risk responses
• Implement risk responses
• Monitor risks

9. Project Procurement Management

This knowledge area involves managing the procurement of goods and services from external vendors. Project procurement management includes selecting vendors, managing contracts, and ensuring timely delivery of services or materials. The processes are:

• Plan procurement management
• Conduct procurement
• Control procurement

10. Project Stakeholder Management

Project stakeholder management focuses on identifying all people, groups, or organizations impacted by the project and ensuring effective stakeholder engagement throughout the project. The processes include:

• Identify stakeholders
• Plan stakeholder engagement
• Manage stakeholder engagement
• Monitor stakeholder engagement

Conclusion

The 10 knowledge areas provide a comprehensive framework for project management. By focusing on these areas, project managers can effectively plan, execute, monitor, and control their projects to meet objectives, stay within scope, budget, and schedule, and ensure stakeholder satisfaction. Mastery of these knowledge areas is key to achieving project success and delivering value.