PMBOK Guide 7th Disaster Waiting to Happen?

I did take a look, Dave. Most of Jim's discussion is around the Standard for Project Management, not the PMBOK Guide 7.

Dear Dave
Thank you for sharing this information with us

I've had the opportunity to read and comment on the topic you are referring to

I'm curious to know PMI's responses to letters (emails) sent

You are correct Stephane.

Jim's post is mostly about the Standard and not the Guide. However, the Standard is the 1st three chapters of the Guide. Since these chapters are being put forth as an ANSI Standard the process requires there be an public exposure draft of this document. This occurred back in January/February.

Since then the comments have been adjudicated, reviewers who chose to do so submitted appeals for the adjudication decisions they disagreed with (I submitted 19), and those appeals have been adjudicated. The Drafting Committee has revised the document to reflect the changes stemming from those adjudication decisions.

The revised document now stands with the Standards Consensus Body for the next step, which is a vote to affirm or not affirm the revised document as the ANSI approved "Standard for Project Management."

Jim's post and appeal is an attempt to encourage the Consensus Committee to vote to require the draft Standard to go out for another full exposure draft. The basis of his claim can be found in his post.

I for one concur with Jim's appeal. This draft standard desperately needs another exposure draft round. If PMI is to be able to reliably state there is a broad consensus around this revised document that to date no one but the Drafting Committee and the Standards Consensus Committee has seen broader review is needed.

As for the PMBOK7 itself, PMI has already stated there will be NO public exposure for the BOK portion of the document - chapters 4-6. It will go forward with only review/input from the Drafting Committee and the 2 Review Committees (full disclosure I served on both Review Committee 1 & 2). In my opinion the entire PMBOK7 desperately needs its own public exposure draft cycle.

My hope is a second exposure draft for the Standard will not only improve the content of the Standard but also afford an opportunity to convince PMI to do a full exposure draft for the entire PMBOK7.

Luis,

My letter to the PMI BoD was passed along to the PMI Standards department. Their response was pretty much a general response. I did get a scheduled WebEx meeting with Dani Ritter, PMI Standards Manager.

During the WebEx we discussed the concerns I raised in my letter to the BoD. I must say it was an open and frank discussion and I appreciated Dani's effort to hold such a discussion.

I must sadly say that neither of us swayed the other's opinion. She is putting faith in letting the process work; e.g., let the Standards Consensus Committee (SCC) reach their decision as to whether the revised draft document should be affirmed or not as the ANSI Standard for Project Management. The SCC's vote is to occur sometime in June.

Hence the effort to hold open discussion as to whether there truly is a broad consensus for affirming the draft standard. My position is there is no broad consensus and a second exposure draft round is warranted.

We will just have to wait and see how all of this plays out.

Dave, I am curious to know if you have reviewed the actual publication and what your thoughts are. Cheers!