Process 27 of 49

Direct and Manage Project Work

Leads and performs the work defined in the project management plan and implements approved changes, producing deliverables and work performance data. This is execution itself.

Process Group Executing Knowledge Area Project Integration Management

Direct and Manage Project Work is where the plan becomes reality: the PM leads the team to produce the deliverables, implements approved changes, and manages the day-to-day flow of work. It generates the deliverables and the work performance data that monitoring and controlling processes analyze.

Direct and Manage Project Work: key inputs and outputs
The key inputs feeding Direct and Manage Project Work and the deliverables it produces — full ITTOs are listed below.

Much of the PM’s effort here is integration and issue management — keeping work aligned with the plan, logging and resolving issues, and raising change requests when reality diverges. Approved change requests from integrated change control are implemented here.

Common pitfalls. Letting work drift from the plan without raising changes; weak issue tracking, so problems fester; implementing changes that were never formally approved; and failing to capture the work performance data needed for control.

Inputs, Tools & Techniques, and Outputs

Inputs

  • Project management plan
  • Project documents
  • Approved change requests
  • Enterprise environmental factors
  • Organizational process assets

Tools & Techniques

  • Expert judgment
  • Project management information system
  • Meetings

Outputs

  • Deliverables
  • Work performance data
  • Issue log
  • Change requests
  • Project management plan updates
  • Project documents updates
  • Organizational process assets updates

How This Process Connects

Every process hands artifacts to other processes. Follow the flow of this one:

Where its inputs come from

Where its outputs go

More in Project Integration Management

Develop Project CharterProcess 1 · InitiatingDevelop Project Management PlanProcess 3 · PlanningManage Project KnowledgeProcess 28 · ExecutingMonitor and Control Project WorkProcess 37 · Monitoring and ControllingPerform Integrated Change ControlProcess 38 · Monitoring and ControllingClose Project or PhaseProcess 49 · ClosingProject Integration ManagementView the full Knowledge Area →

In the Domains & Principles View

The PMBOK® Guide frames this work through performance domains and principles:

Development Approach and Life Cycle Performance DomainPerformance DomainProject Work Performance DomainPerformance DomainRecognize, evaluate, and respond to system interactionsPrincipleEnable change to achieve the envisioned future statePrinciple

In the Eighth Edition

This process describes the framework as set out in the Sixth and Seventh Editions. The Eighth Edition reorganized it into 6 principles, 7 performance domains and 40 processes.

PMBOK 8 Crosswalkwhat changed, item by item

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