PMBOK® Guide – Current Reality, is the first in a 2-book series on transforming this leading guide from its current theoretical state into a practical approach that helps the readers better understand this guide and how to apply on real life projects.

The PMBOK® Guide (A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge®) is a leading standard document with millions of copies in circulation. However, this guide is developed and updated through a large number of volunteers and collaborative work. This approach leads to gaps, errors, inconsistencies, and areas that are commonly misunderstood.

In this first part, we offer a historical perspective, an overview of the guide, and some of the leading myths surrounding it. Another section covers the various gaps, weak areas, and inconsistencies. The last section covers a critical areas of confusion among practitioners and PMI-certified individuals. This confusion creates less than optimal performance in delivering projects, if not failures.

1. Introduction
   1. Standard, framework, methodology?
   2. What should organizations use?
   3. Closing comments
2. PMBOK® Guide Overview
   1. Introduction
   2. The main sections
   3. The project management framework
   4. Process groups
   5. Knowledge areas
   6. The processes
   7. Generic standard document
3. PMBOK® Guide: Historical Perspectives
   1. Introduction
   2. History of the guide
   3. Summary and closing remarks
4. PMBOK® Guide: Value And Growth
   1. Introduction
   2. Good parts
   3. Terminology
   4. Acceptance
   5. PMI power
   6. Number of certificates holders
   7. What is good about the PMBOK® Guide?
   8. Chapter Summary
5. Is The PMBOK® Guide Good Enough?
   1. Introduction
   2. What is the PMBOK® Guide?
   3. So is it enough?
   4. Why is the guide not enough?
   5. Closing remarks
6. The Four Myths About The PMBOK® Guide
   1. Introduction
   2. The project management standard
   3. Best practices
   4. Methodology
   5. PMBOK® Guide and the real world
7. What Is Missing?
   1. Introduction
   2. A methodology
   3. Organizational system
   4. Tailoring and customization
   5. Project classification
   6. Templates and forms
   7. Project life cycle
   8. Benefits realization
   9. References and External Resources
   10. Suggestion for improvement
8. What Is Not Emphasized Enough?
   1. Introduction
   2. Planning
   3. Project change management
   4. Scope management and scope creep
   5. Differentiating changes from variances
   6. Project success
   7. Project management team
   8. Organizational context
   9. Professional responsibility
   10. Closing
9. What Are The Inconsistencies?
   1. Introduction
   2. Terminology – 1
   3. Terminology – 2
   4. Audit
   5. Quality assurance
   6. Pre-project
   7. Project life cycle and project success
   8. Manage the team: where is control?
   9. Acquire the team
   10. Scope and executing
   11. Where is the control reference?
   12. Monitor and control
   13. Conclusion and recommendations
10. The Project Life Cycle
    1. Introduction
    2. Project life cycle definition
    3. Project life cycle is a variable
    4. Whose perspective
    5. Project owner perspective
    6. Service provider perspective
    7. Closing remarks
11. Project Phases and Stages
    1. Introduction
    2. Phase or stage
    3. Phases
    4. Stages
    5. Closing comments
12. The Process Groups
    1. Introduction and overview
    2. How do we use the process groups?
13. The Confusion
    1. Introduction
    2. Opinion or fact?
    3. So Why the confusion?
14. Clearing the Confusion
    1. Introduction
    2. Phase perspective
    3. Project Perspective
    4. Project and stage perspectives
    5. Can we combine?
    6. Can we consider as a program?
    7. Conclusion