We are on the final countdown until the new PMBOK© 6 Guide is released. September 6th, 2017 is coming fast and our fireworks are on back order. Bummer.
As everyone in the project management industry gears up, many students are left wondering where this announcement leaves them. How does the PMBOK© 6 change affect me? What if I’m planning to take my PMP© exam in the next few months? How does the PMBOK© 6 affect current PMs? No stress, we have the answers!
If you are…
- A little unsure what PMP©, PMBOK© 6, or CAPM© mean: check out our recent webcast that details how project management affects IT professionals (and basically anyone who works on projects.)
- A potential future student who may take a CAPM©/PMP© course in the future: Wait until the new PMBOK© 6 drops and the PMP© test is updated in January to start taking any courses. Also, find an instructor who is well-versed in the changes to the exam. There will be an adjustment period for most instructors as they decide how fast to transfer from the PMBOK© 5 to the PMBOK© 6. Make sure to find an instructor who knows Agile methodology extremely well to make sure that you’re prepared to take your PMP© exam in 2018.
- A current student who is taking PMP© or CAPM© courses: PMI© suggests taking your exam before January 2018 unless you plan on studying and testing on the contents of the PMBOK 6©.
- A certified PMP©: Consider enrolling in a refresher course in 2018 to keep your skills up-to-date with the PMBOK© 6 changes. The PMBOK 6© won’t affect your previous certification but you will want to make sure that you are familiar with the latest project management trends.
Ashley Hunt has heard almost every situation and prepared the following vBlog to answer some of the burning questions that students have about the PMBOK© 6.
Ashley Hunt recently put together this hour long webcast all about how Agile and PM will make your IT department run more smoothly and efficiently. Check out this free training session here:
Transcript from video blog:
Hey guys, I’m Ashley Hunt, Senior Project Management Instructor here at Storm Wind Studios. I’ve got some cool information that is pretty new and very exciting in the project management space. I know a lot of you have heard, “Oh, the PMBOK© Guide is coming out with a Sixth Edition but what does that do, how does that impact me?” If you’re gearing up to take your PMP© certification what’s the deal there? If you already have it then it’s definitely some big changes and some things to be aware of. I thought I’d address what’s going on with the PMBOK© Guide 6th Edition. There was some big news that just came out last week as to when the guide is coming out.
Some of us have had a sneak peek and have been alerted to the changes. It’s no big secret really if you went out to pmi.org to the Project Management Institute’s website they’ve got all the information right there so we’re not spilling the beans in any way. However, because of all these big changes, there are some waves that are being made as far as exams, what’s new, what’s included, and so on. I figured I would just give you an up-to-date informational overview here as to what the changes are, how that’s going to impact and so on.
Now, there has been a new chapter added to the PMBOK© 6th Edition about the role of the project manager. What is our actual job? What do we do? How do we lead more effectively in a project management arena? That could be in very, very different industries around the world so that new chapter is in there and it’s really tying into a lot of the other changes, as you can see here, that are being made. Now, they did re-name two knowledge areas. Time management is now schedule management. That makes sense, that’s what we’re doing is we’re building schedules and baselines and trying to maintain them.
Human resource management is just resource management because we know resources are people, equipment, and materials. It’s really unnecessary to have two really separate types of resource estimations and different types of resourcing as far as the PMBOK© Guide is concerned. Every new knowledge area now contains four very specific types of information, which is really cool because they start out with what the key concepts are. Like, what is it that this chapter is trying to accomplish? What are some of the trends going on that they found out in that role delineation study? What are some of these emerging best practices that project managers around the world are utilizing effectively?
Number three and number four. This is where we start to get into a real shift in how the PMBOK© Guide has been created in the past. Typically, the PMBOK© Guide has all been very focused on Waterfall or traditional types of project management. Well, these days there’s so much technology and there are so many other projects going on in the world outside of industrial manufacturing, construction, and so on. What PMI© says is, “Hey, we’ve got a bunch of best practices here. You pick and choose what’s going to work for your individual projects. Can we combine or tailor our projects with a little bit of Waterfall and also a little bit of Agile. Can we be more adaptive in our environment?”
Now, it’s not a huge, big … It’s not a big meshing of these two best practices or types of frameworks for project management but it’s definitely giving a nod to how things are changing in the project management space. There are some other changes that are pretty impactful. There are still five process groups, there are still 10 knowledge areas but there are two new processes, it went up to 49 from 47. Here’s the deal, they added three and deleted one. What does that look like?
The execution process group, some additions. There’s managing, project knowledge, obviously the communication space. That’s going to be something that we need to have as far as lessons learned and so on. Implementing risk responses, that’s changed as well. Controlling resources and in a closing process group, they deleted close procurement. A lot of times people are like, “Why?” Well, for the most part, project managers don’t really have the authority to close out procurement so that was removed but there are some best practices in the closed project or phase that really address that. If, in fact, you are supposed to be working to help close out procurement what does that look like in closing out a project and/or phase?
What does this all do to the exam? Now, the big announcement is that the Project Management Body of Knowledge 6th Edition© is going to be released on September 6. You can go out and pre-order it at pmi.org. I’ve already ordered mine and it’s going to be able to be reviewed from September until the actual exam changes. Now, there is no specific date, they’re just saying Q1 of 2018 at some point in there, the PMP© exam and the Certified Associate and Project Management of CAPM© exam are going to change as well.
If you are planning on taking your PMP© or your CAPM© exam I highly recommend you get in there and you get it done now. With all these changes and the exam changing in January, there’s going to be this crossover overlap in the way that we’re teaching the courses to either wind down the Fifth Edition or to gear up for the Sixth Edition. If you plan on taking your PMP© or CAPM© after January then maybe go out to pmi.org and pre-order your PMBOK© Guide. Now, here’s the other piece of this. The Agile certification is also going to get a facelift because the Project Management Institute is publishing basically their PMBOK© for Agile on the exact same day.
What’s going to happen with all these exams is they’re really going to get a shake up and go through all of these changes with new, better, best practices. If you’re planning on taking your PMP-ACP© I highly recommend you also check out their practice guide that is coming out on September 6 as well. Actually, they have a bundle going on so if your purchase them both at the same time you get a discount. If you’re a member, obviously membership has its benefits. Anytime you want to get any up-to-date information just keep checking the websites. You can go to stormwindstudios.com. You’ll see the updates, you’ll see the class dates and when things are coming out and so on. Also, obviously pmi.org, that will give you all the updates that you need.
Hopefully, this helped give you some clarity on what’s going on with these exam changes. Certainly, it’s very exciting, there’s a lot of new stuff coming out. I’m really, really excited to get my hands on both of these books, read through them and gain some great knowledge on project management in general. Hopefully, this will help give you some additional information.
