Project Management is “a balancing act” that requires the management of competing demands, or constraints ─ and being always on top for assessing the impact of changes and chalking out the revised course of action. The tools of Project Management could be thought as various colours in the hands of an artist; using them in the right proportion shall enable them to be blended to paint a beautiful canvas. Similarly, the tools of Project Management need to be handled correctly and at the right time to produce magnificence in a project! We decided to add colour to this article on the auspicious day of Holi as we wish you safe and happy festivities!

During HOLI , colourful gulal (powder) is smeared over each other. Just like colours in this festival are a mark of joy and happiness, the colours (knowledge areas) of Project Management and PMBOK® Guide are a mark of project success.

Below are the 10 Knowledge Areas which mark the COLOURS of Project Management

1. GREEN suggests STABILITY – Project Scope Management

Managing Scope well keeps the project STABLE and within the triple point constraint. This Knowledge Area defines the work which is required to be done to complete the project.

2. BLUE provides DEPTH – Project Time Management

Keeping the project on schedule required DEEP understanding of Time Management. It defines the processes to ensure that the project and the activities therein complete within the agreed timeline.

3. YELLOW signifies MEDICINAL VALUE – Project Cost Management

Cost Management is like a MEDICINE to the project. It helps to keep the project on budget. Project Cost Management Knowledge Area defines the processes to ensure that the project completes within the agreed budget.

4. BROWN suggests STRENGTH – Project Quality Management

Quality is the backbone of a Project. It defines STRENGTH and the Knowledge Area processes determine the quality policies, objectives, and responsibilities to ensure that the project satisfies the needs for which it was initiated.

5. VIOLET proposes LEADERSHIP – Project Human Resource Management

Managing a team is banks on the LEADERSHIP quality of the Project Manager. The project team is one of the most important factors of project success. If a project has a good team, chances of success increase. This knowledge area is concerned with acquiring the right team, ensuring their satisfaction, and tracking their performance.

6. ORANGE/ SAFFRON signifies STRENGTH – Project Communication Management

Project Communication Management is the STRENGTH of Project Management. Communication is the key to satisfy stakeholders even at times of unexpected changes. Oral and written communication to get the stakeholders to buy-in into the project.

7. RED represents PASSION – Project Risk Management

Project Management is incomplete without the PASSION of managing risk. Not identifying or lacking to identify risks on a project is RISKY. So to run the project smoothly, it is worth the effort to understand Project Risk Management.

8. PURPLE is associated with WISDOM – Project Procurement Management

Almost all projects procure material/ expertise in house or outsource. Hiring subcontractors and suppliers needs WISDOM to ensure the job is done faster or with better expertise but not at the cost of quality, schedule, or other factors can be well understood by this Knowledge Area.

9. PINK symbolises FRIENDSHIP – Project Stakeholder Management

There are multiple stakeholder to a Project. Being FRIENDLY to the stakeholders and actively managing them and addressing their needs builds companionship in the project.

10. WHITE – ASSIMILATION OF COLOURS AND THE KNOWLEDGE AREAS Project Integration Management

This knowledge area contains the tasks that binds the overall project together and integrate it into a unified whole, just like Holi festival integrates friends, families and communities to get together and celebrate victory of good over evil! Hence represented as white as it splits into a spectrum of other colours.

A successful Project Manager needs to apply the practices, tools and techniques, knowledge and skills of project management in the right proportion by balancing all the colours in the knowledge areas to achieve dazzling white brilliance to guide the project team forward for successful and kaleidoscopic completion.

– By Vidhi Raj, PMP and Vidyesh Alve, PMP, PRINCE2