A news update from Marseille, France and the PMI Global Congress:  Karl Best of the Standards Department of the Project Management Institute provided an update of interest to anyone practicing Agile methods.  PMI has entered into a joint venture with the IEEE to develop a Software Extension to the PMBOK Guide.  The target audience is the software development community.  The content will be aligned with the 5^th Edition PMBOK Guide and include a description of the Agile approach.  However, read this point very carefully: this is not an AgileBOK.  The intent is to build a bridge between the PMBOK Guide and Agile – not to write an Agile Body of Knowledge.  The purpose is to discuss differences in predictive vs. adaptive approaches and the pros and cons of each.

Will the Software Extension impact the PMI-ACP Exam?  No.  Not yet, but perhaps later.  In fact, PMI anticipates a possible disconnect on some points between the Software Extension and the PMI-ACP Exam upon the first release.  However, PMI anticipates gradual alignment of this new Software Extension with the PMI-ACP Exam over time.

Will this Software Extension become recommended reading for those preparing for the PMI-ACP Exam?  The response: the publication would be viewed as an additional resource and not critical to PMI-ACP exam preparation.

The public exposure draft of the Software Extension is expected Dec 2012, and publication is scheduled for Sept 2013.