A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge: 1996 vs. 2000 — What’s Changed?

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge is published by the USA-based Project Management
Institute. Early in 2001, this organization published the “2000 version” of the document as an update to the 1996
version. The purpose of this article is to document and comment on the differences between these two versions of
this best selling book on project management.
Why document the differences? There are at least three discrete groups with a strong desire to know exactly what
has changed:
• Individuals preparing for the Project Management Professional (PMP®) Certification Exam.
• Organizations that provide exam preparation courses and materials.
• Organizations that used the 1996 version as the basis for developing a customized project management
methodology.
Although the Exposure Draft detailed the proposed changes, and the final version has a preface that highlights the
major changes, the actual changes in the final version are not explicitly identified anywhere. Many of the
proposed changes in the Exposure Draft did not make it into the final update; many actual changes had not been
included in the Exposure Draft.
Why comment on the changes? The core of the document, chapters 4 through 12, was intended as a normative
standard — manage your projects according to these precepts unless you have a good reason to do otherwise.
Organizations that have developed a project management methodology based on the 1996 version, or that are
considering developing one based on the 2000 version, may wish to have some insight into which version will
best suit their needs.