INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF

PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
International Journal of Project Management 24 (2006) 187–189
www.elsevier.com/locate/ijproman

Editorial

Towards a theory of Project Management:

The functions of Project Management

In my editorial in the last two issues of the journal, I 1. Scope Management

have been trying to develop a theory of Project Manage-
ment. Through a series of premises and lemmas, I have
attempted to derive a structure of Project Management,
and identify inherent elements of Project Management.
In the first article I looked at the nature of projects and
in the second the nature of project management. So far,
I have identified four premises (though I have only used
three of them), and eight lemmas, and from those I have
identified eight inherent components of project manage-
ment and seven roles.
In this issue, I am going to look at what in my books
[2,3] I call the functions of project management, and the
Project Management Institute calls five of its body of
knowledge areas [1]:
1. managing scope;
2. managing project organization;
3. managing quality;
4. managing cost;
5. managing time.
We have already met other four of PMI’s body of knowl-
edge areas:
 Project Contract Management and Procurement
was the first inherent component identified in
Corollary 1.
 Information Management, and hence Communication,
was identified at Corollary 2.
 Resource Management was identified at Corollary 4,
and since some resources are people, that implies
Human Resource Management is an inherent
component.
 Risk Management was identified at in Corollary 8.
Thus by then end of this article we will have seen that all
nine of PMI’s body of knowledge areas, plus the project
life-cycle and Project Management life-cycle are inherent
components of Project Management.
Premise 1 says that a project is a temporary organization
to which resources are assigned to do work to bring about
beneficial change. In order for that to happen, the change
required must be defined and its delivery managed (Corol-
lary 6 and Premise 3), and in order for that to happen, the
work required to be done must be defined and managed.
Thus:
Corollary 11. Scope Management is an inherent component
of Project Management.
Premise 3 and Corollary 7, together with Premise 1, imply
that the objectives must be defined at all levels of break-
down, as must the means of obtaining those objectives.
Corollary 7B. Product break-down is an inherent compo-
nent of Scope Management.
Corollary 7C. Work-break-down is an inherent component
of Scope Management.
Not only do we want the desired change to be delivered
by the project, the project should consist of the right work
to deliver the desired change, we want that change to work
to deliver the desired benefit. The project deliverable (the
desired change) must have the right functionality to pro-
vide the benefit (outcome) we want. I call the desired func-
tionality ‘‘the requirements’’:
Corollary 12. Requirements Management is an inherent
component of Scope Management.
Now for the first time I want to draw on empirical evi-
dence. Everything so far, I think, has been derived logi-
cally. But we reach a point where we have to draw on
experience, and say, experience suggests this is the best
way of achieving this end.
Empiricism 1: Configuration Management is a useful tool
for ensuring the right means is adopted for delivering the
right objectives, and that those objectives will function in
the right way to deliver the desired outcome.

0263-7863/$30.00 Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd and IPMA. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2006.03.001
188 Editorial / International Journal of Project Management 24 (2006) 187–189
We can derive logically that we need such a tool, we can-
not derive logically that Configuration Management is nec-
essarily the best tool. We have to draw on empirical
evidence for that.
As the project is completed, we want to monitor its per-
formance and ensure it does actually work as expected and
produce the desired benefit.
Corollary 13. Benefits Management is an essential compo-
nent of Scope Management.
2. Project organization
Premise 1 says that resources are assigned to the project to
do the work to bring about the change. We have also identi-
fied seven roles associated with Project Management.
Appropriate people and other resources need to be identified
and marshalled to the project to fulfil these requirements.
Corollary 14. Project organization is an essential compo-
nent of Project Management.
At any level of breakdown we will need to match roles
and responsibilities and the skill requirements to the prod-
ucts and work at that level.
Corollary 7D. Organization breakdown is an inherent com-
ponent of Project Organization.
3. Quality Management
We have identified above that the project deliverable
must function in the desired way; that it must perform.
We will specify how we expect the product to perform,
and what standards it should meet. We must then ensure
that the specification and standards are met, that the out-
put functions as required, and that the desired outcomes
are achieved. That is Quality Management.
Corollary 15. Quality Management is an inherent compo-
nent of Project Management.
Empiricism 1A: Configuration Management is a useful tool
for Quality Management.
4. Cost managament
Premise 2 says that the project should provide value for
the owner, that is the benefit should justify the cost of the
resources used. In order for this to be achieved, the cost
must be kept within bounds. It does not necessarily have
to be less than some arbitrary budget, it just has to be kept
within bounds justified by the desired benefit.
Corollary 16. Cost Management is an inherent component
of Project Management.
Now, the field of cost and management accounting has
developed methods of monitoring and controlling costs in
routine organizations. These are based on double entry
book-keeping, developed 500 years ago, and used and
shown to work since that time. I have shown [2] that the
standard methods of cost and management accounting,
when applied to projects, become Earned Value Analysis.
Lemma 9. Earned Value Management is a useful tool for
Cost Management.
This lemma draws on the field of cost and management
accounting.
5. Time Management
Also for the outcome to be of benefit it must be obtained
within certain timescales. There are at least three ways in
which time can have an impact:
1. Sometimes the output only has the desired benefit at a
certain time. For instance in event management (such
as a sporting event) there is a defined time at which
the event must start, to the nearest minute. If the project
is late, all the benefit is lost.
2. Sometimes the output only has the desired benefit over a
limited market window. For instance new toys have a six
week market window over Christmas. If the project is
late, the benefit is not lost absolutely, but benefit is lost
in proportion to any time the project is delayed.
3. Finally, because of the time value of money, the later the
project is delivered the more it costs, and so value is
eroded. Here we have to draw on theory from another
management subject, (Economics and Finance) to
enlighten our theory of Project Management.
Corollary 17. Time Management is an inherent component
of Project Management.
Empiricism 3 I don’t entirely agree with.
Empiricism 3: Bar Charts, Critical Path Analysis, Critical
Chain, and Resource Smoothing are useful tools for Time
Management.
6. Summary
This month there have been no new premises or roles,
just one more lemma, six more corollaries and two pieces
of empirical evidence drawn on.
P1: A project is a temporary organization
P2: which the owner creates to create value
P3: The temporary organization is governed on behalf of
the stakeholders
P4: Governance is defining the objectives, the means of
obtaining them, and the means of monitoring perfor-
mance
L1: A project consumes resources to do work
L2: to deliver an output
L3: which will be operated to achieve a beneficial outcome
 Editorial / International Journal of Project Management 24 (2006) 187–189 189

L4: The work of the project is non-routine We have also identified several roles:
L5: and therefore risky
L6: Projects have five stages of: concept, feasibility, design, R1: The owner who provides the resources to buy the
execution, close asset and will receive the benefit from its operation.
L7: Management has five steps: plan, organize, implement, R2: The users who operate the asset on the owner’s
control behalf.
L8: Projects and Project Management are fractal R3: The sponsor who will channel the resources to the
L9: Earned value management is the appropriate tool for project on the owner’s behalf.
managing cost. R4: The resources who are assigned to the project and will
Project Management comprises: do the work to deliver the asset.
R5: The broker, who works with the owner and sponsor
C1: Project contract and procurement management. to define the required outcome (benefit) from the
C2: Information management. project, and the output (change) which will achieve
C3: Financial management. that.
C4: Resource management. R6: The steward, who works with the broker to identify
C5: Project appraisal. the means of obtaining the output, the work and
C6: Project definition. resources required.
C7: Breakdown. R7: The manager who manages the temporary organi-
C8: Risk management. zation, to ensure the right work is done to deliver
C9: The management of the project. the defined output, and monitors and controls
C10: The project and project management life-cycles. progress.
C11: Scope management.
C12: Requirements management.
C13: Benefits management. References
C14: Project organization.
C15: Quality management. [1] PMI. Guide to the project management body of knowledge. 3rd ed.
C16: Cost management. Newtown Square (PA): Project Management Institute; 2004.
[2] Turner JR. The handbook of project based management. 2nd ed.
C17: Time management. London: McGraw-Hill; 1999.
[3] Turner JR. The management of large projects and programmes for
We have identified some tools from empirical web delivery. Aldershot: Gower; 2004.
experience:
J. Rodney Turner
E1: Configuration management. Lille School of Management
E2: Bar charts, critical path analysis, critical chain, United Kingdom
resource smoothing. E-mail address: rodneyturner@europrojex.co.uk