Project Management (PM) is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities so that the needs and expectations of
stakeholders (e.g.,
customers,
PHBs, etc.) are met or even exceeded.
PM means managing Project:
- integration - overall plans and vision,
- scope - what is to be done?
- time - when should each part be completed?
- cost - how much will it cost?
- quality - will it function as expected?
- stakeholders - their needs (identified requirements) and expectations (unidentified requirements),
- human resources - who does what?
- communications - who gets what information and how?
- risks - what can go wrong and what to do about it?
- procurement - 3rd party contractors and suppliers involved.
In real life, Project Management boils down to talking to lots of people, keeping things moving ahead, drawing some neat charts (the Gantt chart is a good example) and essentially finding the right trade-offs and compromises to the zillions of problems that arise.
PMBOK is supposedly the bible of Project Management, even though it is quite "dry".
And I shouldn't be noding right now, but doing the damned thing :-)