ISO 21500 - Guidance on project management

ISO 21500 Guidance on project management. A Pocket Guide

2013-06-20T21:16:00.001+02:00

ISO 21500 Guidance on project management. A Pocket Guide

This pocket guide explains the content and the practical use of ISO 21500 - Guidance on project management, the latest international standard for project management, and the first of a family of ISO standards for project, portfolio and program management.

Link: here.

Comparing PMBOK 4, PMBOK 5 and ISO 21500

2013-02-06T20:14:00.002+01:00

A good comparison between PMBOK 4, PMBOK 5 and ISO 21500.
Made bij STS Sauter.

Link.

ISO 21500, A quick reference card by H. Portman

2013-02-06T17:21:00.000+01:00

This reference card can be found and downloaded here.

ISO 21500 volgens Danny Vandeweyer.

2013-01-26T14:22:00.001+01:00

Het artikel is hier te vinden

ISO 21500 in het Nederlands

2012-12-05T19:53:00.001+01:00

De ISO 21500-norm is nu te koop in het Nederlands. Samen met een praktijkgids (link), is het voor de lieve duit van bij €180 te koop.

Comparing PMBOK 4, 5 and ISO 21500

2012-10-26T17:21:00.000+02:00

Comparing PMBOK 4, 5 and ISO 21500, by Thierry Labriet.
Very good!

Article here.

Thoughts on ISO 21500 - LinkedIn

2012-10-25T21:56:00.001+02:00

This is a discussion on the LinkedIn group ISO 21500

It was started on october 6th 2012.

Guy Vertommen wrote

I heard about ISO 21500 on the PMI BeLux day today. As a PMP, why should I care about ISO 21500 at all ? It looks like a copy of the PMBoK to me anyway.

Helmut Berger • Hello Guy, it´s up to you if you care. ISO 21500 is an informative standard, so you can choose.
Maybe you will have a closer look and sure you will recognize the differences between PMBoK and ISO 21500 especially looking at it´s chapter 3.
Among other PM-concepts you will find the concept of PM-personell competencies according to ipma which means the ipma certification system is in line with ISO 21500.
This is just one example.

Thierry Labriet, PMP & IPMA-B • Hi!
You can find a pretty detailed comparaison between both standards.
In few words: They are very close since they speak about PM and are process oriented.
Now, the PMBOK is quite a comprehensive framework whereas the ISO standard is not as detailed. ISO introduces a new domain: Stakeholder which is very interesting.
Here is the link with the comparaison:
www.sts.ch/documents/english/Doc_7037E_Comparing_PMBOK_and_ISO_v1-1.pdf
Enjoy!
Thierry.

Pedro Dubié Orienti • Hi Guy. I could suggest you to go to "SEARCH" and search in the list of "debates" under word "21500". Your opinion That Affirmative ISO 21500 is a copy of PMBOK have many debates and you could enjoy very interesting opinions.
In my opinion this topic is sterile Because it is a wrong way to simplify the Importance of ISO 21500 and is an obstacle to discussion new complex issues.
If we affirm That ISO 21500 and PMBOK are similarly info we have the risk to affirm That nothing new happened and this is are a big mistake. In the other hand, it'sa good opportunity to Recognize the historic contribution PMI and IPMA That (and others) Have Done to our PM culture. In the construction industry we Recognize other importants and very usefull standars (CMAA, CIOB, PRINCE II, Lean Construction, AEEBC Association of European Building Surveyors & Construction Experts, etc).
Now, We have the important advantage to have an ISO Common Language! The world is not built only ... what are the next steps?

Thierry Labriet, PMP & IPMA-B • Hello,
Many other debates have touched this topic indeed.
Now, I'm interested to learn why you consider ISO 21500 is not similar to PMBOK?
I have read both and they present many common processes. From this point of view, they are very close.
Regarding their respective influence, here I agree with you: They both address different interests and are considered by different people.
Thierry.,

Pedro Dubié Orienti • Hi Thierry. I do not like to affirm that ISO 21500 is similar to PMBOK because if we study and compare the origin of a group of essential concepts of Project Management in different countries, ages and sectors we can see that the concepts have developed from differents industries and experiencies with a convergent movement during the last decades. PMBOK is one, but not the unique result of interdisciplinary voluntary work worldwide since 1987. Before 1987, many people knew and practice similar know how.

If we affirm that ISO 21500 is a copy of PMBOK we are giving to many people an unfair treatment because they have done a lot in the last 50 years to PM culture growth.
However, I beleive that PMI has an extraordinary leadership in PM development!!

Santiago Penabella • The point is not if ISO 21500 is or isn't a copy of PMBOK, but what's it's objective. In many countries PM is not considered a discipline or at least PMBOK has no importance at all (even for companies that theorically develops project management activities). In my opinion what is good about ISO 21500 is that offers a good oportunity to spread the PM methodologies, and even better if the methodology is that one from PMBOK. The trademark ISO is a great support for this intention, so maybe those who don't care or don't know about PMBOK/PMI will pay attention to any standar coming from ISO.

ISO 21500 is of course inspired (or copied) in PMBOK, but PMBOK is going to be modified to be aligned with ISO 21500 so it's not only copy but a whole work of joining different methodologies and a way to find a common standard.

Thierry Labriet, PMP & IPMA-B • Hi,
I fully agree with the great visibility ISO will give to PM worldwide. ISO is a reference for many decision makers who were difficult to convince with PMI references...

I have absolutely no doubt about it, and I agree, it is a major difference here.

Now there are two common points between ISO and PMI.

First, they are global standards: The PMBOK is the ANSI standard (American National Standard Institute) and many contributors work hard to enhance this standard. ISO, at a greater scale (worldwide vs American), is working somehow the same way, except that members are international.

Last, the processes described in both standards are very close and will become even closer with the new version of the PMBOK. Somehow, it is normal that ANSI and ISO standards have commonalities when dealing with the same subject.

Thierry.

Max Wideman • The big difference between the Guide to the PMBOK and the ISO21500 Guidance on project management is that the "Guide" is excessively complex for most projects but relatively cheap whereas the ISO21500 is quite simplistic but excessively expensive. Since both are treating the same subject, it should not be surprising that there are commonalities to both.

Guy Vertommen • hi all,
So, as a project manager, what is then the next step to do ? I studied the
PMBoK and reached a PMP certification not only to become a better project
manager, but also to be recognised as one. And with that statement I mean
that identifying yourself as PMP on your resume gives yourself a sort of
quality label, a label that is often requested when looking for
opportunities.

What's with ISO then ? Should PMP's look for an ISO label (appreciation,
certification, ...) as well ? Is that even the goal ?
Will, in the long run, the ISO 21500 stamp in the upper right corner of our
resume replace the list of PMP, Prince2, IPMA certifications ?

regards
Guy

Guy Vertommen • Well, I think we should celebrate that there finally is an ISO standard for
project managerment.
And the fact that it is very very similar to our beloved PMBoK makes it all
the easier for PMP's to study it :-)

regards
Guy

Santiago Penabella • In my case Guy, I obtained the PMP certification with the same objective as you did, improve my skills as PM and also to be recognised as such, but unfortunatly in my country and in my industry it's not a recognition. Anyway, ISO will not be used to certify professionals but projects.
What is good for us, the professionals, is that ISO will help those organizations that still don't know clearly what Project Management is and how they can improve their results using PM methodologies.
And of course for those professionals who know and use the PMBOK standards is great that the ISO 21500 is aligned with it, we don't need to learn something new!!!

Thierry Labriet, PMP & IPMA-B • Hi,
ISO will never appear on your resume because it is oriented towards organization.
What may happen is that ISO oriented organizations will appreciate someone with a PMP certification because 1) you have a structured approach of PM, 2) you know a process oriented framework which is the ANSI standard and 3) this ANSI standard is very close to the ISO standard.
That's why, I think PMI certifications will continue to provide value to individuals like us.
It might be more difficult for Prince2 because it is a bit less close to the ISO processes and, in Switzerland, our federal adopted method (Hermès) might also be in this situation.
I believe that IPMA, because it is competency oriented, will continue to have an increasing recognition.
What do you think?

Guy Vertommen • I don't know IPMA very well .. I just became member of the new Belgian chapter and I haven't really studied their certification system yet.

Manuel Romoli • The ISO21500 standard is a company-oriented methodology and will give companies a new framework to wich certify their projects against: sponsors/CEO/senior management they do not know the PMI label but they certainly know the ISO label and hope is to certify their organizations like the ISO 9001 standard. PMPs will act as consultants.

Angus Macleod MAPM IPMA • In my humble view the difference has ENORMOUS contractual nessecity - if you are a PMC, PMT or ans EPC and your contarct with a Major Client DEPENDS on you being ISO 21500 certified then it will be NESSECARY as it is an overarching INTERNATIONAL STANDARD - as opposed to much more detaled BoK's which tend to be "national" rather than "international" and I would say PMBoKs are not recognised in International Contract Law (?) - a they (PMBoK''s) are country-specific PMI (USA), APM (UK) AIPM (AUS), IPMA (International) - having no specific weight in contract law.

I would opine that ISO' s are just what it says - if you are not (say) ISO 9100 / 9002 compliant then you get eliminated from ITTs (Invitations to Tender) - the same will eventually be true of ISO 21500 as it permeates the International PM Community.

In the Oil & Gas industry (ie) Major Oil Companies classically award PMT's / PMC's for greenfield capital projects with CAPEX ranging from $1BN - > 45BN USD with PMC contracs being worth 5-9% (maybe more) of these Capex values - they would definately not award a PMC with no ISO compliance for that order of magnitude contract - the cost risk in terms of sub-optimal management would be too great.

Just a few thoughts

Pat Weaver • Thoughts on the last 2 comments:

1. ISO21500 - IS NOT a methodology and has no resemblance to a methodology, it is a standard. Organisations can build a methodology based on a standard but this involves a lot of work. To understand the elementary differences between standards and methodologies see: http://mosaicprojects.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/pmbok-v-methodology/ and for more on developing a methodology see: http://www.mosaicprojects.com.au/WhitePapers/WP1045_Methodologies.pdf

1. ISO21500 – was not designed to facilitate certification or accreditation although I’m sure someone will try for commercial reasons the process definition is very high level and certifying that someone has for example ‘developed a schedule’ is next to useless. A valid certification should look at the quality and use of the schedule not the simple fact a piece of paper called a schedule exists which is all ISO21500 will support. There are valid assessment models available like P3M3 and OPM3 – organisations asking for certification under ISO 21500 are simply showing there ignorance of effective project management. For more on these models see: http://www.mosaicprojects.com.au/PM-Knowledge_Index.html#OrgGov5

ISO 21500 has been designed to provide an overarching framework to facilitate the alignment of national standards and terminology world-wide. It achieves this objective and should allow a standardisation of the practice of project management over time.

Thierry Labriet, PMP & IPMA-B • Hi,
In addition, I would react to Angus comment regarding IPMA. IPMA is not an international methodology since it is not a methodology at all.

It is a competency based appreciation (and certification) framework, and this is actually what makes it appealing and complementary to a specific methodology or process oriented framework.

Thierry.

NEN: lancering Nederlandse norm voor projectmanagement.

2012-10-24T21:39:00.000+02:00

Thoughts on ISO 21500

2012-10-23T20:22:00.000+02:00

Thoughts on ISO 21500, by Pat Weaver.
Read it here.

First global Standard on project management – ISO 21500

2012-10-17T18:25:00.000+02:00

This article by Miles Shepherd and Karl Best first appeared in ISO Focus+ September 2012.

Link.

ISO: New ISO standard on project management

2012-10-17T17:32:00.002+02:00

ISO writes: "With pressure on business for faster and cheaper results, a new ISO standard for good practice in project management will increase efficiency and maximize the effect of investments.".

Article to be found here.

ISO 21500 Project Management certification

2012-09-13T23:50:00.001+02:00

I found this interesting discussion in the LinkedIn-group ISO 2150.
For those who can't access this group, this is the text.

Ana-Maria Paraschiv, PMP • Dear group members,
It was recently clarified to me that ISO 21500 was developed as guidance only, and is not intended to be used for certification. There is nothing in 21500 that you can certify against.
This is unlike any other ISO I heard of and I am quite curious on the reasons for this? Why was the ISO 21500 created only for guidance and not also for certification/audit?
Looking forward for more details on this, if anyone has them :)
Thanks,
Ana

Mario Coquillat de Travesedo, PMP • Ana, final edition of ISO 21500 has deleted the sentence "This International Standard is not intended for certification or regulatory purposes" so now is open to market requirements.
This is ISO´s spirit, see the evolution of the guide and not predefine it.
However, current ISO 21500 has not the structure to be certified (requirements are not included) so probably next version (within 5 years) if market requires it will be oriented to certification.

Ana-Maria Paraschiv, PMP • Mario, Many, many thanks for the information. What I understand from you is that if at an organization level, or country level, the decision will be to use ISO 21500 as a standard of practice in project management, then that is ok, but a formal certification, as in being kept with and audit process is not yet possible, but might be in 5 years time. Did I get the message right?
Many thanks,
Ana

Mario Coquillat de Travesedo, PMP • That´s correct. If you want to work in implementation I invite you to visit our blog and the PMI´s volunteers project we´re working to help companies in this challenge.
http://iso21500analysis.blogspot.com.es/
About certification, you have to wait at least 5 years if you want to be certified by ISO or your national body (in Spain is Aenor) but if you want you can be recognized as a company which fulfill with ISO 21500 using a third party company (e.g. a consultant firm)

Lars Wendestam • There are quite many ISO standards not used for certification but still valuable to use. Som you are probalby using without knowing you do, such as the ISO standard for country codes and currency codes. Regarding ISO 21500, my view is to use it as a backbone standards to the quality standard ISO 9001. If you have a larger part of your organisations work performed in projects, it is relevant to have that described in your quality system. ISO 21500 helps you to get the right structure in your business managmeent system (BMS).

Prijs ISO 21500

2012-09-09T11:19:00.002+02:00

De nieuwe ISO 21500 standaard kost 140 Zwitserse Franken, oftewel 116 Euro, 148 dollar.
Zowel als PDF downloadbaar als in papier vorm te krijgen.

Te koop bij de ISO zelve, hier.

ISO 21500 published!

2012-09-04T19:04:00.001+02:00

The link to the news.

There is an article in the magazine ISO Focus+. You can download it here, the article starts at page 27.

ISO 21500 in three minutes.

2012-09-03T17:18:00.001+02:00

The new standard for project management in three minutes. Link.

Project charter incluyendo el Comité de América Latina.

2012-08-19T11:05:00.003+02:00

A presentation about ISO 21500 on SlideShare: here.

Description: "Ultima versión del project charter incluyendo el Comité de América Latina.".

Karl-Wilhelm von Rotenhan about ISO 21500

2012-08-15T21:07:00.002+02:00

Posted in the LinkedIn group ISO 21500.

ISO 21500 Guidance on Project Management nimmt letzte Hürde

2012-08-12T12:15:00.000+02:00

ISO 21500 Guidance on Project Management nimmt letzte Hürde: here.

Source: GPM-blog.de
Author: Reinhard Wagner
Language: German

Stage 60.00

2012-08-12T11:38:00.004+02:00

The ISO 21500 stage is now 60.00: International Standard under publication

ISO 21500 moves a step nearer publication

2012-08-07T19:40:00.003+02:00

Blogpost from Pat Weaver on Mosaicproject’s Blog.

Current stage since August 3rd 2012: 50.60

2012-08-04T22:18:00.000+02:00

The current stage is 50.60. "Close of voting. Proof returned by secretariat".
The next stage are:
50.92 FDIS referred back to TC or SC
50.98 Project deleted
50.99 FDIS approved for publication
60.00 International Standard under publication
60.60 International Standard published

Target publication date: 2012-08-31.

We're very close now...

Neue PM-Norm ISO 21500 – Konkrete Auswirkungen

2012-06-01T09:10:00.002+02:00

Neue PM-Norm ISO 21500 – Konkrete Auswirkungen auf Projektmanagement-Begriffe und -Standards (PMBOK Guide, DIN 69901, ICB/NCB)

Twitter @grupo_iso21500 Spain - Español

2012-06-01T09:04:00.002+02:00

Grupo de análisis del PMI Spain Chapter para el estudio de la ISO 21500

Madrid · http://grupoiso21500.blogspot.com.es/

https://en.twitter.com/#!/grupo_iso21500

Análisis ISO 21500 - Spain - Español

2012-05-09T20:12:00.004+02:00

La nueva Norma ISO 21500 “Guidance on project management”

Artículo del Dr. Ángel Isidro Mena. Publicado inicialmente en el Boletín de Marzo de 2012 de PMI Madrid Spain Charter.

http://grupoiso21500.blogspot.com/

2012-04-30T12:43:00.001+02:00

The current stage in the development of ISO 21500 is 40.99: Full report circulated: DIS approved for registration as FDIS.
Current stage date 2012-03-14 .
Link: here.
Target publication date: 2012-08-31