Stage 1 of the PMBOK® Guide 6th Edition Review process is open

The Project Management Institute (PMI) has just released the first part of exposure draft for The PMBOK® Guide 6th edition for review and comment. Publication is expected in Q1 of 2017. The Standard section of the guide is currently open for review and will close on Wednesday, 6 April 2016 at 5:00 p.m. EDT (UTC 5). After resolution of the comments on the ‘standard’, the balance of the 6^th Edition will be released for review.

For this revision to the PMBOK® Guide, PMI  have divided the exposure draft into two stages. This first stage addresses the Standard for Project Management section only and is a full-consensus exposure draft, a limited exposure draft review for the remaining portions of the PMBOK® Guide will be held at a later date.

Overall there have been some great updates to the PMBOK® Guide as proposed in the exposure draft of the 6th edition. The body of knowledge maturing in terms of content and consistency; and there is greater alignment with ISO21500 and other ISO standards.

The high level changes in the Standard are outlined in the PDF published by PMI (download here).  After the review process, these changes (as amended) will flow through to the main body of the PMBOK® Guide. The major changes are:

• There are still 10 knowledge areas and five process groups, but there are now 49 processes.
• Two Knowledge Areas have new names:
  • Project Time Management is now Project Schedule Management, emphasizing the importance of scheduling in project management. This aligns with PMI’s Practice Standard for Scheduling.
  • Project Human Resource Management is now Project Resource Management and people, equipment and physical resources are now included in this Knowledge Area.
• There are three new processes in the Sixth Edition:
  • Manage Project Knowledge is part of the Executing Process Group and Project Integration Management knowledge area.
  • Implement Risk Responses is part of the Executing Process Group and Project Risk Management knowledge area.
  • Control Resources is part of the Monitoring and Controlling Process Group and Project Resource Management knowledge area.
• The Estimate Activity Resources process has been removed, this function is now part of Estimate Activity Durations (for the scheduling component) and Project Resources Management for the acquisitions element.
• The Close Procurement process has been removed and the work captured within Control Procurements and Close Project or Phase

To participate in the review process, go to http://www.pmi.org/PMBOK-Guide-and-Standards/Standards-Current-PMI-Standards-Projects.aspx (you will need a PMI registration to log-in but do not need to be a member).

The PMP and CAPM examinations will be updated in response to the publication of the PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, but this change is not expected until early 2018.  The PMBOK and all other standards are subject to routine updating every 4 to 5 years, this update is simply part of the process of keeping the PMBOK® Guide current and relevant.