Differences Between PMBOK Third and Fourth Edition

The update of the third edition of PMBOK is:

• Revise the standard so that it would not conflict with any other PMI standards.
• Ensure the information contained in the standard was cohesive in concept and clear in writing style, and that terminology was well defined and congruous with other publication’s terminology.
• Research the way life cycles are currently being used in projects and revise or expand them as necessary.
• Examine the five Project Management Process Group and the 44 project management description processes to determine whether combining, deleting, or adding new processes would add clarity to the standard.
• Ensure that Knowledge Area updates are congruent with the work done in defining the processes, inputs, and outputs defined by the standards group.

The major differences between PMBOK third edition and fourth edition are summarized below.

• All process names are in a verb-noun format.
• A standard approach to discussing enterprise environmental factors and organizational process assets was employed.
• A standard approach for discussing requested changes, preventive actions, corrective actions, and defect repairs was employed.
• The processes decreased from 44 to 42. Two processes were deleted, two processes were added, and 6 processes were reconfigured into 4 processes in the Project Procurement Management Knowledge Area.
• To provide clarity, a distinction was made between the project management plan and project documents used to manage the project.
• The distinction between the information in the Project Charter and the Project Scope Statement was clarified.
• The process flow diagrams at the beginning of Chapters 4 through 12 have been deleted.
• A data flow diagram for each process has been created to show the related processes for the inputs and outputs.
• A new appendix was added that addresses key interpersonal skills that a project manager utilizes when managing a project.