Project Management Principles

• Intended to guide the behavior of people involved in projects

• Not prescriptive in nature

• Broadly based so there are many ways individuals and organizations can maintain alignment
with the principles

• Principles can, but do not necessarily, reflect morals. A code of ethics is related to morals

• Are aligned with the values identified in the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
(Responsibility, Respect, Fairness, and Honesty)

• provide guidance, the degree of application and the way in which they are applied are
influenced by the context of the organization, project, deliverables, project team,
stakeholders, and other factors

• Are internally consistent, meaning that no principle contradicts any other principle

• Principles can overlap

• The 12 principles are as follows:

• Stewardship: Be a diligent, respectful, and caring steward

• Team: Create a collaborative project team environment

• Stakeholders: Effectively engage with stakeholders

• Value: Focus on value

• Systems Thinking: Recognize, evaluate, and respond to system interactions

• Leadership: Demonstrate leadership behaviors

• Tailoring: Tailor based on context

• Quality: Build quality into processes and deliverables

• Complexity: Navigate complexity

• Risk: Optimize risk responses

• Adaptability and Resiliency: Embrace adaptability and resiliency

• Change: Enable change to achieve the envisioned future state

Principle 1- Stewardship

Be a Diligent, Respectful, and Caring Steward

Key points of the Stewardship as a principle of project management:

• Act responsibly to carry out activities with integrity, care, and trustworthiness while
maintaining compliance with internal and external guidelines

• Demonstrate a broad commitment to financial, social, and environmental impacts of the

projects they support
 • Involves being entrusted with the care of something

• Focuses on the responsible planning, use, and management of resources

• Upholds values and ethics

• Within the organization, stewardship includes:

❑ Operating in alignment with the organization, its objectives, strategy, vision, mission,
and sustainment of its long-term value

❑ Commitment to and respectful engagement of project team members, including their

compensation, access to opportunity, and fair treatment

❑ Diligent oversight of organizational finances, materials, and other resources used

within a project

❑ Understanding the appropriate use of authority, accountability, and responsibility,

particularly in leadership positions

• Stewardship outside the organization includes responsibilities in following areas:

❑ Environmental sustainability and the organization’s use of materials and natural

resources

❑ Organization’s relationship with external stakeholders such as its partners and

channels

❑ Impact of the organization or project on the market, social community, and regions in
which it operates

❑ Advancing the state of practice in professional industries

• Reflects understanding and acceptance of trust as well as actions and decisions that engender
and sustain that trust

• Adheres to both implicit and explicit duties, such as Integrity; Care; Trustworthiness; and
Compliance to laws, rules, regulations, and requirements

Principle 2- Team

Create a Collaborative Project Team Environment

Key points of the project Team as a principle of project management:

• Are made up of individuals who wield diverse skills, knowledge, and experience

• Work within organizational and professional cultures and guidelines, often establishing their
own “local” culture

• Work collaboratively to accomplish a shared objective more effectively and efficiently than
individuals working on their own

• Collaborative project team environment facilitates:

❑ Alignment with other organizational cultures and guidelines

❑ Individual and team learning and development

 ❑ Optimal contributions to deliver desired outcomes

• Creating a collaborative project team environment involves:

❑ Team agreements: Represent a set of behavioral parameters and working norms

established by the project team and upheld through individual and project team
commitment and is created at the beginning

❑ Organizational structures: Any arrangement of or relation between the elements of

project work and organizational processes, and can be based on roles, functions, or
authority

❑ Processes: Enable completion of tasks and work assignments

• Within project teams, specific tasks may be delegated to individuals or selected by project
team members themselves, which includes:

❑ Authority: The condition of having the right, within a given context, to make relevant
decisions, establish or improve procedures, apply project resources, expend funds, or
give approvals

❑ Accountability: The condition of being answerable for an outcomes

❑ Responsibility: The condition of being obligated to do or fulfill something

• Diverse project team can enrich the project environment by bringing together different
perspectives

• Incorporates of practice standards, ethical codes, and other guidelines that are part of the
professional work within the project team and the organization

• Delivers outcomes by fostering free exchange of information and individual knowledge , which
increases shared learning and individual development while delivering outcomes

Principle 3- Stakeholders

Effectively Engage with Stakeholders

Key points of Stakeholders as a principle of project management:

• Engage stakeholders proactively and to the degree needed to contribute to project success
and customer satisfaction

• can be individuals, groups, or organizations that may affect, be affected by, or perceive
themselves to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a portfolio, program, or project

• directly or indirectly influence a project, its performance, or outcome in either a positive or

negative way

• Effective and efficient engagement and communication include determining how, when, how
often, and under what circumstances stakeholders want to be—and should be—engaged

• Includes building and maintaining solid relationships through frequent, two-way

communication, interactive meetings, face-to-face meetings, informal dialogue, and
knowledge-sharing activities
 • Helps project teams detect, collect, and evaluate information, data, and opinions, which
creates shared understanding and alignment

• Project teams actively engage other stakeholders throughout the project to minimize potential
negative impacts and maximize positive impacts

• Helps the project team to find solutions that may be more acceptable to a broader range of
stakeholders

• Stakeholders can affect many aspects of a project, including but not limited to:

• Scope/requirements: by revealing the need to add, adjust, or remove elements of the

scope and/or project requirements

• Schedule: by offering ideas to accelerate delivery or by slowing down or stop delivery

of key project activities

• Cost: by helping to reduce or eliminate planned expenditures or by adding steps,

requirements, or restrictions that increase cost or require additional resources

• Project team: by restricting or enabling access to people with the skills, knowledge,
and experience needed to deliver the intended outcomes, and promote a learning
culture

• Plans: by providing information for plans or by advocating for changes to agreed

activities and work

• Outcomes: by enabling or blocking work required for the desired outcomes

• Culture: by establishing or influencing—or even defining—the level and character of

engagement of the project team and broader organization

• Benefits realization: by generating and identifying long-term goals so that the project
delivers the intended identified value

• Risk: by defining the risk thresholds of the project, as well as participating in

subsequent risk management activities

• Quality: by identifying and requiring quality requirements

• Success: by defining success factors and participating in the evaluation of success

Principle 4- Value

Focus on Value

Key points of Value as a principle of project management:

• Continually evaluate and adjust project alignment to business objectives and intended
benefits and value

• Ultimate indicator of project success and driver of projects

• Realized throughout the project, at the end of the project, or after the project is complete

• Can be defined in quantitative and/or qualitative terms

 • A focus on outcomes allows project teams to support the intended benefits that lead to value
creation

• Project teams evaluate progress and adapt to maximize the expected value

• Expressed as a financial contribution to the sponsoring or receiving organization

• Value is worth, importance, or usefulness of something

• Value is subjective, in the sense that the same concept can have different values for different
people and organizations. It is because what is considered a benefit depends on organizational
strategies, ranging from short-term financial gains, long-term gains, and even nonfinancial
elements

• All projects have a range of stakeholders, different values generated for each group of
stakeholders have to be considered and balanced with the whole, while placing a priority on
the customer perspective

Principle 5- Systems Thinking

Recognize, Evaluate, and Respond to System Interactions

Key points of Systems Thinking as a principle of project management:

• Recognize, evaluate, and respond to the dynamic circumstances within and surrounding the
project in a holistic way to positively affect project performance

• A project is a system of interdependent and interacting domains of activity

• Systems thinking entails taking a holistic view of how project parts interact with each other
and with external systems

• Systems are constantly changing, requiring consistent attention to internal and external
conditions

• Being responsive to system interactions allows project teams to leverage positive outcomes

• A system is a set of interacting and interdependent components that function as a unified

whole

• brings together a diverse project team engaged in working for a common objective

• Because of the interactivity among systems, project teams should operate with awareness of,
and vigilance toward, changing system dynamics

• The following skills support a systems view of the project:

• Empathy with the business areas

• Critical thinking with a big picture focus

• Challenging of assumptions and mental models

• Seeking external review and advice

• Use of integrated methods, artifacts, and practices so there is a common

understanding of project work, deliverables, and outcomes
 • Use of modeling and scenarios to envision how system dynamics may interact and
react

• Proactive management of the integration to help achieve business outcomes

• Recognizing, evaluating, and responding to system interactions can lead to the following
positive outcomes:

• Early consideration of uncertainty and risk within the project, exploration of

alternatives, and consideration of unintended consequences

• Ability to adjust assumptions and plans throughout the project life cycle

• Provision of ongoing information and insights that inform planning and delivery

• Clear communication of plans, progress, and projections to relevant stakeholders

• Alignment of project goals and objectives to the customer organization’s goals,

objectives, and vision

• Ability to adjust to the changing needs of the end user, sponsor, or customer of the
project deliverables

• Ability to see synergies and savings between aligned projects or initiatives

• Ability to exploit opportunities not otherwise captured or see threats posed to or by

other projects or initiatives

• Clarity regarding the best project performance measurement and their influence on
the behavior of the people involved in the project

• Decisions that benefit the organization as a whole

• More comprehensive and informed identification of risks

Principle 6- Leadership

Demonstrate Leadership Behaviors

Key points of Leadership as a principle of project management:

• Demonstrate and adapt leadership behaviors to support individual and team needs

• Effective leadership promotes project success and contributes to positive project outcomes

• Any project team member can demonstrate leadership behaviors

• Leadership is different than authority

• Effective leaders adapt their style to the situation

• Effective leaders recognize differences in motivation among project team members

• Leaders demonstrate desired behavior in areas of honesty, integrity, and ethical conduct

• Leadership comprises the attitude, talent, character, and behaviors to influence individuals
within and outside the project team toward the desired outcomes
 • A project team member deepens leadership acumen by adding or practicing a combination of
various skills or techniques, including but not limited to:

❑ Focusing a project team around agreed goals

❑ Articulating a motivating vision for the project outcomes

❑ Seeking resources and support for the project

❑ Generating consensus on the best way forward

❑ Overcoming obstacles to project progress

❑ Negotiating and resolving conflict within the project team and between the project
team and other stakeholders

❑ Adapting communication style and messaging so that they are relevant to the
audience

❑ Coaching and mentoring fellow project team members

❑ Appreciating and rewarding positive behaviors and contributions

❑ Providing opportunities for skill growth and development

❑ Facilitating collaborative decision making

❑ Employing effective conversations and active listening

❑ Empowering project team members and delegating responsibilities to them

❑ Building a cohesive project team that takes responsibility

❑ Showing empathy for project team and stakeholder perspectives

❑ Having self-awareness of one’s own bias and behaviors

❑ Managing and adapting to change during the project life cycle

❑ Facilitating a fail-fast/learn quickly mindset by acknowledging mistakes

❑ Role modeling of desired behaviors

Principle 7- Tailoring

Tailor Based on Context

Key points of Tailoring as a principle of project management:

• Design the project development approach based on the context of the project, its objectives,
stakeholders, governance, and the environment using “just enough” process to achieve the
desired outcome while maximizing value, managing cost, and enhancing speed

• Each project is unique

• Project success is based on adapting to the unique context of the project to determine the
most appropriate methods of producing the desired outcomes
 • Tailoring the approach is iterative, and therefore is a continuous process throughout the
project

• Tailoring is the deliberate adaptation of approach, governance, and processes to make them
more suitable for the given environment and the work at hand

• A tailored project approach can produce direct and indirect benefits to organizations

• Tailoring projects can lead to the following positive outcomes:

• Increased innovation, efficiency, and productivity

• Lessons learned, so that improvements from a specific delivery approach can be

shared and applied to the next round of work or future projects

• Further improvement of an organization’s methodology, with new practices, methods,

and artifacts

• Discovery of improved outcomes, processes, or methods through experimentation

• Effective integration within multidisciplinary project teams of methods and practices

used to deliver project results

• Increased adaptability for the organization in the long term

Principle 8- Quality

Build Quality into Processes and Deliverables

Key points of Quality as a principle of project management:

• The degree to which a set of inherent characteristics of a product, service, or result fulfills the
requirements

• Includes the ability to satisfy the customer’s stated or implied needs

• Maintain a focus on quality that produces deliverables that meet project objectives and align
to the needs, uses, and acceptance requirements set forth by relevant stakeholders

• Project quality entails satisfying stakeholders’ expectations and fulfilling project and product
requirements

• Quality focuses on meeting acceptance criteria for deliverables

• Project quality entails ensuring project processes are appropriate and as effective as possible

• Quality is closely linked to the product acceptance criteria, as described in the statement of
work or other design documents

• Objective is to minimize the waste of resources and maximize the probability of attaining the
desired outcome

• Quality may have several different dimensions, including but not limited to the following:

❑ Performance: Does the deliverable function as the project team and other
stakeholders intended?

❑ Conformity: Is the deliverable fit for use, and does it meet the specifications?
 ❑ Reliability: Does the deliverable produce consistent metrics each time it is performed
or produced?

❑ Resilience: Is the deliverable able to cope with unforeseen failures and quickly
recover?

❑ Satisfaction: Does the deliverable elicit positive feedback from end users? This
includes usability and user experience?

❑ Uniformity: Does the deliverable show parity with other deliverables produced in the
same manner?

❑ Efficiency: Does the deliverable produce the greatest output with the least amount of
inputs and effort?

❑ Sustainability: Does the deliverable produce a positive impact on economic, social,

and environmental parameters?

• Close attention to quality in project processes and deliverables creates positive outcomes,
including:

❑ Project deliverables that are fit for purpose, as defined by acceptance criteria,

❑ Project deliverables that meet stakeholder expectations and business objectives

❑ Project deliverables with minimal or no defects

❑ Timely or expedited delivery

❑ Enhanced cost control

❑ Increased quality of product delivery

❑ Reduced rework and scrap

❑ Reduced customer complaints

❑ Good supply chain integration

❑ Improved productivity

❑ Increased project team morale and satisfaction

❑ Robust service delivery

❑ Improved decision making

❑ Continually improved processes

Principle 9- Complexity

Navigate Complexity

Key points of Complexity as a principle of project management:

• Evaluate and navigate project complexity so that approaches and plans enable the project
team to successfully navigate the project life cycle
 • Result/ Sources of complexity are human behavior, system interactions, uncertainty, and
ambiguity, and technological innovation

• Can emerge at any point during the project

• A characteristic of a project or its environment that is difficult to manage due to human

behavior, system behavior, and ambiguity

• The nature and number of the interactions determine the degree of complexity in a project

• Emerges from project elements, interactions between project elements, and interactions with
other systems and the project environment

• Can be introduced by events or conditions that affect value, scope, communications,

stakeholders, risk, and technological innovation

• Project teams can stay vigilant in identifying elements of complexity and use a variety of
methods to reduce the amount or impact of complexity

Principle 10- Risk

Optimize Risk Responses

Key points of Risk as a principle of project management:

• An uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, can have a positive or negative effect on one
or more objectives

• Continually evaluate exposure to risk, both opportunities and threats, to maximize positive
impacts and minimize negative impacts to the project and its outcomes

• Individual and overall risks can impact projects

• Risks can be positive (opportunities) or negative (threats)

• Risks are addressed continually throughout the project

• An organization’s risk attitude, appetite, and threshold influence how risk is addressed

• Risk responses should be:

❑ Appropriate for the significance of the risk

❑ Cost effective

❑ Realistic within the project context

❑ Agreed to by relevant stakeholders

❑ Owned by a responsible person

• Project team members engage with relevant stakeholders to understand their risk appetite
and risk thresholds

• Risk appetite: Describes the degree of uncertainty an organization or individual is willing to

accept in anticipation of a reward
 • Risk threshold: Measure of acceptable variation around an objective that reflects the risk
appetite of the organization and stakeholders

• The risk threshold reflects the risk appetite

• A risk threshold of ±5% around a cost objective reflects a lower risk appetite than a risk
threshold of ±10%

• The risk appetite and risk threshold inform how the project team navigates risk in a project

Principle 11- Adaptability and Resiliency

Embrace Adaptability and Resiliency

Key points of Adaptability and Resiliency as a principle of project management:

• Adaptability refers to the ability to respond to changing conditions

• Resiliency consists of two complementary traits: the ability to absorb impacts and the ability
to recover quickly from a setback or failure

• Build adaptability and resiliency into the organization’s and project team’s approaches to help
the project accommodate change, recover from setbacks, and advance the work of the project

• Focus on outcomes rather than outputs facilitates adaptability

• Capabilities that support adaptability and resilience include:

❑ Short feedback loops to adapt quickly

❑ Continuous learning and improvement

❑ Project teams with broad skill sets, coupled with individuals having extensive
knowledge in each required skill area

❑ Regular inspection and adaptation of project work to identify improvement

opportunities

❑ Diverse project teams to capture a broad range of experiences

❑ Open and transparent planning that engages internal and external stakeholders

❑ Small-scale prototypes and experiments to test ideas and try new approaches

❑ Ability to leverage new ways of thinking and working

❑ Process design that balances velocity of work and stability of requirements

❑ Open organizational conversations

❑ Diverse project teams with broad skill sets, cultures, and experience, coupled with
subject matter experts in each required skill area

❑ Understanding from past learning of the same or similar endeavors

❑ Ability and willingness to anticipate multiple potential scenarios and prepare for
multiple eventualities

❑ Deferring decision making to the last responsible moment

 ❑ Management support

❑ Open-ended design that balances speed and stability

• Help project teams learn and improve so that they can quickly recover from failures or setbacks
and continue making progress toward delivering value

Principle 12- Change

Enable Change to Achieve the Envisioned Future State

Key points of Change as a principle of project management:

• Prepare those impacted for the adoption and sustainment of new and different behaviors and
processes required for the transition from the current state to the intended future state
created by the project outcomes

• A structured approach to change helps individuals, groups, and the organization transition
from the current state to a future desired state

• Change can originate from internal influences or external sources

• Enabling change can be challenging as not all stakeholders embrace change

• Attempting too much change in a short time can lead to change fatigue and/or resistance

• Stakeholder engagement and motivational approaches assist in change adoption