The discipline of project management has a bible and it is affectionately referred to as the PMBOK, the Project Management Book of Knowledge.  It is a publication of PMI, the Project Management Institute.

As a member of PMI, I can say that the book is quite dry but has some very useful nuggets of information.

The PMBOK defines 5 process groups or phases of a project:

• Initiating
• Planning
• Executing
• Monitoring & Controlling
• Closing

Within each of those phases there are 42 inter-related project management processes that you use to successfully employ a project management methodology.

But that doesn't really tell you what project management is or why it is important.

In a nutshell, project management is the administration of a methodology to achieve the goals of a project.  There are several project management methodologies, and many companies often have their own branded methodology.  ResConnex has a project management methodology.

So a more appropriate question is... what is a project management methodology?

A methodology is a system of principles, rules and methods to regulate and organize a process.  The idea is that if you can develop a consistent approach to projects, then you will reduce the number of variables and risk of failure. The more times a methodology is used, the better it becomes and the more valuable it is. 

So it stands to reason that an experienced project manager will adhere to a well refined methodology that they have used successfully in the past.  And the methodology includes a series of artifacts that the client can access and use in the future.

So why is project management important?  Because it reduces the risk of project failure.  There are studies out there that indicate that a project without project management will succeed 30% of the time.  A project with project management will succeed 70% of the time.

When a project is high visibility, nebulous and potentially high risk, it is crucial to have experienced, professional project management.  If the success of a project is absolutely necessary for the goals of the organization, then it also makes sense to invest in project management.

Even with project management the success rate for a project is only 70%.  There are a lot of reasons for this.  A good project manager can help identify those reasons.  An organization has to be willing to address the potential deterrents to success or the project needs to be able to execute despite the obstacles.

On time, On budget and with high quality.  Those three factors are typically are the measure of a project's success.