What are the differences between the third edition and the fourth edition of the PMBOK Guide?

What are the differences between the third edition and the fourth edition of the PMBOK Guide? 

The Fourth Edition continues to reflect the evolving knowledge within the profession of project management. Like previous editions, it represents generally recognized good practice in the profession.However, the Fourth Edition also reflects a focus on improved consistency and clarity. Great consideration was given by the project teams to remove redundant information and add clarifying statements where needed. 

Terminology was updated only to present process names consistently in a verb-noun format. The PMBOK Guide—Fourth Edition continues the tradition of excellence in project management with a standard that is easy to understand and implement. 

The major differences between the Third Edition and the Fourth Edition are summarized below: 

PMBOK Guide 

• All process names are in a verb-noun format
  
  
• Enterprise Environmental Factors were more clearly defined to avoid confusion with 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. 
  
  
• A new appendix was added that addresses key interpersonal skills that a project manager utilizes when managing a project. 
  

A complete list of changes can be found in Appendix A of the Fourth Edition. 

Downloading PMBOK Guide 4th Edition

Did you know that the digital version of the PMBOK Guide, 4th edition is available to all PMI Members for FREE? 

To access the digital edition of the PMBOK® Guide:
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Visit www.PMI.org
Logon to Your Members Area
Select the Resources tab
Go to Global Standards Library
Click on "Library of PMI Global Standards"
Click on "Projects (View Details)
Right Click on Language and select "Save Target As.."

You may also want to check the link "PMBOK Guide 4th edition" on the right hand column.

What is a Contingency Plan?

In PMP, contingency plan is:

• a strategy developed in advance for dealing with the occurrence of identified risks.
  
  
• performed to construct a strategy before things go wrong.
  
  
• to include a fallback plan for risks with a high impact.  A fallback plan is to be implemented if the initial contingency plan is ineffective in responding to the risk event.

What is Risk Acceptance?

Risk Acceptance is:

• any decision not to change the project plan to deal with a risk.
  
  
• performed either passively by doing nothing or actively by creating a contingency plan to deal with the risk.
  
  
• to include contingency plan and contingency reserve.

Positive Risk Strategies

Corrective action in Positive Risk Strategy:

• Risk Exploitation
  - Used when a project team wants to make sure that a positive risk is fully realized
  - Done by hiring the best experts in a field or ensuring the most technologically advanced resources are available to the project team.
  
  
• Risk Sharing
  - Entails partnering up with another party in an effort to give your team the best chance of seizing the opportunity.
  - Joint ventures are a common example of risk sharing.
  
  
• Risk Enhancement
  - increase the probability that an opportunity will occur.
  - Done by focusing on the trigger conditions of the opportunity and trying to optimise their chances of occurrence.

Negative Risk Strategies

Preventive Action in Negative Risk Strategies include:

• Risk avoidance
  Attempts to eliminate the risk altogether.
  
  
• Risk Transference
  Passes the liability of a risk to another party.
  
  
• Risk Mitigation
  Reduces the probability and/or impact of the occurences of a risk event.

Introducing Risk Response Planning

Risk Response Planning is:

• the process of examing each risk and corresponding resonse alteratives
• determining which response will improve the likelihood of a positive outcome.