FIT5057 · Project Management
Project Management Foundations
Before any schedule or budget, a few definitions and one shape do most of the work in FIT5057. A project is temporary and unique (unlike ongoing operations); project management is the discipline of meeting its requirements; and every decision inside it trades scope against time against cost — the iron triangle, with quality at the centre. This chapter then walks the project/program/portfolio ladder, the organisational-structure spectrum that sets how much authority the PM holds, and the difference between the life cycle (phases) and the five process groups (recurring work). Its centrepiece is PMBOK 7 — 12 principles plus 8 performance domains — and how it differs from PMBOK 6, before closing on the two documents that launch a project: the business case (justifies it) and the charter (authorises it). The quiz tests these as crisp recognition; the project assignments build on them.
What this chapter covers
- 011.1 Project, project management & IT project management
- 02The triple constraint (iron triangle) and the trade-off rule
- 031.2 Project, program & portfolio
- 041.3 Organisational structures & the PM-authority spectrum
- 051.4–1.5 Life cycle vs the five process groups
- 06PMBOK 7 — the 12 principles
- 07PMBOK 7 — the 8 performance domains
- 081.6 PMBOK 6 vs 7, and predictive vs adaptive approaches
- 091.7–1.8 The business case and the project charter
Worked example: reading a change request through the iron triangle
- +1Scope ↑: a new feature has been added to the agreed work, so the scope corner expands.
- +1Time fixed: the launch date is locked, so the schedule corner cannot absorb the extra work.
- +1Therefore cost ↑ or quality ↓: either pay for more developers (cost rises) or cut/under-test something else (quality erodes) — there is no free option.
- +1PM response: quantify the trade-off, take it to change control, and let the sponsor choose — do not silently absorb it.
Key terms
- Project
- A temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service or result. The two defining words are temporary (a definite start and end) and unique (not done in exactly this form before); it is also progressively elaborated. Repetitive, ongoing work is operations, not a project.
- Triple constraint (iron triangle)
- Scope, time and cost locked together around quality. You cannot move one corner for free: widen the scope and the schedule slips, the cost rises, or quality drops. "Pick two, the third follows." Quality is the centre, not a fourth tradeable corner.
- Process group
- One of the five recurring types of project work in PMBOK 6 — Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring & Controlling, Closing. They overlap and repeat (not a strict waterfall); Monitoring & Controlling runs across the whole project. Distinct from life-cycle phases, which describe where you are.
- PMBOK 7 principle vs performance domain
- PMBOK 7 has 12 principles (how to behave — Stewardship, Value, Tailoring, Risk, etc.) and 8 performance domains (the areas you operate in — Stakeholders, Team, Planning, Delivery, Measurement, Uncertainty, etc.). Risk and Quality are principles; the matching domains are the broader Uncertainty and Delivery.
- Project charter
- The document that formally authorises the project and names the project manager, giving them authority to apply organisational resources. Created in Initiating, it carries objectives, high-level scope, stakeholders, constraints, budget and timeline. The business case justifies; the charter authorises.
Project Management Foundations FAQ
How do I tell a project from operations in a quiz scenario?
Apply the two discriminators: is it temporary (a definite start and end) and unique (not done in exactly this form before)? If the work is ongoing and repetitive — payroll runs, monthly server patching, the support queue — it is operations, no matter how large. Building a new enrolment portal is a project; running the help-desk every day is operations.
Is quality a fourth corner of the iron triangle?
No — this is a classic distractor. In the canonical triangle the three tradeable constraints are scope, time and cost; quality sits at the centre as the dependent outcome. When the triangle is squeezed without adjusting a corner, quality is what quietly erodes. PMBOK widens it to a six-factor balance (adding risk, resources, stakeholder satisfaction), but the three-corner picture is what the quiz tests.
What are the counts I must keep straight for PMBOK?
PMBOK 7 has 12 principles + 8 performance domains; PMBOK 6 has 5 process groups + 10 knowledge areas. A favourite quiz distractor swaps "knowledge areas" for "performance domains" or mis-states a count. One-line hook: 7 asks why (principles & domains), 6 shows how (process groups & knowledge areas).
Business case, charter, or scope statement — which does which?
Three documents, three jobs. The business case justifies the project (sponsor-owned, written before the project, light NPV/ROI/payback maths). The charter authorises it and names the PM (created at Initiating). The scope statement bounds the work in detail (Chapter 2). When a question says "authorise", the answer is charter; "justify" is the business case.
Exam move
Anchor the whole chapter on two ideas the rest of the unit hangs off: the iron triangle and the predictive ↔ adaptive spectrum. For the quiz, drill the clean distinctions and counts — project vs operations, principles (12) vs performance domains (8), process groups (5) vs knowledge areas (10), business case vs charter vs scope statement — because these are exactly the recognition items the closed-book MCQ rewards. Be able to recite the 5 process groups (I-P-E-M-C) and place PMBOK 7 against PMBOK 6 in one line. For the project assignments, remember the document chain: business case → charter → scope statement → plan.
