What’s New in the PMBOK 7th Edition Compared to the 6th Edition?

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PMI has released their newest Project Management Body of Knowledge (shortly PMBOK) 7th edition on 1st August 2021.

A Quick Comparison

From its inception in 1996 until the 6th edition introduced in 2017 there have been key changes to the PMBOK guide.

7th edition is quite unique compared to the 6th and the earlier editions.

The earlier versions of the PMBOK editions mainly represented a process-based standard in terms of

• documentation
• performance against process that could be assessed
• Improvements to the processes could be made to maximize efficiency and minimize threats

While project management has evolved rapidly than ever before, PMI agrees that the process-based orientations of past editions cannot be maintained hence this edition shifts to a principles-based standard to support effective project management and to focus on more intended outcomes than the deliverables.

(It doesn’t mean the process-based approach is negated as it is still widely considered by many organizations and the approach still remains relevant to the context of new edition)

Systems View of Project Management

The new edition focuses on the system’s view of value delivery meaning they do not simply produce outputs but more importantly enable those outcomes that ultimately deliver value to organizations and their stakeholders.

The system view shifted from the 10 Knowledge Areas from earlier edition to 8 Performance Domains.

Performance Domain is a group of related activities that are

• critical to delivery of project outcomes,
• represent a project management system of interactive,
• interrelated and interdependent management capabilities that work together to achieve project outcomes.

New Sections

A new section of Models, Methods and Artifacts provides commonly used models, methods and artifacts that are useful in managing projects.

• Model: is a thinking strategy to explain a process, framework or phenomenon
• Methods: means to achieve an output or result or deliverable
• Artifact: template, document, output or project deliverable

Models mainly consists of Situational leadership, Communication, Motivation, Change, Complexity, Project Team development and other models such as Conflict, Negotiation etc.

Methods consists of Data gathering and analysis methods, Estimating methods, meeting and event methods and other methods such as Impact mapping, modeling, NPS, Prioritization schema, Timebox

Artifacts consists of Strategy artifacts (business case, project charter etc.), Log and Register artifacts, Plan artifacts etc.

Today’s rapid development change relating towards hybrid & agile, you can see a huge shift in the current edition.

In the past, there has been lot of feedback stating that the PMBOK guide is like a text book and difficult to digest.

But the new PMBOK 7th edition contains only 370 pages compared to the 6th edition containing 976 pages with a 62% reduction making it light for the readers to consume the material. You don’t feel exhausted when you read the newest version as its readability has significantly improved.

And many individuals from non-technical backgrounds can start to co-relate compared to the earlier editions.

Note:

Please refer to the PMP Exam Content Outline to understand the concepts and do read the article How to Accelerating Your Path to PMP Certification?. According to PMP Exam Content Outline about half of the examination will represent predictive project management approaches and the other half will represent agile or hybrid approaches. Predictive, agile, and hybrid approaches will be found throughout the three domain areas and are not isolated to any particular domain or task.

Read and understand the PMP Exam Content Outline to understand the examination process before planning to take the examination.

Changes to 7th Edition

According to PMI this edition of the PMBOK^® Guide:

• Reflects the full range of development approaches (predictive, traditional, adaptive, agile, hybrid, etc.)
• Provides an entire section devoted to tailoring the development approach and processes
• Expands the list of tools and techniques in a new section, “Models, Methods, and Artifacts”
• Focuses on project outcomes in addition to deliverables
• Integrates with PMIstandards+^™ for access to content that helps the user apply the PMBOK^® Guide on the job

Overview of the revisions between the 6th vs 7th edition

1. Instead of Knowledge areas it will be now called as 8 Performance domains.
2. The 5 project management process groups changed to Principles based approach with 12 Project management principles and Value Delivery system

Performance Domains

Project performance domain is a group of related activities that are critical for the effective delivery of project outcomes.

These domains are interactive, interrelated, and interdependent areas of focus that work in unison to achieve desired project outcomes.

1. Stakeholders
2. Team
3. Development approach and lifecycle
4. Planning
5. Project work
6. Delivery
7. Measurement
8. Uncertainty

12 Project Delivery Principles

1. Stewardship – acts responsibly to carry out activities with integrity
2. Team – work collaboratively and achieve shared objective instead of working in silos
3. Stakeholders – engage stakeholders proactively
4. Value – continually evaluate and adjust project alignment to business objectives
5. Systems Thinking – recognize, evaluate and respond to the dynamic circumstances within and surrounding the project
6. Leadership – demonstrate and adapt leadership behavior
7. Tailoring – each project is unique, design projects based on the context of the project
8. Quality – produce deliverables meeting project objectives
9. Complexity – continually evaluate and navigate. stay vigilant
10. Risk – evaluate exposure to risk
11. Adaptability and Resiliency – ability to respond to changing conditions
12. Change – prepare, prepare, prepare

I have the explained the above topic in length in this article – please check here

Domain and Percentage of questions expected

1. People (42%)
2. Process (50%)
3. Business Environment (8%)

PMP Certification | Project Management Institute (pmi.org) download the PMP Exam Content Outline which will give you clarity on what to expect, what is included and how it is structured.

If you are aspiring to achieve PMP Certification and new to these concepts, or need help on how to get started do not hesitate to contact me via the contact us page.

Free Resources

Please do go through some useful Links if you are preparing for the PMP Exam:

• Project Management Process Chart Game

• Tools And Resources For Your PMP Certification Preparation – Project Insights (projinsights.com)

• How to prepare for PMP exam working fulltime? – Project Insights (projinsights.com)

• Overview of Agile Manifesto and its Value – Project Insights (projinsights.com)

• Project management calculators

Recommended Books to Pass the PMP Exam

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To learn the difference between PMBOK 6th vs 7th Edition – read my detailed article on PMBOK Guide 7th Edition

Conclusion

I see value and simplification has been taken very seriously in the newest PMBOK version and added as part of the project management principles.

The earlier versions of the PMBOK guide were more focused on the projects and programs quite relevant to technical teams and hard to digest.

As these PMP concepts are seriously considered by Operations Managers, Delivery managers and other Individual contributors or SMEs today as the value in terms of Soft Skills, strategy and aspects it tries to provide to non-technical operations is enormous to improve the business management processes and standards within.

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What do you think about the latest PMBOK version and have you been planning to take the exam post these changes, please leave your comments below?