PMBOK®

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge ( PMBOK® Guide) is a project management standard developed by the nonprofit Project Management Institute (PMI).

In 1987, PMI published the first PMBOK® in an attempt to document and standardize generally accepted project management information and practices. The current edition, the third edition copyright 2004, was released on October 31 2004 and provides a basic reference for anyone interested in project management. It provides a common lexicon and consistent structure for the field of project management.

The PMBOK Guide is widely accepted to be the standard in project management, although it has its critics: The main thrust of the critique comes from the critical chain (vs. critical path) followers (e.g. Leach). Others consider so-called Agile approaches to software development - such as Scrum, for instance - to be more useful alternatives to master the threads stemming from complexity, unpredictability, and risk in project settlements. For those dedicated PMI Project Managers, a new standard is developing, Organisational Project Management Maturity Model ( OPM3). Containing three interlocking elements - knowledge, assessment, and improvement; the OPM3 standard is similar to the Capability Maturity Model Integration ( CMMI) in that it develops upon the model of project management using the