PMBOK Guide: Fourth Edition Changes - Chapter by Chapter

In my last article I provided an overview of the changes in the PMBOK® Guide: Fourth Edition. In this article I want to write about some of the specific changes in the chapters.

As mentioned in the previous article, our architect designed chapters 1 and 2 to align with The Standard for Programme Management: Second Edition and The Standard for Portfolio Management: Second Edition. Therefore much of the structure of the first two chapters has changed.

In Chapter 1 we are providing an overview of project management and how it fits with programmes, portfolios, organisations and operations. One of the major changes is that the PMBOK® Guide no longer mentions the triple constraint of scope, schedule and cost. Instead it discusses how project managers must balance the constraints of scope, quality, schedule, budget, resources and risk.

Chapter 2 did not undergo major changes, but there is an expanded coverage of the project life cycle and project phases. There is also more in depth information on types of project stakeholders.

Chapter 3 is the first place the process descriptions are introduced. The text describing the processes has been edited down so that, for the most part, only the one sentence process description is used to introduce the process. This same process description is in the knowledge area chapter in the beginning of the chapter and as the first sentence of the process itself.

Chapter 4 went from seven processes to six. The Develop Preliminary Scope Statement process was eliminated. We felt that this could be addressed with the Define Scope process through the concept of progressive elaboration. The other change is the description of the project management plan as described in my previous article.

Chapter 5 moved the discussion of the scope management plan to the introduction, following the approach of the schedule management plan and the cost management plan in chapters 6 and 7 respectively. There is a new process called Collect Requirements. The main outputs of this process are a requirements management plan (part of the project management plan), a requirements traceability matrix and requirements documentation. In addition, more emphasis is place on the scope baseline comprised of the project scope statement, the WBS and the WBS dictionary.

Chapter 6 eliminated the discussion of the arrow diagramming method as a technique for activity sequencing. We also aligned the information on three point estimating with cost estimating so that the content is similar.

Chapter 7 includes the three point estimating as mentioned above and added the technique of a to-complete performance index (TCPI) to the Control Cost process. The inputs and outputs for Control Scope, Control Schedule and Control Cost are more aligned than in the Third Edition.

Chapter 8 provides additional graphs and charts to demonstrate some of the concepts. There is more discussion on the cost of quality and upper and lower specification limits are introduced. The term quality baseline has been eliminated.

Chapter 9 added significant coverage of interpersonal skills in the Develop Project Team and Manage Project Team processes. Expanded coverage of the stages of team building, conflict management, leadership, influencing and decision making was introduced. The Manage Project Team process was moved from monitoring and controlling to the executing process group.

Chapter 10 added a new process in the initiating process group, Identify Stakeholders. The major outputs include a stakeholder register and stakeholder management strategy. The Third Edition process of Manage Stakeholders was changed to Manage Stakeholder Expectations and moved from monitoring and controlling to the executing process group.

Chapter 11 had very few changes.

Chapter 12 consolidated six processes into four. The four processes are: Plan Procurements, Conduct Procurements, Administer Procurements and Close Procurements. The concept of teaming agreements is introduced.

The Fourth Edition has a new appendix on interpersonal skills. There was information that we felt was important to managing a project, but was not consistent with the intent of a standard. Therefore we included a brief overview of the following interpersonal skills:

• Leadership
• Team building
• Motivation
• Communication
• Influencing
• Decision making
• Political and cultural awareness
• Negotiation

That pretty much summarises the changes.

In closing I want to say that the whole experience of leading this update was quite extraordinary. The very best part about it was the opportunity to work with great people from across the globe. The content contributors essentially updated the content in about 4 months. The rest of the time various teams were planning, doing quality reviews, editing, exposing, commenting, adjudicating and all those other necessary steps in publishing a standard. I am very grateful for the opportunity and I hope that this Fourth Edition contributes to the profession.

Cynthia Snyder Stackpole MBA, PMP, is a professional project management consultant, instructor and author. She has written four books on project management and has been the technical editor on many others. She provides consulting and training services for government and private industry. Her consulting focuses on project management maturity, PMO start-ups and positioning project management as a core competency for organisations. For more information or to contact Cyndi, please visit www.cynergy2.com