One of our Sr. PMP Instructors had to say this:
The PMBOK Guide, 6th Edition was released on September 6th, 2017. Since I am an
active PMI member, I was able to download the PDF version of the PMBOK guide
for free the day it was released.
The PDF file consisted of 2 guides –
1. The PMBOK Guide, 6th Edition
2. The Agile Practice Guide.
The first 800 + pages were the PMBOK Guide, and
the next 180 are the Agile Practice Guide. Appendix X1 of the PMBOK Guide, 6th
Edition provides a complete list of changes to the Sixth Edition. This post is
a summary of changes and my analysis of those changes. Since I’m yet to
complete studying the guide, I may update this post after learning more.
The
6th Edition of the PMBOK Guide aligns the guide with PMI’s RDS (Role
Delineation Study) of 2015. The PMP exam was updated in January
2016 to align with the RDS findings, but the PMBOK Guide was not. This 6th
Edition of the PMBOK Guide is now catching up on that.
The
6th Edition aims to make the guide more consistent and provide better clarity
on the project management processes on their inputs, tools, techniques and
outputs. The guide also ensures compliance with other PMI fundamental
standards.
There
are several significant updates in the 6th Edition. PMI acknowledges that in
recent years there has been more adoption of agile and adaptive methodologies
in the management of projects. Therefore, there is greater focus on Agile/Adaptive
methodologies in the 6th Edition.
Let’s look at
the many changes to the structure of the guide.
Ø The Guide is now divided into 3
parts:
- A Guide to the Project Management Body of
Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)
- The Standard for Project Management
- Appendices, Glossary, and Index
Chapter-1:
The Introduction, Chapter-3: Project Management Processes and Annex A1 of the 5th
Edition have now been consolidated into Part 2 (The Standard for Project
Management) of the 6th Edition.
The Role of the Project Manager,
which was part of Chapter 1 in the 5th Edition is now a separate chapter
(Chapter 3) in itself. It ties the project manager’s skills to the PMI’s Talent
Triangle. Expect greater weightage on this area in the next update of the PMP
exam.
Two Knowledge Areas
names were changed to more closely reflect the work that is done in those
Knowledge Areas.
Old Name
|
New Name
|
Project
Time Management
|
Project
Schedule Management
|
Project
Human Resource Management
|
Project
Resource Management
|
Let’s understand
the rationale for these changes.
1.
Project Time Management has changed to Project Schedule
Management. It took a few decades for PMI to realize that project managers do
not manage “time”, but rather define and manage the project “schedule”.
2.
Project Human Resource Management has changed to Project Resource
Management. Both team resources and physical resources are addressed in the 6th
Edition, and hence the name change.
Ø Every
Knowledge Area chapter now includes 4 sections at the beginning:
ü Key Concepts
ü Trends and
Emerging Practices
ü Tailoring
Considerations
ü Considerations
for Agile/Adaptive Environments
Process
Changes
Ø Five
processes have been either added or moved to a different Knowledge Area or
entirely removed from the 6th edition.
Process
|
Change
|
Manage
Project Knowledge (Section 4.4)
|
Added
|
Estimate
Activity Resources (Section 6.4)
|
Moved to
Project Resource Management
|
Control
Resources (Section 9.6)
|
Added
|
Implement
Risk Responses (Section 11.6)
|
Added
|
Close
Procurements (Section 12.4)
|
Eliminated
|
Let’s
understand these changes better.
1.
Manage Project Knowledge (Section 4.4) - Added.
ü This
was added to address the need for knowledge management in projects. Due to the
distributed and mobile nature of the modern workforce, there’s more focus on
knowledge management and information management, so that knowledge and
information does not get lost.
ü A
key output of this process is the lessons learned register. This aligns with
the “lessons learned management” task that was introduced in Jan 2016 update of
the PMP exam.
ü PMI
emphasizes the need to learn continually throughout the project rather than
waiting until the end to reflect.
2.
Estimate Activity Resources (Section 6.4) - Moved to Project Resource Management
ü Since
the Knowledge Area Project Human Resource Management has been repurposed as
Project Resource Management (taking both human and physical resources into its
folds), the Estimate Activity Resources process has been moved to the Project
Resource Management.
3.
Control Resources (Section 9.6) — Added
ü In
the Fifth Edition, Project Human Resource Management had no “Monitoring and
Controlling” process. That was indeed puzzling. With the 6th Edition, the
Control Resources process has been added under the Monitoring and Controlling
Process Group.
4.
Implement Risk Responses (Section 11.6) — Added
ü Implementing
Risk Responses was previously considered part of Monitor and Control Project
Risk Process. But now it has been separated into a separate process under the
Executing Process Group. This change makes sense to me.
5.
Close Procurements (Section 12.4) — Eliminated and merged into Control Procurements and Close
Project or Phase processes
ü According
to market research done by PMI, contracts are usually closed by contracts,
procurement or legal departments, and not by project managers. Therefore,
information from Close Procurements about evaluating all completed deliverables
and comparing them to the contract was moved into Control Procurements.
Information about administrative, communications, and records was moved to
Close Project or Phase.
Total
processes have increased from 47 in the 5th Edition to 49 in the 6th Edition.
The use of the term “Control” has been replaced with “Monitor”
especially in processes that involve people. Nine processes have been renamed.
Old Name
|
New Name
|
Perform
Quality Assurance (Section 8.2)
|
Manage
Quality
|
Plan Human
Resource Management (Section 9.1)
|
Plan
Resource Management
|
Acquire
Project Team (Section 9.2)
|
Acquire
Resources
|
Develop
Project Team (Section 9.3)
|
Develop
Team
|
Manage
Project Team (Section 9.4)
|
Manage Team
|
Control
Communications (Section 10.3)
|
Monitor
Communications
|
Control
Risks (Section 11.6)
|
Monitor
Risks
|
Plan
Stakeholder Management (Section 13.2)
|
Plan
Stakeholder Engagement
|
Control Stakeholder
Engagement (Section 13.4)
|
Monitor
Stakeholder Engagement
|
Inputs,
Tools and Techniques, Outputs (ITTO) Changes
Ø There
is good news and bad news here.
ü The
good news is that the Guide is more consistent than the previous editions and
does a much better job of explaining “why” an input or a tool or technique is
used in a process. This had been a problem area with the previous editions.
ü The
bad news is that PMI claims that the number of tools and techniques have been
reduced. But contrary to that, my analysis tells me that the number has
increased from 118 to 131 unique tools and techniques (11% increase).
Ø The
commonly used tools and techniques are now grouped by their purpose or intent.
The groups are:
ü Data
gathering, e.g. Brainstorming, Interviews, Market Research
ü Data
analysis, e.g. Cost-benefit Analysis, Earned Value Analysis, Performance
Reviews
ü Data
representation, e.g. Cause-and-effect Diagrams, Flowcharts, Histograms
ü Decision-making,
e.g. Multi criteria Decision Analysis, Voting
ü Communication
skills, e.g. Feedback, Presentation
ü Interpersonal
and team skills, e.g. Active Listening, Conflict Management, Emotional
Intelligence
The overall number of ITTOs has increased from 618 to 722 (17%
increase) and that is despite the grouping mentioned above. If you count the
leaf nodes (without grouping), the total ITTOs may touch 4 figures.
Other
Key Changes
(Note: This section is work in process)
- Greater emphasis on Benefits management
- A new risk response “escalate” has been
introduced
- Several Agile concepts have been
introduced to the Develop Schedule process
- The concept of Business Documents, which
consists of the Business Case and the Benefits Management Plan has been
introduced
- Several new tools and techniques have
been introduced
Summary
The changes to the 6th Edition of the PMBOK Guide are quite
significant. There’s greater focus on Agile and adaptive methodologies,
benefits management and knowledge management. All these changes are aligned
with the recommendations of RDS 2015 and some have already been incorporated
into the PMP exam since Jan 2016. Overall the guide is indeed more consistent,
detailed and clear compared to the previous editions.
PMI has announced that PMP Exam will change on March 26, 2018 to
align with the PMBOK Guide, 6th Edition. If you are preparing for the PMP
Exam, you’ll be better off taking the current version of the exam to avoid any
surprises from the update.
For more info/guidance. Please contact us
Website: www.global-teq.com
Email: sales@global-teq.com
Phone: +1-516-422-2003
No comments:
Post a Comment