Project Management Institute (PMI)® participates in the activities of a number of international standards committees for the purpose of providing resources and leadership to ensure the success of these activities and to promote the alignment of the resultant international standards with the project management approaches found in PMI standards.
One of these activities is the International Organization for Standardization (ISO, www.iso.org) Project Committee 236 (ISO/PC236), Project Management, which is finalizing the ISO standard 21500, Guide to Project Management. This document, currently at the Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) stage, is expected to be completed by the committee and published by ISO as an International Standard in 4Q2012.
ISO 21500 is based in part on the contributions by PMI of Chapter 3 and the Glossary of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) — Third Edition. The ISO committee, composed of representatives from over 30 countries, has further revised the contributed materials, yet has retained the original PMBOK® Guide approach, viewed by the international community, as a ratification of the value and quality of the PMI standard.
As an ISO project committee, PC236 was chartered to develop a single work item, 21500. In order to pursue the development of additional standards related to project management, another committee needed to be formed. The U.S. and UK committees jointly proposed the formation of a new ISO committee to pursue this additional work. The proposal was approved by ISO, and Technical Committee 258 (ISO/TC258), Project, Programme, and Portfolio Management was formed and met for the first time in June 2011 and for the second time in February 2012. This new TC will pursue the development of multiple international standards in this field and is currently finalizing its work plan and starting new activities.
PMI supports these two international committees by acting as Secretariat on behalf of ANSI, the American National Standards Institute, and providing PMI staff member, Karl Best, who will act as Secretary of the two committees. PMI also hosts the U.S. Technical Advisory Groups, which develop the U.S. national position on the standards developed by the two committees, and provides PMI staff member, Quynh Woodward, who will act as Secretary for the TAGs.
PMI also participates in other related international standards at various levels, either to simply monitor the status and direction of the work or by actively participating and contributing in order to influence the direction of the work and ensure its success. These other international standards activities include: ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7 Software and Systems Engineering, which has developed work in the area of project management related to systems engineering; ISO TC176 Quality; ISO TC223 Societal Security; ISO PC250 Event management; ISO PC262 Risk Management; and, ISO WG Social Responsibility.
ISO standards activities are structured such that it is the ISO member countries (e.g., the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and so forth) are the members of the technical committee and provide the input to the development of the standard. This ensures that all countries’ interests are addressed in the standard. An individual wishing to participate in the work does so by joining his or her country's mirror committee; for example, the U.S. TAG for PC236 or the U.S. TAG for TC258. The individual's input is used to develop the country's position or comment on the standard, and the individual may be selected to act as a delegate representing the country at the international committee's meetings.
Individuals wishing to participate in the activities of ISO/PC236 and/or ISO/TC258, or in other international committees on behalf of their country, should contact their national standards body; a list of these organizations may be found on the ISO website at http://www.iso.org/iso/about/iso_members.htm.
Questions regarding PMI's participation in international standards activities can be referred to Karl Best ([email protected]) or to John Zlockie, PMI Standards Manager ([email protected]).