IPMA thinks in competences. So does WORKSPACE.PM.
Perspective, people, practice: the three competence areas of the ICB find their tools here - from the strategy cascade via stakeholder and team work to opportunities, risks and programs.
Featured in »Projektmanagement Aktuell« - the journal of GPM, the German Project Management Association (issue 1/2026).
Read the storyWhere IPMA sits on the spectrum
And which methods are in the neighbourhood
IPMA: competence-based, method-neutral
IPMA - represented in Germany by the GPM - prescribes no process model: the ICB describes competences that carry in agile and classic projects alike. That is why the IPMA zone spans broadly across the middle of the spectrum: in WORKSPACE.PM you run every workstream in the way of working that fits the initiative, keeping the same governance bracket.
Where competence trickles away in daily work
Four patterns from organisations with well-trained project managers - and tools that fail to keep up
Competence without foundation
Certified professionals know what to do - but the tool knows neither environment analysis nor opportunity value. Everything lives in side documents.
Strategy stays at the top
Goals sit in the annual deck - which project contributes to what, and with what weight, nobody knows reliably.
People work without a trace
Conversations, moods, commitments: much is lived, little is recorded - and it is lost when the project lead changes.
Opportunities stay gut feeling
Risks have a register with numbers - opportunities just a slide at the margin, without value, measure or deadline.
Three competence areas - and the tools they live in
The ICB structures project competence into perspective, people and practice. Six stations show what WORKSPACE.PM carries each area with.
Perspective: strategy and alignment
Project work starts in context: strategy, governance and benefit determine why a project exists.
From strategic objective to gate decision
The OKR cascade connects strategy fields, objectives and key results across all levels; projects dock on with a contribution type - primary, secondary, supporting - and a weighting. The project proposal already carries its strategic link, passes scoring and gate decision, and takes the link into the project.
People: leadership and teamwork
Projects succeed through people - leadership, communication and teamwork are competences of their own, not an afterthought.
Teams with roles, a living project feed, meetings with memory
Teams work with clear roles; the project feed carries posts, images and polls - anonymous or open, with reactions and reply threads. Meetings record attendance, link cards and people in the minutes, and take decisions through a real approval.
People: stakeholders and environment
Whoever understands the project environment leads it - stakeholder analysis is a core ICB competence.
A register that reaches all the way to the action plan
Every stakeholder carries type, influence, attitude and conflict potential - and an individual action plan with expectations, expected behaviour and agreed steps including an owner. Environment analysis and stakeholder portfolio derive directly from the register, while the responsibility matrix and the org chart order accountability.
Practice: costs, schedule, control
The craft of the ICB practices: structure, schedule, costs and resources under control - with numbers instead of shouting.
From the network diagram to the automatic labour cost line
Work breakdown structure, network diagram with critical path and baselines carry the scheduling work; the utilisation matrix shows capacity across projects. Cost types with account number and Capex/Opex classification structure the budget - and labour costs arise automatically from time tracking times hourly rate, switchable between plan and actual.
Practice: opportunities and risks
The ICB treats opportunities and risks as a pair - both are identified, assessed and actively managed.
Two registers, one method - with a real opportunity value
The opportunity register derives the net opportunity value transparently from benefit times probability; measures act promoting on the probability or amplifying on the benefit, and every exploitation window announces itself before it expires. On the risk side, the 5×5 matrix, bow-tie, key risk indicators and Monte Carlo reserves stand ready.
Practice: change and programs
Transformation is program work: several projects, shared goals, harvested synergies.
Programs with goals, synergies with status
Programs bundle projects with budget, timeframe and their own goals; synergies are captured in five types - from cost savings to market synergy - and tracked to the status “realised”. Change requests carry category, impact and approvers, and scenarios pass an approval workflow before they change the portfolio.
Competence needs a complete toolbox
The ICB demands breadth: strategy, people and craft in one. That is exactly what the platform is built for - every competence finds its module, and all modules share one data basis. From the stakeholder register to the strategy cascade, you work in the same system your organisation reports in.
Where IPMA is at home
Project worlds and roles where competence-based work makes the difference
Frequently asked questions about IPMA in WORKSPACE.PM
The tools behind perspective, people and practice
Yes - the three ICB competence areas find their tools in the system: perspective via the OKR strategy cascade with project alignment, people via teams, project feed, meetings and the stakeholder register with action plan, practice via breakdown structure, network diagram, costs, resources plus opportunity and risk registers. Competence meets foundation - in the same system your organisation reports in.
Strategy fields, objectives and key results form a cascade across all levels; projects link up with a contribution type - primary, secondary, supporting - and a weighting. The strategy health score from 0 to 100 shows the cascade’s health, the alignment matrix uncovers projects without strategic link, and the project proposal already carries its strategic objective through scoring and gate decision.
Teams work with three roles - team lead, member, observer - and their own tools. The project feed carries posts, images and polls, anonymous or open, with reactions and reply threads. Meetings record participants and attendance, link cards and people in the minutes, and take decisions through an approval with four states - up to approval with conditions.
Down to the action plan per person: every stakeholder carries type, influence, attitude and conflict potential plus expectations, expected behaviour and agreed measures with an owner. Environment analysis and stakeholder portfolio derive directly from the register, the responsibility matrix clarifies accountability per work package, and the org chart shows the project’s reporting lines.
With a dedicated opportunity register in the same method: the net opportunity value derives transparently from benefit times probability, measures act promoting on the probability or amplifying on the benefit, the 4×4 matrix compares gross and net, and every exploitation window announces itself thirty days before expiry. Good surprises become plannable.
Programs bundle projects with budget, timeframe and their own goals; an aggregated board shows the work of all member projects. Synergies are captured in five types and tracked to “realised”, change requests carry category, impact and approvers, and portfolio scenarios pass an approval workflow before going live.
Related methods
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