“PM² is a project management methodology developed and maintained by the European Commission whose objective is to facilitate the effective management of projects by project teams and to provide solutions and benefits to their organizations and stakeholders.”

By Jesús Chica Cáceres

The definition is quite similar to PMBOK®, but in contrast to the latter, which contains a set of good practices, PM² proposes a methodology for Project Management, which is very good news for those of us who work in this exciting discipline.

The methodology provides valuable and distinctive resources such as the governance structure of a project (roles and responsibilities), process guidelines, artifacts (templates and guides) with a simple and agile approach.

Another relevant feature is that PM² is Open Source, applying the European Commission decision of 12/12/2011 (2011/833/EU) on “the reuse of Commission documents to promote their accessibility and reuse”. As an example, the methodology itself can be downloaded and includes 27 editable templates that can be customized for our projects; these are available at https://www.pm2alliance.eu/the-pm2-artefacts/It also has 6 useful checklists for the different phases of projects.

On the other hand, the methodology is simple and easy to read, it gets straight to the point without complex techniques or descriptions, using very accessible language.

The similarities with PMBOK® are many; the life cycle of a project is illustrated in the image above, which is very familiar, but in which the main actors (Project Drivers) and the milestones to change phase (Phase Gates) are highlighted:

Finally, the purpose of PM² is to establish it as a common project management methodology for all European institutions, Member States, contractors, and citizens. This objective implies that, for projects funded with European funds, the use of PM² will eventually be required as a justification for these projects.

The COVID-19 recovery plan for Europe is being implemented through the NextGenerationEU funds, with a budget of over €800 billion, of which €69.5 million is earmarked for Spain. This budget will fund ambitious and innovative projects across all sectors to address the immediate economic and social damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

In conclusion, PM² brings an Open Source project management methodology with a simple, agile, practical approach that aspires to be a standard in the European Union.

Who's up for using PM²?