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.

details check differences between the third edition and the fourth edition of the PMBOK Guide