A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Third Edition (PMBOK Guides)

Customer Reviews

• Reference Book, but No good for exams  Apr 26, 2006 (157 of 164 found this helpful)

  I have recently read a few PMP books cover to cover, and I thought I should share my experience with other readers with an intention to help them to find the right books.
  
  THIS BOOK.
  Well this is THE book. You cannot avoid it. But it is very poorly written. The evidence of what I'm saying starts wiith the name. I was looking for Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), and this is named as Guide to PMBOK. You would think if this is a guide to PMBOK, where is the PMBOK. Then I realized that this is it. You have to have it because this the official PMBOK: the information source for both the PMP and CAPM exams. However, don't count on this alone for the PMP and CAPM exams.
  
  A brief review of what I think are the top three PMP books follows:
  
  1. PMP In Depth by Paul Sanghera, Thomson Course Technology.
  This book has just hit the market and is relatively unknown. But I found this a rock solid book. Almost all the topics are covered with adequate depth. The material is presented in a logical learning sequence and the presentation is very cohesive: no hopping from topic to topic. It's an easy and interesting read. All concepts are clearly defined and expalined. This makes it a great book for both the PMP and the CAPM exams. I feel that the communication management could have more coverage. Although for the exams, the current coverage is enough.
  The material is organized in order of the project lifecycle (the process groups) consistent with the way the exam objectives are organized. Furthermore, exam objectives covered in a chapter are explained in the beginning of the chapter. This makes the exam preparation easier and confusion-free.
  I recommend this book for a self contained book for the PMP and the CAPM exams, and also if you just want to build a good understanding of the project management basics. Oh yes, the book is very reasonably priced.
  
  2. The PMP Exam Prep by Rita Mulcahy; RMC publication.
  It is a very good book if you are either taking a course from the author or from an instructor who is using this book as a text book. There are lots of exercises. Unfortunately, this is not a self contained book. Topics are not covered with enough depth. Also there is a poor flow and a lots of hopping from topic to topic. Moreover, it's outrageously high priced. Too many cross references and overhyped.
  Overall I recommend this book if you are using it in a course.
  
  3. The PMP Exam by Andy Crowe; Velociteach.
  This is a great book and relatively self contained. You can study this book and pass the PMP exam. There are a only a few topics, which are not covered in adequate depth. In this and in Rita's book, The coverage is organized around the knowledge areas while the exam objectives are organized in order of the process groups. That breaks the exam objective coverage into pieces, and may cause confusion.
  I recommend this book if you are looking for a self contained book to pass the PMP exam.
  
  

• Good idea, horrible book  Nov 10, 2005 (125 of 134 found this helpful)

  Let me start by saying that I did study the book along with other study materials, took the PMP exam and passed. Having some organized body to professionally certify project managers is a good idea. However, this book flat out stinks. It's incredibly wordy and makes simply concepts way too complex. That seems to be a major flaw with the entire PMI model. They are trying to make project management a science. It's not.
  
  That being said, the certification process is worth your time. I did learn a lot. Just don't become a "PMI Junkie". Let me explain. Many of the things PMI teaches are a bit silly and don't really apply to real life situations. There are some out there that just take what PMI says as the complete truth without questioning anything or seeing how the teachings relate to the workplace. These are people I call "PMI Junkies".
  
  So my advice... get the book, get certified, learn what you can and make sure you use some common sense.

• Poorly written book, however not many recognize its mediocrity  Oct 1, 2005 (227 of 254 found this helpful)

  Note: This applies to the 3rd edition of the PMBOK Guide. The fourth edition appears to have cleaned up quite a few of these discrepancies.
  
  
  This is a poorly written book. Diagrams that were updated or changed for this edition are badly done, to the point of being meaningless. Many processes have wildly different outputs for the same set of inputs. There are some process inputs that are inputs into most every process (e.g. "organizational process assets" a meaningless phrase if ever I heard one). Unfortunately the team in charge of this edition did not see it fit to have the book technically reviewed by the many experts in the field.
  
  Beginning project managers will be ill served by trying to read this book and attempting to make sense of its contents. I would strongly recommend both classroom training and mentorship for those wanting to get into the field. Books alone won't cut it. This one certainly won't. I haven't come across one single experienced PM who used this book beyond passing the PMP exam.
  
  For a more detailed critique of this book, search the web for Muhamed Abdomerovic's review. Unfortunately URLs cannot be pasted here. Some examples (mine):
  1. Diagram 3-4: All those arrows pointing to nowhere in particular
  2. Diagram 3-7: What's the difference between the gray boxes and the white boxes? Ditto for 3-8 and 3-9.
  3. Figure III-2: Unclear what this diagram attempts to convey
  4. Figure 4-2: What is the usefulness of showing a flowchart of integration tasks alone? Clearly on a project, a Project Manager with half a clue would not follow these tasks sequentially to the exclusion of the other knowledge areas!
  
  I could find such inconsistencies almost all through the documents (e.g. some process names are verb phrases, others noun phrases). Finding other such gems is left as an exercise to the interested reader.
  
  There is a widespread notion that Project Management = PMBOK. Nothing could be farther from the truth. You do not need the PMBOK to be an effective project manager. Conversely, knowing the PMBOK does not a Project Manager make (though the PMP certification would have you believe otherwise).

• No longer a guide  Jan 20, 2006 (33 of 34 found this helpful)

  The first PMBOK was issued free and purported to be a taxonomy of project management methods and processes. In this regard it was pretty good. However, this latest version of the PMBOK(R) has moved from being a guide covering a wide variety of practices (reflecting the wide variety of projects and management processes) to a narrow one which is apparently required only to pass the PMI's PMP exam. In that regard it is essential as the exam is based on the book.
  
  It is not essential and is hardly a "bible" for any purpose other than passing the exam and with an absence of footnotes or bibliography it makes a poor guide to the real world of project management. I'm disappointed in the way a useful resource has been converted into something more appropriate for a cult or multi-level marketing association.
  
  PMI, bring back a bibliography, bring back alternative points of view, show some evidence about the efficacy of the procedures you have published. It won't hurt, I promise.

• Disappointing  Dec 24, 2005 (21 of 22 found this helpful)

  The 3rd Edition of the PMBOK Guide offers no substantial improvement over its predecessors. While the inaugural 1996 Edition and the follow-on 2000 Edition remain fundamentally aligned in framework and terminology, the latest edition of PMI's standard serves up a revisionist version without offering any supporting evidence for some very dubious changes.
  Those of you who are familiar with the earlier editions of the PMBOK Guide may find it interesting that in just four short years some of the knowledge and practice that was generally accepted as "being applicable to most projects most of the time", and for which there was "widespread consensus about their value and usefulness" has changed or disappeared along with the definitions of certain fundamental terms and concepts used in project management.
  To make matters worse, the 3rd Edition has almost doubled in size (390 vs. 216 pages), but has added a net of only 5 additional processes. The loquacious nature of the text diminishes clarity and in several instances creates confusion. Top it off with inconsistent and contradictory use of terminology and this "standard" represents a step backwards.
  Of course, for those of you seeking the PMP credential, this "new" edition is the foundational reference document for the certification examination....Good Luck.