Project management is the application of processes, methods, knowledge, skills and experience to achieve project objectives.

Projects are unique, transient endeavours, undertaken to achieve planned objectives, which could be defined in terms of outputs, outcomes or benefits. A project is usually deemed to be a success if it achieves the objectives according to their acceptance criteria, within an agreed timescale and budget.

A key factor that distinguishes project management from just ‘management’ is that it has this final deliverable and a finite timespan, unlike management which is an ongoing process. Because of this a project professional needs a wide range of skills; often technical skills, and certainly people management skills and good business awareness.

There are two project management qualifications that stand our from the myriad of different offering and are the most recognized: Prince 2 and the PMP.

PRINCE^® stands for Projects in Controlled Environments. The most common PRINCE2 qualifications are Foundation and Practitioner.

PMI^® stands for the Project Management Institute. The Institute publishes the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK). The qualification that is most commonly sought is PMP (Project Management Professional).