BOK revisions breaking out all over: PMBOK 4th Edition

We had ITIL V3 in 2007 (and 2008 and 2009 if you are talking exam syllabus), and PRINCE2:2009 (why not PRINCE3? - it was a sweeping rewrite). Apparently we have also just had PMBOK 4th Edition.

In both cases of ITIL V3 and PRINCE2:2009, OGC/APMG have cavalierly assured users there was little difference and they should happily continue to pay for the old exams up until the time it is no longer convenient for the training companies for users to pay for the old exams. And of course in both cases this was crap, with the new syllabus being totally different.

The new PMP exams are due June 30th. How different will they be?

Reportedly PMBOK V4 is less revolutionary (but not much less):

PMI® outlined the major differences between the Third Edition and the Fourth Edition are summarized as follows:

All process names are now in a verb-noun format
Efforts were made to distinguish between Enterprise Environmental Factors and Organizational Process Assets.
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 Procurement 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 4-12 have been deleted and replaced with data flow diagrams.
A data flow diagram for each process has been created to show where information comes from as an input and where it goes to as an output.
A new appendix was added that addresses key interpersonal skills that a project manager utilizes when managing a project.
PMI® also noted that a complete list of changes will be found in Appendix A of the new PMBOK® Guide—Fourth Edition

So one hopes the consumer is not being screwed in quite the same way and there will be little commercial difference between being certified to PMBOK V3 or V4. Am I right?

Nevertheless why wouldn't you wait until July and get a more current certification? unless of course one had just finished learning V3 because nobody at your training/certification vendor told you it was changing. There was quite a bit of that went on with ITIL V3.

Here's the Fourth Edition:


...and TOGAF "refreshes"

According to a Van Haren email:

On 28th April 2009 the European introduction of TOGAF Version 9 takes place at Central Hall, Westminster in London. TOGAF 9, is a major upgrade of the widely adopted and globally accepted enterprise architecture framework.

Syndicate content