What is the difference between a Body of Knowledge and a Framework?
The world of project, programme and portfolio (P3M) management is amply served with bodies of knowledge, methodologies, standards and, more recently, frameworks. But what do all these different categories of good practice mean?
The simple answer is that there is no definitive explanation for what you may find in any of these publications, but there are some broad guidelines that work:
Body of Knowledge:
A body of knowledge (BoK) is typically an explanation of the functions that make up the discipline of project, programme or portfolio management and usually only addresses one of those three. Functions are things like risk management, planning, scope management and stakeholder management. It is accepted that the full body of knowledge resides in the profession that is made up of practitioners and academics. Body of knowledge publications are only guides to that wealth of knowledge and are a starting point for understanding its full depth and breadth. The many functions described in a body of knowledge need to be applied in the context of a methodology.
Examples are those published by the Association for Project Management (APM) and the Project Management Institute (PMI).
Methodology:
A methodology is process based and almost invariably based upon a lifecycle that is used to govern the development, delivery and closure of a project or programme. These publications typically define the organisational roles that drive the processes and the documentation that is required to operate them. You need to understand the content of a body of knowledge to be able to implement a methodology.
Examples are PRINCE2 and Agile Project Management from Axelos and the Agile Business Consortium respectively.
Standards:
Standards are published by bodies such as the International Standards Organisation (ISO) and can take a variety of forms. They may include elements of a body or knowledge and methodology but are typically far less detailed than those publications. It is tempting to think that ‘standards’ are something that an organisation can be measured, or even accredited, against (like ISO 9000 for quality or ISO 14000 for environmental management) but this is not the case for P3M so far. It is being published by a standards organisation (or sometimes a government) that makes something a standard, not its content or use.
Examples are ISO21500 from the ISO or BS6079 from the British Standards Institute (BSI). There is also a chapter embedded within the PMI’s body of knowledge that is designated by the American National Standards Institution (ANSI) as a standard. The UK Government ‘standard’ for P3M is called GovS002.
And so to the subject of this blog – frameworks.
Frameworks:
The idea of a framework is probably the hardest of the four terms to pin down. The dictionary defines it as “a basic structure underlying a system, concept, or text.” The PMI BoK v6 was frequently referred to as a framework as is the Scrum Guide, despite these being two very different documents.
At the Praxis Framework, we wanted to create a basic structure to underlie the management of projects, programmes and portfolios that would enable the addition of more and more content that was valuable to individuals and organisations who wanted to improve P3M delivery.
We started by identifying four key areas that are needed for an holistic approach to the management of projects, programmes and portfolios: Knowledge, Method, Competence and Capability Maturity. Given that these four areas always refer to tools, techniques and models that are mostly not explained in the BoKs, methods and standards, we added a fifth area the Encyclopaedia.
We then needed to create a content management system that was able to reflect the integration of these areas and flexible enough to accommodate new sections as the need arose. This was quickly brought into play as we added Team Praxis (which shows how different personality types interpret all the other guidance) and Praxis 360 (the 360 degree capability maturity assessment tool), not to mention the translation into eight different languages.
This is what makes Praxis a Framework. It is a structure for maintaining and distributing an increasing and evolving body of content for everyone involved in project, programme and portfolio management. It has become a ‘one-stop-shop’ for the type of content that otherwise would need you to assemble many different publications and then work out how to reconcile their different structures and terminologies.
And the big bonus is – it’s all completely free on the Praxis Framework website.
