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