In September of this year, the Project Management Institute (PMI) released the 6th edition of the PMBOK Guide. This new edition has more focus on Agile and adaptive methodologies and on benefits management and knowledge management. Learn more about the main changes below.
The guide is intended to be more consistent, in addition to clarifying doubts about the project management process, its inputs, tools, techniques, and outputs. Some of the main changes are:
New content in the Opening Section
In the opening section, there is a chapter dedicated to how to link projects to the strategic objectives of the company. There is also a new chapter on the role of the project manager.
The intention of putting this content in the same section is to advise project managers on how to effectively lead projects.
New content in the Knowledge Area
In Project Integration Management, a new process called Manage Project Knowledge was added. This process explains how to manage all project knowledge (for example, lessons learned) and ensure that this knowledge is carried over to other projects and throughout the company.
In Project Scope Management, few changes were made, but the PMI discusses the relationship between the Project Manager and the Business Analyst in greater detail.
In Project Quality Management, the process of Performing Quality Assurance was replaced by Manage Quality. This was done because most companies do not have a quality assurance process in their projects.
In fact, in many companies, quality assurance is the responsibility of a separate department, but, as project managers, one of our roles is to manage the quality of our projects.
Renamed Sections
Two areas of knowledge have been renamed. The first is Project Time Management, which was renamed because project managers do not manage “time,” but rather manages the project schedule. This area is now called Schedule Management.
The PMI also recognized that, in a project, there are other resources (other than human) that need to be managed. Thus, they decided to change the name of the Human Resources Management knowledge area to Resource Management.
New content in the knowledge areas
The most critical change in Project Communications Management is the differentiation between communication and communications. Communication refers to the act of personally communicating, between two or more people, and communications refer to the communication artifacts that are produced, such as emails, reports, videos etc.
The main change in Project Risk Management is in the approach to risk, which is now carried out in a global manner, rather than only dealing with the risks assigned to an event. In addition, a new risk response strategy, termed “scaling,” has been added. This means that risks can now be scaled at the program or portfolio level.
Project Acquisition Management has also undergone significant changes. The focus of this area is now much more international and not just focused on North America.
With regard to stakeholders, the focus has shifted from Project Stakeholder Management to Stakeholder Engagement. This is because, as we all know, it is impossible to control project stakeholders, but we can manage how we engage them.
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