What it is, what it isn't
PMBOK = Project Management Body of Knowledge. It's a standards reference, not a how-to manual. It tells you the vocabulary, the concepts a competent PM is expected to recognize, and the framework PMI uses to assess them. It does nottell you how to run your specific project — that's judgment.
The 6th → 7th edition shift
PMBOK 6 (2017) was process-heavy: 49 processes organized into 5 process groups and 10 knowledge areas. PMBOK 7 (2021) reframed the whole thing around eight performance domains and twelve principles. The reason: real PM work is rarely linear, and the 6th edition made waterfall feel mandatory when most modern teams aren't doing waterfall.
The 8 performance domains (7e)
- Stakeholders — identify, engage, manage interests.
- Team — build, lead, develop the people delivering.
- Development approach & lifecycle — choose waterfall, agile, hybrid; sequence releases.
- Planning — schedules, budgets, scope, risk plans.
- Project work — running the actual delivery, vendor coordination, communications.
- Delivery — quality, value, scope verification.
- Measurement — what's working, what's slipping, KPIs.
- Uncertainty — risk, ambiguity, resilience.
↳ what to actually do with it
You don't read PMBOK cover to cover. You skim it once, get a mental map, and reach for it when (a) you're prepping for the PMP, or (b) you hit a problem and want to know if PMI has named the shape of it. The 7e is ~250 pages — a long weekend, not a career.