Opening Process - PMBOK and ITIL

[christianbryant]

Most of my career has been spent working in FLOSS environments. I dropped out of college to pursue a couple dreams that didn't pan out, but never gave up the FLOSS fight. Many like me piled up the certs from Sun to Red Hat, LPI to Oracle to make up for the stunted education. I've resisted up to now, and recently finished an ITIL cert and a Project Management cert at UCLA in preparation for taking the PMP exam, which I will take in November. Odd certs for a FLOSS advocate? Perhaps, but as I work in ITIL and PMBOK environments more, I wonder if there shouldn't be some way to take this knowledge base and open it up. I find it a bit upsetting that the PMI and ITIL standards are so expensive and locked down, accessible primarily in Windows or non-free application environments. Shouldn't process like this be open, especially if the intent is to improve IT and Project Management across the industry? What would it take to produce similar studies, recommendations and standards of practice like ITIL and PMBOK that totally provided via the FLOSS model? I find great value in PMI and ITIL, but while I have the certs and the knowledge, I feel a little guilty adding those to my resume when the rest of it reflects a love for GNU/FSF and Open Source software ideals and methodologies...

[sahil_videology]

More open process could encourage adoption, ultimately improving IT project management across the industry. Organizations that have no experience with PMBOK or ITIL may not bother with it due to the expense and closed nature.

As I've been on projects with large schedule overruns, I am becoming more interested in the topic of project management to try to do better. However, ITIL and PMBOK seem way to heavy for what I need at a glance. My first approach is to simply look at following documented agile processes. What says that PMBOK and ITIL are the best options? In order to provide a FLOSS alternative, you'll need to build a community that really wants this stuff and can contribute the body of knowledge.

[christianbryant → sahil_videology]

Good point about a community that actually wants it. Perhaps a product of the process should be a demonstrative project, also, similar to how FLOSS projects are products of free and open source development methodologies. Over the last five years of study and practical application of PMBOK and ITIL in my work environment, I've certainly found value. However, from a FLOSS perspective, I also see why Agile and Lean are more favored by our developers as opposed to the more documentation- and process-heavy formal ITIL and PMBOK.