PMBOK® - A Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge

PMBOK Fifth Edition

The 5th edition of PMBOK included Stakeholder Management and was designed around process groups: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing. The ten knowledge areas are mapped to the five process groups.    

Ten knowledge areas of Project Management according to the PMBOK 5th edition are:

1. Project Integration Management
2. Project Scope Management
3. Project Time Management
4. Project Cost Management
5. Project Quality Management
6. Project Human Resource Management
7. Project Communications Management
8. Project Risk Management
9. Project Procurement Management
10. Project Stakeholder Management

The 5th edition of PMBOK included the principles of Project Stakeholder Management, and as compared to its previous version includes five more processes, for a total of 47 processes around the Process Groups and Knowledge Areas. The guide provided guidelines that create awareness of interpersonal skills that are useful for a Project Manager. An exhaustive list of the required Interpersonal Skills suggests the ways of obtaining the maximum Team Performance.

PMBOK Sixth Edition — Released in Q3 2017

The PMI committee met in early 2016 to begin creating the draft for the latest edition of PMBOK. The organization retooled the guide in many areas, not the least of which expands its emphasis on the fact that processes alone don’t run a project—people do.

The 6th edition of PMBOK includes these updates:

Agile (Adaptive PM) Addition

Agile practices are a big part of all projects these days. This management philosophy was mentioned in the PMBOK fifth edition. The latest version includes significant additions, influenced by Agile, Scrum, Kanban, Lean, XP, and other adaptive, change-driven project management methodologies.

New Processes

PMI removed one of the 47 processes from the fifth edition and added three new ones in the sixth edition:

• Knowledge Management
• Risk Management
• Control Resources

Updated Naming Convention

Just to list a few: Plan Stakeholder Management is now known as Plan Stakeholder Engagement; Plan Human Resource Management is now known as Plan Resource Management; Control Risks is now known as Monitor Risks; Control Communications is now known as Monitor Communications. There are many other terminology changes, so be sure to check out the PMBOK Sixth Edition to learn more.

Closing Procurement is closed

The PMI determined that in most cases, project managers don’t have the authority to close contracts or procurements. Now those functions have been rolled into Control Procurements and Close Project or Phase.

Project Manager’s Role

Considering the constantly changing role of the project manager and how leadership in project management is approached, this section now addresses PMI’s Talent Triangle to encompass the strategic, leadership, and technical project management competencies and skills that a modern project manager should have.

Many Other Miscellaneous Changes

There are a variety of updates and changes in the sixth edition of the PMBOK in addition to those listed above.

For a full list of updates about PMBOK Guide 6th Edition, read PMBOK® Guide 6th Edition is Coming! What Project Managers Should Know. 

You can check out all of Simplilearn’s Project Management training courses here to learn about all of the options you have in the field of project management.  Our PMP Certification course, traditionally aligned with the PMBOK Guide 5th Edition, will also update to reflect the changes made in the newest version. You can choose between self-paced online courses, live virtual classrooms led by expert instructors, or a combination of the two!