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ArticlePublished 3 Aug 20261 min readBy Kevin Jogin
DOMAIN 5
PMBOK 7 Performance Domain · Deep Dive

Project Work

The engine room: establish efficient, right-sized processes, balance competing constraints, keep the team focused & productive, manage resources, procurement & communications, handle new work & changes, and learn continuously.

Visual Map — Running the Work

Establish processes
right-size & tailor▸ Balance constraints
trade-offs▸ Manage resources & procurement▸ Monitor work & changes▸ Learn & improve↺
The competing constraints: ScopeScheduleCostQualityResourcesRiskBenefits

This domain executes what Planning set up and feeds Delivery & Measurement. Push one constraint and others move — manage the trade-offs.

Key Activities

  • Processes: establish, tailor, lean, continuously improve (retrospectives / kaizen).
  • Team focus: sustainable pace, remove impediments, manage workload.
  • Physical resources: logistics, materials, just-in-time, reduce waste.
  • Procurement: administer contracts, evaluate & manage sellers.
  • Change: handle emergent work via integrated change control.

Learning Throughout

  • Capture lessons learned continuously — not just at closure.
  • Tacit (in people's heads) vs explicit (documented) knowledge.
  • Share via communities of practice, demos & reviews.
  • Treat knowledge as a reusable organisational asset.

Exam Concepts

  • Competing constraints are traded off, not all maximised.
  • Integrated change control for new/emergent work.
  • Tacit vs explicit knowledge.
  • Keep the team's pace sustainable.

Executive View

  • Operational efficiency & flow.
  • Remove blockers for teams.
  • Govern change; capture knowledge as an asset.

Industry Example

Manufacturing
  • Lean line: standardised processes, JIT materials, kaizen improvements, and visual management to keep flow steady and waste low.

Interactions & Checking Results

  • Executes Planning; supplies Delivery; reports to Measurement.
  • Good signs: efficient processes, balanced constraints, productive team, controlled change, captured learning.

Memory Hooks

  • "Run the engine: process · balance · supply · change · learn."
  • The competing constraints all push against each other.
  • Tacit in heads · explicit on paper.
60-sec ReviewList the competing constraintsIntegrated change controlTacit vs explicitSustainable paceContinuous learning
PMI Visual Wall · Domain Deep-Dive · Project Work · original instructional design · A3 landscape

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Domain Deep-Dive — PlanningArticle · Project Control MethodsNEXT LESSON →Domain Deep-Dive — DeliveryArticle · Project Control MethodsDomain Deep-Dive — MeasurementArticle · Project Control MethodsEVM — Measures, Variances & IndicesArticle · Project Control Methods