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PMI's Global Standards Program

Standards Updates

Four new editions!
Which edition should I study?

Members:Access the PMBOK® Guide—Fourth Edition

Global standards are crucial to the project management profession because they ensure a basic project management framework is applied consistently worldwide. For 25 years, PMI's global standards have helped establish the Institute as the premier authority in project management, helping it mature into the global organization it is today. In fact, the American National Standards Institute has recognized PMI as a Standards Development Organization

It is the mission of the PMI Global Standards Program to improve the understanding and practice of project management by identifying, defining, documenting and championing generally accepted project management practices and a common project management lexicon.

PMI's standard development efforts started with the groundbreaking PMBOK® Guide – now with over 2 million copies in distribution – and extend to almost a dozen global standards in its library. PMI standards are grouped according to the following themes:

Projects
Programs
People
Organizations
Profession

PMI continues to expand and update its library of standards, ensuring each new or revised standard undergoes a three-step review and approval process. PMI recently completed updates on its four foundational standards including, A Guide the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), now in its fourth edition

Visit our Standards section in Resources for more information about PMI's Global Standards Program, including how you can participate in our exposure draft process and our standards working sessions.