After some conversations around what PMBOK is or is not, let's have a quick review starting with PMBOK's words.
On Page 4 of PMBOK Version 4.
As a foundational reference, this standard is neither complete nor all-inclusive. This standard is a guide rather than a methodology.
Some time ago I cam across a paper Are Agile Methods Compatible with the PMBOK? by Alan S. Koch at www.askprocess.com. Alan is a member of the technical staff at SEI. I only have the electronic version of this presentation, but have asked Alan to send a link so we can have the entire thing. The summary is.
The color coding is obvious, the reasons for the coding are in the paper, but simple examination of PMBOK and agile software development methods will reveal why. The Core Concept When we confuse method with guidance, it assumes that the guidance is compared to a method - PMBOK compared with Scrum for example. When in fact Method and Guidance are orthogonal. Meaning Guidance informs method, not the other way around. Method and Guidance are not reciprocal implementations of the same idea. If we start with the guidance, we can look for how that guidance is implemented in the Method. Even those who should know better speak about PMBOK and Agile being methods, Agile vs. PMBOK, for example. There numerous other examples that call PMBOK a "Method," even though page 4 of PMBOK states it is not. The confusion continues.
