INNOVATIONS AND INSIGHTS
PRAXIS FRAMEWORK™ – A NATURAL EVOLUTION FOR PROJECT AND PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT
Adrian Dooley is the creator and lead author of the Praxis Framework. He sat down with the AIPM to explain what the framework is and where it is moving. The content for the AIPM body of knowledge, that will be launched with our community portal, is based on the Praxis Framework.
WHY DID YOU DEVELOP THE PRAXIS FRAMEWORK? I have spent a lifetime in project management as a project manager, consultant and trainer. The more I worked with companies and individuals, the more two things became clear about the evolution of project and programme management. Firstly, none of the good practice guides (PMBoK Guide, PRINCE2, ISO21500 etc) give the full picture. They tend to focus on either knowledge or process but not both. I would often hear people say “You need the PMBoK Guide and PRINCE2 to fully understand how to manage a project”. I also believe that you need to understand individual competency and organisational capability maturity to truly embed good practice – and that’s before we get into all the detailed tools and techniques. Secondly, people have a real problem implementing the good practice they glean from these guides. Typically, they will go on a course; learn a lot of good stuff and then go back to doing the same old things when they get back to work. My extensive studies of ‘Lessons Learned’ reports from many companies show that the most common reasons for project failure are simply not applying the good practice that we learn on every project management course.
WHAT ARE THE AIMS OF THE PRAXIS FRAMEWORK AND WHY IS IT A REVOLUTIONARY CONCEPT? Ultimately, the aim is to help individuals and organisations embed tried and trusted good practice. To do this Praxis does several things: Firstly, it integrates Knowledge, Method, Competence and Capability Maturity into an integrated framework with 12
