Key Concepts — Map
This folder holds PMBOK 8 reusable concepts: definitions, artifacts, development approaches, and the three PMBOK 7 principles that PMBOK 8 consolidated but still tests. Each note is a building block referenced from principles, performance domains, ECO domains, and focus areas.
What this folder is NOT: these notes are not ECO “enablers”. Enablers are the activity-level bullets nested under each ECO Task and they live inside 4.2. People, 4.3. Process, and 4.1. Business Environment. Keep enablers there; use this folder for the concepts that enablers and tasks refer to.
26 concept notes, grouped by purpose. (1.2. Value Delivery System is also a key concept but its primary home is now PM Standard Section 2.)
1. System & value concepts
How the organization creates value and why a project exists.
- Benefits Management — identifying, planning, delivering, and sustaining benefits
- Organizational Project Management (OPM) — alignment of portfolios, programs, projects with strategy
- Business Case — the documented justification for the project
- Benefits Management Plan — how benefits will be realized and measured
- See also: 1.2. Value Delivery System (in
01-pm-standard/)
2. Development approaches & tailoring
How work is shaped to fit the project context.
- Predictive Development Approach — plan-driven, scope fixed
- Adaptive Development Approach — iterative/incremental, scope variable
- Hybrid Development Approach — predictive + adaptive blended
- Tailoring — the 4-step PMBOK 8 process for adapting approach to context
- Inverted Triangle — adaptive constraint model (time + budget fixed, scope variable)
3. Baselines, scope & performance measurement
Artifacts and plans that anchor “are we on track?”
- Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) — hierarchical decomposition of project scope
- Requirements Documentation — captured stakeholder needs and acceptance criteria
- Integrated Baseline — scope + schedule + cost baseline (PMB)
- Earned Value Management (EVM) — PV/EV/AC, SPI/CPI, EAC/TCPI
- Change Management Plan — how change requests flow through integrated change control
4. Risk, stakeholder & team artifacts
Living artifacts that drive engagement and response.
- Risk Register — identified risks, owners, responses, status
- RACI Chart — responsibility assignment matrix (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed)
- Stakeholder Engagement Assessment Matrix — current vs. desired engagement levels
5. Adaptive practices
Recurring events and artifacts specific to agile/adaptive delivery.
- Backlog Management — product/sprint backlog refinement and prioritization
- Retrospectives — iteration-end inspect-and-adapt event
6. PMBOK 7 principles consolidated in PMBOK 8
PMBOK 8 reduced the principle count by consolidating, but the concepts are still on the exam — kept here as standalone notes so they remain searchable.
- Engage Stakeholders — consolidated into Build an Empowered Culture + Be an Accountable Leader
- Optimize Risk Responses — consolidated into Adopt a Holistic View
- Navigate Complexity — consolidated into Adopt a Holistic View
7. AI in project management (PMBOK 8 Appendix X3)
New in PMBOK 8: a dedicated appendix on AI. Most prep banks skip it — expect scenario questions from mid-2026.
- Generative AI — the AI ⊃ ML ⊃ deep learning ⊃ GenAI classification; free vs. paid tool trade-offs
- AI Adoption Strategies — automation / assistance / augmentation, by task complexity and human supervision
- AI Ethics and Responsible Use — bias, privacy, accountability, reliability, safety, transparency, copyright, sustainability
- AI Use Cases in Project Management — Table X3-1 use cases across performance domains
Cross-layer pointers
Which other vault layers each group most often links into. Use this when navigating outward from a concept.
See also
- 4.0. ECO-domains-mapping — how ECO domains, performance domains, and focus areas relate (read first for the big picture)
- index — vault home