Book excerpt: This book is replaced by a new version, 3rd revised Edition Project management is a fast growing profession. The IPMA Competence Baseline (ICB) version 3, dating from 2007, gives a clear description of this profession based on 46 competence elements. This book gives the essential theoretical and practical background of each competence element, based on the leading sources. The structure of this book follows the order of the competence elements in the ICB version 3, divided into Technical competences, Behavioral competences and Contextual competences. For this reason it is the essential study book for everyone studying for the IPMA-D and IPMA-C exams, and for those project managers that have committed themselves to a lifelong professional development. In addition, the book had to be applicable to groups of project managers originating from diverse cultures. For this reason, this is not a book that tells how a Westerner must behave in an Arab or an Asian country, but one that looks at the different subjects covered in the ICB, as seen from diverse cultural standpoints. Each chapter is based on the same structure: Definitions, Introduction, Process Steps, Process steps, Special topics. Text boxes, additional to the main text, give additional explanation to the main text. An elaborate Index of terms allows that this book can be used as the information source to all aspects of project management.