Leading Indicators and Lagging Indicators in Project Management

For the first time, in the PMBOK® Guide 7th edition, both leading and lagging indicators are introduced as Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for a project. Such indicators are applicable in all aspects of management – project, program, portfolio or risk management. It’s also applicable in Agile management.

Let’s understand them in simplest possible terms. The content of this article has been taken from RMP Live Lessons – Guaranteed Pass.

Indicators

I’ll define an indicator as follows:

“An indicator is something (a result, an event, a statistic) that indicates or signals.”

For example, if you are finding a number of bugs in your team’s deliverables, it indicates a quality problem. Based on it, you can take some actions such as having a more robust definition of done (DoD). 

Taking another example related to our personal lives, if you see a cloudy sky, it indicates that rain may happen next. Based on it, you may choose to take some actions such as taking an umbrella or searching for your raincoat.

The first result (high number of bugs) is a lagging indicator. This is because you came to know about it after the bugs occurred. But the second one is a leading indicator for rain. Because before the event occurred (rain), you came to the possibility of the event happening. 

Now that I’ve introduced two more terms – leading and lagging indicators – let’s understand them in detail. 

Leading Indicators

I’ll slightly change the definition provided by the Project Management Institute (PMI®) and will define it as:

“A leading indicator is a measurable data that helps to anticipate (predict) changes or trends in a project.”

Simply put, a leading indicator is about the future or it indicates the future. 

Some of the examples in management can be the followings:

• Lack of a risk management processes
• Stakeholders who are not available or engaged
• Poorly defined project success criteria
• Size of the project (quantifiable)
• Complexity of the project
• Number of items in progress after taken from the Backlog (quantifiable)

Considering the last example of too many in-progress items indicate a bottleneck in flow of work, or too complex work being taken-up. 

Lagging Indicators

Here too, PMI provides a good definition, but I'll modify a little:

“A lagging indicator is a measurable data that measures deliverables or events in a project.”

Simply put, a lagging indicator is about the past or it gives information about the past. 

Examples of lagging indicators can be:

• Number of deliverables completed (quantifiable)
• Schedule variance (quantifiable)
• Cost variance (quantifiable)
• Amount of resources consumed (quantifiable)

Taking the first example, one can say that if you are completing a good number of deliverables, then the project is progressing well. 

Next, I’m going to relate leading and lagging indicators with preventive and corrective actions, which you have to know as an aspiring PMP, PgMP, or RMP. 

Leading Indicators and Preventive Actions

As defined by PMI:

A preventive action is an intentional activity that ensures the future performance of the project work is aligned with the project management plan. 

For projects in an Agile environment, it'll be your product backlog with the product goal. In other words, the actions should be aligned with the product goal (or release goal or Sprint goal). 

Leading indicators can lead to preventive actions. With it, before the event or condition happens, you can take actions. For example, considering our second example of rain, before the rain event happens, you can take actions such as taking an umbrella.

Lagging Indicators and Corrective Actions

As per PMI: 

A corrective action is an intentional activity that realigns the performance of the project work with the project management plan. 

For projects executed with Agile frameworks, you will be taking actions that realigns with the product goal, release goal or Sprint goal.

Lagging indicators can result in corrective actions. For example, schedule variance is a lagging indicator. If very high variance, you can take actions with techniques such as fast tracking or crashing to improve. 

Comparison – Leading and Lagging Indicators

The comparision with both the differences and commanalities between leading and lagging indicators are shown in the table below.

Both these indicators are part of the Measurement Performance Domain (PD) of the PMBOK Guide, 7th edition. Because these indicators are primarily about measurement. The PMBOK guide prudently notes and I quote verbatim:

“In and of themselves, KPIs are simply measures that have no real use unless and until they are used. Discussing leading and lagging indicators and identifying areas for improvement, as appropriate, can have a positive impact on performance.” 

Indeed, measurements should be used. In my view, as a management professional and leader, you should measure (and use) both leading and lagging indicators. In fact, I'd say it's a best practice to use both in your projects.

References

[1] Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide, 7th edition, by Project Management Institute

[2] RMP Live Lessons - Guaranteed Pass or Your Money Back, by Satya Narayan Dash 

[3] Article - PMBOK 7th Edition: Principles, Performance Domains and Artifacts – How Do They Plug and Play Together? (Part - 1)

[4] Article - PMBOK 7th Edition: Principles, Performance Domains and Artifacts – How Do They Plug and Play Together? (Part - 2)

What Should You Know about the PMP Exam Changes in 2021 and Beyond? (Part 2)

  

The Impact of the Changes

Obviously, as the exam has changed, there have been quite a few impacts. Let’s look at them one by one.

Impact #1: Exam Complexity

Many have been saying the new exam is more difficult, which I don’t agree with because the needed experience level to appear for the exam has not changed. It still is either of the following:

For four-year bachelor’s degree or global equivalent: Minimum 36 months unique non-overlapping professional project management experience,

– or –

For secondary degree (high school diploma or global equivalent): Minimum 60 months unique non-overlapping professional project management experience

As the experience level is relatively low and remains unchanged, I don’t expect the exam questions to be tougher. That said, the exam is more complex now because of the new addition of tasks within the new domains, along with the Agile content increased the scope of coverage. If you are an aspiring PMP, you will need to expand your horizon in the project management landscape.

Impact #2: First Score Report

The first examination score report are changed now. This is the report exam takers get immediately after the exam at the exam center. It's based on the three domains and the report will come as shown below.

The proficiency levels, nevertheless, remains unchanged, in that the score will continue to have four performance rating categories (Above Target, Target, Below Target, and Needs Improvement).

Impact #3: Detailed Score Analysis *** NEW ***

For each domain in the new ECO, there are number of enablers, and for each enabler, there are a number of tasks. These are spread across the three domains – Process and Business Environment.

More explanation on it has been given towards the later part of this article. Your evaluation will be on these domains, tasks and enablers. 

Impact #4: Questions in Agile/Hybrid Approaches *** NEW ***

As noted earlier, there is equal distribution of questions with respect to predictive and adaptive (Agile) or hybrid approaches.

These are spread across all of the domains, People, Process, and Business Environment. 

Important Note:

While Agile is 50% of the questions, many confuse Hybrid questions as part of the Agile. As per PMI, this is the definition of hybrid model:

A hybrid model is a combination of two or more agile and non-agile elements, having a non-agile end result. 

In other words, you can say that Hybrid ones will have a combination of Agile and Traditional/Waterfall approaches. 

Hence, combing Agile and Hybrid questions you can expect  more than 50% questions! In fact, many successful PMPs in this year have informed so. Some of the questions with Agile related concepts will be part of a traditional/waterfall project. These questions will fall under Hybrid type. It’s not explicitly Agile/Adaptive. 

PMI Talent Triangle and the New ECO Triangle

If you look closely, you can find that the three domains in the ECO are aligning closely with the three arms of PMI’s Talent Triangle. The PMI Talent Triangle was introduced in 2015 because technical project management skills for a practicing project manager were found to be insufficient to succeed in the real world with real life practices. Hence, two new areas were added (leadership capabilities and strategic and business management proficiency). The PMI Talent Triangle is depicted on the left side of the diagram below.

 

Similarly, the new ECO of 2020/2021 has three domains, which are aligned with real-world project management practices. I’ve put these three domains as the arms of the “New ECO Triangle” for easier correlation – shown on the right side of above diagram. Comparing these two triangles, you could say that:

• The Leadership arm maps to People domain,
• The Technical Project Management arm maps to Process domain, and
• The Strategic and Business Management arm maps to Business Environment domain.

This is significant because in the new PMP exam, you need to evaluate your understanding in these contexts.

We now know what are the changes and impacts. Next, let’s dive a bit deeper into the domains and associated concepts of the new exam.

Domains, Tasks, and Enablers

Each domain in the new ECO is empowered by a set of tasks and enablers. In fact, in the new 2020/2021 ECO, the format of Domains, Tasks, and Enables is used throughout. I’ve depicted it in the below figure.

As shown, every domain has a set of tasks, and each task is associated with a set of enablers. Let’s look at some examples.

Domain: A domain is defined as the high-level knowledge area that is essential to the practice of project management.

• An example of this is People.

Tasks: A task informs about the underlying responsibilities of the project manager within each domain area.

• Examples (for the People domain) are: 
• Task 1: Manage conflict
• Task 2: Lead a team
• Task 3: Support team performance
• …

Enablers: Enablers are illustrative examples of the work associated with a task. For example, for Task 2 (Lead a team) under the “People” domain, we have these enablers:

• Enabler 1: Set a clear vision and mission
• Enabler 2: Support diversity and inclusion
• Enabler 3: Value servant leadership
• Enabler 4: Determine an appropriate leadership style
• …

In simpler words, you can say that each answers a different question, as shown below.

I’ve received a number of questions from aspiring PMPs who are using PMP Live Lessons – Guaranteed Pass, 35 Contact Hours PMP Program, and/or the I Want To Be A PMP book to prep for the exam. I’ll address a few of the most common in this article.

Many aspiring PMPs in fact have followed the above courses and/or book clear the exam in 2021. You can read their success stories below.

PMP Success Stories for Year 2021

As we reach the end of this article, let see the frequently asked questions (FAQs). It's a detailed one. This list is prepared based on my interactions with aspiring PMPs. 

Frequently Asked Questions (Top 10) *** NEW ***

Question – 1: As the domains in the ECO are changing, will a new PMBOK Guide be available with these new domains? 

Answer: No. The PMBOK Guide for the current PMP exam has not changed in 2021. The 6th edition of the guide will remain as is with its five process groups. The PMBOK guide continues to remain as one of the most important reference guides for your exam.

A new edition of the PMBOK guide, 7th edition is available. But it's not related to the domains of the ECO. [Also see Question - 3]

Question – 2: Should I refer to the 6th edition of the PMBOK Guide and/or any other resource?

Answer: You have to refer to the 6th edition of the PMBOK Guide for your PMP exam preparation irrespective of taking the exam on or after January 2, 2021.

The PMBOK Guide is one of the main references that is used for PMP examination preparation. There are other references that will also be used, as noted in Part - 1 of this article. Because the questions are created by project management practitioners who are not solely bound by the PMBOK Guide. 

Question – 3: Currently a new edition of the PMBOK Guide, 7th Edition is available is available. Should I also read it?

Answer: No. The PMBOK guide, 7th edition, though released this year (July 2021), has not been enforced. There is no need to read this guide while preparing for your PMP exam.

The PMBOK guide, 6th edition is listed as a reference for your current PMP exam. 

Question – 4: When will be the PMBOK Guide, 7th edition be enforced?

Answer: There is no information available at this stage. This is as of October, 2021 when this article is posted. 

PMI will surely communicate before the PMBOK Guide, 7th edition is enforced. As and when it’s enforced for PMP exam, it will also be listed as one of the items in the Exam Reference List. 

Question – 5: Do I need to remember the new tasks and enablers of the new ECO?

Answer: No. It is not necessary that you remember them, but you have to understand what they are and how they are mapped to the contents of the PMBOK guide and other project management references to become a certified project management professional.

Question – 6: How much should I focus on the Agile aspects?

Answer: Agile is obviously 50% of the exam as mentioned earlier in this article. With 90 questions, you need to have a sound knowledge of Agile approaches.

In addition, there will be a number of questions on Hybrid mode, which will have Agile content. Hence, I’ll strongly suggest that you prepare the Agile part thoroughly. 

Question – 7: Should I read the Agile Practice Guide?

Answer: Yes. If you are going for the exam in 2021 and beyond, I would strongly suggest that you read the Agile Practice Guide, which comes bundled along with the PMBOK Guide, 6th edition.

Question – 8: Should I read all the other reference books?

Answer: There are quite a few reference books, as noted earlier in Overall Changes section. No one can read all these books and prepare for the exam. 

In this case, good preparatory courses (preferably video courses because you learn faster with videos) and books will be needed. I’ve already mentioned a number of courses and books offered by ManagementYogi. You can refer them or the course of your choice.

Question – 9: Should I practice for other types of questions?

Answer: Yes. As informed earlier in Part - 1, other question types such as Multi-response, Drag and Drop questions are coming in the exam. This has been the consistent feedback by successful PMPs who have written their success stories.

Any course material you use, must have these types of questions to give you practice. If it doesn’t have, then it’s not worth your time. Also be very careful about outdated questions, which are rampant in the marketplace. It will give you no value. 

Question – 10: As the PMBOK Guide, 7th edition has been released, will a new ECO be released now?

Answer: This is another important question. The short answer is this: Another ECO is unlikely to come this year or next. 

The ECO’s development follows a different path compared to the PMBOK Guide’s development. You can consider ECO’s development and PMBOK’s development as two separate release trains. 

A new ECO, as mentioned in Part – 1 of this article, is released every three to five years. PMI has released a new ECO last year (2020, though actually first released in 2019). Hence, it’s unlikely that another ECO will be coming in 2021 or 2022.

Concluded.

References:

[1] PMP Live Lessons Course, Guaranteed Pass or Your Money Back, by Satya Narayan Dash

[2] PMP 35 Contact Hours Online Course with Full MoneyBack Guarantee, by Satya Narayan Dash

[3] I Want To Be A PMP: The Plain and Simple Way To Be A PMP, 2nd Edition, by Satya Narayan Dash

[4] Article - What Should You Know about the PMP Exam 2020 Changes, by MPUG on September 3, 2019

What Should You Know about the PMP Exam Changes in 2021 and Beyond? (Part 1)

The Project Management Professional (PMP®) examination offered by Project Management Institute (PMI) has changed this year on 2nd January. PMI first made this announcement earlier and has made the new Examination Content Outline (ECO) available for aspiring PMPs.

Many PMP aspirants don't know on these changes. In fact, many even don't know the importance of the ECO, which is actually the blueprint of the exam! As I interact with PMPs - aspiring and successful, this information gap is striking. This article tries to address this information gap.

The first version of this article was published by MPUG. This is a refined and latest version of the article as of 2021 and beyond. This article will be covered in two part series, because of its size. 

I've also taken a number of questions which I face from aspiring PMPs during my interactions and a detailed FAQ will be available in part-2 of the article.

Why the Change?

Project management as a profession is increasing in complexity. It is evolving to meet new challenges of this century—rapid technological changes, expectations and aspirations of a new generation of workers, and of course, new methodologies and practices pertaining to Agile and/or DevOps, which are now mainstream.

PMI understands the shifts taking place in project management. In fact, every three to five years, PMI conducts a Role Delineation Study (RDS) or Job Task Analysis (JTA), which checks the knowledge, skills, and tasks required to perform the role of a project manager. This RDS or JTA, in turn, impacts the creation of the ECO due to the RDS providing the blueprint for the exam. PMP exam questions obviously link to the role of the project manager, so shifts are unavoidable. The final blueprint for the exam is documented in the ECO. This is depicted in the below figure.

The ECO is crucial because questions in the PMP exam are mapped against the ECO. The ECO mentions the domains on which exam takers will be evaluated, the tasks that are supposed to be performed in these domains, and also the knowledge and skills that are needed for project managers performing these tasks. The expected percentage of questions that will come from each domain is also outlined in the ECO, so that the right number of questions are in place for a valid PMP exam.

The last time such a study was conducted was in 2015. It resulted in changes to the exam in 2016. The recent years’ study has resulted in the new ECO, and hence the PMP exam has changed from January 2, 2021.

Important Dates *** NEW ***

If you are an aspiring PMP, you should be aware of the following dates.

Looking at the above dates, you have to follow the new ECO, which is effective from January 2, 2021. This new ECO will continue to be there in Year 2022, too.

Overall Changes

Now that we know the change process for the PMP examination and we’ve covered the important dates, let’s get to what the changes actually are.

Change #1: Domains

The old PMP exam was based on five domains, which are outlined in the old ECO. The domains are:

• Initiating: Outlines the processes to define a new project or a new phase of an existing project and have the needed authorization to start off.
• Planning: Outlines the processes to establish the scope of the project, refine objectives on scope, time, cost, quality, etc. and informs on how these objectives will be achieved.
• Executing: Outlines the processes to complete the work defined in the project management plan, which is created in the Planning domain.
• Monitoring and Controlling: Outlines the processes to track, review, and control the progress and performance of the project and manage corresponding changes.
• Closing: Outlines the processes to finalize all activities across all process groups to formally close the project or phase or contract.

The new PMP exam is based on three domains, which are outlined in the new ECO. They are:

• People: Emphasizes the skills and activities associated to effectively lead a project team (conflict management, team building, mentoring, etc.).
• Process: Reinforces the technical aspects of managing a project (scope management, schedule management, cost management, etc.).
• Business Environment: Highlights the connection between projects and organization strategy (benefits delivery and management, organizational change management, etc.).

You could say that the new PMP Exam will be standing on these three legs or (performance) domains. 

Change #2 Percentage of Questions *** NEW ***

The percentage of questions coming from each domain in the old exam is shown below.

In the new ECO of 2020/2021, there is more of a focus on the Process domain, followed by People, and finally Business Environment.

The distribution of questions across domains is significant, as it impacts exam preparation and time that exam takers will be spending on each domain. 

However, do note that the actual number of questions in the PMP exam can change with some variations in percentages.

Change # 3: Tasks

Each domain in the ECO is associated with a set of tasks. In the 2015 ECO, the Initiating domain had eight tasks and the Planning domain thirteen. In the new ECO, too, each domain is associated with a set of tasks. The People domain has fourteen tasks, the Process domain has seventeen tasks and so on. The differences are noted in the below table.

The tasks are important because exam evaluation will be on these tasks on three scales. The score from each of these tasks will, in turn, be rolled-up to give the rating earned in each domain. This will be explained further in "The Impact of the Changes" section of this article (in the second part).

Change # 4: Exam Duration, Number of Questions and Breaks *** NEW ***

These new changes were introduced just before January 02, 2021 (sometime in late December, 2020) and enforced for the new exam. This continues till date. 

These changes are with respect to the number of questions, exam duration and number of breaks. 

There was one 10-minutes break initially and it was increase to two later. You will get this break after 60 questions.

Change # 5: Type of Questions

In the new exam, half of the questions will be in the predictive project management approaches and the other half in Agile/hybrid approaches. In the 6th edition of the PMBOK Guide, these approaches are clearly defined and used across the process groups and knowledge areas.

Change # 6: Varieties of Questions *** NEW ***

In the earlier exam, you had only multi-choice questions. Every question has four choices, out of which one choice will be correct. In the current version of the exam, along with the multi-choice questions, you will also have other types, which are explained in the below table.

Change # 7: Multiple Reference Guides and Books *** NEW ***

In the earlier PMP exam, you clearly had one reference guide, i.e., the PMBOK guide, 6th edition.

In the new PMP exam, you have:

• Agile Practice Guide, First edition  
• PMBOK Guide, Sixth Edition (not the 7th edition)
  
• Eight other reference books

You can see the list of books in this linked page: PMP Exam Reference List. 

Hence, for your new PMP exam, you have together 10 guides and books to refer.

Continued to Part - 2

References:

[1] PMP Live Lessons Course, Guaranteed Pass or Your Money Back, by Satya Narayan Dash

[2] PMP 35 Contact Hours Online Course with Full MoneyBack Guarantee, by Satya Narayan Dash

[3] I Want To Be A PMP: The Plain and Simple Way To Be A PMP, 2nd Edition, by Satya Narayan Dash

[4] Article - What Should You Know about the PMP Exam 2020 Changes, by MPUG on September 3, 2019

Transitioning from PMBOK 5th Edition to PMBOK 6th Edition in 2021 and 2022

The current edition of the PMBOK Guide for the PMP exam is the 6th edition. However, you will many find many providers still have contents and questions with respect to the PMBOK 5th edition. This I came to know recently, as I interact with aspiring and successful PMPs, who have earned their credentials in recent months. It’s a real struggle for PMPs when you refer the old content and give the exam with new content! As providers don’t change the content or change improperly, PMP candidates struggle with wrong or outdated content. 

There have been professionals who have studied and prepared with the PMBOK Guide 5th edition. Due to personal or professional reasons, they could not sit for the exam in the earlier edition, and they may struggle to find the differences with respect to the new edition. 

Also, there are professionals who hold the PMP credential (in earlier editions), but want to know about the new changes that have come in. This article will address exactly that – the differences between the 5th and 6th editions of the PMBOK Guide.

This article addresses the above needs of PMPs – aspiring or certified. The first version of this article was published by MPUG. This is a refined and latest version of the article as of 2021. 

Though the PMBOK Guide 7th edition is currently available, the PMBOK Guide 6th edition will remain enforced in this year for the latest PMP exam and early part of next year.

Now let's go through the changes one by one. 

1. Overall Changes – Process Groups, Knowledge Areas, and Processes

The PMBOK Guide consists primarily of process groups, knowledge areas, and the processes along with the associated inputs, tools, techniques, and outputs (ITTOs). At a high-level, the changes are as follows.

Process Groups

There are no changes to the process groups. There are still five Process Groups.

Knowledge Areas

There are two changes in the naming of knowledge areas.

• “Project Time Management” has been renamed as “Project Schedule Management.”
• “Project Human Resource Management” has been renamed as “Project Resource Management.”

In total, there are still 10 knowledge areas, which are shown below. The new ones are in bold.

Process Changes

Three new processes have been added. They are:

• “Manage Project Knowledge” in Project Integration Management knowledge area and under Executing process group.
• “Implement Risk Responses” in Project Risk Management knowledge area and
• under Executing process group.
• “Control Resources” in Project Resource Management and under Monitoring and Controlling process group.

One process has been removed.

• The “Close Procurements” process is removed. It was operating under Project Procurement Management knowledge area and the Closing process group.

One process has been moved across knowledge areas.

• The “Estimate Activity Resources” process operating under Planning process group has been moved from Project Schedule Management knowledge area to Project Resource Management knowledge area.

Nine processes, across knowledge areas and process groups, have been renamed. They are noted in the below table. 

2. Changes – Process Groups

As noted earlier, the process groups are unchanged. You may consider this to be good news. This is important for the exam taker, because your performance evaluation happens with respect to the Process Groups.

The number of project management processes (or simply processes) for the process groups are as noted below.

Now, let’s look at the key changes for the individual process groups.

2.1 Changes – Initiating Process Group

The salient points for changes in the Initiating process group are noted below.

• Added processes: None
• Removed processes: None
• Moved processes: None
• Renamed processes: None
• Total number of processes remain as they were earlier (total 2).
• More elaboration has given with respect to “Business Documents.”
• Business documents are documents outside the boundaries of the project. Hence the project manager does not create or control them.
• There are two business documents – Business Case and Benefits Management Plan.
• The focus on “Business Case” is consistent with the PMI Talent Triangle, and so also the focus on Benefits Measurement/Management in a project.
• Business documents are significant because they act as inputs to some project management processes, including both the processes of initiating process group.

2.2 Changes – Planning Process Group

The salient points for changes in the Planning process group are noted below.

• Added processes: None
• Removed processes: None
• Moved processes:
• The “Estimate Activity Resources” process has been moved from Schedule Management knowledge area to Resource Management knowledge area.
• Renamed processes: 2
• The process of “Plan Human Resource Management” under Resource Management knowledge area is now “Plan Resource Management,” as both team (human) and physical (non-human) resources are considered.
• The process of “Plan Stakeholder Management” Stakeholder Management knowledge area is now “Plan Stakeholder Engagement,” as you don’t directly manage the stakeholders, rather manage the engagement with the stakeholders.
• Total number of processes remain as they were earlier (total 24).
• In the Resource Management knowledge area, as both team and physical resources can be managed, the process “Estimate Activity Resources” is an apt fit in Resource Management knowledge area in place of Schedule Management knowledge area.

2.3 Changes – Executing Process Group

The salient points for changes in the Executing process group are noted below.

• Added process: 2
• The process “Manage Project Knowledge” has been added to Project Integration Management knowledge area.
• The processes “Implement Risk Responses” has been added to Project Risk Management knowledge area.
• Removed processes: None
• Moved processes: None
• Renamed processes: 4
• The “Perform Quality Assurance” process has been renamed as “Manage Quality” in Project Quality Management knowledge area.
• The “Acquire Project Team” process has been renamed as “Acquire Resources” in Project Resource Management knowledge area.
• The “Manage Project Team” is now just “Manage Team” in Project Resource Management knowledge area. The term ‘project’ is implicit here.
• The “Develop Project Team” is now just “Develop Team” in Project Resource Management knowledge area. The term ‘project’ is implicit here.
• Total number of processes has now increased by 2 (total 10).
• A significant addition to Integration Management knowledge area is the “Manage Project Knowledge” process.
• A key output here is the “Lessons Learned Register.”
• This process also emphasizes the importance of managing knowledge throughout the life cycle of the project.
• The “Implement Risk Responses” process has been added to Risk Management knowledge area because the risk response plan has to be implemented. Earlier it was happening in the “Control Risks” process, which was really a difficult point while trying to understand the content.
• The naming of Resource Management processes are changed, as both team and physical resources are now considered together. For example, in place of “Acquire Project Team” process, it is now plainly called as “Acquire Resources.”
• The naming of “Perform Quality Assurance” is changed to “Manage Quality” because project management as a profession is more focused on managing quality through a quality management plan. The “Manage Quality” process is also expanded in scope to include product design aspects, process improvement aspects, and the previous aspect of quality assurance.

2.4 Changes – Monitoring and Controlling Process Group

The salient points for changes in the Monitoring and Controlling process group are noted below:

• Added processes: 1
• The process “Control Resources” has been added to Project Resource Management knowledge area.
• Removed processes: None
• Moved processes: None
• Renamed processes: 3
• The process “Control Communications” has been renamed as “Monitor Communications” in the Project Communications Management knowledge area.
• The process “Control Risks” has been renamed as “Monitor Risks” in the Project Risk Management knowledge area.
• The process “Control Stakeholder Engagement” is now “Monitor Stakeholder Engagement” in the Project Stakeholder Management knowledge area.
• Total number of processes has increased by 1 (total 12).
• The “Control Resources” process has been added because now physical resources are also considered (in addition to human or team resources).
• You will be controlling these physical resources.
• The “Control Communications,” “Control Risks,” and “Control Stakeholder Engagement” processes in the earlier edition are renamed as these are mostly monitored rather than controlled.

2.5 Changes – Closing Process Group

The salient points for changes in the Closing process group are noted below.

• Added processes: None
• Removed processes: 1
• “Close Procurements” has been removed from Procurement Management knowledge area.
• Moved processes: None
• Renamed processes: none
• Total number of processes now has been reduced by 1 (total 1). With just one process, it is still called as a Process Group because organizations may have their own additional processes for closing projects or phases, or for contract closure.
• Procurement closure happens in “Control Procurements” process of Procurement Management knowledge area, but formal completion of contracts happens in “Close Project or Phase” process of Integration Management knowledge area.
• Confusion can occur with respect to closing. Hence, few important notes on “Close Procurements” have been removed.
• It was found that globally PMs typically don’t close, rather someone from the contract/procurement or legal team does it. Hence its removal.
• The closure of contracts can happen many times in the life cycle of a project or in a project having multiple phases. However, the closure of project or phase happens once at the end.
• Other than administration, information about communication and records also have moved to the “Close Project or Phase” process!

2.6 Changes Summary – Process Groups

I’ve put the summary of these changes for the processes in the process groups in the below. This will help you quickly get the information in one snapshot.

3. Changes – Knowledge Areas

As noted earlier, two knowledge area are renamed.

• “Project Time Management” has been renamed as “Project Schedule Management” knowledge area. According to PMI, “Project Time Management” was changed to “Project Schedule Management” to reflect that the project schedule is defined and managed during the project, whereas time is not managed.”
• “Project Human Resource Management” has been renamed as “Project Resource Management.” According to the PMI, “Both team resources and physical resources are addressed. Hence, Project Human Resource Management was changed to Project Resource Management.”

The most significant changes have happened in the beginning part of each knowledge area. Four new sections have been added to every Knowledge Area. They are:

• Key Concepts: Many of these concepts were there earlier. However, in 6th edition, they have been consolidated. In many cases, they have enhanced and, in some cases, modified.
• Trends and Emerging Practices: As the project management profession continues to evolve, so also the associated trends and practices evolve. This section tries to address them.
• Tailoring Considerations: As every project is unique, the demand or requirements for every project, from project management perspective, is unique. You need not follow all the processes, all the ITTOs, enterprise environmental factors (EEFs), or organizational process assets (OPAs). Rather, you customize what works best for your project. This is tailoring. It has been added for every knowledge area.
• Consideration for Agile/Adaptive Environments: Agile or Adaptive approaches are now mainstream in many industry verticals. Hence, the PMBOK guide has included what will happen if you working with adaptive approaches.

4. Changes – Tools and Techniques

Most of the tools and techniques are now grouped. There are six possible groups. The grouping is done based on the intent (i.e. what the tool or technique is supposed to accomplish). The tools and techniques that cannot be grouped are mentioned individually in the processes.

The groups tools and techniques are:

• Data gathering: The intent here is to gather data from a variety of sources. Examples are Brainstorming, Interviews, and Benchmarking, which you would have seen in the PMBOK 5th
• Data analysis: The intent here is to analyze on the data which you have gathered. Examples are Cost-Benefits analysis, Earned value analysis, and Make-or-buy analysis. Most of them were already there in the PMBOK 5th
• Data representation: The intent here is to display or present the data in various forms. Examples are Flowchart, Control chart, and PI matrix, which you would have seen in the PMBOK 5th
• Decision-making: It is used to select a course of action from different alternatives. Examples are Multicriteria Decision analysis and Voting. This also was in the earlier edition.
• Communication skills: This is used to transfer information between stakeholders. This is somewhat new, but was seen in the PMBOK 5th edition as feedback and/or nonverbal communication.
• Interpersonal and team skills: This is used to effectively lead and interact with stakeholders and team members. You would have seen most of these in the earlier edition. Examples are Negotiation, Team Building, Active Listening, etc.

In addition, there are many tools and techniques which are ungrouped. Many were included in the earlier edition.

Ungrouped Tools and Techniques:

• Known examples are prototypes, risk categorization, and rolling wave planning.
• New are Agile release planning, Iteration Burndown charts, Prompt list, etc.

5. Impact on PMP Exam

The PMI-PMP exam is primarily based on the Exam Content Outline, popularly called ECO in short. The ECO lists the exam topics to be covered, the domains PMP aspirants will be tested upon, and the enablers that aspirants need to know. It also indicates what percentage of questions will come from which domain. 

In the 6th edition, the ECO has changed along with the domains, tasks and enablers. Hence, the percentage of questions coming from the domains have changed. The number of questions from each performance domain shows the proportions. The PMP exam remains pretty close to it, but you can expect a few variations.

6. Agile Practice Guide (APG) *** NEW ***

Many PMP aspirants ask this: what about the Agile Practice Guide? Will it be covered in the new PMP exam based on the 6th edition? Exactly, how many questions will come from it?

First and foremost, Agile Practice Guide is NOT part of the PMBOK guide, 6th edition. Rather, it is an addendum, i.e., an additional material. If you open the PMBOK guide 6th edition, in the very beginning it is noted: 

PMBOK Guide 6th edition + Agile Practice Guide (APG)

So, Agile Practice Guide is a separate guide. However, the exam has changed from January 2, 2021 and APG will be one of the main reference guides, along with the PMBOK Guide.

The reason is simple. The new PMP exam from Jan 2, 2021, will have 50% questions in Agile/Adaptive or Hybrid approaches. While the PMBOK guide contains sections for Adaptive/Agile environments for each knowledge area, APG gives further information from a practitioner perspective. It also contains information on a number of Agile approaches such as Scrum, XP, Kanban. 

Hence, you MUST read this new Agile Practice Guide, which comes together with the PMBOK guide.

Also, do remember this: though PMBOK guide and the APG are the main reference sources, the exam question patterns, i.e., number of questions, types of questions etc. are governed by the Exam Content Outline (ECO). 

Conclusion

If you are preparing for the PMP exam, refer the ECO and simultaneously the PMBOK Guide 6th edition along with the Agile Practice Guide and other reference books/material covering the latest edition of the PMBOK Guide.

If you are a PMP, you will be able to quickly understand the changes as compared to the PMBOK Guide 5th edition by going through this article. More importantly, if you are transitioning from the earlier edition of the PMBOK guide to the new edition, I hope this article will help and guide you in your preparation.

 

References:

[1] Article - Transitioning from PMBOK 5th Edition to PMBOK 6th Edition, published by MPUG on 25th September, 2018

[2] Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide, 6th Edition, by Project Management Institute (PMI)

[3] I Want To Be A PMP: The Plain and Simple Way To Be A PMP, 2nd Edition, by Satya Narayan Dash

[4] Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide, 5th Edition, by Project Management Institute (PMI)

[5] I Want To Be A PMP: The Plain and Simple Way To Be A PMP, 1st Edition, by Satya Narayan Dash

Agile Asanas: Mapping Traditional Project Roles (PMBOK) to Agile Frameworks

I get this question many times from management practitioners on how various roles in a project will translate to the roles in Agile frameworks. Let’s say your team is following the Scrum framework, where you have three roles: Scrum Master, Product Owner and Team Member. 

How will these roles map to the traditional project roles? 

[ To read all posts in Agile Asanas series, use this link. ]

For the mapping, I’ll take the reference of the PMBOK® guide, which is considered to be a leading  guide in project-program-portfolio (PPP) community . But that doesn’t help if you have some idea in Scrum. Also, because I mentioned in the post title how to map to the Agile frameworks - not in particular Scrum – you need to have an understanding in approches as well, e.g., XP, Kanban, among many others. 

To answer this question, you need to have these three:

• Very good understanding on the role of a PPP Manager, the role of team members and stakeholders.
• Sound understanding of the roles played in various Agile frameworks such as XP, Scrum, Kanban, Scrumban etc. 
• A change in the mindset as you move to Agile.

For this Agile Asana article, I assume you have a sound understanding of the project team and roles and also a solid understanding of various Agile frameworks. 

With this assumption, let’s understand briefly the knowledge areas (KA) of the PMBOK guide.

Traditional Knowledge Areas 

The below table informs on the various knowledge areas applicable for a project, as noted in the PMBOK guide, 6th edition.

In the above table, do note that Resource Management entails:

• Human resources such as team members, contract workers.
• Non-human resources, which can have physical as well as non-physical resources.

Another tricky area is the Stakeholder Management. 

• Your team members are also your stakeholders. 
• There can be hidden stakeholders in your project or even completely unknown ones. Hence, stakeholder identification is an iterative process. 

Next Mapping the tables to the individual roles in Scrum/XP/Kanban etc. I’m not going to use any specific framework or method in Agile. Hence, I’ll keep the terms to be generic across the roles. 

Mapping Project Roles to Agile Frameworks

As you can see in the below table, I’ve mentioned varieties of roles such as Product Owner (PO) or Product Manager, Scrum Master (SM) or Agile Project Manager (APM). It can be also Kanban Flow Master in Scrumban approaches, and Team or Development Team. 

Considering the table, I’ve noted some key points below:

• Quality is everyone’s responsibility. Hence, “Yes” has been put for all three roles: PO, SM/APM and Team.
• Risk management and mitigation are also everyone’s responsibility. Hence, “Yes” has been put for all three roles.
• Stakeholder Engagement: The Product Owner deals with the customer/sponsor and brings the customer and other needed stakeholders to reach an agreement on the features or functionalities to be taken up.
  The Scrum Master (or Agile Project Manager) main job is to protect the team from external interruptions and interventions. Hence, this role is significant in dealing with the stakeholders. 
• Communication happens across all these roles and hence, “Yes” has been put for all of them. 
• Resource management involves management of both human and non-human resources. As you would have noticed, I’ve put the TEAM as the owner of human resource management. This area is acted upon differently by other two roles in an Agile team. 

It’s also pertinent to note that there will be other managers, stakeholders such as partners, regulatory bodies that may be involved in a project. If such is the case for your project, you can decide on their roles in the project and with whom they can interact with. For example:

• If regulatory bodies are there, then there will be compliance needs. In such cases, the Product Owner or Product Manager will be involved. 
• If the project is part of a bigger program or portfolio, then during integration, other managers can play a role for integration.

Conclusion

As you can see, it’s not that difficult to map the responsibilities of the project manager to various roles. Of course, for that to happen, you need to have a sound understanding on what project management is about and roles being played by the team in an organization. 

However, the hardest part is usually the third part mentioned in the beginning:

A change in the mindset as you move to Agile.

To understand more on Agile Mindset, you can read the following piece:

Book Excerpt: Agile Principles and Mindset

If you can address it in your team, you are well set to move into Agile frameworks.

References:

[1] I Want To Be An ACP – The Plain and Simple Way, Second Edition, by Satya Narayan Dash

[2] I Want To Be A PMP – The Plain and Simple Way, Second Edition, by Satya Narayan Dash

[3] A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), Sixth Edition, by Project Management Institute (PMI)

[4] Online Course: Agile PMP - PMBOK with AgileBOK, by Satya Narayan Dash

Agile Asanas Series:

• Agile Asanas: Using Naikan as an Agile Practice
• Agile Asanas: Key Guidelines to Follow for Velocity (1)
• Agile Asanas: Key Guidelines to Follow for Velocity (2)
• Agile Asanas: Bus Factor, Broken-Comb Skills and Cross-Functional Teams
• Agile Asanas: Story Map Vs Product Backlog – The Differences

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