PMI 5th Edition of the PMBOK

The Project Management Institute released the 5th, latest edition of the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge in January. I received mine in the mails on January 15th. It is a hefty 589 pages. For PMI Members, you can get a free download from the PMI Website.


I could not help but compare the 1996 edition with it's 176 pages. As best as I could tell, I was the only person listed who reviewed both of these documents for PMI. Back in the early 90's I was solicited to review the work of the committee and had several discussions with Standards Committee. In 1996 I drafted a definition of project management and worked on the quality section. Not much is left from my original work, although I still like my definition better.  This time around I responded to the open call to the membership to review the exposure draft. The process involved an automated form which was very easy to use and allow room to comment on everything, if you wanted.


I chose to select and focus on ten items. Four were accepted and changes made to the final publication. I think four were deferred to the next revision and two were rejected. Evidently, the committee worked on items deferred from the fourth edition and if things were not settled items were deferred to the 6th edition. I understand more items were deferred to the 6th edition than were settled by releasing the 5th.


As PMI goes deeper into the details of project management, I wonder if we are losing our consensus approach.  Although I accept the decision and logic of the committee, I think my suggestions that were rejected had value. I wonder how many others would disagree with the end product to some degree. If there is emerging disagreement among professional, is our standard losing value?