Introduction

A project performance domain is a group of related activities that are critical for the effective delivery of project outcomes. Project performance domains are interactive, interrelated, and interdependent areas of focus that work in unison to achieve desired project outcomes. There are eight project performance domains:

• Stakeholders,
• Team,
• Development Approach and Life Cycle,
• Planning,
• Project Work,
• Delivery,
• Measurement, and
• Uncertainty.

Together the performance domains form a unified whole. In this way, the performance domains operate as an integrated system, with each performance domain being interdependent of the other performance domains to enable successful delivery of the project and its intended outcomes.

Performance domains run concurrently throughout the project, regardless of how value is delivered (frequently, periodically, or at the end of the project). For example, project leads spend time focused on stakeholders, the project team, the project life cycle, the project work, and so forth, from the outset of the project to its closure. These areas of focus are not addressed as siloed efforts because they overlap and interconnect. The ways in which the performance domains relate are different for each project, but they are present in every project.

The specific activities undertaken within each of the performance domains are determined by the context of the organization, the project, deliverables, the project team, stakeholders, and other factors. The performance domains are presented in the following sections without specific weighting or order.