Project Team vs Project Management Team for PMP Exam

In the PMP Exam, Aspirants will come across the terms “Project Team” and “Project Management Team” in the questions. While these two terms look very similar, they actually carry different meanings that may be crucial in getting the correct answer.

Aspirants are advised to understand the meanings of “Project Team” and “Project Management Team” correctly.

Project Team vs Project Management Team

• Project Team: The Project Team is a collective term describing all the people that are involved to work on the project, from planning, executing to closing.
  • The Project Team includes the Project Management Team.
  • Other sub-sets in the project team may include: design team, speciality teams.
  • In small projects, the whole team may be responsible for project management and there is NOT a single Project Management Team defined.
• Project Management Team: The Project Management Team is responsible for the project management and leadership activities such as: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, controlling and closing of the project/project phases.
  • The Project Management Team is a subset of the Project Team, including the Project Manager.
  • The Project Management Team is NOT responsible for executing out the project.
  • The Project Management Team is also known as the core, executive or leadership team.
  • Note: In PRINCE2®, the Project Management Team includes senior users, senior suppliers and the project sponsor/executive in addition to the project manager, this is different from the definition of PMBOK® Guide

Illustrated Example

Let’s take the project of publishing a book as an example. In the book project, many people, in addition to the author(s), are involved to get the book into the hands of Aspirants:

• Project Management Team — responsible for coordinating and managing the project to ensure the target publication date and budget are met and the processes are followed through (i.e. overall successful delivery of the project deliverable)
• Editorial Team — including the author(s), editor(s) and proof-reader(s), etc., responsible for the quality of the contents of the book
• Logistics Team — to coordinate with the typesetter, printer, delivery services, etc. to get the Exam Prep book to the vendors (both online and offline)
• Sales and Marketing Team — to publicize the release of the book, to get reviews from users and to response to orders, etc.

As you can see, the Project Management Team is a small yet crucial team within the Project Team, but the success of the project is largely dependent on the works of the Project Management Team. Aspirants are privileged to be able to work in such an important team!

Summary:

Aspirants would need to remember the key differences between Project Team and Project Management Team:

• Project Team: all the human resources involved in the project (Project Manager is one of them)
• Project Management Team: includes only the human resources responsible for managing and controlling the project (Project Manager is one of them)

Additional FREE PMP resources: 47+ Commonly Confused Term Pairs with detailed explanations. If you found this article useful, you may wish to reference other Commonly Confused Term articles.