The Savvy Pm Blog

PMBOK® Guide 8th Edition Draft: What Project Managers Need to Know

Sep 25, 2025

Change is coming!

In the spring of this year, PMI shared a rough draft of the PMBOK Guide® – Eighth Edition for the public comment. This draft was highly illuminating, showing potential large-scale changes for the processes (from 49 processes in the 6th edition to potentially 40 processes in the upcoming edition), domains (from the current 3 domains to potentially 7 domains), and tools (including the addition of artificial intelligence, augmented reality, etc.) that we are familiar with. These changes are a result of research done into emerging trends in Project Management, capturing the most updated industry practices, terms, and processes. The new PMBOK Guide is tentatively scheduled for release in late 2025 to early 2026. Although various dates have circulated online, PMI has not released an official timeline. We anticipate the formal release date will be announced at the PMI Global Summit in November.

UPDATED 10/29/2025: PMI officially announced that the PMBOK 8 will be unveiled at the PMI Global Summit Phoenix.

This leads to the next question: does this mean the PMP Exam is changing?

In short, the answer is: most likely. While the PMBOK Guide is not the source document for exam questions (the Exam Content Outline fills that role), major changes to the PMBOK Guide often precede changes to the exam. Historically, when a new PMBOK Guide is released, a new Exam Content Outline & accompanying exam changes are mere months behind. While PMI has not made any such announcement, it is rumored that we could see an exam change as early as Q3 2026.

Don’t panic! If you are currently in the process of studying for the PMP exam, stay the course. Velociteach’s current materials are still fully aligned with the current edition of the exam. As for the future, you can bet that we are already deeply entrenched in updating materials and tracking any potential future exam changes.

We know these updates will have a major impact on students as well as our Licensing Partners. We’ll continue to monitor PMI’s updates closely and post the latest details on our PMP Exam Change page as soon as they are announced. Bookmark that page to check back, or subscribe to our mailing list to receive important updates straight to your inbox.