The Project Management Institute (PMI®) and Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL®) provide widely accepted frameworks for improving execution and better achieving desired outcomes. The PMI® Program Management Professional (PgMP®) certification focuses on managing interdependent projects to obtain business benefits. The ITIL® certifications focus on effective IT services.
Both are principle based frameworks that provide the “what” should be done as well as the “why,” making them applicable to many environments. The organizations select the best practices for their needs and define the “how” to implement them. The PgMP® is role based and ITIL is based on the IT life-cycle. The PgMP Program Management Performance domains are Program Strategy Alignment, Program Governance, Program Stakeholder Engagement, Program Benefits Delivery and Program Life Cycle Management. ITIL® best practices are grouped under Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation and Continual Service Improvement. The table below shows where they reinforce each other.
| PgMP® | ITIL® |
| Program Strategy Alignment | Service Strategy |
| Program Governance | Service Strategy |
| Program Stakeholder Governance | Service Strategy |
| Program Life Cycle Management | Service Design |
| Program Life Cycle Management | Continual Service Improvement |
| Program Benefits Deliver (Benefits Transition) | Service Transition |
| Program Benefits Deliver (Benefits Sustainment) | Service Operation |
They are highly compatible. Both provide a common language to enhance communication across all levels of stakeholders Both provide an emphasis on looking beyond your individual role to strategic objectives and business value. Knowledge of both can help equip a Project or Program Manager to understand how Program Management supports IT functions and provide a better bridge between business leadership and IT. Visit our PgMP Comprehensive Resources Page by clicking here.
Erika Flora, PMP, CSP, ITIL Expert, and PRINCE2 Practitioner is a Principal Consultant at BEYOND20 wrote an interesting article on this topic titled, “ITIL: A Project Manager’s Perspective”. She writes: (excerpted) ”
Process-, not technology-focused.
The most compelling and interesting similarity between PMI’s PMBOK Guide and the ITIL books is that both are descriptive frameworks centered on process, not technology. What this means for you is that both standards are extremely approachable. For example: The PMP exam does not ask how you would go about creating a milestone task within Microsoft Project. Rather, it makes sure you understand the importance of creating milestones.
The ITIL books are the same way. In order to really understand IT Service Management as a practice, you do not need to understand servers or switches. Rather, you need to understand the importance of controlling change, defining service levels, and maintaining a catalog of all your services to the business in terms the business can understand.
Both are bodies of knowledge covering simple principles that are drawn from deep industry experience. Both detail concepts scalable and adaptable to each organization. For example: the Project Plan for a small, simple project will look much different than the plan for a large, complex one. In the same way, the process for managing a minor software patch release is going to have a different scale of requirements compared to a brand new, enterprise-wide software release. SNIP, visit Erika Flora @ LinkedIn to read her article,
“ITIL: A Project Manager’s Perspective” in its entirety.